Whether it's due to conflicting schedules or expenses, sending your kids to a summer camp isn't always a possibility. However, that doesn't mean your family has to miss out! Before you restart your homeschooling this year, try these easy and fun ways to bring the joys of camp to your own home with our Summer Stem camp ideas.

FIZZING LEMON EXPERIMENT

Materials

Baking Soda

Lemon Juice

Liquid Dishwash Soap

Food Coloring

Spoon or Straw

Glass or Cup

Instructions

1. Put a spoonful of baking soda in a glass.

2. Stir in a squirt of dishwashing liquid.

3. Add a drop of food coloring.

4. Squeeze lemon juice into the mixture.

5. Stir the juice into the baking soda and soap.

6. Watch bubbles form and push up and out of the glass.

7. Extend the reaction by adding more lemon juice and baking soda.

How It Works

The sodium bicarbonate of the baking soda reacts with the citric acid in lemon juice to form carbon dioxide. The gas bubbles are trapped by the dishwashing soap, forming fizzy bubbles.

SALINITY AND SALTWATER DENSITY

Materials

Quart Jar

Kitchen Spoon

Salt

Food Coloring

Drinking Glasses

Thermometer

Instructions

1. Add 8 ounces of room temperature tap water to the jar and measure the temperature.

2. Heat another 8 ounces of tap water until its warm and measure the temperature.

3. Add several drops of food coloring to the warm water and stir it around.

4. Carefully pour the warm water into a kitchen spoon placed over the jar and allow the hot water to slowly spill over from the spoon into the jar.

5. Note whether the colored warm water mixes or forms a layer with the uncolored room temperature water.

6. Empty the jar and add 8 ounces of room temperature tap water to it.

7. Heat another 8 ounces of tap water to the same temperature used in the first part of the experiment. Add food coloring.

8. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the warm water and stir the solution until the salt dissolves.

9. Carefully pour the warm salt water into the jar containing the room temperature water using the kitchen spoon to slow the transfer. Note any layering or mixing behavior.

10. Repeat these steps, gradually adding more salt to the hot water used in the experiment until complete mixing is observed.

11. Repeat the entire experiment using warm water at different temperatures.

12. Prepare a table comparing the amount of salt dissolved in the hot water with the amount of mixing observed for different temperatures.

How It Works

Cold water is denser than warm water. Water with a high salt concentration (salinity) is denser than water that has a lower salt concentration. Warm water rises above denser cold water, and bodies of water that have different temperatures can form layers according to their respective temperatures. Likewise, denser water with high salinity sinks below water with low salinity.

CHALK ROCKETS

Materials

Film Canisters

Corn Starch

Water

Antacid Tablet

Food Coloring

Instructions

1. Mix 1/4 of the film canister with corn starch.

2. Fill about 1/2 of the canister with water so the canister is 3/4 full.

3. Add a dash of food coloring.

4. Mix until a liquid is formed.

5. Break up one antacid tablet into about 4 pieces and drip it into the canister.

6. Quickly put the lid on the canister tightly.

7. Flip the canister over so the lid is on the ground and back away quickly.

How It Works

Trapped gas from the chemical reaction builds pressure. The pressure then builds up, causing enough force to thrust the canister into the air.