Working with Homefront

For the past month or so I have been going down to a summer camp for underprivileged kids to run science activities. It's a really nice place. They spend the morning working on academic things (one day I saw some kids playing math basketball!), and in the afternoon they do more typical summer camp activities like arts and crafts. So I got to come in as a "bonus" academic activity. I took took the kids in smaller groups.

Fun with Glurch

Every time I went I got a different age group.  I first had the teens, then 5th and 6th graders, 3rd and 4th graders, and then the kindergarten through 2nd graders. The first four times I went, I did pretty much the same activity set I did with my other afterschool program. The experiments were matter themed - first we did chromatography and talked about what molecules are and the fact that they move around. Next, we made Glurch and discussed its different properties, and why each one ended up slightly different (because I don't have time to accurately measure the ingredients, so it's all estimating). With the Oobleck, we could talk about states of matter. The straws didn't really relate to the matter theme, but we used them to teach about sound. And it was a nice, not too messy way to wrap up.

National Night Out

National Night Out is a (presumably national) event held the first Tuesday in August to promote anti-crime organizations and the like. But they also have other community members run booths, and in my town I got to be one of them!

My set-up was pretty similar to that of the local fair I did a few months ago. I was having the kids make Glurch, but I also had a bowl of Oobleck out as a demo they could touch.

Some statistics:
I brought a total of 26 oz of glue, and by the end I had used 18 oz.
I had about 75 kids come by to make something (I only had 25 cups left from a pack of 100).
The colors in order of popularity were blue, green, pink/red, yellow. I actually ran out of blue food coloring.

Here's the sign I put on my booth.

One of the glue bottles was of clear glue. I think I actually preferred it to the white glue, at least in terms of looks. The resulting Glurch seemed a bit stickier and goopier, but I ran out of the stuff before I could really see if that was the case. So sometime soon I want to compare the two (with accurately measured proportions!) and see if there are any differences.

My one big problem with doing the Glurch is that I don't actually measure the amounts out. The cup is filled up to a certain line, but then the water and borax are just kind of thrown in. This makes the proportions slightly different in every batch and leads to some being better than others.

Additionally, with the Oobleck you have to mix it occasionally, because I've found that the water and cornstarch tend to separate.

Unfortunately, this time I forgot the recipie cards. Which is a shame because some people asked me how to make it at home. But I did bring plastic snack bags for them to put their finished Glurch into.

Observations

Last week was my last day (at least for a while) to work with the after-school program I've been with. I must say it was pretty fun. I got a different group of kids each time. The were usually pretty excited when it got to be their turns because they had seen the Glurch the other kids had made.

They definitely liked the messy activities best. After my first visit, I realized that in addition to the tablecloth, they would need something to keep them from being covered in food coloring and other stuff. I ended bringing in some workshirts I didn't mind them getting dirty. And thank goodness I did. As part of Oobleck, I had them touch the cornstarch by itself (because it feels unusually smooth). For some reason, they children really enjoyed throwing the cornstarch at each other. I would also not recommend doing these activities over a nice floor because every time we ended up having to wipe it off extensively.

Two of the kids I had in my first group liked the experience so much that they kept on trying to sneak into my other sessions. As long as I had enough materials I would usually let them. And I'm happy to say at least some things I taught them must have stuck, because they could explain a few of the activities to the new kids!

I admit, as I went through the sessions my explanations got progressively worse. This was partly due to the fact that the groups kept getting younger. The last group was full of second graders. We could discuss what state of matter the Oobleck was, but that was about it.

The Real World

Yesterday was my first time going into the real world with my kits. I'm working with an afterschool program in a nearby town. I get there a little after my school day ends, set up, run some activities, clean up, and head home.

At The Fair

Last weekend my town held a fair and I got to run a booth. I thought I would share my experiences with it. While it was overall successful (and very fun) there were several mishaps along the way.