Experimenting with Peeps

Monday, April 6th we decided to work on a fun project. We invited my sister in law and her daughter over to do this with us. 

K is 5 and Monster is 8, so I thought this was something they could both do together. 

I set up everything for them. Each child had a box of peeps, ruler, crayons they shared, pencils, and a worksheet I printed from here. 

This is their set up. The first part was talking about what the peeps looked like and how they felt. Then on the before side of the worksheet the children drew what his/her peep looked like. They also measured their peeps and wrote their size in the before box.

After they drew their peeps, they made a prediction on what would happen if the peeps were placed in the microwave. They both said they felt the peeps would burn. 

Watching the peeps, they learned that they did not burn, in fact they got big! We talked about how air molecules made the peeps expand. 

This is the peep after it was taken out of the microwave and cooled off a little bit. Both of their peeps grew in size half an inch to a full inch different. They then drew what their peeps looked like after being in the microwave. 

K then asked what would happen if we put the peep in water. So we tried it. 

I printed off another copy of the same worksheet for each child and they again drew what it looked like before and after. We let them sit for a couple of hours and I would flip them over ever 30 minutes. 

Monster and K both used their sense of touch to feel it and see how it felt after being in the water that long. Neither was a big fan of the slimy feeling. 

They ended up losing most of the coloring to the water and their faces.