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Okay, so I’ve
never frozen oil of any sort before. I’m not sure why I ever would have. I’m
not a whiz in the kitchen – and, when would there be a recipe that called for freezing
olive oil anyway? What I do happen to do a lot is freeze water. No, I’m not an
ice-in-every-drink type of girl. Actually, I rarely put ice in drinks. When my
son was 4 we went to a friend’s house on one of those scorching hot summer days
(we didn’t have AC at the time). She handed him a glass of lemonade with ice
cubes in it. And, he cried. Why? He ran over to me screaming, “Mommy, she gave
me lemonade with glass in it.” My son was so not used to ice in drinks, he
actually thought it was glass.
Fast-forward
a decade and I’m making ice all the time. Only now, it’s more for art purposes
than drinking (unless my family wants to drink the rainbow-colored cubes that
typically inhabit our freezer. So, this time I decided to pour some veggie oil
into the mix. And, here’s where the experimenting begins…
Oh yeah,
wait just a moment. Not only is this science-y fun, but it’s also an art
exploration. Yep. As your child is making discoveries and experimenting with
freezing different liquids, he can also create a print. Let me say now, this
printing project part happened totally by accident. But, that’s one of the joys
of art (and even some science activities). You don’t have to set out to make ‘something’
-- sometimes even if you do, it turns out completely (and amazingly) different
than you and your child thought. What does that mean for you? Let go of the
idea that everything has to be ‘right’ or look like it does on Pinterest.
Sometimes going off course is better than you could have ever expected -- especially when it comes to kids' art and science activities.
And, here’s
what you’ll need:
·
Vegetable
(or olive or canola) oil
·
Light-colored
or white card stock paper
·
Water
Here’s what
to do:
1. Drop one
or two drips of food coloring into each compartment of the ice cube tray. Try
using the primary colors (red, blue and yellow). Mix them (adding one drop of
red and one of blue, and so on) to make more hues.
2. Add water
to half of the compartments and oil to the other half. Encourage your child to
observe and describe what happens to the food coloring when he adds the oil. He
can add another drop to the oil too (it’s pretty cool).
4. Take the
cubes out. I don’t want to give away any big secrets here, but I’m going to
anyway. For those of you who aren’t up on what freezes and what doesn’t – the oil
side will turn into a creamy semi-solid. Shhh – don’t tell your child. Let him
explore and observe for himself. So, you can pop the ice cubes out, but not the
oil cubes
5. Compare
the two kinds of cubes. Your child can use his sense of sight and sense of
touch to find out what the differences are. Put the water ice cubes on a piece
of paper. Let them start melting. Ask your child to predict what will happen if
you put them in the sun. Go ahead and put them outside or on a sunny window
sill. Make sure to out cardboard, a garbage bag or something else under it.
6. Scoop out
the oil cubes (they won’t pop out). Put them on another piece of paper. Ask
your child to describe the differences between the oil and water cubes (when he
puts them on the paper).
7. Play!
Your child can smoosh, smooth and push the food coloring-oil cubes around. Ask
him what words describe how they feel (such as slimy).
9. Drip the
excess water (and remove any un-melted ice cubes) from the paper. Turn it over
and press it onto the front of the oil-food color paper. Press or pat it
together. As your child pats the surface, some of the oil and the food coloring
will seep through. What’s the result? An abstract-looking print!
Keep
experimenting with the oil, food coloring and ice (to keep the kids' art and science activities going). Your child can mix together
colors, blend the different liquids and see what happens when you try to re-freeze
the paper!
Very good for learning process.- ..
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