"SCIENCE!"

Being stuck indoors for the past few days due to a summer cold and the aforementioned insufferable heat meant finding some indoor activities to keep a couple of slightly droopy but mostly active 3 year old boys entertained. A good deal of our entertainment over the past few days has come in the form of "SCIENCE!". 

Gamma Rita sent the boys a science kit for Christmas last year and while it looked kind of cool it was a little advanced for them at the time (and also it looked complicated for a Mommy who wasn't the greatest science scholar*).

"SCIENCE!" has been a huge hit and the boys keep asking to "play science" which is awesome. Some of our experiments didn't yield instant results which worried me, but it was for naught. Watching a scientific process take place over the course of a few hours (or days) has held their interest well enough (interspersed with some experiments that yielded more instant results of course).

Our first experiment involved combining colors dissolved in water and then using the colored water combined with polymer gel to make jelly crystals.

Or in other words, really colorful goo that holds its shape. We have since dehydrated and rehydrated the crystals, which was also fun. Also very pretty, yes?

Unfortunately science ("SCIENCE!") knows no bounds and also has an ugly side at times. With that said, meet Oscar:

Or as the science kit referred to this experiment, the "Growing Spider". Oscar started out around the size of a North American Wolf spider to give you some perspective. We have been growing him for 3 days now and it could take up to a week for him to reach his full potential.

I realize he's fake, but I'm currently sharing a room with Oscar at night because he gives Gamma Rita the heebie-jeebies badly enough that I can't leave him downstairs. I am less creeped out (but only because he's fake). Handling Oscar daily to "pat him dry" and refill his bowl with fresh water isn't exactly my favorite thing to do, but since my boys love checking to see how much he's grown every day, Oscar and I sweat out our nights together. As roommates go, at least he's quiet.

Again I realize Oscar is fake spider (also made from polymer gel) but as an arachnophobe, I really can (and must) say with all sincerity that this really is sometimes what a Mother's love looks like:

– This is my new best friend Oscar everyone!

We also grew some giant balls this week**. Same polymer gel concept, but they started out the size of small marbles and ended up looking like this:

They were also unexpectedly fun to smash 10 seconds after I took this picture:

We also made fake snow:

And then we made fake blue snow. Fake snow was one of my favorites, despite the mess.

And Oscar aside, one of my boys' favorites was the Energy Stick™. It was instantly popular since it yielded instant results when used correctly. In fact, Nate and Seth are quietly debating the merits of a fight over it here:

But then they stopped cooperating and it stopped working. Hmmm...

Creating a complete circuit can be done alone, but it turns out it's more fun together***:

"SCIENCE!"

- L.

*For real, I think I've learned more about science in the past 3 days than I did in 3 years of science class in high school.

••I am not prone to vulgarity, at least not on this blog. There was really no other way to say this and I promise I was not being crass. Still, if it makes you giggle a little, so be it.

***The Energy Stick™ with me as the circuit connection in a darkened room was a hoot before our bedtime wind-down. We will definitely be doing this one until the batteries run out.

• • • • • • •

PS. Special thanks to Magnus Pyke for "SCIENCE!". My boys are excellent at exclaiming it, but their hand gestures still need a little work. You, on the other hand, made it look so easy.