Science Lab

We've become a regular science lab around here. Who would have ever thought? I can answer that: no one who knew be pre-children. I'm guessing I struck pretty much no one as the ant-gathering-type for one.

Yet here I am with two little, tiny, ant-gatherers! Much to their Daddy's relief, we did not bring the homemade ant farm into the house. They froze to death securely on the front step. (Psssttt...The girls don't quite "get" that when I dumped it out the other day, I wasn't dumping our whole load of live ants....).

They really were fun to watch while they lasted.
Miss Mouse was pretty proud of this project. Ask her how many legs an insect has. Go ahead. Ask her.

Sunny turned out to be an ant-gatherer extraordinaire.

Miss Mouse had her turn, too, of course.

Because outdoor science activities seemed a bit, oh, "tame", I needed a bigger challenge. We moved inside and began to study cells and cell division (preschool-style, that is).

Our hypothesis: The yeast mixture left on the counter would multiply more rapidly than the yeast mixture stuck in the fridge. Obviously we were right, but this is pretty exciting stuff when you are three or five! We also found out that even though the refridgerated yeast mixture, which just happened to also illustrate the need of living organisms for 1) shelter, 2) food, 3) air, and 4) water, did recover and begin to grow. Miss Mouse was pleased that "her" mixture had recovered and "caught up" to Sunny's.

Because yeast is so darn fun to work with and so very yummy to sniff at, we did another yeast project. The white balance on this photo was soooo bad that I had to give up and turn it black and white. Blah. Anyway, that is a yeast mixture in the bottom. Miss Mouse sat and watched it for nearly half an hour as it bubbled and frothed its way to the tip-top of the bottle. The pink balloon on top got very "puffy" (that is the technical term, of course!), and she was incredibly impressed with how the yeast made it all the way To.The.Top.

The girls agreed the most fun part of this project was when I went to clean it up. I did point it toward the sink, wondering if it would explode from pressure release when I took the balloon off......and it did. All over the sink, all over me, all over. I smelled like really bad, old beer, always a great smell for someone four months pregnant. When they had collected themselves, the girls pushed me straight into the bathroom to clean myself up!

Well, not wanting to have the girls have all the science project fun, I've started what look like a few science projects of my own. First, there are my grow-lamps in the living room, working hard to raise three types of tomato seedlings, some mini bell pepper seedlings, a few passionflowers (Miss Mouse's pick for "her" garden this summer), and a plethora of lupine (Sunny's pick). The card table takes up a good chunk of our little living room, but other than that, it's a generally carefree project. Carefree as long as the weather kicks itself into high-temperature gear for me to transplant when we need to, that is.....

That project didn't quite seem messy enough, so I have endeavoured to start some sourdough bread. It probably isn't surprising that I am attempting this from scratch - as in, no yeast in the starter at all. I have what looks like a yummy recipe that a friend secured for me, but have I tried that one (which looks easier and more likely to succeed?)? No. No, indeed. I have a pot of rotten flour and water on my counter that I am treating as a "pet" for the next few weeks to see if it will really develop into the yeast-like starter that bread needs. So far, my attempt at bread with it has flopped. For Tolkien fans, it turned out as cram. I would have been okay with lembas, but cram? I was not pleased. It was especially terrible day-old. Very sad. I will, though, give it some more time. It's a fun little experiment, other than that Sunny tells me every morning as I throw out half and feed it fresh "food" that "Mommy, that smells like puke!". I'm not sure there is much hope for this science project/pet.