Science Lesson in the Dirt

There is a wash a few blocks away from our house, and all of the rain has turned it into a muddy mess, or what we like to call a clean up/science experiment!

We spent a little while cleaning the sidewalk a few Saturdays ago. Cullen and Delaney shoveled the dirt, and Sophie and I moved the rocks out of the way. The girls enjoyed the mud and the flowers, along with the occasional butterfly. They noticed that some of the mud was brown and some was black. We also found a rock that was shaped like a heart.

Cullen explained to the girls that the black dirt is actually iron and cobalt, That night, we watched a "Real Science" video on Discovery Education Streaming Plus** about magnetism. Delaney asked some good questions,  and we played with some magnets and different objects.

The following day, Cullen found a few big magnets and containers, put the little girls in the wheelbarrow (their new favorite stroller), and headed back to the wash.

The three of them collected "magnet dirt" while I collected some trash.

 

 

 

They brought home a container full, and Cullen showed Delaney how they could play with it, and test it to see if it would conduct electricity.

It was a pretty cool way to play in the mud. :)

**We recently purchased a year subscription to Discovery Education Streaming Plus. We are finding it to be an excellent replacement for Netflix. It has videos on almost any subject you can think of, along with educational shows, fiction and non-fiction. Delaney loves the "Magic School Bus" and "Ping and Pong Learn Science". Sophie's favorite is the 10 minute clip from an Animals video featuring kittens. We purchased it for 50% off through www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org. They are offering this deal again through 9/30/12. If you are interested, follow this link. We have enjoyed it a lot so far. It has helped us learn about the early 1900's, magnetism, animals, force, energy, digestion....I could go on. Much, much better than Dora the Explorer every day!