Our Mad Scientist

Gracie has become a budding little scientist and really seems to like everything "science".  Whenever anyone asks her the age old question of what do you want to be when you grow up?  she says (with great enthusiasm) A SCIENTIST.  Which, I have to say I love!  Chances are she probably won't grow up to be a scientist, but I am surely going to foster her love for science while she is so into it - I mean there are way worse things in my opinion that she could love (like Monster High, Miley Cyrus, Sexy Halloween Costumes, etc, but I digress).  So, when a flyer came home for the new "Mad Scientist" club at school, we were so excited because it was a perfect after school activity for her to do - and to learn more about school.  Except we hit a SNAFU that I can't really get into, but it was beyond my control and unfortunately she can't participate in the science club. (ugh).  She was seriously so disappointed when we told her she couldn't do the club, and while I am no scientist (lets be honest Science is not my "thing") and it would be more fun to learn from the "experts"  I was not going to let her go without. 

So...DUM DUH DAH DAH!.... The Steph-Mom created our very own at-home-very-exclusive Science Club!  Gracie was SUPER excited!! Since I am not much of an inventive or knowledgeable scientist I had to spend some serious time with my close friend, Google.  But it didn't let me down and I found tons and tons of at-home science experiments.  Thank You Internet!

It is my goal to do super fun and interactive experiments to help encourage her love of science.  So the first experiment we did was Elephant Toothpaste.  At first, we miserably failed this experiment as nothing really happened when we mixed the ingredients together.  We were both so disappointment. So with nothing to lose, i decided to play with the ingredients a little bit and low and behold it worked!  As Gracie squealed with delight, the Elephant Toothpaste exploded out of the bottle and into our pan.  We did this a few times and then she played in the foam that wound up in our cake pan.  She was so excited, she couldn't wait until her Dad got home so she could show him her "big" experiment.  I used this opportunity to talk about the science of mixing ingredients, etc. and while her Dad is more eloquent in this subject matter she really seemed to learn something.  Which was  my point and hope. 

Gracie loved our little club and she felt special that we were doing something science related together.  I still think the Mad Scientist club at school would have been better for her, but I will do my best to make up for it at home weekly.  Here are some photos of our BIG experiment.