Wii's and Reflection

I know Hunter hasn't had much of a spotlight on here lately, but he said something the other day that made me laugh.

We were watching Netflix with the Wii and he suddenly commented,

"Mom, wouldn't it be cool if the Wii remote could reflect off of me and then bounce back to the sensor?"

Haha, I need to write down this kid's random antics more often. :)

"The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:" 

Numbers 6:25

Hunter is 6 years, 3 months old

Speed of Sound... Or Faster

You know what is a fun science phenomena we get to experience every day here on a military installation?

Sound [obviously] and its speed.

Jets fill the airspace in our neighborhood. Occasionally it will be loud enough to rattle the windows. Or make it so you have to pause while ordering from the drive thru at McDonalds. Or produce crying babies and flustered employees from hitting a sonic boom over the Exchange.

But one of the coolest things is how, as we watch a jet (or six) gliding across the horizon in the California sky, the sound of the jet is always a good, well, not sure of the exact length, but always a good distance behind the jet. You hear the jet in one place, but see it in another.

This has resulted in many impromptu discussions on the speed of sound (and light, for that matter, because they somehow tend to go together). 

Mom is not usually all that fancy in planning crafty science experiments but, in short, we've just observed this frequent phenomena, talked about how sound is a wave and has a speed, talked about how sound is actually just vibration (using our own mouths making an "ahhh" note to illustrate) and how our brain interprets the different vibrations and recognizes them as different sounds.

We've also used the whole talking-through-a-paper-towel-tube thing to learn about sound's behavior more.

But who needs paper towel tubes when you've got F/A-18's?

"And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice."  

Exodus 19:19

Hunter is 5 years, 4 months old

Playing with the Properties of Light

"Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea." 

Job 36:30

Hunter is 5 years, 3 months old

Experimenting with Force, Pressure, and the Volume of Air

"One is so near to another, that no air can come between them."

Job 41:16

Hunter is 4 years, 11 months old

Lasers and Garages

Hunter discovered the secrets of the garage door today.

It came about in quite a humorous way, actually. Jokingly, while Hunter was about to walk into the garage, Brandon decided to close the door on him. Which of course startled Hunter and made it so that he didn't finish his quest to get inside. I showed him that, the door was not going to shut on him anyway though, because of the laser beam that would set it off if it was disrupted.

"Try it" I said.

This lead to repeated bouts of Hunter running in and out of the garage, setting off the safety switch and preventing the door from closing. And him laughing mightily in excitment and triumph. And him carefully examining the little boxes where the invisible light beams come out. And a little bit of talk about different kinds of light waves and how they behave.

Now onto solving his persistent questioning of how it is that the door opens with the push of a button half a block down the road.

The neighbors must think we're crazy.

"Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither..."

Genesis 19:22

Hunter is 4 years, 11 months old

Blackbody Radiation and other Science Super-Heros

Over a year ago, on a whim, we got a really cool book from the library about physics. I say on a whim because I got it just because I thought it looked so cool, even though we weren't really looking for physics books and it's not really something we were focusing on at the moment. But it turned out that Hunter loved it.

The book was a book in the Simeon Basher series and I am just amazed at this guy at what a great idea this science series was! It started off with his first book, The Periodic Table: Elements with Style, which set out to give each element of the periodic table "character" and "personality" in a fun, memorable way.

He then went and took the same idea at applying personalities to concepts of physics, astronomy, biology and more. And Hunter, of course, thinks the books are all about super-heros.

Take, for example, the super hero "Blackbody Radiation" from the physics book. He is part of the "Hot Stuff" gang and described in this way:

• A ninjalike shadow who swallows and slays the Light Crew
• Dark and mysterious, a heat monitor for the universe
• Produces radiation that depends only on his heat

I am a master of the dark arts. When an object is pure black like me, it absorbs all of the light that hits it and radiates it back as heat. My special heat "signature" makes me easy to spot and has helped scientists learn about energy's strange ways. I am the reason why black things heat up and shiny white objects stay cool.

It hot countries, it's a good idea to wear light colors - black clothes may look hip, but they certainly won't keep you cool! I'm not just about gobbling up energy, though - blackbodies also give off heat much more easily than nonabsorbing white or silvery bodies. This is why hot things, such as car radiators, get painted black.

Date of discovery: 1862

Discoverer: Gustav Kirchhoff

Most unusual blackbodies (BB): hot stars

"Best" BB: carbon (absorbs 97% of light)

The categories in the Physics book are Old School (mass, weight, density, speed, acceleration, force, inertia, friction, and gravity), Hot Stuff (energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, entropy, vacuum, and blackbody radiation), the Wave Gang (water wave, sound, earthquake, frequency, amplitude, laser, analogue, and digital), the Light Crew (radio wave, mirowave, infrared, light, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma ray), the Atom Family (atom, electron, proton, neutron, quark, neutrino, Higgs Boson, strong force, and anitmatter) and Nuclear Heavies (radioactivity, alpha particle, beta particle, photon, Schrodinger's Cat, and weak force). 

It is funny how a little imagination and a touch of creativity can make certain concepts so fun, memorable, and easy to understand. Hunter, especially when we first got the book from the library, would squeal with excitement and shout, "Physics!" when he saw the cover of the book. I even remember one time where he had mistaken a cartoon on a book for his beloved physics book, got excited and yelled "physics" and people looked at him in confusion wondering what on earth it was that this little kid was talking about.

We just recently bought some of the books with a gift card we got for Christmas. The ones we got this time around were the ones about Physics, Rocks and Minerals, and Biology. I hope to get all the books in the series and am especially excited about their one about Math (but it doesn't come out until July!) and Earth Science (which comes out in the end up March). I think they're neat, not only because Hunter loves them, but also because, while learning about all the characters in the Physics book and Chemistry book will not exactly leave him with a complete and thorough understanding of those subjects, it will leave him with memorable knowledge of a great deal of vocabulary and concepts and a love of the subject that will make these topics easy and interesting when he is studying them more thoroughly in fifth grade, or college, or whatever (or kindergarten for that matter).

After all, how hard can beta particles and neutrinos be when you have been familiar with them since you were still using training wheels? Or when they are in your mind a quirky little character with all sorts of neat abilities? It is what I like to call "productive playtime" and I am so excited about all the amazing books and tools they have nowadays that make such play so easy and accessible.

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 

2 Peter 3:10

Hunter is 4 years, 10 months old

It Started with a Nail Clipper...

It was another one of those "hundred times a day" moments, though this one a little more detailed than most.

Hunter was desperately trying to figure out how to trim his own nails, but had his finger that he was trying to push with far too close to the end, and as such they weren't clipping. He told me that they weren't sharp enough, and when I looked at him and saw the way he was holding them, I explained that the reason they weren't working was because he didn't have enough leverage.

Which lead to a whole discussion on leverage, fulcrums, force, and even inertia. I grabbed a yard stick, a shoe, and a heavy book, slid the yard stick under the book and had Hunter lift it with just one finger right beside the edge of the book. Then, with the fulcrum in place (aka shoe) and us using the far end of the stick, we experienced the power of leverage.

He thought this was pretty cool.

I actually had to get out my handy science homework helper to remember what it was that a fulcrum was called [which I love and use all the time, but sadly discovered that it is out of publication so I can't post a link].

On the same page as different kinds of levers, we talked about how a lever was a kind of machine, and that force was a push or a pull. He wanted to try out his lever (which he had now turned into a seesaw) on one of his toys, flinging it into the air. I then mentioned that the toy didn't have very much inertia, which is how much force it takes to set it into motion. I explained that anything can be set into motion if you apply enough force, and talked about how we could even move the wall or house if we applied the force of a bulldozer.

I asked him what else in the room had a lot of inertia, and he said the table. We categorized a few more things by their amount of inertia, then he went back to flinging his action figure.

I wrote up some vocabulary cards for him (force, machine, lever, motion, fulcrum, and inertia) but, instead of quizzing him on them, I joined in his play and decided to use the words in context."Go ahead and apply force to the lever, if it's a big push the dog will be set in motion really fast." "Let's see what happens if we move the fulcrum this way..." and "Which one to you think has the most inertia: the dog or the man?"

Then it was time to go to bed. When I woke up this morning, there he was, in the living room, experimenting with force and motion and simple machines. And also turning the yard stick into a bridge for his soldiers to attack the bad guys.

"My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD." 

Psalm 26:12

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

Light Focusing

Hunter was playing around with his magnifying glass today, focusing the light from the lamp on a piece of dirt he found on the couch.

He played with it for quite a while, and then told me, "Look, Mom. I made a flashlight!"

"Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways." 

Job 22:28

Shadow Play

While I was working on Sunday School materials today, Hunter was listening to tapes, coloring, and talking to me. Even when I can't be actively doing things with him, I still want to include him in what I'm doing in whatever way I can.

So in a moment of spontaneity, I started making shadow puppets. He laughed at the little dogs and bunnies (that's about all I know how to do) and then, as he was across the table from me, I reached my hand back towards the lamp, making my hand shadow quite huge, and jokingly said, "Roar! I'm going to get you!"

I then started moving my hand backward and forward, saying, "Big, little, big, little." I explained why, when my hand got closer to the light bulb, it was blocking more light, which made my hand appear bigger, and when I moved it far away, it was blocking less light, so my hand looked smaller.

He was cracking up.

Then of course, he had to try it. He was laughing the whole time, delighted in this simple discovery. I laughed, too, and was reminded yet again how, when you have a preschooler, life is never boring, and each day full of new discoveries. And I was thankful, so thankful, for the blessing of being a mother.

little

big

little

big

"Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily..."

Deuteronomy 6:3

Hunter is 4 years, 2 months old 

Museum of Science and Industry

An Afternoon at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry from joel gratcyk on Vimeo.

Today we went with our family to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We haven't been there in a long time even though we have a membership. It's a really great museum, and apparently the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere! We're so blessed to live so close to such awesome learning experiences in our community.

The main focus of our visit was to see their seasonal exhibit, Christmas Around the World or also called Holiday of Lights. Each year at Christmas time they deck their halls with dozens of Christmas trees, each tree representing one of more than 50 countries. The ornaments on the trees represent the traditions of the country and there is a tablet in front of each tree giving you information about how that country celebrates, a traditional holiday greeting (Feliz Navidad!), and other fun information.You can actually go to the link above and read about the different countries featured.

Some of the trees didn't quite represent that country's respective decorating traditions, i.e. the USA tree looked more like a Fourth of July tree than a Christmas one! But the Swedish one, on the other hand, had tons of familiar decorations, like the straw reindeer and the weaved paper heart ornaments. Hunter's Great Grandma was full-blood Swedish, and we actually have some Swedish Christmas decorations such as these that she gave us.

We learned a lot in this exhibit and read many of the trees.

Fast Forward

The Fast Forward into the Future exhibit was pretty neat. Emailing pizzas? Human-like robots? There was a lot of interesting stuff in this exhibit, which Hunter enjoyed. Below - Hunter and Jocelyn enthralled by the "magic" mist at the entrance; Hunter experiments with some sort of sound-mixing music machine; Hunter tests out a fuel-efficient car; butterflies land on Hunter's outline as he experiments with a computer that can be run by your shadow.

Chicks and Genetics

Hunter really loved the baby chicks at the Genetics exhibit. I think we all did, as we hung around there for a long time! There were a lot that were already hatched but we didn't get to see any hatching, unfortunately. Hunter and Jocelyn also really loved playing with this touch-screen controlled video presentation that takes you into life in the womb.

Trains

We briefly looked at the train exhibit. There were tons of awesome little electric trains running on over 1000-feet of track, with mini replicas of the city of Chicago and so much more.

Aerodynamics

We spent quite a while relaxing in the aerodynamics exhibit, which I would have loved to explore more with Hunter, except I spent most of the time sitting down! We were all pretty exhausted at that point - well, everyone except Hunter that is! I had a hard time keeping an eye on him as he was busily running all around checking everything out!

"And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints."

Psalm 89:5

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

Little Scientist

Hunter was playing with Duplos today and sure was figuring out a lot of stuff.

I had helped him create a two-sided stairs (see picture) but it wasn't staying together all that well and whenever he put one of his toys on it it fell apart.

So, on his own, he constructed a pillar and attached it to the middle of the stairs, creating a perfect support. The edges were still a little shaky though, so he made two more pillars and placed them on both sides of the original.

I know it's not rocket science, but I love watching him figure this stuff out. Figuring out why one structure stands and one structure falls. Figuring how tall you can make a tower of Duplos before it bends too far and goes tumbling to the ground. Figuring out why some things hook together and others don't fit. It's not like it's even possible to categorize everything he figures out by building, by trial and error, but it sure is fun to watch him. Kids learn through play but also think that learning is play (like learning the Greek alphabet or how to play the piano). I love that he can have both, and they don't have to be in conflict with each other.

"And at the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David..."

Nehemiah 12:37

Hunter is 3 years, 5 months old

Sink or Float Experimenting

Today we played a little science game and discovered more about the concepts of "sink" and "float" and why certain objects do one or the other.

We used a bunch of toys and threw them in a sink full of water to see what would happen to each.

We talked about why, this one sunk because it had holes in it, and see how it lets the water in? And this one floats because it is full of air and is has a lower density than the water.

He really had a fun time and after just a few times, I was surprised to see how accurate his hypothesizing became on whether or not a particular toy would sink or float.

"I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me."

Psalm 62:9

Hunter is 2 years, 5 months old