Home Scientist Badge - April 5th

The steps required for earning the Home Scientist Badge are: 

1. Be a kitchen chemist
2. Create static electricity
3. Dive into density
4. Make something bubble up 
5. Play with science

Throughout this year, Amy and I have tried to combine what the girls were learning during their Journey Quest to the Brownie Legacy Badges... But Home Scientist had so much info to learn that we planned our entire meeting around 5 science stations. 

We split the girls up into 5 groups because when you have 22 girls total, they tend to focus better in smaller groups! Plus it allowed to whole room to move and rotate in unison. 

For Station #1 - Be a kitchen chemist, the girls made their own ice-cream! 

Instructions: pint-size bag filled with 1T sugar, 1/2c half & half, 1/4t vanilla and seal it closed. Then add that sealed bag to a larger gallon-size bag and add 6T of kosher salt and add ice half way up the bag. Then... SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE! 

The girls loved the shaking part and developed a dance out of it! 

Note: If trying this again, splurge for the name brand baggies! We had leaks during all of our shaking...or maybe it was just some intense shaking! ;)

Of course, their favorite part was getting to taste it after all of their hard work!

Station #2 - Create static electricity

We chose to - Make Pepper Dance.

Instructions: Pour salt and pepper on a sheet of paper. Blow up a balloon and tie it and rub it in your hair.... An obvious fun part! Then hold it over the salt and pepper and watch a "dance" across the page. 

Station #3 - Dive into Density with Dancing Raisins

The question was presented - Can you make raisins move without touching them? 

Instructions: Pour soda into a glass. Drop 6-7 raisins into the soda and watch what happens next.

The raisins at 1st sink because they are denser than soda but then the bubbles from the soda fill the wrinkled raisins and cause them to raise and lift up. Once they get to the surface, they'll pop and sink again. 

Station #4 - Make something bubble up - Soda Geyser

We used diet coke and Mentos to this experiment... A few girls had a craving for Mentos, but luckily we had enough for each group to witness the geyser effect! ;0

The was definitely the sought after station!

And Station #5 - Play with Science. 

We brought Snap Circuits for the girls to play with and design their own electrical circuit! 

They did a group job changing the circuits up and creating new ones. 

All in all, it was a very busy day filled with fun and learning! 

And a badge well earned!!! 

(Amy and I felt like we needed a badge too after all of that;)