Fizz! Boom! Pop!
Area children are learning about chemistry at a science camp at Allen Community College this week. The camp is a collaboration between Iola Public Library and the college.
Kids tested a variety of experiments. At one station students learned about chemical reactions with bleach and T-shirts. Leah Oswald, youth services librarian, showed students how placing items on the T-shirt would block the bleach from working. Students used foam stamps and pipe cleaners to design their T-shirts.
“We have about 35 students in the morning program and then 10 in the afternoon,” Oswald said.
The morning’s session is for students going into kindergarten through third grade. Students in fourth through sixth grade come in the afternoon. This is the second year for the camp.
This year, students compare the differences between a chemical change and a physical change. Beth Toland, early childhood education specialist at ACC, said her students were mixing different colored liquids to see what colors they would change to.
At another station the mini scientists made “elephant toothpaste,” where students combined hydrogen peroxide, dish detergent, food coloring and yeast into a skinny platic bottle. The concoction foams out of the bottle like a tube of giant toothpaste.
Super science sleuths
