Kids Fun Ideas

Salt Volcano (Make your own miniature "Lava Lite")
What do I need?
A glass jar or clear drinking glass
Marina Sea Salt
Sunflower oil
Water
Food colouring
DANGER! Don't forget to be careful with glass.

What do I do?
Pour about 20 centimetres of water into the jar or glass.
Pour about 1/3 cup of sunflower oil into the jar. When everything settles, is the oil on top of the water or underneath it?
If you want, add one drop of food colouring to the jar. What happens? Is the drop in the oil or in the water? Does the colour spread?
Shake salt on top of the oil while you count slowly to 5. Wow! What happens to the food colouring? What happens to the salt?
Add more salt to keep the action going for as long as you want.

What's going on?

Why does the oil float on the water?
Oil floats on water because a drop of oil is lighter than a drop of water the same size. Another way of saying this is to say that water is denser than oil. Density is a measurement of how much a given volume of something weighs. Things that are less dense than water will float in water. Things that are more dense than water will sink. Even though oil and water are both liquids, they are what chemists call immiscible liquids. That's a fancy word that means they don't mix.
What happens when I pour salt on the oil?
Salt is heavier than water, so when you pour salt on the oil, it sinks to the bottom of the mixture, carrying a blob of oil with it. In the water, the salt starts to dissolve. As it dissolves, the salt releases the oil, which floats back to the top of the water.

Salt Dough
What do I need?
2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt

Mix all the ingredients together and knead for about 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Shape into little figures, shapes, etc. If you want to colour an item, mix a little food colouring with egg white and paint onto shape. Bake at 300F for 30-40 minutes. If the item is small and thin, it can be dried in the sun for 2 days.

DANGER! Ask an adult to help with the oven.