Month: July 2025

High Touch High Tech is an education company that provides in-school field trips and SCIENCE SUMMER CAMPS! We prepare all items needed to create the perfect science experience! This week’s enrichment class is called Water Works. On my prep list I had an assortment of apparatuses such as pipettes, colored water, soap, etc. Each item must be counted and packed precisely.

We always bring an opening experiment, our WOW experiment, to demonstrate. This week’s WOW experiment was Bag Stab! I stabbed fourteen pencils through the bag that morning! Science is all about FUN, so I asked the students, and they let me know how many pencils they dare to put through the bag. Can you guess what happened? There were no leaks! Why? Well, I have practiced stabbing each pencil in with just the right amount of force. The bag is made of polymer, a thin translucent plastic. If the pencils go directly into the polymer, it will seal around them, preventing leaks.

The kids were ready to see what happened when all the pencils were removed! I had previously dyed the water a bright green to make it more visible and fun. In the dramatic removal of the pencil’s there was a spill. It is fine, though, because science is messy sometimes.

Next, my assistant scientist, Biodiversity Britta helped hand out three different colors of water for each group. Every child also received their own pipette!

They have a lot of fun practicing with pipettes. Today’s campers are ages six through ten. For the younger children, it was their first time using a pipette. They caught on instantly!

Biodiversity Britta helped hand out the rest of the materials, and the water molecule discovery began! All of them were fascinated to discover how water molecules react with each other. Science is all about observation and what better chemical compound to explore than the most common chemical compound on earth! Water!!! Cohesion is not only fascinating to observe, but it’s also weirdly satisfying to see how large a droplet can be formed on a waxed surface! Some children commented that it looked like Gelatin or super jiggly slime! All of them were equally amazed at how adhesion happens with the brightly colored molecules. Some even tried cutting water drops in half! Then of course putting them back together was fun, too!

As the experiment was at an end some children decided to mix the colored water! This was fun and I encouraged it. We call this Science Made Fun for a reason! Mixing colors is fun and I enjoy watching them explore on their own.

The children had fun passing the materials to the end of the tables so Biodiversity Britta and I could gather them all up. Within just a few minutes we were ready for experiment number two!

This one we call Exploding Colors, and it is messy! This isn’t a problem though because making a mess is amusing. We bring an abundance of towels to keep floors safe and dry. Exploding Colors is a blast and that is what it looks like, a combination of fireworks and an animated tie die! This is amazingly fun for us and them! Teachers were even participating! One of the key components in this experiment is the soap which we provided on cotton swabs. Being a surfactant soap disrupts the surface tension of the fat rich fluid filled pans, causing the drops of color they added to swirl and dance like moving works of art! They had so much fun with this! They loudly declared it themselves! In fact, they didn’t want to stop.

All great fun does have to come to a closure though, but we had enough time to have them line up, group by group, to stab a bag themselves. This time we managed to get twenty-seven pencils in the bag! I am keeping track of this, so I can record the winner by the end of the year!

For those new to our blog, we are High Touch High Tech Science Made Fun, our goal is to INSPIRE, EXPLORE, and ENGAGE children to be excited about SCIENCE!

Did you know that we use chemistry every single day? Chemistry is the study of matter, and how it behaves. Everything is made of matter! Chemistry explores what things are made of (composition), how things are put together (structure), and how things can transform (reactions). The kitchen is an area of our everyday lives where chemistry plays a huge role. So, let’s roll up our sleeves, put on our aprons, and perform some chemistry!

1. Microwave a marshmallow!

2. Make “Science Lemonade.”

3. Write a secret message!

This is another fun experiment with a pH indicator and can also prepare young scientists for a future career as a secret agent!

What you will need:

1. A table covering (painter’s plastic or newspaper)
2. Water
3. Baking soda
4. Turmeric
5. Rubbing alcohol
6. Paper
7. Small paintbrush or cotton swab
8. Larger paintbrush or sponge
9. (2) Small bowls for mixing
10. Measuring spoons

Instructions:

1. Mix a tablespoon of baking soda with half a cup of water.
2. Dip the cotton swab or small paintbrush in the baking soda solution and use it to write a secret message or draw a secret picture on the paper.
3. Allow the paper to dry.
4. Using a new bowl, mix a teaspoon of turmeric into half a cup of rubbing alcohol. Turmeric will stain! Be careful, use a table covering, and consider wearing gloves and an apron.
5. Once the paper has fully dried, paint the turmeric solution onto the paper using the sponge or large paintbrush.
6. Observe what happens to the paper and your message.

Take a moment to rub some of the baking soda solution between your fingers? What does it feel like? Did you know that feeling slippery is a common property of basic substances? What did the paper look like after it had dried? Could you read the message? What did you see happen when you painted the turmeric solution onto the paper?

Turmeric acts as a pH indicator because it contains a natural compound that changes color in the presence of acids and bases. How might you test if a new substance could be used as a pH indicator?

4. Take a raisin out dancing!

The disciplines of science are often interconnected, and this experiment is fun because it touches on chemistry as well as physics concepts. It is also fun because we get to make raisins dance, and who doesn’t love to dance?

What you will need:

1. A clear cup, glass, or jar
2. Warm water
3. A few teaspoons of baking soda
4. A few teaspoons of vinegar
5. Raisins

Instructions:

1. Fill the glass half full of warm water.
2. Add a few teaspoons of baking soda.
3. Add a few raisins. Observe.
4. Add a small amount of vinegar.
5. Observe what happens.

What happened when you first added the raisins to the cup of baking soda and water? Did the raisins sink? Then, when you added the vinegar, what began to occur? Were bubbles created? When baking soda and vinegar combine, they create a gas called carbon dioxide. Why does the gas rise to the top of the water? Did the raisins catch a ride to the surface with the carbon dioxide bubbles? What happened to the raisins when they reached the surface? Do you think other items may behave similarly? Why do you think raisins attach to the gas particles so well?

5. Have an edible gelation ball

Gelatin is made up of a protein called collagen. Gelatin works by creating interconnected protein chains that trap water, thus creating a gel. Did you know that collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, where it also attracts and retains water?

For this experiment, you will need a plate, craft sticks, some flavored gelatin, and drinking water.

Start by placing some of the gelatin powder on the plate in a small, flattened pile. Add the water drop by drop onto the gelatin. Allow the gelatin and water to rest for a few minutes. Observe what happens. Use your craft stick to lift up the congealed gelatin. Feel it in your hands. Eat it, if you wish (as long as your hands are clean)!

What did you notice? What was the texture of the gelatin like after you added the water and allowed it to rest? Is it a solid or a liquid?  How do you think gelatin balls may be like some of the matter in our own bodies?

Did you find these experiments fun?

Contact your local High Touch High Tech franchise and we can bring even more exciting hands-on STEM activities to you!