Every Friday our class celebrates Mad Science Friday! We do a fun, hands on science experiment! We do a lot of talking and discussing during the experiment but we don’t do much recording or documenting. I really want this to be a hands on science experiment with a language component. So we talk. A lot. A LOT! A LOT! (As you can tell for the video!)
I am always on the lookout for simple, but engaging and fun experiments. People are always asking where I get my experiments from. Simple. PINTEREST!!
What I love to do is write about our Mad Science in our morning message in a way that gets the ‘staches excited but doesn’t really reveal what we’re doing. So when I wrote about this particular experiment, I said we were going to be make worms dance!
“EEEW WORMS!”
“REAL WORMS?!”
“Mr. Greg, if we use real worms and make them dance they might die and that’s not ok!”
Already we’re having great conversations and all day long the ‘staches are excited about what we might be doing. Morning Message….cryptic words….all day engagement and excitement!
So, here’s what you need:
gummy worms
baking soda
vinegar
water
2 clear plastic cups
plastic spoon
paper or styrofoam plates
First, you need to cut the gummy worms lengthwise. I cut mine 2 times, but after doing the experiment, I say cut them 3-4 times. And then scrub the sticky off the scissors!
Put 2 tablespoons of baking soda in a cup.
Add 1 cup of water.
Mix.
Add in the gummy worms. Keep mixing.
Allow the worms to soak for 15 minutes. More mixing.
In the 2nd cup, you need 1/2 cup of vinegar.
Remove the worms from the baking soda solution and drop them into the cup of vinegar.
And let the dancing begin!
After we watched the worms dance, we started scooping baking soda from the big cup into the cup with the worms for even more dancing! And then we started pouring the baking soda water into the vinegar….and well, that was epic dancing and bubbles!
You can see how we did the dancing worms science experiment and hear the amazing conversations and fun and excitement in our video!
Thank you to BitzNGiggles.com for the electric eels idea!
Want recording sheets to go with this experiment that include hypothesis, observation and more! You will also receive 14 other Mad Science experiments to do with your classroom. Click below:
