Bouncing into the new year
Week 4 of Connect: Sensory Science
With the new year beginning, and everyone back to school and work, we started up our Connect: Sensory Science group again after the winter break. This week was another fun filled week where we guessed items in a mystery sensory box, made lava lamps, and finally, we even made our own bouncy balls!
With everyone excited to catch up with each other after being out of school for the winter break, we started off with a fun, sensory based activity where the kids had to guess items contained in a mystery sensory box. This was a great way to get the kids to engage with their sensory skills, and see how well they could guess the items within the box with only their hand. The items were cooked pasta noodles and cheerios, and each kid wrote down their guesses. To no surprise, everyone was correct!
Following our sensory box activity, we tested how different liquids interact with each other by making our very own Lava Lamps! Each child was given a mason jar, cooking oil, water, alka seltzer, food coloring, and glitter. The kids followed a balanced recipe of cooking oil and water, then added the alka seltzer for the goopy lava affect. Everyone got to personalize them with color and glitter. This was a cool keepsake and a hit for the kids!
Finally, for our main activity, we created our very own bouncy balls. We first watched a how-to YouTube video, as some of the steps for this experiment were critical if they wanted to achieve maximum bouncy-ness. Everyone received a mixing cup and bowl with water, borax, food coloring, glitter, and clear glue. Again, we closely followed our instructions by mixing the glue, water, and borax. After the boring ingredients were mixed, they personalized them with color and glitter. The kids then had to work hard at forming the ball which was a challenge but everyone succeeded!
It was so great to catch up with the kids this week, and to see how excited they were to see their friends again. Additionally, seeing how the kids tune in to their sensory skills with each activity is super cool!
January 3rd, 2023
-Amy, BigsNBC Mentoring Coordinator
