Chromotography

The Kindergarten children have been so interested in color mixing over the past few weeks. Today, we did a chromotography experiment to explore colors in another way. Chromotography is the process of separating different components of a mixture. In our experiment, we were separating colors. The children drew a line of the color orange, green, purple, and black on individual strips of paper towels. They then placed the bottom of the paper towel in a shallow amount of water. When the paper towel is dipped in water, the water begins to absorb into the paper towel and travels up carrying the colors with it. It causes the colors to separate or split and different colors  get carried along faster and further then others. As we dipped the paper towel with the orange line into the water, the children were immediately filled with excitement as they watched the yellow and red colors travel. We can't wait to see what our paper towels look like when we come back next Friday! 

Return of the ducks

The children had another opportunity to experiment with the ducks and ice - with some water thrown in.  Ethan and Harrison moved the sheet of blue ice into some clear water.  Not only did the clear water turn blue like the ice, but it broke into pieces.  Ben observed as the ducks happily floated about and the ice floe slowly disappeared.  The ice on the playground was doing the same in the warm air this morning!

Lunch Bunch for the Tel Aviv children....

What a day...Lunch, Peace- Out Time, Activities/Free Play and we like to end the day with Outside Play!

Peace-Out Time was spent playing with play dough, writing in journals, puzzles and and a friendly game of Zingo. Then most of the children took part in measuring and mixing all the ingredients together to make blue gak. We ended the day with some outside play.

How do you play with mud?

Adam took charge of the Mud Ship! Guess who he pretended to be? Captain Adam Mud, of course! He sailed the Mud Ship all morning long! Allison decided to take a bath in the mud. She announced, "I am a pig taking a bath in the mud so I don't get a sunburn!" Eliza and Hannah packed mud on big rocks and called them "slippery rocks." Eli made delicious "mud cupcakes."

Everyone had their own ideas as to how to play with the mud! I can honestly say that a good time was had by all!

Summer Fun!

It sure was the day to play with water! The staff filled the pool this morning with soapy water and when Hannah arrived she suggested that we add purple water colors. Instantly the pool water turned purple!

The water slide was a big hit as always!

The children attached two long clear plastic tubes to the water wall and experimented with the flow of the water! Fun was had by all!

Silly Rainbow Pasta Experiment!

The Lunch Bunch children decided in honor of Purim they wanted to do a silly experiment with pasta and food color coloring. After all Purim is, the silliest holiday!

Everyone took turns coloring the pasta with food coloring. I asked the children "What do you think will happen to the pasta when we cook it?" Will the pasta hold the food coloring and still be like a rainbow when the pasta is cooked?"
"Will the pasta still taste like pasta?" After an interesting discussion we cooked the pasta, and got ready to go outside to play on this beautiful Purim day. Before we went out, the children had the opportunity to taste the pasta. They were pleasantly surprised because the pasta actually tasted like pasta, and it was good! However the color changed, it was a pale red.

Thanks for a fun and very silly day! HAPPY PURIM!

Come see the wood sculptures added to our museum!

As part of our Tu B'Shevat celebration we made beautiful wood sculptures. The children were able to use pieces of wood that were of many different shapes, sizes, weights, textures, and colors. They experimented with how to balance and how to create 3D representations of images in their minds. Several of the children made exploding volcanoes reminiscent of the great fun and excitement they had when we "exploded" our own volcano in the classroom. Memories of that experience will stay with them for a long time. Other themes represented in the wood sculptures included rockets and spaceships. Sam and Teddy Post layered their creations by adding a flat black piece of wood to the top of their original structure. All the children really enjoyed working with this different medium. Blocks and wood are very popular with our kids so we will continue to offer them these materials to use in all different kinds of ways.

What will happen next?

Today on the orange team, we had a chance to experiment! Each friend selected three colors to put into their cup of water. And then we watched and waited!

Abby: I think it will change color!

Nathan: It's getting bigger!

Sam: Mine is green.

Drew: Mine's yellow

Olive: Mine is yellow too!

Jared: It's fuzzy.

After watching for a few minutes, we pushed our cups to the middle of the table and went to play, then we checked again.

Abby: They are turning fuzzy

Nathan: They're bigger!

Jared: Mine is bigger also

Sam: Can I have another color?

So we all added one more color to our cups, watched, and compared the new one to the older ones.

Abby: It's smooth

Olive: It's bouncy

Before we went outside to join the blue team, we checked one last time:

They're certainly getting bigger and the yellow has dissolved into the water.... let's see what has happened tomorrow!