Easter Science for Kids: Fun Investigations and Experiments

We had so much fun with eggs and peeps last year that the Lil Divas are begging for more experiments this year. My thinking cap has been on & my mind has been working overtime and I am excited to share some of our science investigations with you...soon.  In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to recap all those Peep and Egg experiments from last year and have them in one handy place for you.

Let's start with some FUN

Peep Experiments
(click the titles and it will take you to the original posts for full details)

The Dissolving Peeps Experiment

Baking Soda & Vinegar Peep Experiment

The Microwaved Peep Experiment

The Super Sized Microwave Peep Experiment

The Lil Divas enjoyed last year's microwaved Peep experiment so much that they asked to do it again this year. When we spotted extra large Peeps at the store, we knew we had to try them in our experiment. The Lil Divas were super excited to see how large these would puff up in the microwave.

Here are the original sized bunny peeps:

Here are a few "action" shots of the peep heating up in the microwave:

We just hit the 1 minute button on the microwave & watched carefully
so I could stop it - it happens fast.

Here's a quick size comparison -

They start shrinking quickly once there's no more heat.

I tried taking a quick photo to no avail,

 the original heated peep was even bigger than this.

See how it takes up the WHOLE plate!
The Lil Divas were beyond thrilled with this giant peep bunny.

Now onto our

Egg Experiments!

(click the titles and it will take you to the original posts for full details)

Dissolving Egg Shell & Bouncing Egg Experiment

The Incredible, Unbreakable Egg 

The Floating vs. Sinking Egg Experiment



If you are looking for some cool Egg Decorating Ideas, check these out:

Tie Dye Eggs

Melted Crayon Eggs

and if you need some cool Egg Craft Ideas, how about these -
Tape Resist & Wet Chalk Eggs (my favorite!)
Tie Dye Coffee Filter Eggs

and if you want even more inspiration check out all our
  Easter posts & our Easter Pinterest board.


Have fun exploring, experimenting & creating,
Bern

The Dissolving Peeps Experiment

Have you been following our Peep Experiments?

Have you tried any of them? Or maybe some of your own?

I know that after we did this particular experiment -

Peeps will never be the same for me again!

The Dissolving Peep Experiment

After our Baking Soda & Vinegar Peeps Experiment I got curious about what it would take to actually dissolve one of these resilient little Peeps. I had the Lil Divas brainstorm which liquids they wanted to "test" that might be able to dissolve (or break apart) the Peeps.

The Lil Divas decided to use the following liquids as our test solvents:

1. water

2. vinegar

3. apple juice

4. soda (Diet Coke was used)

5. Laundry Detergent (All Free & Clear was used)

We used clear glasses so we could easily observe & photograph any changes in the Peeps. We added 1 Peep to each cup and filled it with one of the 5 liquids/solvents mentioned above.

The Results:

After approx. 3 hrs we saw a few changes, mostly in the coloring of the Peeps. All but the one in water had changed coloring somewhat. The most noticeable change was in the soda. The Lil Divas were grossed out by how it looked so brown. Perfect opportunity to remind them how bad soda is for them!

After approx. 16 hrs. the Peeps were still intact minus some more color change. The Peeps in the vinegar and laundry detergent were a light blue color. The one in the apple sauce was turning pink and the one in the soda was a yucky brown.

Day 2 - We started to see signs of the Peeps actually dissolving in the vinegar! The Peep in water looked the most intact (see how healthy water is for you!). The Peep in laundry detergent was almost completely white but it was still intact. 

Day 3 - Vinegar is definitely the fastest solvent out of those we tested. Apple juice is causing some dissolving as well at this point. 

After 4 days we ended our experiment. I carefully took the Peeps out of each cup and photographed what was left of them (see below). 

You can see that the Peep in vinegar pretty much dissolved, there was very little left at this point. The Peep in water still had a purple tint and was pretty large (even the eyes were still there!). Apple juice caused some minor dissolving and color loss. Soda caused a brown tint but the Peep itself was very rubbery feeling and still rather large (yuck!). I found the laundry detergent to be the most interesting. It took away all the purple color - the Peep was white, but it still had the best shape and size of all the Peeps of an original one. It was also very rubbery feeling.

The Lil Divas were amazed that after 4 days we still had Peeps in the cups. The poked and prodded each one in disgust (over & over again, haha!) and proclaimed the entire thing yucky. I agree. I for one, have no desire to ever eat another Peep again (or let the Lil Divas eat one). :)

Will you try the Dissolving Peeps Experiment? What will you choose as your solvents? Please come back and share your results with me if you do the experiment. I would love to see the results of different solvents used. 

Bern

The Baking Soda & Vinegar Peep Experiment

The Peep Experiments are in full swing & we are having fun coming up with ways to torture experiment on these hapless little marshmallow bunnies and chicks.

After our heated/microwave experiment we decided to experiment with some fizzy, bubble fun and see what effect baking soda and vinegar would have on our Peeps.

Here's What We Were Armed With:

Baking Soda

Vinegar

Bunny Peeps (yellow)

I used a cake baking dish to contain the fizz/bubbling and it worked well.

I did use a large tray underneath just in case but we didn't need it.

I set up a cup with baking powder and 1 cup with vinegar and the Lil Divas were free to sprinkle and pour as they wanted. As you san see, their motto is "more is better!" :)

After lots and lots of baking soda and vinegar the Bunny Peeps were left pretty much intact. The only thing the Lil Divas noted was that the colorless vinegar had turned yellow. So, we know some color came off the Peeps but they looked pretty good. 

Then, the Oldest Diva asked if she could have some food coloring. I know she was thinking of our fun baking soda & vinegar experiment where I surprised them by adding some hidden food coloring.

The Lil Divas added food coloring directly onto the Bunny Peeps and then added in the baking soda and vinegar. It was a color explosion which was lots of fun to watch. She repeated it a few times and then I asked her to look over the bunny and see if it had been affected.  

The Bunny Peeps had some hints of food color here and there but you can see they were still pretty yellow. They felt squishy to the touch but were still pretty solid. 

Below, you can see a comparison of an unexperimented on Peep with some from the experiment. Not much of a difference in size or appearance considering the onslaught of baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. Resilient little bunnies! Not sure I can ever look at these guys the same anymore.  After seeing how resilient how they are, I just keep imaging them sitting in the Lil Divas bellies. :) 

This experiment gave me the idea for peep experiment #3 coming tomorrow. What will it take to actually dissolve a Peep? Join us tomorrow to see what we found out.

The Microwaved Peep Experiment

Easter brings lots and lots of packaged Peeps to store shelves.

These colorful little chicks and bunnies are everywhere.

I couldn't resist buying some for us to "experiment" with.

The Lil Divas were excited by the prospect of some fun candy
  Peep Experiments.

We started our Peep fun with a simple experiment.

Peep Activity #1:

The Microwaved Peep Experiment

What You Need:

Peeps 

(we used chicks and bunnies)

plate

microwave

Before starting, I asked the Lil Divas to make a prediction about  what they thought would happen to the candy peeps if we microwaved them.

Predictions:

The Littlest Diva: "They will inflate."

The Oldest Diva: "They will shrink."

Procedure:

1. Put 2 different types of peeps onto a microwave safe plate.

2. Put into the microwave for 1 minute (you will not need all that time)

3. Observe your peeps as they heat & discuss what is happening.

Here are a few shots of the heated Peeps out of the microwave. They do start to "deflate" pretty quickly after the microwave stops so be sure to observe them as they heat to fully appreciate how big they get!

Here's a little comparison shot of 

unmicrowaved vs microwaved Peeps

(taken after a bit of cooling so they are not as big 

as when they were in the microwave)

The Lil Divas wanted to see if the peeps would get even bigger if we left them in longer, so we popped them back into the microwave and observed what happened as we re-heated them.

Results:

We discussed the girls predictions. They had differing views on who was correct. The Littlest Diva felt she was correct and The Oldest Diva decided they were both correct :) since the peeps initially inflated and then as they got burnt they deflated.

I had the Oldest Diva compare an original Peep to the shrunken/burnt ones and compare if the Peeps really shrunk. They were still larger than the original ones so she finally agreed that the Littlest Diva's prediction was correct (but she wasn't too happy about it, haha!)  

Stay tuned tomorrow for Peep Experiment #2.

Bern