Teach kids how quickly mold grows on food. Knowing how mold grows on food will help kids learn how to store food to avoid getting sick. Label 15 Ziploc bags with a permanent marker. Label five of the bags “bread”, five “orange” and the last five “cheese”. Put a piece of bread in the bread bags, a piece of cheddar cheese in the bags labeled cheese and an orange slice in the last five. Tightly close the bags. Put one of each type of bag (a set of bread, orange and cheese) in the refrigerator, put another set of the bags in a dark cupboard, put one set in a window that gets full sun, put another set in the freezer, leave one set out on the counter near the stove top. Observe the sets of bags each day, for two weeks, and record if you see mold growing. Record on a chart how much mold you see growing and on which type of food it grows most quickly. Record what the mold looks like. You will be able to tell how quickly food deteriorates if left on the counter compared to being stored in the refrigerator.
Learn what makes our bones strong. Completely remove the meat off of two chicken drumsticks. Put one of the chicken bones into a jar of vinegar for two weeks. Put the other chicken bone into a fire pit or barbecue flames for half an hour to dry out. Compare both bones; do they feel the same? Hit the bones on something hard. The vinegar soaked bone is soft and pliable, but strong. The burnt bone is hard, but brittle and shatters easily. Your bones are made of two different components to create strength. A mineral called hydroxy apatite makes it hard. A protein called collagen makes it flexible. Baby bones have a lot of collagen until they grow older, so they are more flexible.
Find out if a liquid is an acid or a base. All liquids have positive and negative ions, and the amount of these ions determine if the liquid is acid or base. Chop the red cabbage into small pieces. Put your cabbage into a bowl and cover it with water. Let it soak for an hour. Pour the cabbage juice through a strainer into another bowl. Divide the cabbage juice into six plastic cups. Put 1 teaspoon of baking soda into five of the cups. The baking soda, as a base, will turn your cabbage juice, an acid, the color blue. Test various liquids like cola, lemon juice, vinegar, milk, tea, window cleaner and soy sauce by pouring a teaspoon of each of the liquid into the cabbage juice with baking soda. Add more of the various liquids to see if you can get the cabbage juice back to its original color (the color should match the cup you did not put the baking soda in). If the liquid does not go back to the original cabbage juice color, it is also a base; if it does, then it is an acid.
Make a fireball with an orange. Peel the skin off of an orange that has a thick juicy peeling. Light a candle. Hold the orange peel near the flame of the candle and squeeze it until juice comes out. The spraying juice should make a fireball on top of the candle. This is because orange peels have pockets of oil that ignite the flame.
Find out if mints actually make your mouth colder or if chilies actually make your mouth hotter. Use a thermometer and take your temperature. Write down your temperature. Suck on a mint for one minute. Does your mouth feel cold? Take your temperature again; is it colder than it was before you sucked on the mint? Wait a few minutes to let your mouth warm up, then put a drop of Tabasco sauce on your tongue. Does your mouth feel hot? Take your temperature to see if your mouth is hotter. After the experiment, you will probably find out that your mouth is the same temperature as always--it just feels colder or hotter after eating minty or hot foods. This is because your tongue is made of different types of nerve cells. The menthol in mint confuses the nerve cells, giving the sensation of coldness with no actual change in temperature.