Science Experiments

Build Rosetta and Philae with your children

If you want to spend a weekend teaching your child more about space, astronomy, science and aeronautics, I let you a collection of resources that ESA (European Space Agency) has hung for teachers and children.

You can take advantage of the fact that the subject is not very old to introduce to your child. That an object has been sent from the earth to a comet at 500 million km and that it travels at 60,000 km / h because it has to impress you. Well, this is what the Rosetta Mission has done with the Philae probe.

All you need to know about pcl plastimake instantmorph friendly plastic

PCL or polycaprolactone (Plastimake, InstaMorph, Friendly Plastic)

If this is the first time you hear this name, you are in luck because today you will be surprised. The PCL is a thermoplastic plastic that we can mold with our hands when heated around 60 ° C and that hardens in the cold and we can repeat the process again and again, hundreds of times.

Plastimake, instamorph and friendly plastic

When it cools it becomes hard and tough, it does not conduct electricity or heat, it is not toxic and it is biodegradable. It seems the perfect solution for our inventions does not?

It reminds me of Sugru, but being able to reuse it and it seems to be more difficult to manipulate. Although of course being able to reuse it again and again is a very important point.

Look how the magic happens …

How to build a homemade Rubik’s cube to help a mathematical school project

Some years ago, David, an elementary School teacher wrote me asking if I can help them designing a 2×2 Rubik’s cube for children.

They want a mathematical project for kids based on Rubik cube. Fastly I answered with some links to learn to build 2×2 and 3×3 Rubik’s cube with dices and magnets. The are really cool hacks. But David needs something easier and cheaper. They came with simple premises.

Children of 10 years must be able to build it, so we forget about elaborate and dangerous tools and processes
and it has to be cheap, very cheap

although everything must be said they just wanted a minimally manipulable cube.

how to make Galalith and turn milk into plastic

How to make Galalith or plastic stone. A bioplastic from milk

This is an easy experiment, awesome for kids. Making it we will can explain our children what bioplastic are and introduce them into a chemistry world. Even in historical facts.

Galalith or Milkstone has an interesting history behind it. It was use to produce gemestone realistic imitations.

Other Galalith names: Milkstone, Erinoid (United Kingdom), aladdinite (USA), Casolith (Netherlands) and lactoloid (Japan).

How to make fake snow

I’ve wanted to try snowmaking (to make fake snow)for a long time. This is a handcraft that will help us to decorate our nativity scene at Christmas or if we make a model with the little ones and we want to give it a touch of realism with snow. Or just to get your hands dirty and enjoy for a while.

I have tried 5 different methods to have artificial snow, I show them to you and compare them throughout the article. Internet is full of tutorials on how to make snow in diapers and I find it a disastrous activity and not suitable for children.

After a first frustrated attempt I liked the experience so little that I have looked for more method to make homemade artificial snow, in a much safer, spectacular way and that you can do easily with your children. Here you have it all.