Educational Activities
Cabbage Juice Art and Science!
Create your very own pH indicator with cabbage.
Age: Pre-school – Adult
Cabbage Juice Art and Science!
Pre-school – Adult
1. Chop red cabbage and steep in hot water.
2. Drain and SAVE the water – as it cools, it will change to a neutral color – blue. You may save the cabbage to eat (add to soups or stir fry.) The water is now a pH indicator AND a great water color paint!
3. Separate the cabbage juice into separate glasses.
4. Add a known acid – vinegar – to one glass. Observe the color change.
5. Add a known base – baking soda – to one glass. Observe the color change.
6. Select household items and foods to test in the other glasses of cabbage juice.
PLEASE BE SAFE. DO NOT USE ANYTHING CONTAINING CHLORINE BLEACH OR AMMONIA. Good choices are lemon juice, different types of soap (clear, colorless are best,) antacids, colorless soda pop, and milk.
7. Align your glasses from most acidic (reddest) to most basic (greenest.)
Why did they change color?
Red cabbage juice is an indicator – a chemical substance that changes color in acids and bases.
One definition of acids and bases is that acids are chemicals that give away hydrogen ions, and bases are chemicals that accept hydrogen ions. Acids taste sour (lemon juice!) and are corrosive . Bases taste bitter (soap!) and are corrosive, as well.
What about the globs in the milk mixture? Milk is a buffer – it binds the acids and base. That is why the emergency instructions for some substances says to drink milk if the substance in ingested.
Now you can paint with your science experiment! Note: If you mix some bases with acids you will get a fizzy neutralization reaction.
Make a Water Wheel!
Water wheels were mentioned in a poem by Antipater in 4000 B.C. (about 6,000 years ago) and were used to grind corn, irrigate crops, grind grains, and supply drinking water to villages. Later they became the major energy provider for sawmills, pumps, forge bellows, and textile mills. Now, water wheels run electric generators and provide the daily electricity for millions of people every day.
Test your engineering skills and create a water wheel that turns in a steady stream of water.
1. Collect waterproof recyclable materials – plastic yogurt containers, aluminum pie plates, lids of various sizes. Find a few items to test for axles, such as: a chopstick, pencil, dowel rod, or an old curtain rod.
2. Design a water wheel. You can easily cut paddles from plastic containers and aluminum trays.
Things to consider in your design:
Toilet paper tubes are round, but not waterproof. You may not get more than one chance to test a design with paper or cardboard pieces before the parts become soggy.
Water can flow over a wheel – overshot, or under a wheel – undershot. The wheel can be positioned horizontally or vertically. The first water wheels were horizontal.
Water wheels do not need paddles or buckets, but they are more efficient when the water has resistance. Paddles can be placed at different angles to make the wheel most efficient.
3. Build the water wheel. Use glue, hot glue, and/or tape to secure the joints.
4. Test, test, test under a stream of water. Does the wheel turn? Will it turn for a minute or more? Do you want to change your design?
If you are happy with your design, can your water wheel do work?
Can your water wheel lift a pencil 12 inches (or more) from the floor?
What other types of work can your water wheel complete?
Can you make an art project with the wheel? Of course, you can decorate it, but is there a way to use the wheel to create a piece of art?
Monarch Butterflies and Day of the Dead!!!
Teach your group about Mexican culture, Day of the Dead, and monarch migration through an engaging community art project!
Every Autumn, millions of beautiful orange and black monarchs flock to Mexico to avoid the cold weather of the North. Their migration coincides with El Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The Ancient Aztecs of central Mexico, believed that the monarch butterflies were the souls of their fallen warriors and that they should be honored. This was and still is a time of joyous celebration when the souls of loved ones are remembered and rejoiced. Join us in creating monarch butterflies to be installed outside along the fence by the Old Episcopal Burying Ground at the corner of E. 3d Street and Elm Tree Lane. The monarchs will be tied to the fence surrounding the property for all to see for several weeks leading into our day of the dead Festival on Tuesday November 1st from 5:00 – 9:00.
Please see the full information to participate in this project.
Participation is easy! We have three different project ideas that you can use to create monarchs with your class, and some additional materials for your curriculum
Monarch Template Small (best for tin monarch)
Monarch Step by Step Instructions:
Transparency Sheet Monarch
*Transparencies for this project are provided by the center please contact EQuave@lasclex.org.
Other Resources
These are some valuable resources that we found to help you teach your class about monarch life cycles and migration:
This website has some great images and very good, quick videos of monarch metamorphosis
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/life-cycle.shtml
This web site has a ton of short video clips, lesson plan ideas, and tons of information about monarchs. http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/jr/KidsJourneyNorth.html
Great video on the Monarch Migration from Missouri to Mexico
Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWjNZvW0AkE&feature=related
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPKISz2ktuo&NR=1
Short Video on Day of the Dead in Mexico http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUUAgEWeYeI
Nova Video, the 3rd part of a 6 part series. The video starts with explaining the relevance of the butterflies to the day of the dead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b9dGPLXQ1w
