Today, we are catching up on experiments that were scheduled in my Sonlight Science Instructor's Guide. The guide is not approved by the school district because it is published by a Christian company, but the experiment book and the materials kit are approved.
The experiments were easy enough for F to play with, but not so easy that IJ was bored. The experiment kit came with enough supplies for four children!
I was so glad that I bought these art trays when I realized the light bulbs and batteries would be rolling off the table and falling on the floor. Each kid got their own color (except E, who got to use her back up color).
The experiments encouraged letting the kids fool around with the foil ribbons, batteries, and light bulbs so they could discover points of contact and short circuits. I managed to burn my fingers demonstrating a short circuit! Then I drew pictures of possible connections (straight out of the book, I did not make them up myself) and the kids had to predict whether or not they would work.
After they predicted outcomes, they built the connection, and proved or disproved their hypotheses. One experiment had them combine supplies to see if they could make the bulb glow brighter! IJ's mental light brightened when he remembered that he had disassembled a flashlight a few weeks ago and knew how to line up the batteries. It was a fun morning!
