Dear Reader,
Our preschooler has been so curious and excited about exploring new things and asking questions, lately. I know part of that is normal development, but it definitely seems like a curiosity to capitalize on!
You can imagine her excitement when I told her I heard about a way to make popcorn dance! She couldn’t wait to get started.
It’s super easy to do; just put 1 cup of water and a small handful of popcorn kernels in a quart jar. Mix in 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Then add the vinegar *VeRy sLoWLy* (less than a cup is plenty). When the initial blast calms down, add another cup of water and stir one more time. Then sit and let the bubbles build.
As the popcorn kernels are covered in bubbles, they rise to the surface. The bubbles pop when they reach the air, so the popcorn sinks back down, where the bubbles start to build again. The reaction actually happens for quite a while! And if you’re anything like us, you spilled lots of fizzing liquid all over your table (you’ll notice the addition of a towel to the table), just kind of mix in a little more water, vinegar and baking soda and play with the combination until you see the bubbles like a soda glass.
We talked about what makes the popcorn dance, and how the bubbles were the thing causing the popcorn to move up and down. Did she really grasp the science? Not so much. But in preschool, it’s more about the magic of the science, than the actual science principles. It’s getting them excited about it, and showing them that things do happen, not how they happen. We keep the excitement alive, and the questions happen naturally.
