Utterly Jarvellous: 50 primary science activities you can do in a jar by Bloomsbury Publishing

Utterly Jarvellous

50 primary science activities you can do in a jar Sai Pathmanathan

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BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY EDUCATION and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2021 Text copyright © Sai Pathmanathan, 2021 Illustrations copyright © Jim Peacock (Beehive Illustration), 2021 Eye diagram, p. 59 © Shutterstock Sai Pathmanathan has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes All rights reserved. This book may be photocopied, for use in the educational establishment for which it was purchased, but may not be reproduced in any other form or by any other means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage or retrieval systems – without prior permission in writing of the publishers A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: PB: 978-1-4729-8483-8; ePDF: 978-1-4729-8893-5 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 (paperback) Text design by Marcus Duck Design Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group Ltd, CR0 4YY

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CONTENTS Acknowledgements

Introduction

How to run the activities

Part 1: Plants

1. Let it grow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Go with the flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3. Basil dazzle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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Part 4: Light

8. Arrow, how do you do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 9. In the shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Part 2: Animals, including humans

4. Totally natural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 5. Shake it up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 6. Wormland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

10. Candle with care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Part 5: Forces and magnets

11. Which way now?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 12. Can’t hide from me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Part 3: Rocks

7. Rock and roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

13. The penny drops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 14. Underwater darts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 15. Wacky jar races. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 16. Building bridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 17. Air, there you are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 18. Jarometer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 19. Water way to hang around. . . . . . . . . . . 50

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Part 6: Living things and their habitats

20. Can you sea the levels rise? . . . . . . . . . . . 54 21. Turbid or not turbid, that is the question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 22. Tension on the surface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Part 9: Properties and changes of materials

34. Rust give me a minute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 35. At yeast it’s a good disguise. . . . . . . . . . 94

Part 7: States of matter

36. All the colours of the cabbage . . . . . . . 96 37. It’s crystal clear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 38. I lava this activity so much. . . . . . . . . . 102

23. Unbelievabubble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

39. Salad dressed as lamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

24. Not a pigment of your imagination. . . 64

40. Oil be there . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

25. A little ’berg told me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

41. Water you think will happen? . . . . . . . 110

26. Breathing into the cool breeze. . . . . . . 68

42. Floatato. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

27. Oh so ice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

43. It’s all about to change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

28. With flying colours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

44. Make the papers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

29. Warm up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

45. Cleaning it up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

30. Our very extinguished guest. . . . . . . . . 76

46. Heat me up, peas! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

31. Not fate, it’s density. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Part 8: Sound and electricity

32. Jar-mazing tunes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 33. So ec-static. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Part 10: Earth and space, EVOLUTION AND INHERITANCE

123

47. The stars are bright above you. . . . . . . 124 48. Total eclipse of my lid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 49. My pet sky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 50. Utterly gene-ius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

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Acknowledgements The idea for this book has been bubbling away in my head for a number of years, but it has finally become a reality thanks to some truly lovely people. Firstly, many thanks to the amazing Hannah Marston and her team at Bloomsbury Education, and the brilliant Jim Peacock and Marcus Duck for such perfect illustrations and designs. They have all worked much harder than me on this book, bringing it to life so wonderfully. I am extremely grateful to the following friends and colleagues for generously giving up their time to read drafts and to help and advise me as I wrote this book: Matt Bagley, David Bailey, Penny Fletcher, Sarah Langford, Matt Pritchard, Elin Roberts and Martin Ulmschneider. Their kind words meant so much too. A special heartfelt thanks is due to Paul McCrory and Kath Skillern, not only for their mind-blowing expertise and meticulous attention to detail, but also for the best anecdotes and comments within their tracked comments. Everyone needs a giggle when editing! Especially me. Working on initiatives such as ‘Plastic Is Not Fantastic’ with support from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (thank you, Tristan Lawrence and Sara Canullo) and Galapagos Conservation Trust projects (thank you, Jen Jones) helped inform the environmental aspect of this book. Developing these environmentally friendly science activities for classrooms, science clubs, family workshops and community events wouldn’t have been possible without the unwavering enthusiasm of all the school staff, children and parents (too numerous to name here). Finally, I owe an eternal amount of gratitude to my awe-inspiring, encouraging and ever-supportive parents and brother for always being there for me, nurturing my curiosity and love for learning, and continually joining me on my journey discovering the wonders of science. Thank you. You’re all utterly marvellous!

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Introduction This book contains a set of 50 (and more, if you explore!) easily accessible, environmentally friendly, incredibly low-cost hands-on activities for children to try out under the supervision of an educator. Its primary audience is teachers of seven- to 11-year-old pupils, but parents and carers, especially homeschoolers, will find this book useful too, as all items can be found within the home and local outdoor areas. All you need to start is a jar! The aim of each activity is to inspire children to think about science and to play, experiment and link what they observe back to things they’ve seen or heard of before. For example, do they know why soap helps clean their hands? There are many STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities that can be demonstrated with a piece of paper, a pencil or a paperclip, but some of the most engaging and impressive ones need a container of some sort. And with more and more of us reassessing our plastic consumption, the need for environmentally friendly educational activities is vital. Science isn’t just about big explosions and huge chemical reactions. With a few pieces of simple equipment, the science can be just as impressive, if not more so. It’s because children get to do it themselves and see the applications and how these activities connect to their daily lives. Children enjoy creating individual experiments on a small scale – for them to take ownership of and observe. Science creates a sense of awe and wonder about the world around us, making us ask questions to figure it all out. As educators we don’t know all the answers and we don’t need to, but we can work with children to listen to their ideas and encourage them to test them out. The excitement of seeing a reaction happen in their jar, that they’ve created, will be enough for children to start thinking like a scientist and wanting to investigate further. Every single science experience helps add to a child’s science capital, which can help them have a positive outlook about science as they grow older and even encourage them to consider science as a future career.

What to expect from this book The activities in this book are linked to the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum in England, to support the teaching of science to children aged seven to 11. The activities are divided into parts based on the main curriculum area they cover, but most link to more than one curriculum area. Each activity comes with teaching notes that outline the experiment and explain the science behind it, in other words what happens and why. There are photocopiable (or projectable) worksheets for the children complete with instructions to follow the main activity, so they can work a little more independently and record their data, observations and predictions. Questions on the worksheets often prompt children to answer ‘What if?’ vi Utterly Jarvellous

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and ‘What do you think?’, and if there’s time children could actually test out their own hypotheses. Each activity provides various alternatives including optional materials. These are only needed if carrying out the further investigative science work given in the ‘Explore even more’ sections. The science explanations in the ‘What is happening?’ sections are full of detail for inquisitive children such as those who attend science clubs. For others, depending on their age, interests and understanding, less of this detail may be appropriate. Feel free to use as much or as little of these descriptions as you need. Children will start to make connections between the science explanations in each activity (and their prior knowledge), helping them understand that with many of the phenomena we see every day, there are several factors at play. Some activities complement each other because they cover similar topics or use the same materials. This is mentioned in the ‘Other activities’ sections. By revisiting topics through different activities and using this book alongside other science educational experiences, children’s science learning can be reinforced.

The story behind this book I have been working in science education and outreach for 20 years and have always believed that everyone learns best when they’re doing something – especially when learning about science. Working with schools on a regular basis, within classrooms and after-school science clubs, I hear about ever-decreasing school budgets and about the support teachers need to buy equipment and to explain various scientific concepts easily. Teachers mentioned many online resources that have constantly moving webpages (bookmarked webpages may move all the time, but bookmarked activities in this book aren’t likely to move, unless you drop the book… not a problem for the e-book version!). Other resources are difficult to download or say ‘easy-to-find household materials’ but for schools with extremely diverse populations, inclusivity and the offer of adaptations are continually overlooked. For example, we cannot assume that everyone will have access to alcohol itself, let alone wine corks, and some children and teachers may not want to touch beef stock cubes! As resource developers, just because some of us may have these in our homes it doesn’t mean everyone will have them. Which is why I feel as someone who works in a diverse range of schools nationally and internationally, understands audiences, and is able to develop and adapt activities, that I can create what I believe is a useful educational activity book.

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I have always reused items in my outreach activities but had become increasingly aware of the amount of waste created (whether plastic or food) during events. Using household items should be about repurposing current waste, not going out to buy specific items in order to create more waste. For example, we shouldn’t buy a roll of clingfilm purely to use the thick cardboard roll inside it and then throw away all the clingfilm, should we? But unfortunately, it happens. (Those rolls are stronger than kitchen roll tubes and very useful, but what about aluminium foil rolls instead? This way we can use the foil in activities too and reuse or recycle all of it afterwards.) The environmental angle is often encouraged in science activities as ‘here’s a great way to use your waste’. For years I collected old food containers for children to do their experiments in, which I could rinse and reuse for the next session. And wherever needed (for example, when containers split open), I recycled. I was thrilled when children started asking to take their experiments and creations home. But when some said, ‘My mum/dad thought it was rubbish and threw it in the bin’, it made me wonder about the environmental repercussions of others disposing what I had given them. While I had the waste I was able to reuse and recycle it, but I had no idea what happened to these items once they’d left me. I felt guilty and a huge sense of responsibility to adapt my activities to ensure that whatever I was supplying, and whatever children were taking home, was either recyclable, edible, biodegradable or compostable. This is how the idea for this book came about.

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Everyone has a jar available. We eat jams, pickles, chutneys, olives, relishes… so many foods come in jars! And there’s much more to empty jars than trapping spiders (although catching spiders to study and then releasing them outdoors is not a bad use for a jar at all!). As children and budding scientists, jars are the first piece of scientific equipment we see: they look exactly like the beakers and test tubes in labs! Perfect labware hidden in the kitchen. They may be heavier to carry around for outreach, but I feel it’s worth it. Jar lids come in all shapes and sizes too, and when upturned they provide useful dishes for leaving smaller reactions happening on the side. Everyone is more likely to reuse glass jars when they see them, rather than throw them away. Volunteers at outreach events always ask where to rinse and keep jars. Plastic containers on the other hand always look destined for the bin even if they are reusable. As my expertise is in informal science learning, I promote a love for learning that goes beyond curriculum science, so many of the activities in this book take the science a little bit further than the Key Stage 2 curriculum. While there is no need to go into the complexities of the science these activities should serve as a way to introduce concepts within the curriculum and as a gentle, playful introduction to the science children will learn at secondary level and beyond. Let the children’s imaginations decide how far they take the experiments and their learning… Dr Sai Pathmanathan

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How to run the activities

There is no right way to use this book. The activities here will help foster children’s curiosity about the world and will encourage them to work scientifically, explore and ask questions about the science in their everyday lives. Useful tips are given below, and most activities include optional items, alternatives and ideas of how to use the same equipment to demonstrate different scientific concepts. The world is your jam jar!

Safety There will always be a concern about young children working with glass jars. Children regularly drink out of mugs and glasses when at home, and from past experience, the only time there has ever been a breakage during one of these activities, it was by an adult! However, make sure brooms, dustpans and mops are on hand just in case. At the start of each session, begin by explaining the safety issues to children: ⊲ To always make sure they are handling their jars with dry hands, so that the jar can’t slip out of their hands. ⊲ To watch where their jars are, at all times, but not wander around the classroom holding their jars. ⊲ To not eat anything from their jar unless they have been told they can. ⊲ In some activities: to swirl and mix gently when asked, rather than shaking the jar too much.

You’ll already be aware of any allergies and sensitivities, and for all the food-based activities, feel free to substitute where necessary. For example, using non-dairy milks and gluten-free options. Unfortunately, the optional buttermaking activity (in ‘Shake it up’) is a little difficult without dairy cream (or milk), but you can make ‘whipped cream’ using a vegan cream that contains aquafaba (mentioned in the same activity). For allergy and cultural reasons, the activities don’t contain nuts, eggs, meat or anything containing alcohol. Children may have allergies to different pollens or have plant sensitivities that they are not aware of, which could be important to watch out for when they are scavenging outdoors (in the ‘Totally natural’ and ‘Wormland’ activities), as well as sensitivities to some seeds or herbs (in the ‘Let it grow’ activities). Those activities where boiling water or naked flames are used may be best demonstrated by an adult rather than done by the children themselves, depending on their ages and abilities. Children can use hot water that isn’t boiling, and have their activity set-ups ready for lighting with matches (such as in the ‘Candle with care’ and ‘Our very extinguished guest’ activities), while you walk around to each group, lighting each lamp in turn.

Tips

Children tend to be very careful when they take ownership of their experiments. However, you will know your group better than anyone else, and if you do feel that glass jars are not appropriate, most of these activities will work well with various reusable cups. If a child finds handling a jar difficult, they shouldn’t be prevented from taking part in the activities.

Here are some handy tips to keep in mind when you’re running the activities:

As a lot of water is used in these activities, there are likely to be spillages, so children should not walk around with their jars in case of slips and trips. Encourage them to mop up anything they spill so that surfaces and floors are safe for others. Bowls and jugs of water provided at each table allow for children not to have to walk to and from the sink.

There are opportunities to introduce or revisit maths in the activities too: circumference and radius of a circle, ratios and symmetry. Children could also be encouraged to draw graphs of their results (in the ‘Warm up’ activity). After all, what is science without maths?

The great thing about using glass is that it doesn’t retain the smells, colours or stains of the previous activity, so can be reused over and over again. However, it probably isn’t advisable and children may not be keen, for example, to use the wormery jar (‘Wormland’) for also shaking up food items to taste (‘Shake it up’). If children are going to do any tasting make sure all jars, hands and utensils are thoroughly washed and clean. Lollysticks make good taster sticks and stirrers but you’ll need food-grade lollysticks for this.

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Encourage children to see the links between each activity and get them thinking about other questions they may have, and work together, planning ways to take their ideas and experiments further.

Although this book is all about using jars, small tumblers and shot glasses could be used instead (if a lid isn’t needed). While the jar sizes are sometimes suggested (for example, bigger jars for worms, or baby food jars to prevent wastage and for smaller hands to handle), there’s no need for specifically sized jars. Jars also come in fancy shapes and designs, and while some activities may only require a container, others may need a clean, flat surface to the jar to view things through. Give it a try and see if what you already have works.

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If each family and staff member could donate at least one empty jar, whatever size, you could quickly receive a nice variety of jars for the class to experiment with. Even jar label removing could be an activity: which labels are easier to remove? Are any of the labels made of plastic? What can we do with them, and what about the paper ones? Glass ketchup bottles work well in some of the activities too, as they are narrow (for example in the ‘Jarometer’ activity and ‘Not fate, it’s density’ for layering liquids, and ‘So ec-static’ when creating an electroscope). At the start of term, children could be given a jar each and its lid, to personalise (by designing on the lid, as most activities require the jar to be clean and transparent), so they know which jar is theirs. And if you’re running a science club or community group (such as Brownies, Cubs, Scouts, Guides) you could use jars and lids in ice breakers: give each child a random jar and lid that don’t match, and ask them to find who has the other half! Most activities are short but others last a few hours or a day, in which case you could set these up in the morning with the children and they could check them at intervals or at the end of the day. Alternatively, run the activity in the afternoon for children to revisit the next morning. If you’re running an outside-of-school weekly science club, you could bring in or set up a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ to show, if possible. Or children could take their jars home, or set them up at home. Other more investigative activities can last a couple of weeks or more, so you will need to decide when to check in on them with the children and incorporate this into your planning. Whenever there is a need to use the same materials or equipment such as oil, water, ice or a torch, why not double up on the activities? For example, keep the oil and water in the jar from the ‘Candle with care’ activity, and add the other materials for the ‘Not fate, it’s density’ activity. Having a supply of solutions (such as saturated salt solution) is useful if other classes wish to run these activities at the same time, especially during science weeks.

Science is all around us, not just in science lessons and many activities can offer opportunities to discuss wider environmental issues: global warming, climate change, greenhouse gases and species adaptations (for example, ‘A little ’berg told me’). Other activities can be used to demonstrate several science concepts too: see ‘Make the papers’, where the science of ears and inertia is included. During the growing activities, why not involve the community? Ask around at local allotments and garden centres or find colleagues and neighbours who like to grow plants, fruits and vegetables. They may be able to help obtain seeds and plants, and may have handy gardening tips for the children. Take plenty of photos during these activities, as they serve as great display materials and in helping jog children’s memories, reminding them of what they’ve learnt.

How to be as environmentally friendly as possible with these activities While this book is about showing how environmentally friendly you can be, it doesn’t mean you can’t use plastic containers. Use whatever you have, without the need to buy more. In some activities, non-single-use plastic already present in the classroom will be useful (such as rulers in ‘So ec-static’). However, some activities just don’t work with plastic. Whisking yeast extract (in ‘At yeast it’s a good disguise’) with a plastic spoon will break the spoon, and the oil lamp (in ‘Candle with care’) would melt a plastic container. There are so many science activities educators can only do with plastic: those using balloons and drinking straws. This book isn’t about stopping those activities from happening, but about ensuring as much as possible is reused or recycled, and that alternative ways are continually being developed to teach science without harming our planet.

Different jar shapes are good to compare, and these activities can be done on tables, in pairs or groups. When comparing results make sure children understand the concept of the fair test. Which variable have they changed? Are all of the other variables constant? Don’t underestimate the power of a good demonstration, and you could even call up a few children to the front as volunteers. This reduces waste, helps with safety (such as when using naked flames), and encourages children to present to the rest of the class and interact with their audience.

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Glass jars are 100 per cent recyclable forever without any loss in quality. Creating recycled glass means less in landfill, and saves on energy, air and water pollution. While it’s a good idea to recycle, it’s also great to reuse glass containers, especially when the alternative is usually single-use plastic. It may be easier to bulk buy class amounts of materials from discount stores, but these tend to be single-use plastic and unrecyclable. Reusing jars means it’s possible to be environmentally friendly without spending any extra money. Most items in each activity are pieces of stationery found in the classroom or home, such as pencils, string and paperclips. Even sticks and twigs from outdoors can be used. No glue or sticky tape is used, as these tend not to be good for the environment. Here’s a list of stationery, material and utensil items used, and why these were chosen: ⊲ Paperclips and staples: Use steel ones, which are not covered in plastic. ⊲ String: Cotton twine string, thread and wool work well for tying and keeping things in place (alongside paperclips), but also as part of the actual activity (see ‘It’s crystal clear’). ⊲ Rubber bands: Mentioned as a less fiddly alternative to string. As rubber is a natural resource, technically the bands can be composted, but they take decades to break down so it’s better to reuse them. ⊲ Pencils and crayons: These can be used for most of the activities for writing or as part of the activity. Instead of using marker pens, try using crayons or non-toxic, environmentally friendly watercolour pencils which can mark on glass. Originally crayons were made from paraffin wax (a byproduct of petroleum), but now there are ones made from soya or beeswax, which are biodegradable, even if beeswax does take some time to break down.

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⊲ Paper: All papers and cards (provided they are uncoated, and don’t have glue on them) can be composted, recycled or used in the ‘Make the papers’ activity. Make sure any greaseproof paper is not siliconised or a coated parchment paper, and if you wish to use sticky notes (when marking the levels of water on jars, for example), use ones which are non-toxic and easily recyclable or composted. ⊲ Kitchen roll and reusable dishcloths: Kitchen roll can be recycled or composted (provided there is no oil on it – although if there’s only a small amount of oil on a piece of kitchen roll, it can be composted), and reusable dishcloths are great for mopping up spills. Make sure dishcloths don’t have any plastic within them (as when washed this can lead to the shedding of microplastic fibres into our water systems). ⊲ Foil: Aluminum is recyclable, and all the cardboard packaging and rolls are too. ⊲ Stirrers and measuring equipment: Use metal teaspoons, tablespoons, wooden spoons and wooden lollysticks. ⊲ Candles: Use non-scented, vegetable-based or beeswax candles, rather than those that are paraffin wax based. Or use the oil lamp from the ‘Candle with care’ activity wherever possible. In many cultures, food waste (especially wasting rice) is seen as unforgiveable. So it’s not ideal to waste any food items in these activities. Why not ask other staff members to bring in anything from the backs of their kitchen cupboards, and to leave them in a box in the staff room whenever they can? Most items can be used past their best before and use by dates, especially if children are not consuming them. For example, a bag of rice that has been sat in a cupboard for years can be used in these activities if no one wants to cook and eat it (see ‘Not fate, it’s density’). It can even be kept for future experiments.

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When using fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, children can eat them afterwards. For example, after using the orange or lemon peels (see ‘Oil be there’), oranges can be eaten and the lemon juice used as an acid (see ‘All the colours of the cabbage’). If any foods need to be thrown away, add them to the compost bin (or start a compost area at school if there isn’t one already). The red cabbage indicator can smell quite a bit, but can be kept in the fridge for a week, or frozen into cupcake baking trays to be defrosted when you’re next ready to use it. In any of the experiments where there is water that is unmixed, rather than pouring it down the sink, perhaps it could be reused. Either for painting or art sessions, watering the trees and plants outside, or in the school kitchen for washing vegetables, or cleaning and mopping the floor. All the chemical ingredients for these activities can be found in the kitchen, and most are edible. But what about the packaging they come in? It’s true that companies are responsible for much of the excess packaging, but we can still all do our bit to discourage them from manufacturing more, by buying less. Which will mean less waste in landfill or in our oceans. Here’s a list of ingredients used in the book, why these were chosen, and the best packaging to look out for: ⊲ Salt and sugar: Buy these and sugar cubes in cardboard containers or paper bags that can be recycled or composted, and buy syrups in glass bottles or tins that can be recycled or reused. ⊲ Distilled white vinegar: This comes in glass bottles. ⊲ Vegetables and fruits: Best bought loose, and lemon juice can be found in glass bottles (if the fruit is unavailable). ⊲ Tea: Buy tea leaves or plastic-free teabags that can be composted. ⊲ Instant coffee and cocoa: Buy both in jars and tins that can be recycled or reused. (Used coffee grounds may be available from local cafés.) ⊲ Flour: Buy in paper bags that can be recycled or composted.

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⊲ Porridge oats: Some brands have the oats directly boxed in cardboard without any plastic bag, and the box can be recycled or composted. ⊲ Sweets: Available in paper bags from local sweet shops that can be recycled or composted. ⊲ Rice and lentils: Can be bought in small amounts using your own containers at fill-your-own stations in select shops. (Or use wooden beads for those activities instead to prevent food waste.) ⊲ Chickpeas: Commonly bought in tins that can be recycled (or repurposed for growing herbs). ⊲ Fizzy drinks: Buy cans rather than plastic bottles, as it’s better to recycle and reuse cans and this won’t lead to microplastics entering our water systems. ⊲ Yeast: This usually comes in unrecyclable plastic packets in boxes. However, you can buy it in tins, or local bakeries often sell fresh yeast at around 20 pence for 50 grams. ⊲ Oil: Sunflower or vegetable oil is best, in glass bottles or wholesale catering cans. The school kitchen may be able to help with small amounts. When oil spoils it can’t be used for cooking, but is perfectly usable in experiments. If it’s not too smelly and doesn’t contain food sediments, you can use leftover cooking oil to demonstrate density. When finished, make sure all oil is disposed of with the school kitchen’s used cooking oil, and not down the sink, contributing to ‘fatbergs’. ⊲ Bicarbonate of soda: This can be found in recyclable or reusable containers, or the non-edible kind is available in cardboard boxes which can be recycled or composted. ⊲ Milk: Best sourced in glass bottles delivered to the door, or you could use powdered milk from tins or cardboard containers that can be recycled or reused. Storing powdered milk for science activities saves having to buy fresh milk, especially when not much is needed. Unless children are drinking it, powdered milk can be used past its best before date, as it will still retain its scientific properties. Non-dairy milk can be used too, as the packaging is recyclable. If you’d like to run the optional butter activity in ‘Shake it up’, double cream comes in cartons or containers that can be recycled. However, the unrecyclable extra plastic lids and seals mean these containers are best reused. Children might like to experiment with alternative butter-making instead, e.g. using full-fat milk powder mixed with coconut or olive oil. ⊲ Food colouring: Buy in glass bottles with metal lids that can be recycled or reused, or you can make your own! Turmeric and saffron work well (but can stain fingers, surfaces and clothes), as well as blueberries, cocoa powder, red cabbage water, and red peppers. Making food dyes could be an activity in itself! ⊲ Washing-up liquid: Best sourced from environmental companies creating packaging that is recyclable or biodegradable, or using cruelty-free, non-animal derivative bars of soap in cardboard boxes, which can be recycled or composted.

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Other items, such as silica gel packets, have been mentioned as an optional item in the ‘Rust give me a minute’ activity, as many of us have them lying around (in shoeboxes or handbags), but it’s not compulsory to use these. Silica gel is a biodegradable (although it takes a while, so better to repurpose), non-toxic solid that absorbs and holds water vapour. Rather than using plastic pipettes (which are of course reusable, so feel free to use if you have them), why not make a simple dropper in the same way you’d make a piping bag for icing? (See the ‘Tension on the surface’ activity.) Instead of buying synthetic modelling clays (which may not be environmentally friendly), or trying to source a biodegradable modelling clay, why not make some dough? This can be used as a soft surface for when children need to make holes in pieces of card or paper, or as a weight, in activities such as ‘Wacky jar races’. Simply by mixing 240 grams of plain flour, 60 grams of salt, 30 millilitres of vegetable oil and 120 millilitres of water, and kneading well, you have a dough that can also be kept in an airtight container (a jar perhaps?) in the fridge. Add some flour if it’s too wet, and a little more water if too dry. Rice flours can be used too for those who have gluten intolerances to airborne wheat flour. There are activities where access to electrical equipment is required, for example a fridge, freezer, kettle or mobile phone, but these aren’t necessary. Hot water from the tap should be sufficient, and ingredients can be kept cold by leaving them outdoors on cold days. Mobile phones can replace torches when light levels inside the classroom aren’t sufficient or torch batteries are missing. They’re also useful to demonstrate amplification (in ‘Jar-mazing tunes’), but this is simply an alternative, especially if mobile phones are not permitted in classrooms for safeguarding reasons.

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Obviously access to a freezer is needed for ice cubes in some activities (and most school kitchens have some ice readily available), but sometimes you may want to show children what’s happening when water freezes (such as in the ‘A little ’berg told me’ and ‘Rock and roll’ activities). In some activities (such as ‘Breathing into the cool breeze’), because more than one ice cube would be better, why not freeze bigger ice cubes to begin with? Using cupcake baking trays filled with water and frozen in the school kitchen freezer results in bigger ice cubes. This saves on buying plastic bags full of ice from the local supermarket. For the nature activities, soil from outdoors can be used, otherwise local garden centres, community gardens and allotments may be able to provide top soil and even homemade compost. If purchasing small bags of compost, peat-free compost is better for the environment. The excessive mining of peat bogs has destroyed many habitats, threatening many species of wildlife. Compost bags are useful for repurposing too, such as planting potatoes in them… known to grow even in coffee grounds and sawdust! If there is no outdoor space for growing at your school, what about planting in a nearby community space? Sharing vegetables and fruits sprouted from the children’s jars could bring happiness to local communities and in some cases much-needed food. There are also a variety of other ethical and moral considerations linked to the environment when choosing materials for science activities. For example, ensuring the wildlife studied (in ‘Wormland’) are looked after and returned to where they were found, using animal-derived products or those tested on animals (particularly soaps), the issues around palm-oil-based products, or the amount of water needed in the cotton industry. Everything has its issue, but every little positive change we can make is a step in the right direction. These adaptations may not be perfect, but it’s a start, and a way of slowly reducing our impact on the planet. After all, we only have one Earth.

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Part 1

Plants

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Some children may have already grown a broad bean or kidney bean, but this activity gives children an opportunity to grow seeds and gain a better understanding of how plants grow, and to think about what goes into growing food.

Curriculum links ⊲ Year 3 Programme of Study: Plants ⊲ Years 4, 5 and 6 Programmes of Study: Living things and their habitats ⊲ Year 4 Programme of Study: States of matter ⊲ Year 6 Programme of Study: Evolution and inheritance

Other activities This works well with the ‘Totally natural’ and ‘Basil dazzle’ activities, as these activities also involve nature, wildlife, seeds and growing.

Materials Required: ⊲ Jar and lid (larger ones work best, such as pickle jars) ⊲ Extra jar lid ⊲ Seeds (e.g. basil, coriander, cress, alfalfa, tomato) ⊲ Kitchen roll ⊲ Soil or compost ⊲ Sand or gravel ⊲ Teaspoon ⊲ Water ⊲ Beans (e.g. broad beans, mung beans, kidney beans)

Optional: ⊲ ⊲ ⊲ ⊲ ⊲ 2

Pencil Thermometers Rulers Extra jars and lids Potato

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take

20–30 minutes to set up, 2–3 weeks for growing and observation

LET it grow

Running the activity These activities are best done in the spring, especially if the school has an outdoor area for planting (as then you could move some plants, such as tomatoes, outdoors later). Herbs can be grown indoors all year round.

Part 1 Ask children to place some stones or a layer of gravel at the bottom of a jar, gently add some soil or compost mixed with sand (to ensure good drainage) until half of the jar is full, and to then pour in some water (until the soil looks damp). Give them a choice of seeds to sow (eight to ten seeds each should be enough). Using a teaspoon handle or pencil, they can make some shallow holes in the soil mix and add seeds into these. Ask them to add a little more compost on top, and sprinkle some water using the teaspoon. These mini greenhouse (terrarium) jars can be left on the side, in a sunny area but not in direct sunlight, with the lids on. Choose a time every two to three days for children to check on their jars and to observe what’s happening inside. Does it look like there is enough water inside? When do they see their first seedlings? How could they compare a temperature or light difference on their jars? You could split the class into groups and ask them to investigate a different variable required for seed germination and seedling growth. Explain that in an experiment there is always a variable (a factor or condition) that is changed. This is known as an independent variable, such as if you were going to change the amount of water poured onto a plant. The other variables (such as the amount of light or soil) are controlled variables, and stay the same.

Part 2 Using another jar lid, children can fold a couple of sheets of kitchen roll and add some water. Then they sprinkle some cress seeds in the shape of their initial. The kitchen roll needs to be kept moist (children can use teaspoons to water their seeds gently, so that the seeds don’t move around) and within a few days to a week, they should see some growth. Once the seedlings are long enough, children can cut them off and taste them (see earlier section on safety guidelines).

Part 3 Children could try growing ‘zig-zag’ plants. Ask them to place a few sheets of kitchen roll to line the inside of the jar and press a broad bean, kidney bean or any other type of bean, between the glass jar wall and the kitchen roll. Ask them to moisten the kitchen roll, put © Copyright Sai Pathmanathan, 2021

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the lid on the jar, and leave it in a sunny place, but out of direct sunlight. Then as they see the roots and the shoots appear, they can twirl the jar away from the Sun, or turn it upside down. They continue doing this every time they see the roots and shoots growing in a certain direction. The kitchen roll needs to be kept moist.

Explore even more Children could run a variety of investigations. For example, using similar jars with equal amounts of soil and water, can they compare a terrarium containing plants to one without? What does the inside of the jar look like, and does this depend on the temperature of the room? How could they measure the temperature inside the terrarium without always opening the jars? Or, what is the best medium to germinate and grow seeds on? Tissue, card, soil, sand? How will children measure success? Children could measure the height of the growth, the number of leaves, or the number of seeds that successfully germinated. They could explore how seed germination is affected by growing in the dark, either by placing the seeds in a dark box or cupboard. And once the seedlings appear, what if these are left in the dark too? How can children preserve the herbs that they’ve grown? They could place their herbs in the jar lid and leave this in the Sun. Turning the herbs every day, within two to three days, children should have dried herbs.

What is happening? Plant life cycles As children are planting, ask them about what is happening at each stage. This is a chance to study plant life cycles. They should notice that by mixing sand and gravel with the soil, this ensures that plants don’t get waterlogged. This could lead to their roots rotting away, and the plants will die. Equally, without sunlight and water, plants will die too. Plants use carbon dioxide in the air, and water with energy from the Sun, to make carbohydrates and oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. This is vital for us to live. In their terrariums, children should see that before the seeds germinate, the water cycle will be taking place. Based on the temperature of the room, water from the soil will evaporate (turn from liquid to gas) and then condense (turn from gas to liquid), like little raindrops. Once the seedlings start to sprout and grow, there will be less evaporation as the water is used by the plant. This is why removing vegetation on the planet, such as deforestation, is bad news for our climate. In the jar lid, children should see the seeds sprout in the same shape that they sowed them, i.e. their initial (unless the seeds moved during watering). By seeing (and if possible, tasting) what they’ve grown, children will learn © Copyright Sai Pathmanathan, 2021

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to appreciate the patience required when growing plants. This can encourage a wider discussion about where our food comes from. After spending so long tending to food crops, is it wise to just throw it away? Discussing how to preserve what the children have grown is a way to encourage thinking about not wasting. If we can’t eat or sell a crop we’ve grown, how can we turn it into something else that will keep for longer? If children have grown tomatoes, they could try preserving them as chutneys and relishes.

Seed germination By rotating a growing bean, you can train shoots and roots to grow in a different way. Shoots grow upwards towards the Sun, and roots grow downwards responding to gravity, in order to find water. Simply rotating the terrarium or the jar lid sprouts, children will be able to see their seedlings move towards the sunlight too. Seed germination is the process of growing a plant from a seed. Seeds are usually in a dormant, inactive state, waiting for the conditions to be just right to germinate and grow. Different media can affect seed germination mainly by how much water they hold. Once the seed has germinated, it also depends on which of the media allows the seedlings to grow upright and anchor well. Seed germination itself is rarely a problem in the dark (although it depends on the species of plant), as most seeds germinate deep in the dark soil. However, new seedlings will need light. If they don’t have light to produce chlorophyll (the pigment that makes them green and is vital for photosynthesis), they will look yellow, then wilt and die. Sometimes fungi and moulds may grow in the children’s terrariums, which can be a point for discussion. Spores in the air can land on the soil and begin to grow. While these might end up killing off the young seedlings, fungi and mould are vital in breaking down organic matter, such as in compost heaps, so that nutrients can be released back into the soil.

Evolution and inheritance If any children have grown coriander in this activity, an interesting taste test can be done. Some individuals have a gene that makes coriander taste like soap! Do any of the children find this happens to them too? Sometimes we can get new plants from a parent plant. Potatoes are great to grow… from potatoes. As a stem tuber (a starchy storage part of the plant) that forms through asexual reproduction, the potatoes grown will be genetically identical to the parent. Children can leave some potatoes sitting on small jars or jar lids in a sunny area, to chit, or sprout. Then, once they see the small sprouts appear, they can plant them outdoors. (Unfortunately, a jar is too small, unless they want to grow one teeny potato!) Within days children should see a large green plant gradually start to appear… and eventually, under the soil will be potatoes!

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LET it grow

Worksheet

You will need: ⊲ Jar and lid (larger ones work best, such as pickle jars) ⊲ Extra jar lid ⊲ Seeds (e.g. basil, coriander, cress, alfalfa, tomato) ⊲ Kitchen roll ⊲ Soil or compost

⊲ ⊲ ⊲ ⊲

Sand or gravel Teaspoon Water Beans (e.g. broad beans, mung beans, kidney beans)

Instructions Pickle jar terrarium

❶ Place some stones at the bottom of your jar and add some soil or compost mixed with sand (to make sure the water drains well) until half your jar is full. This is your mini greenhouse, or terrarium.

❷ ❸ ❹

Choose some seeds you’d like to grow. our some water into your jar (or use a teaspoon) so that the soil looks and feels damp. P Then make four or five small holes (spaced apart) in the soil with a teaspoon handle or pencil. rop a couple of seeds into each hole, making sure you’re not overcrowding them too D much. Seeds don’t like to be in competition.

❺ Add a little more soil to the top and water gently using a teaspoon. ❻ Add the lid onto your terrarium and leave this in a sunny spot, but out of direct sunlight. Why do you think this is important?

❼ Observe your terrarium over a few days. What does it look like inside the jar? You may

need to add a little more water, using a teaspoon, if it starts to look a bit dry inside. You can record more of your observations below. When do you see your first seedling? How many of your seeds become seedlings?

Date

Temperature

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Observation inside terrarium

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LET it grow

Worksheet

(Continued)

Growing cress seeds

❶ You can grow seeds in the shape of the first letter of your name by sprinkling them in the letter’s shape onto some wet kitchen roll in a jar lid. Make sure you keep them watered.

❷

hile watching them grow, what W happens if you move the jar lid away from the Sun? And what if the seedlings are moved to a dark place?

Zig-zag plants

❶ Why not see if you can grow zig-zag plants? As shoots grow up towards the Sun and roots grow downwards looking for water, you can rotate a bean around as it grows and ‘train’ its shoots and roots.

❷

❸

lace a few sheets of kitchen roll to line the P inside of a jar and press a bean between the glass jar wall and the kitchen roll. oisten the kitchen roll with water, close M the jar with its lid, and leave it in a sunny place, but out of direct sunlight.

❹ As you see the roots and the shoots

appear, twirl the jar away from the Sun, or turn it upside down. Don’t forget to water the kitchen roll to keep the bean well watered.

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