What I said: Today we’re going to talk about atoms! Did you know that everything you can touch is made of teeny, tiny atoms?
What they heard: Blah, blah, blah … atoms.
What I did: Atoms are always moving! Let’s see how atoms move. I’m going to fill this beaker with icy, cold water from the refrigerator. Would you like to touch it?
What they did: On cue, they took turns verifying that the cold water was cold.
What I said next: Now, in this other beaker I’m going to put hot water from the tea kettle. You shouldn’t touch hot water. You can feel the sides of the beaker if you want to. Is it hot?
What they did: Nothing. Hot water is not appealing.
What I said after that: I’m going to put a drop of blue color into the cold beaker, and a drop of red into the hot beaker.
What they said: THE BLUE IS SINKING!
What I said: Yes! You guys know about sinking and floating, don’t you? What’s happening in the hot water?
What they said: Can we put more blue color in there?
What I did: Moved on to the next big thing, which was another chemical reaction demonstrating that not only can you blow balloons with science, but you can also clean dirty pennies.
What I should have done: Check to see if the dirty pennies would fit into the “giant test tubes” I had purchased from my favorite science supply company. These are also called “baby soda bottles”. I don’t know why.
What I did: Pried all the dirty pennies out of the baby soda bottles, a.k.a. giant test tubes, ran out to the science lab, a.k.a. the garage, and grabbed more beakers.
What they did: Added a teaspoon of salt to the beakers filled with vinegar, and plopped their pennies inside.
What I said: What’s happening to your pennies?
What they said: Can we play with the giant test tubes? I want the green color!
What happened for the next twenty minutes: Color mixing. Puddles on the kitchen counter. Wiping puddles with towels. Lots and lots of delighted play, a.k.a. science experiments in disguise. Baby soda bottles, for the win.