9 Backyard Science Experiments

My children are educated in the public school system. However, I strongly believe that parents are a child's first and most important teacher. Over the years we have engaged in some after-schooling activities. And every summer, I pick certain themes for each week so that we can read books from the library and plan activities in a way that is exciting and educational.

So today, as I was trying to wrap up our recent science week lessons, I decided that we needed to do a little tree study. There are many transpiration experiments online and it seemed an easy enough subject to describe (my favorite online explanation is this one). So I headed out into the backyard with a bag and a rubber band, planning how I would explain to my "eager" children that trees breath and sweat.

I explained to my kids that trees breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Lucky us, since we breathe in oxygen and out carbon dioxide. Trees also take in water and nutrients through their roots then "sweat" out water through the stoma on their leaves as a way of pulling water up through the tall plant. The water quickly evaporates off the leaves and into the atmosphere ... unless we catch it first. The plastic bag went onto the tree, covering a small bundle of low hanging leaves. The rubber band then went around the bag to secure it. We checked back often and found that the transpiration was slow at first, but really picked up once the leaves were in full sunlight. The warmth of the sun made more of the water condense on the inside of the bag explained my eight year old!

There are so many simple backyard experiments to keep us outdoors and learning in a natural environment. Try one today:

1. Solar energy experiment:
Place ice cubes on white and black paper, other colors as well, and compare melt rates.

2. Worm farms:
Fill a large clear container with dirt and several ants or worms. Watch as they tunnel through the dirt.

3. Feed some ants:
Ants stomachs are apparently transparent (I haven't tried this one yet. But it looks really cool!).

4. Build a moisture trap:
Learn about how moisture condenses in the cool air of the night by catching the dew for morning observation. Dig a hole and place a small plastic container in the bottom. Cover the hole with plastic wrap and secure the sides with stones. Place a few small pebbles in the center of the plastic causing it to sag but not collapse. Check back in the morning.

5. Make a compass:
Check out a map, consult your iPhone compass, or build your own with household materials.

6. Make a weather station:
Measure the temperature with an outside thermometer. Plant pinwheels in the garden to measure wind speeds - fast or slow. And make a rain gauge out of an old plastic cup to catch and measure precipitation.

7. Look for fossils:
With a magnifying glass in hand, explore backyard rocks or shells looking for regular patterns or swirls.

8. Watch seeds grow:
Plant seeds in small compostable containers such as toilet paper rolls, eggs cartons, or tea bags. Keep the seeds wet with a spray bottle, observing the plants growth each day. After about 2 weeks, transplant the entire container into garden soil.

We'll continue to collect great ideas for learning in the backyard on our Classroom Without Walls Pinterest board. Leave a comment below with your favorite backyard science experiments and we'll pin it!

Planting for the Second Harvest

When we moved into our new home in June, we inherited what our landlord referred to as orphaned tomato plants. Indeed, there in the backyard, inside a raised bed garden planter, was about an inch of light brown soil and seven scraggly tomato plants. The plants leaned in on each other and over the sides of the box with little support. The roots peaked out of the hard, dry soil, reaching for any ounce of nutrition. Despite their circumstances, these perennial vegetable plants were already producing beautiful green tomatoes and bright yellow buds worthy of envy.

We promptly provided tomato stakes and fertilizer to our newly adopted tomato plants and have since enjoyed two months full of sweet, delicious tomatoes. At some points during the summer, I wondered how we could ever eat enough tomatoes to keep up with our harvest. Along the way, I learned varied new ways to cook and preserve those beautiful garden gems. Now as summer draws to a close, our tomato plants are no longer producing and are showing signs of their early season neglect.

So today, in order to reclaim our garden beds in time for a second harvest, we cleared out those tomato plants, filled the beds with rich compost and fresh garden soil, and sowed new seeds for the fall. In double rows, we planted seeds that the kids had selected themselves at Lowes: garden peas, lettuce, and carrots. To experiment, we also planted some store bought garlic and white seed potatoes. We've already started talking about ways they might enjoy our fresh produce in recipes this coming fall.

The boys and I will be watering daily and hope to see some fresh green growth in our garden within the next week. (We watered after planting the seeds of course. Notice that the shed and my smallest son were watered as well.)

For an inside learning opportunity, we put a few of each type of seed in a sealed plastic bag along with a damp paper towel. These are taped to our kitchen window for close observation.

Racing Airplanes

Just days after last school year ended, we packed all of our earthly belongings into a moving truck and crossed four state lines following a wonderful career opportunity. Despite the boxes to unpack and the friends left behind, I was determined to pack our summer with many fun and educational activities.

To kick off our summer of fun, we headed to the library and checked out a number of books about our new home state - fun right? We learned about the Civil War and gold mining, NASCAR and bluegrass. It was the Wright brothers, though that ultimately captured my young sons' curiousities. The history of flight lends itself well to lessons across many subject areas. We read biographies. We did physics experiments. We even incorporated some math comparing flight times and speeds to current aircraft technologies.

Being summer, our lesson time quickly evolved into play. I encouraged the boys to experiment with different paper airplane folding techniques. We decorated each plane and headed outside to test them out. After several test runs, their competitive spirits kicked in. The "M Glider," aptly named for its shape, flew the longest routes and did the best tricks. It was the best candidate of all our airplanes for a game of paper-airplane-frisbee-golf.

The rules:

Each player takes turns to throw their paper airplane onto one of five frisbee bases.

Frisbees are positioned flat and upside-down (or bowl-side-up) on the lawn or on play structures in the yard.

Players take turns to throw their airplanes onto same bases in the same order taking as many throws as needed to get on the base.

Each throw is worth one point.

The player with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.

The kids had a great time creating this game and spent hours refining the rules. What new, and maybe silly games have you and your family created in your own backyard?

Need more great ideas for games to play in your backyard? Check out our Backyard Games Pinterest board!

There are many more ideas across the blogosphere. Check out the Outside Game link up over at Inspiration Lboratories:

The Unclimbable Tree

In our backyard, is half of a beautiful Bradford Pear tree. Years before we moved in, the tree was struck by lightning and the entire right half of the tree crashed into the fence. The fence was repaired, the tree limbs removed, and amazingly, the tree continued to grow. An ever present reminder of the strength and beauty of nature, right in our backyard.

To my children, the tree is a confounding mystery. Oddly shapen and nearly impossible to climb. There are few low branches to grab onto and those that are left, are stacked closely together making it hard to grab onto or slip a foothold into. As I write this post, they are in the backyard gathered around the trunk of the tree and dreaming of climbing high into its branches. I have told them a million times that the tree is unclimbable. And there are other trees in our yard that are much more hospitable to small children.

Today though, I quietly let them scheme. They are working as a team and sharpening their problem solving skills. They are using the materials available to them and using them creatively. At the end of the day, they will either be challenged to success or taste a small failure. Both can serve as motivation to tackle other problems, or trees, in the future. I won't tell them, "It's okay. You can only try your best." I will tell them to try again tomorrow. And they will. And they will climb many unclimbable trees.

Perseid Meteor Shower

Don't forget to spend some time outside this weekend checking out the night sky. In the northern hemisphere, we will be able to see the Perseid Meteor Shower peaking tomorrow overnight (August 11th into the predawn hours of August 12th) as the crescent moon, Jupiter, and Venus shine brightly in the sky. Before you head outside, be sure to read EarthSky's top 10 tips for meteor-watchers including links to help determine the best time to see the shower where you are.

You can also download NASA's free Meteor Counter app (scroll to the bottom of the article) so that your junior star gazer can contribute their own meteor count numbers in a scientifically meaningful way.

*photo by Dominic Alves

Catching Nature

When it rains in Central Pennsylvania in the spring, bright orange newts come out of the streams and forest in legions. Their orange and red bodies dot a backdrop of lush green grasses. They're not very quick, leaving them vulnerable to predators and inquisitive little boys who hunt and chase and capture their curious prey.

We've always encouraged an ethic of capture and release, hopefully sparing the lives of countless earth worms, caterpillars, lightning bugs, and salamanders. During those few moments of captivity though, there is much to learn from our catch.

1. Learning with our senses
Newts are easy to pick out due to their bright color. And we're able to observe lots of other creatures from afar: turkeys, deer, snakes, frogs. But when you hold a creature in your hands, there is more to experience then just their physical appearance. A newt is smooth and sometimes wet which leads to conversations about their habitat in the cool, wet places in the forest. They make no sound leading to conversations about their docile, sluggish temperament. Some creatures have a distinct smell. As my son says, "Newts smell like rain and worms smell like dirt." We use all of our senses to experience nature and those who live in it.

2. Response to danger
The myriad of newts in our yard after the rain are slow and make no attempt to allude capture. They none-the-less wriggle and squirm when held and move away from danger when released. We've had other more exciting run ins with nature. A small snake was warming itself on our brick front path one afternoon when he was encountered by a small boy with a whistle. The snake reared up and hissed at the offending intruder before slithering into the cool of the grass. Other animals, like skunks and porcupines, provide wonderful illustrations of defense mechanisms that do not involve flight from a dangerous situation. Luckily, these have never been close encounters.

3. Respect for nature
Through watching nature respond to us as a danger, I can teach my kids to respect the living beings we observe. Nature is fragile, a lesson we have learned through the accidental dismemberment of daddy long legs and lightning bugs left too long in a jar. These have been sad lessons to learn and reminders that we need to be good stewards of nature around us. Nature is also wild, it cannot be tamed or contained. I love to watch my children explore and experience nature, but at the end of the day, "Outside things stay outside".

I love when we experience nature that can be held and touched and explored up close. There are so many lessons children can learn from an intimate closeness with the natural world around them.

In what ways do you foster and encourage your children in their exploration of nature?

All Natural Sun Protection

My news feed recently seems filled with questions about the merits of traditional, store bought sunscreen. Is it effective? Are the ingredients potentially toxic? Could sunscreen itself cause cancers?

I don't consider myself to be an alarmist. I also clearly value the benefits of sunshine and loathe the results of an accidental day without sunscreen (it happens to the best of us). However, with three small children who play endlessly in the sun, it's good to occasionally question if we are using the best method to protect their young skin. Luckily, there are several options to utilize, a combination of which seems to be the safest and most effective strategy to ward off a bad sunburn.

Choose a good, natural sunscreen:

It's best to choose a sunscreen that is natural or organic. However, with so many marketing ploys, it's best to check out the ingredient list of store bought sunscreens to determine the best option. Need help deciphering that ingredient list? Check out the FDA for a list ofchemical ingredients to avoid in sunscreens and other cosmetics. Also remember, it's best to use a broad spectrum sunscreen with UVA and UVB protection that is PABA free.

Also consider application type and ease of use. I'm a fan of sunscreen sticks or bars, especially for squirmy toddler faces. It has been noted that spray on sunscreens, although effective when trying to target the sunscreen adverse types, may pose unknown risks due to the inhalation of chemicals.

You can easily make your own, all natural sunscreen with products purchased online. Andrea over at Frugally Sustainable offers up a really easy sunscreen recipe and links to purchase the ingredients. Or you can just add some zinc to your favorite lotion.

Physical barriers:

I put a hat on my kids' heads each morning before they go out the door. We also tend to eat lunch in our shady screened in porch avoiding some of the strongest sun rays of the day. There are numerous clothes, hats, and beach umbrellas that provide a barrier to the sun. Just make sure you find something with an SPF protective factor appropriate for your family's outside activities.

Foods:

We can boost the natural protective factors in our own skin just by eating a healthy diet filled with the right vitamins and minerals.

This Modern Mom Health & Fitness article describes the potential benefits of Vitamin F Skin Care and the limitations of the current scientific research.

Fox News lists 9 Sun-Protective Foods in their health coverage including orange, yellow, and red pigmented fruits and vegetables like peppers, squash, tomatoes and watermelon.

The benefits of playing outside and experiencing nature on a sunny day far outweigh the risks and hassles associated with finding and using the right sun protection. If you've made your own sunscreen, please tell us about it in the comments below. What other ways do you protect your skin while enjoying the outdoors?