Melting Crayons {Kid Science Experiment}

The Lil Divas love experimenting and exploring with science. We have shared lots of fun science activities with you and today one of my favorite bloggers Jillian from A Mom With a Lesson Plan is here to share a fun Melting Crayons Experiment.  Here's Jillian....

Yeah! I am so excited to be with all of you on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas today. Bern always has the greatest playful learning ideas and that is where my passion lies! I created A Mom with a Lesson Plan almost three years ago as place to share the fun things I do with my kids (Big M almost 8 and Little M 6). Kid science is one of our favorite things. It's been so hot out that a sun vs. shade experiment seemed like the perfect way to play around with science... plus we had a bag of crayon pieces just waiting to be used for something fun. Crayons + Sunny day = Melting Crayons Experiment. YIPPEE!

Melting Crayons {Kid Science Experiment}

What you need: crayon pieces, large water bottles (or other plastic container), paper and pencil, sunny spot and shady spot.

To prepare the containers I cut down two large water bottles using a box cutter (then I realized kid scissors are much easier... go figure). We peeled the paper off the crayons and sorted them into the two containers.

 

One container was placed in a sunny spot, the other in a shady spot. We talked about how the sun moves through the yard during the day. It ended up being a great exercise in sun movement and recollection. We picked spots that we thought would remain in the sun (or shade) the longest.

With the timer set we went about our day. (Setting the timer makes it easier for us to walk away from day long experiments without completely forgetting about them.) Each time the timer went off we ran... okay I did NOT run but the kids did... outside to check on the crayons.

We looked and then felt to see if anything had changed. Then we talked about what was happening or not happening.

After an entire day the crayons in the sun had melted only a bit. We talked about possible reasons for that. (It was an overcast day, did that slow the melting?) Then we decided we needed another day of observation to make any real conclusions.

For day two we kept the "sun" container in the sun and moved the shade container into the car. I thought for sure the car would show quick results.

I was wrong, but it's that what science is all about?!?! The crayons in the sun melted a lot more on day 2 than on day 1. The crayons in the car stayed exactly the same. (The same was not true of the crayon left on the floor of the car last summer. :(  Hmmm.....

When we do science experiments the amount of effort really depends on the mood of all involved, the experiment and the time we have to invest. This project was an all day type of thing so it was easy to add paper tracking... but often times just talking about what is happening works perfectly! Introducing words like hypothesis and conclusion in a fun, no pressure way to add to our kid's vocabulary. When I'm introducing new words I like to ease them in. "What is your hypothesis? What do you think will happen?" "Oh your hypothesis is...." What was your last science experiment? Did it turn out like you expected?

Jillian Riley is a writer who focuses most of her creative energy into her playful learning, playful parenting blog A Mom with a Lesson Plan. She is mom to an almost 8 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. Jillian is passionate about kid activities, learning and creativity! Find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Google.