Making cottage cheese

Grandmothers who are over 50 years old remember well how they made cottage cheese for their children. You can show this process to your child.

Heat the milk by pouring a little lemon juice into it (calcium chloride can also be used). Show the children how the milk immediately curdles into large flakes with whey on top.

Drain the resulting mass through several layers of gauze and leave for 2-3 hours.

You made a wonderful cottage cheese.

Pour syrup over it and offer it to your child for dinner. We are sure that even those children who do not like this dairy product will not be able to refuse a delicacy prepared with their own participation.

Src="https://vk.com/images/emoji/2744.png">How to make ice cream? src="https://vk.com/images/emoji/2744.png">

For ice cream you will need: cocoa, sugar, milk, sour cream. You can add grated chocolate, wafer crumbs or small pieces of cookies to it.

Stir two tablespoons of cocoa, one tablespoon of sugar, four tablespoons of milk and two tablespoons of sour cream in a bowl. Add cookie and chocolate crumbs. The ice cream is ready. Now it needs to be cooled.

Take a larger bowl, put ice in it, sprinkle it with salt, stir. Place a bowl of ice cream on the ice and cover with a towel on top to prevent heat from penetrating into it. Stir the ice cream every 3-5 minutes. If you have enough patience, then after about 30 minutes the ice cream will thicken and you can taste it. Tasty?

How does our homemade refrigerator work? It is known that ice melts at a temperature of zero degrees. Salt retains the cold and prevents ice from melting quickly. Therefore, salted ice stays cold longer. Moreover, the towel prevents warm air from penetrating to the ice cream. And the result? Ice cream is beyond praise!

Let's beat the butter

If you live in the country in the summer, you probably take natural milk from a thrush. Do experiments with milk with your children.

Prepare a liter jar. Fill it with milk and put it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Show children how the milk separates into lighter cream and heavier skim milk.

Collect the cream in a jar with an airtight lid. And if you have patience and free time, then shake the jar for half an hour, taking turns with the children, until the fat balls merge together and form oil lumps.

Believe me, children have never eaten such delicious butter.

Homemade lollipops

Cooking is a fun activity. Now we’ll make homemade lollipops.

To do this, you need to prepare a glass of warm water in which to dissolve as much granulated sugar as can be dissolved. Then take a cocktail straw, tie a clean string to it, and attach a small piece of pasta to the end (small pasta is best). Now all that remains is to place the straw on top of the glass, across it, and dip the end of the thread with the pasta into the sugar solution. And be patient.

When the water from the glass begins to evaporate, the sugar molecules will begin to move closer together and sweet crystals will begin to settle on the thread and on the pasta, taking on bizarre shapes.

Let your little one try the lollipop. Tasty?

The same candies will be much tastier if you add jam syrup to the sugar solution. Then you will get lollipops with different flavors: cherry, blackcurrant and others, whatever he wants.

"Roasted" sugar

Take two pieces of refined sugar. Moisten them with a few drops of water to make it moist, place in a stainless steel spoon and heat it over gas for a few minutes until the sugar has melted and turned yellow. Don't let it burn.

As soon as the sugar turns into a yellowish liquid, pour the contents of the spoon onto the saucer in small drops.

Taste your candies with your children. Liked? Then open a confectionery factory!

Changing the color of cabbage

Together with your child, prepare a salad of finely shredded red cabbage, grated with salt, and pour vinegar and sugar over it. Watch the cabbage turn from purple to bright red. This is the effect of acetic acid.

However, as it is stored, the lettuce may again turn purple or even turn blue. This happens because acetic acid is gradually diluted with cabbage juice, its concentration decreases and the color of the red cabbage dye changes. These are the transformations.

Why are unripe apples sour?

Unripe apples contain a lot of starch and no sugar.

Starch is an unsweetened substance. Let your child lick the starch and he will be convinced of it. How can you tell if a product contains starch?

Make a weak iodine solution. Drop it on a handful of flour, starch, on a piece of raw potato, on a slice of unripe apple. The blue color that appears proves that all these products contain starch.

Repeat the experiment with the apple when it is fully ripe. And you will probably be surprised that you will no longer find starch in an apple. But now there is sugar in it. This means that fruit ripening is a chemical process of converting starch into sugar.

Edible glue

Your child needed glue for a craft project, but the bottle of glue turned out to be empty? Don't rush to the store to buy. Cook it yourself. What is familiar to you is unusual to a child.

Cook him a small portion of thick jelly, showing him each stage of the process. For those who don’t know: into boiling juice (or into water with jam), you need to pour, stirring thoroughly, a solution of starch diluted in a small amount of cold water and bring to a boil.

I think the child will be surprised that this glue-jelly can be eaten with a spoon, or you can glue crafts with it.

Homemade sparkling water

Remind your child that they breathe air. Air is made up of different gases, but many are invisible and odorless, making them difficult to detect. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases that makes up air and... carbonated water. But it can be isolated at home.

Take two cocktail straws, but of different diameters, so that the narrow one fits tightly into the wider one a few millimeters. The result was a long straw made up of two. Make a through vertical hole in the cork of a plastic bottle with a sharp object and insert either end of the straw into it.

If there are no straws of different diameters, then you can make a small vertical cut in one and stick it into another straw. The main thing is to get a tight connection.

Pour water diluted with any jam into a glass, and pour half a tablespoon of soda into the bottle through a funnel. Then pour vinegar into the bottle - about one hundred milliliters.

Now you need to act very quickly: stick the cork with a straw into the bottle, and lower the other end of the straw into a glass of sweet water.

What's going on in the glass?

Explain to your child that vinegar and baking soda have actively begun to interact with each other, releasing bubbles of carbon dioxide. It rises up and passes through the straw into a glass of drink, where it bubbles to the surface of the water. Now the sparkling water is ready.

Drown and eat

Wash two oranges thoroughly. Place one of them in a bowl of water. He will float. And even if you try very hard, you won’t be able to drown him.

Peel the second orange and place it in water. Well? Don't believe your eyes? The orange drowned.

How so? Two identical oranges, but one drowns and the other floats?

Explain to your child: “There are a lot of air bubbles in an orange peel. They push the orange to the surface of the water. Without the peel, the orange sinks because it is heavier than the water it displaces.”

About the benefits of milk

Oddly enough, the best way to find out why you need to drink milk is to do an experiment with bones.

Take the eaten chicken bones, wash them properly, and let them dry. Then pour vinegar in a bowl so that it completely covers the seeds, close the lid and leave for a week.

After seven days, drain the vinegar, carefully examine and touch the bones. They have become flexible. Why?

It turns out that calcium gives strength to bones. Calcium dissolves in acetic acid, and the bones lose their hardness.

Do you want to ask: “What does milk have to do with it?”

It is known that milk contains a lot of calcium. Milk is healthy because it replenishes our body with calcium, which means it makes our bones hard and strong.

How to get drinking water from salt water?

Pour water into a deep basin with your child, add two tablespoons of salt there, stir until the salt dissolves. Place washed pebbles at the bottom of an empty plastic glass so that it does not float, but its edges should be higher than the water level in the basin. Pull the film over the top, tying it around the pelvis. Squeeze the film in the center above the cup and place another pebble in the recess. Place the basin in the sun.

After a few hours, unsalted, clean drinking water will accumulate in the glass.

This is explained simply: water begins to evaporate in the sun, condensation settles on the film and flows into an empty glass. The salt does not evaporate and remains in the basin.

Now that you know how to get fresh water, you can safely go to the sea and not be afraid of thirst. There is a lot of water in the sea, and you can always get the purest drinking water from it.

Live yeast

A famous Russian proverb says: “A hut is red not in its corners, but in its pies.” However, we won’t bake pies. Although, why not? Moreover, we always have yeast in our kitchen. But first we’ll show you our experience, and then we can get down to pies.

Tell children that yeast is made up of tiny living organisms called microbes (which means that microbes can be beneficial as well as harmful). As they feed, they emit carbon dioxide, which, when mixed with flour, sugar and water, “raises” the dough, making it fluffy and tasty.

Dry yeast looks like small lifeless balls. But this is only until millions of tiny microbes that lie dormant in a cold and dry state come to life.

Let's revive them. Pour two tablespoons of warm water into a jug, add two teaspoons of yeast, then one teaspoon of sugar and stir.

Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle, placing a balloon over the neck of the bottle. Place the bottle in a bowl of warm water.

Ask the guys what will happen?

That's right, when the yeast comes to life and begins to eat sugar, the mixture will be filled with bubbles of carbon dioxide, which is already familiar to children, which they begin to emit. The bubbles burst and the gas inflates the balloon.

Is the fur coat warm?

Children should really enjoy this experience.

Buy two cups of paper-wrapped ice cream. Unfold one of them and place it on a plate. And wrap the second one right in the wrapper in a clean towel and wrap it well in a fur coat.

After 30 minutes, unwrap the wrapped ice cream and place it without wrapper on a saucer. Unwrap the second ice cream too. Compare both portions. Surprised? What about your children?

It turns out that the ice cream under the fur coat, unlike the one on the plate, almost did not melt. So what? Maybe the fur coat is not a fur coat at all, but a refrigerator? Why then do we wear it in winter if it does not warm, but cools?

Everything is explained simply. The fur coat no longer allowed room heat to reach the ice cream. And because of this, the ice cream in the fur coat became cold, so the ice cream did not melt.

Now the question is logical: “Why does a person put on a fur coat in the cold?”
Answer: “So as not to freeze.”

When a person puts on a fur coat at home, he is warm, but the fur coat does not release heat to the street, so the person does not freeze.

Ask your child if he knows that there are “fur coats” made of glass?

This is a thermos. It has double walls, and between them there is emptiness. Heat does not pass through emptiness very well. Therefore, when we pour hot tea into a thermos, it remains hot for a long time. And if you pour cold water into it, what happens to it? The child can now answer this question himself.

If he still finds it difficult to answer, let him do one more experiment: pour cold water into the thermos and check it after 30 minutes.

Thrust funnel

Can a funnel “refuse” to let water into a bottle? Let's check!

We will need:

2 funnels
- two identical clean, dry plastic bottles of 1 liter each
- plasticine
- jug of water

Preparation:

1. Insert a funnel into each bottle.

2. Cover the neck of one of the bottles around the funnel with plasticine so that there is no gap left.

Let's begin the scientific magic!

1. Announce to the audience: “I have a magic funnel that keeps water out of the bottle.”

2. Take a bottle without plasticine and pour some water into it through a funnel. Explain to the audience: “This is how most funnels behave.”

3. Place a bottle of plasticine on the table.

4. Fill the funnel with water to the top. See what happens.

Result:

A little water will flow from the funnel into the bottle, and then it will stop flowing completely.

Explanation:

Water flows freely into the first bottle. Water flowing through the funnel into the bottle replaces the air in it, which escapes through the gaps between the neck and the funnel. A bottle sealed with plasticine also contains air, which has its own pressure. The water in the funnel also has pressure, which arises due to the force of gravity pulling the water down. However, the force of air pressure in the bottle exceeds the force of gravity acting on the water. Therefore, water cannot enter the bottle.

If there is even a small hole in the bottle or plasticine, air can escape through it. This will cause its pressure inside the bottle to drop, allowing water to flow into it.

Dancing cereal

Some cereals can make a lot of noise. Now we will find out whether it is possible to teach rice cereal to also jump and dance.

We will need:

Paper towel
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) crispy rice cereal
- balloon
- wool sweater

Preparation:

1. Lay a paper towel on the table.

2. Pour the cereal onto a towel.

Let's begin the scientific magic!

1. Address the audience like this: “All of you, of course, know how rice cereal can crack, crunch and rustle. And now I’ll show you how they can jump and dance.”

2. Inflate the balloon and tie it.

3. Rub the ball on a wool sweater.

4. Hold the ball near the cereal and see what happens.

Result:

The flakes will bounce and be attracted to the ball.

Explanation:

Static electricity helps you in this experiment. Electricity is called static when there is no current, that is, movement of charge. It is formed due to the friction of objects, in this case a ball and a sweater. All objects are made of atoms, and each atom contains equal numbers of protons and electrons. Protons have a positive charge, and electrons have a negative charge. When these charges are equal, the object is called neutral, or uncharged. But there are objects, such as hair or wool, that lose their electrons very easily. If you rub a ball against a woolen item, some electrons will transfer from the wool to the ball, and it will acquire a negative static charge.

When you bring a negatively charged ball closer to the flakes, the electrons in them begin to be repelled from it and move to the opposite side. Thus, the upper side of the flakes, facing the ball, becomes positively charged, and the ball attracts them towards itself.

If you wait longer, electrons will begin to transfer from the ball to the flakes. Gradually the ball will become neutral again and will no longer attract flakes. They will fall back onto the table.

Natalia Samoilova
Card file “Experiments in the kitchen with a child”

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« Experiments in the kitchen with a child»

Starting from about 3-5 years old, young children actively ask questions regarding the structure of our planet, living and inanimate nature, and even at 7 years old this thirst for knowledge does not recede. It is vital for a growing child to explore the world around him and experience all the possibilities of this environment.

I present to your attention the following experiences and experiments:

Is the fur coat warm?

This experience kids should really like it. Buy two cups of paper-wrapped ice cream. Unfold one of them and place it on a plate. And wrap the second one right in the wrapper in a clean towel and wrap it well in a fur coat.

After 30 minutes, unwrap the wrapped ice cream and place it without wrapper on a saucer. Unwrap the second ice cream too. Compare both portions. Surprised? What about your children? It turns out that the ice cream under the fur coat, unlike the one on the plate, almost did not melt. So what? Maybe the fur coat is not a fur coat at all, but a refrigerator? Why then do we wear it in winter if it does not warm, but cools? Everything is explained simply. The fur coat no longer allowed room heat to reach the ice cream. And because of this, the ice cream in the fur coat became cold, so the ice cream did not melt. Now it’s natural and question: “Why does a person put on a fur coat in the cold?” Answer: "So as not to freeze."

Thrust funnel

Can a funnel “refuse” to let water into a bottle? Let's check! Us will be needed: 2 funnels, two identical clean dry plastic bottles of 1 liter each, plasticine, a jug of water.

Preparation: Insert a funnel into each bottle.

Cover the neck of one of the bottles around the funnel with plasticine so that there is no gap left.

Let's begin the scientific magic!

1. Announce to the audience: “I have a magic funnel that keeps water out of the bottle.”

2. Take a bottle without plasticine and pour some water into it through a funnel. Explain viewers: “This is how most funnels behave.”

3. Place a bottle of plasticine on the table.

4. Fill the funnel with water to the top. See what happens.

Result: A little water will flow from the funnel into the bottle, and then it will stop flowing completely.

Explanation: Water flows freely into the first bottle. Water flowing through the funnel into the bottle replaces the air in it, which escapes through the gaps between the neck and the funnel. A bottle sealed with plasticine also contains air, which has its own pressure. The water in the funnel also has pressure, which arises due to the force of gravity pulling the water down. However, the force of air pressure in the bottle exceeds the force of gravity acting on the water. Therefore, water cannot enter the bottle. If there is even a small hole in the bottle or plasticine, air can escape through it. This will cause its pressure inside the bottle to drop, allowing water to flow into it.

Dancing cereal

Some cereals can make a lot of noise. Now we will find out whether it is possible to teach rice cereal to also jump and dance.

We will need:

Paper towel

1 teaspoon (5 ml) crispy rice cereal

Balloon

Wool sweater

Preparation:

Pour the cereal onto a towel.

Let's begin the scientific magic!

1. Address the audience So: “All of you, of course, know how rice cereal can crack, crunch and rustle. And now I’ll show you how they can jump and dance.”

2. Inflate the balloon and tie it.

3. Rub the ball on a wool sweater.

4. Hold the ball near the cereal and see what happens.

Result: The flakes will bounce and be attracted to the ball.

Explanation: Static electricity helps you in this experiment. Electricity is called static when there is no current, that is, movement of charge. It is formed due to the friction of objects, in this case a ball and a sweater. All objects are made of atoms, and each atom contains equal numbers of protons and electrons. Protons have a positive charge, and electrons have a negative charge. When these charges are equal, the object is called neutral, or uncharged. But there are objects, such as hair or wool, that lose their electrons very easily. If you rub a ball against a woolen item, some electrons will transfer from the wool to the ball, and it will acquire a negative static charge. When you bring a negatively charged ball closer to the flakes, the electrons in them begin to be repelled from it and move to the opposite side. Thus, the upper side of the flakes, facing the ball, becomes positively charged, and the ball attracts them towards itself.

If you wait longer, electrons will begin to transfer from the ball to the flakes. Gradually the ball will become neutral again and will no longer attract flakes. They will fall back onto the table.

Sorting

Do you think it is possible to separate the mixed pepper and salt? If you master this experiment, you will definitely cope with this difficult task!

We will need: paper towel, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground pepper, spoon, balloon, woolen sweater, assistant.

Preparation:

1. Lay a paper towel on the table.

2. Sprinkle salt and pepper on it.

Let's begin the scientific magic!

Invite someone from the audience to become your assistant.

Mix salt and pepper thoroughly with a spoon. Suggest to your assistant to attempt separate salt from pepper.

When your assistant despairs of separating them, now invite him to sit and watch.

Inflate a balloon, tie it, and rub it on a wool sweater.

Bring the ball closer to the salt and pepper mixture. What will you see?

Result: The pepper will stick to the ball, but the salt will remain on the table.

Explanation: This is another example of static electricity. When you rub the ball with a woolen cloth, it becomes negatively charged. If you bring the ball to a mixture of pepper and salt, the pepper will begin to be attracted to it. This happens because the electrons in the pepper dust tend to move as far away from the ball as possible. Consequently, the part of the peppercorns closest to the ball acquires a positive charge and is attracted by the negative charge of the ball. The pepper sticks to the ball. The salt is not attracted to the ball, since electrons do not move well in this substance. When you bring a charged ball to salt, its electrons still remain in their places. The salt on the side of the ball does not acquire a charge - it remains uncharged or neutral. Therefore, the salt does not stick to the negatively charged ball.

Drown and eat

Wash two oranges thoroughly. Place one of them in a bowl of water. He will float. And even if you try very hard, you won’t be able to drown him.

Peel the second orange and place it in water. Well? Don't believe your eyes? The orange drowned. How so? Two identical oranges, but one drowns and the other floats?

Explain to kid: "An orange peel contains a lot of air bubbles. They push the orange to the surface of the water. Without the peel, the orange sinks because it is heavier than the water it displaces."

Live yeast

Famous Russian proverb reads: “The hut is red not in its corners, but in its pies.” However, we won’t bake pies. Although, why not? Moreover, we have yeast on there is always food in the kitchen. But first we'll show experience, and then you can take on the pies.

Tell children that yeast is made up of tiny living organisms called microbes (which means that microbes are not only harmful, but also beneficial). As they feed, they emit carbon dioxide, which, when mixed with flour, sugar and water, “raises” the dough, making it fluffy and tasty. Dry yeast looks like small lifeless balls. But this is only until millions of tiny microbes that lie dormant in a cold and dry state come to life. Let's revive them. Pour two tablespoons of warm water into a jug, add two teaspoons of yeast, then one teaspoon of sugar and stir. Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle, placing a balloon over the neck of the bottle. Place the bottle in a bowl of warm water. Ask the guys what will happen? That's right, when the yeast comes to life and begins to eat sugar, the mixture will be filled with bubbles of carbon dioxide, which is already familiar to children, which they begin to emit. The bubbles burst and the gas inflates the balloon. Like experience Inflating a balloon can be done by replacing the yeast with a solution of soda and vinegar.

 Surely your baby, like all children, loves everything mysterious and mysterious, studies the world in all possible ways and asks many questions about the objects and phenomena around him.  Often, completely simple and ordinary things for adults evoke the child’s sincere admiration. But there are a lot of simple experiments that can be carried out right in the kitchen. They do not require any preparation or special equipment; the young experimenter can do most of them himself, guided by his mother’s instructions, but, of course, under her supervision.  This will not only help keep the baby occupied for a while, such almost scientific experiments are not just entertainment. Research activities develop the child’s thinking, memory and observation skills in the best possible way, give the first ideas about the physical and chemical phenomena around us, and help to understand some of the laws of nature.  Especially if the mother is not in a hurry to draw conclusions for the baby, but gives him the opportunity to try to find the answer himself. And even though the answers and conclusions are not always correct, that is not what matters. The most important thing is not the answer, but the question and the search for an answer to it. This issue should never be neglected, especially if we are talking about a curious and nimble baby. Skipping the topic of safety in the kitchen in general, I would like to say a few words about the “instruction” of the child himself before starting experiments. This must be done even when all components of your experiments are completely safe. It is with safety instructions that work in any laboratory begins, and for a while your kitchen turns into a real laboratory. Be sure to tell your baby about this. Please note that working in the laboratory requires special clothing. To confirm your words, give your baby a kitchen apron. All substances should be handled very carefully, because some of them may be poisonous. And of course, you shouldn’t taste everything, especially if you don’t know what kind of substance it is. All our experiments today are completely harmless and do not contain dangerous substances (the only exception is iodine). But from the very beginning of his research activities, the child must clearly know the rules of working with them. Not intimidation, but reasonable precaution should be the basis of your conversation. When the preparatory work has been completed, you can proceed directly to the experiments. The simplest and most accessible physical experiments can be done with ordinary water. Before you begin the experiments, talk to your child about water as a natural substance. Remember where you can find water (rivers and seas, rain and droplets of fog, snow and ice, dew and plant sap), why it is needed and how life on the planet would be possible if water suddenly disappeared. Ask your child if water has a color, what it smells like, what it tastes like. Don’t answer for him, let him make a small discovery himself, determining that the water is clear and has no taste or smell. If the baby is not yet familiar with the states of aggregation of water, conduct this simple experiment. First experience. Pour some water into an ice cube tray and let your little one place it in the freezer with her own hands. After a couple of hours, take out the mold and make sure that ice appears in it instead of water. What a miracle, where did it come from? Will the baby be able to figure this out on his own? Is solid ice really the same as water? Or maybe mom came up with some kind of clever trick and changed the molds in the freezer? Okay, let's check it out! In the warmth of the kitchen, the ice will quickly melt and turn into ordinary water. Here's an amazing discovery: in the cold, liquid water freezes and turns into solid ice. But water can turn into more than just ice. Pour the melted water into a saucepan, put it on the fire and let the baby watch it carefully while you go about your business. When the water boils, draw your baby's attention to the rising steam. Carefully bring a mirror to the saucepan and show the baby the droplets of water that have formed on it. This means that steam is also water! Yes, these are tiny droplets of water. If the saucepan simmers long enough, all the water will disappear from it. Where did she go? It turned into steam and scattered throughout the kitchen. Experience two. Fill a plate with some water, mark its level on the wall of the plate with a marker and leave it, say, on the windowsill for several days. Looking into the plate every day, the baby will be able to observe the miraculous disappearance of water. Where does the water go? In the same way as in the previous experiment, it turns into water vapor - evaporates. But why in the first case the water disappeared in a matter of minutes, and in the second - in a few days, let the baby think for himself. If he finds the connection between evaporation and temperature, you can be rightfully proud of your little physicist. Now, relying on the little one’s new knowledge, you can explain to him what fog is, and why steam comes out of his mouth in the cold, and where the rain comes from, and what happens in the jungle when the hot sun appears after a tropical downpour, and many other amazingly interesting phenomena . Experience three. Now talk to your child about some of the properties of water. He is familiar with one of them and encounters it almost daily. It's about dissolution. Ask your little one what happens to sugar when he puts it in tea and stirs it with a spoon. Sugar disappears. Does it disappear completely? But the tea was unsweetened, but it became sweet. Sugar does not disappear, it dissolves, breaks up into tiny particles invisible to the eye and is distributed throughout the entire glass. But will all substances dissolve in water in the same way? Wait for the child to answer, and then offer to check your answer experimentally. Pour warm water into jars or cups, give your baby all sorts of safe substances (sugar, salt, baking soda, cereals, vegetable oil, “chicken” cubes, flour, starch, sand, a little soil from a flower pot, chalk, etc.) , and let him put them in glasses, stir them and draw the appropriate conclusions. This will captivate the young researcher for a long time. In the meantime, you can calmly do kitchen chores, looking after your baby and, if necessary, helping with advice. In order for the child to be convinced that the dissolved substance really does not disappear anywhere, conduct the following experiment with him. Experience four. Take a tablespoon of liquid from the glass where the baby previously poured salt. Hold the spoon over the fire until the water evaporates. Show your baby the white powder remaining in the spoon and ask what it is. Cool the spoon and invite your child to taste the powder. He will easily determine that it is salt. Experience five. Now let's do the following. Take two glasses, pour the same amount of water into each, only cold into one glass and hot into the other (not boiling water, so that the baby doesn’t accidentally get burned). Put a tablespoon of salt in each glass and start stirring. In order for the baby to draw the right conclusions, it is very important to maintain absolutely the same conditions for both glasses, with the exception of the water temperature. It’s not for nothing that I draw your attention to this. This applies not only to this experiment, but to all others. Children's logic is an interesting and unpredictable thing; children think completely differently than adults. And what is obvious to us may look completely different to them. So let them mix it themselves in both glasses. Then it will be much easier to see the dependence of the dissolution rate on temperature... If you are preparing scrambled eggs for breakfast, and the ubiquitous baby is spinning under your feet, give him two chicken eggs, one raw, the other boiled, and ask him, without breaking them, to determine which is which. Tell me that the eggs need to be rotated on the table. While your baby is busy with this exciting activity, you will have time to finish preparing breakfast. And then explain to the baby why a boiled egg rotates easily and quickly, while a raw egg makes one or two clumsy turns and freezes. You shouldn’t talk about the center of gravity; the baby is unlikely to understand it. Just say that inside a raw egg, the yolk and white are hanging around, preventing the egg from unwinding. But the hard contents of a boiled egg allow it to rotate easily. Give your baby a half-liter jar of water and a raw chicken egg. Let him put it in water and see what happens. The egg will sink to the bottom of the jar. Now you need to take it out, add 2 tablespoons of salt to the water and stir well. We lower the egg into the water again and observe an interesting picture: now the egg does not sink, but floats on the surface. You and I know that the problem is the density of water. The higher it is (in this case due to salt), the more difficult it is to drown in it. Invite your child to express his version explaining this phenomenon. Remind him that swimming in the sea is much easier than in the river. Salt water helps to stay on the surface. Now take a liter jar, fill it a third with fresh water, and put an egg in the jar. Fill a separate container with warm water and let your baby dissolve the salt there to create a concentrated saline solution. Now give your child the following task: you need to ensure that the egg does not sink or float, but “hangs” in the water column, like a submarine. To do this, you need to add saline solution into the jar in small portions until the desired effect is achieved. If your baby pours too much solution and the egg surfaces, ask him to think about how to correct the situation (add the required amount of fresh water to the jar, thereby reducing its density). First experience. If today you decide to bake a cake, then it’s time to demonstrate to your baby the fascinating reaction between soda and vinegar. If you remember your school chemistry course, it is called a neutralization reaction, because in its process the acid and alkali neutralize each other. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar into a bowl, add a teaspoon of soda. The violent hissing and foam will not leave any little one indifferent. You can tell your child that the bubbles that appear are carbon dioxide, the same one that we exhale and which is necessary for plants to breathe. It is thanks to carbon dioxide that our cake or pie turns out so fluffy and airy: the bubbles pass through the dough and loosen it. We also drink carbon dioxide along with carbonated water; it turns ordinary water into “prickly” water. Experience two. An experiment with soda and vinegar can be turned into a super spectacular show by making a model of a volcano with their help. But first you need to sculpt the volcano itself from plasticine. Plasticine, already used once, left over from children's creative research, is quite suitable for these purposes. Divide the plasticine into 2 parts. Flatten one half (this will be the base), and from the other we mold a hollow cone the size of a glass with a hole at the top (the slopes and mouth of the volcano). Let's connect both parts, carefully fastening the joints so that our volcano turns out airtight. We transfer the “volcano” to a plate, which we place on a large tray. Now let's prepare the “lava”. Pour a tablespoon of baking soda, a little red food coloring (beetroot juice will do), and a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid into the volcano. The final touch: the baby pours a quarter glass of vinegar into the “mouth”. The volcano immediately wakes up, a hiss is heard, and brightly colored foam begins to pour out of the “mouth”. A spectacular and unforgettable spectacle! If you don’t feel like making a volcano out of plasticine, you can build a volcanic cone out of paper or cardboard and place a glass bottle inside. Such experiments make an indelible impression on children. Experience three. The little one will surely enjoy this experience, which can be shown to friends or grandparents as a real trick. It is based on the same reaction between soda and vinegar. Prepare a small inflatable balloon. It is desirable that it inflates easily (check this in advance). Keep the ball ready. Dissolve 2 teaspoons of baking soda in 3 tablespoons of water and pour the solution into a glass bottle. Pour a quarter cup of vinegar into the same bottle. Now quickly put the ball on the neck and secure with a strip of tape (everything should be at hand). The carbon dioxide released during the reaction will inflate the balloon. Experience four. And the next experience can have not only cognitive, but also educational significance for the baby. Take a raw chicken egg, put it in a half-liter jar and fill it with table vinegar. Close the jar with a lid and leave for a day. Then take it out and try to squeeze it in your hands. The shell will become soft and flexible. Tell your child that vinegar dissolves the minerals contained in the eggshell (which is what gives the shell its strength). If you keep a chicken bone in vinegar for 3-4 days, it will also become soft. The acid released by bacteria in the oral cavity affects the enamel of our teeth in much the same way. So for little stubborn people who don’t want to brush their teeth, this experience will be very revealing. Experience five. If in the summer the child did not draw all the crayons on the asphalt and one piece was preserved, it will be useful to us for a spectacular experience. Dip it into a glass of vinegar and watch what happens. The chalk in the glass will begin to hiss, bubble, decrease in size and soon disappear completely. The main thing is that this fantastic disappearance does not end in the tears of the little experimenter. Often babies are tenderly attached to all sorts of little things, like stubs of pencils, crayons, all kinds of rags and boxes. Unfortunately, once dissolved chalk cannot be returned. So it is better to discuss this point with your baby before the experiment begins. First experience. Now let's look in the refrigerator and see if there is anything suitable for our experiments. If you find an apple and a lemon there, do the following with them. Cut the apple in half, place it cut side up on a saucer and invite your child to squeeze a little lemon juice onto one of the halves. The baby will probably be surprised by the fact that after a few hours the “clean” half of the apple will darken, and the one that was “protected” by lemon juice will remain the same white. We adults know that darkening occurs due to the oxidation of iron contained in the apple by atmospheric oxygen. And ascorbic acid, contained in lemon juice, is a natural antioxidant that slows down oxidation processes. Tell your child that apples contain many very useful substances, including iron. Of course, no matter how much you chew apples, you won’t find pieces of the iron we are used to there, but iron is still there in the form of very small particles, invisible to the eye. When these tiny particles of iron come into contact with air, or more precisely, with oxygen in the air, they begin to darken. To make it clear to your baby what is happening, compare the darkening of the apple with rust. Experience two. Keep your baby busy with another fun activity with lemon. Squeeze a little lemon juice into a bowl, give your child a white sheet of paper and a cotton swab and offer to write a letter for dad or draw something. Let the manuscript dry. Now it has become impossible to read what is written or see what is drawn. Heat a sheet of paper thoroughly over a table lamp or steam. The inscription will not take long to beg and will become noticeable. You can also write a “secret” letter with ordinary milk. Dry the paper with milky “ink” and then iron it properly with a hot iron. Brown letters will appear on the paper. Sometimes it happens that the “lemon” letter does not develop well when steamed. Then it also makes sense to iron it. If your child likes the idea, you can write secret messages to each other indefinitely.  By the way, have you already shown your baby the color reaction between ordinary potato starch and iodine?  We take a white starch suspension or starch paste, drop a drop of brown iodine and get a wonderful dark blue color. Well, isn't it a miracle? Here's another way to write a “secret” letter.  Together with your baby, prepare a starch paste: dilute a teaspoon of starch with a small amount of cold water and, stirring vigorously, pour boiling water from a kettle. The mixture will thicken and become clear. Dip a cotton swab, toothpick or brush into the paste and write on paper. The developer in this case will be iodine, which is already familiar to us.  Add half a teaspoon of iodine to 4-5 teaspoons of water and lightly moisten the paper with this mixture using a foam sponge. The iodine will react with the starch, and our invisible inscription will turn blue.  Probably, crystals were grown in childhood, if not all, then many. Let's now do this beautiful and interesting experience with our baby. It doesn’t require much time to prepare, but it will occupy the baby’s attention for quite a long time. Very beautiful crystals are obtained from copper sulfate. But, due to the special toxicity of this substance, it is not suitable for children’s experiments. First, try growing a crystal from ordinary salt.  We will need a liter jar, two-thirds filled with hot water. Prepare a supersaturated saline solution by dissolving the salt until it can no longer dissolve. Now let's build the basis for our future crystal. Select the largest one among the salt crystals and tie it to a nylon thread. This work is delicate, so the mother does it, and the baby watches with bated breath. Attach the other end of the thread to a pencil, place it on the neck of the jar, and lower the thread with the grain into the solution. Place the jar in a place where the baby can easily observe it, and explain to him that the solution cannot be disturbed, you can only watch. Otherwise nothing will work. Crystal growth is not a fast process.  Gradually, salt crystals will settle on our salt grain, and it will increase. In two weeks the spectacle will be quite impressive. If you didn’t succeed in tying a salt crystal onto a thread, try dipping a metal paper clip or nail into the solution. They are attached in the same way. You can try growing sugar crystals. The entire preparation procedure is absolutely the same, only now sweet crystals will appear on the paper clip and thread, which you can even try.  If these and similar very first, simplest experiments captivate the baby, you can go further.  There is literature on this topic for sale, as well as sets of devices and reagents for young physicists and chemists.  Research interest, if it arises, must certainly be supported and developed. It will serve the baby well in the future. And maybe a small home laboratory in the kitchen, in the nursery, on the balcony, in the country house will become the beginning of large and serious experiments of your wonderful scientist.

You will need: high fat whole milk, food coloring of different colors, any liquid detergent, cotton swabs, a plate.

Milk should be whole milk, not skim. Pour milk into a plate. Add a few drops of each dye to it. Try to do this carefully so as not to move the plate itself.

Then take a cotton swab, dip it in the detergent and touch it to the milk in the very center of the plate. You will like the result - colored stripes will begin to move across the surface of the milk!

The fact is that milk consists of different types of molecules: fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. When detergent is added to milk, several processes occur simultaneously. First, the detergent reduces surface tension, allowing food coloring to move freely across the entire surface of the milk. But the most important thing is that the detergent reacts with the fat molecules in the milk and sets them in motion. Something like this:

Growing crystals

The easiest and safest way to become familiar with the crystallization process is to grow your own crystal from sodium chloride, that is, ordinary table salt.

It's very simple: take hot water, table salt and prepare a supersaturated solution. When the salt stops dissolving, lower a thread or wire into the container. After a few days, salt crystals will begin to form on the “seed”.

Why? When a supersaturated salt solution is cooled, water evaporates. Accordingly, the salt (crystallizing substance) is first adsorbed on the surface of the “seed”, then on the surface of the already formed crystal, and then built into its crystal lattice.

Making a volcano

A reaction familiar to us under the culinary name “quench the soda” or under the chemical name “neutralization”. If you pour soda into a saucer or plate (one or two tablespoons) and carefully pour vinegar into it, you will see a real “volcanic eruption.” But be careful not to bend over or let your child get close to the container in which the reaction is occurring.

What happens: sodium bicarbonate (soda) reacts with acids (vinegar) to form a salt and carbonic acid, which, in turn, immediately breaks down into carbon dioxide and water, which actually causes the “eruption” (bubbles and hissing).

Rubber chicken bones

Everything is very simple here! We take clean chicken bones (thin ones, we are not going to spend too much time on the experiment), soak them in vinegar. After some time, the bones will become soft, as if rubber.

The fact is that vinegar reacts with calcium contained in the bones. And, as you know, it is calcium that makes bones strong, hard, just what we need! A great experiment for those who abuse coffee or don’t like dairy products, isn’t it?

These simple experiments will allow the whole family not to get bored at home in bad weather, and will help to captivate your child with the wonderful science of chemistry.

You can also introduce children to science

20 PARENTING MISTAKES THAT LEAD TO PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA IN A CHILD Daniel Siegel “Discipline without drama. How to help your child develop character” We remain parents always, every minute of our lives. Therefore, it is difficult for us to look at our efforts to raise children objectively. Good intentions are quickly replaced by less effective habits, and we begin to act blindly, doing things in a less than ideal way and not benefiting our children as much as we could. Even the most conscientious and informed parents sometimes make mistakes when disciplining their children. This happens when they lose sight of the goals of the rational-emotive approach to discipline. Always remember them - and you will be able to avoid mistakes or correct them in time. 1. We punish instead of teach The purpose of discipline is not to ensure that every crime is followed by punishment. Her true calling is to teach children to live correctly. But often we act on autopilot and become so focused on ensuring that the child is punished for the wrongdoing that it becomes an end in itself. When teaching your child to discipline, always check what your main task is. 2. We are afraid that we will not be able to teach a child discipline if we behave gently and show care. Honestly, even in the most critical moments you can remain a calm, loving and caring parent. The most important thing is to combine clear and enforceable requirements with sincere empathy. You have no idea how much you can achieve if you talk to your child about the behavior you want to change in a kind and gentle tone. Your main task is to steadfastly follow your parenting course, while at the same time interacting with your child with warmth, love, respect and empathy. 3. We replace consistency with rigidity. Being consistent means having a viable and coherent belief system so that children always know what to expect from us. An unshakable adherence to some arbitrary requirements is a completely different matter. From time to time, it makes sense to deviate from the rules, turn a blind eye to minor violations, or give the child some slack. 4. We talk too much When a child behaves reactively and does not perceive speech addressed to him well, all that is required of us is to remain silent. By unleashing an avalanche of words on an unsettled child, we only make the situation worse. We further overload his sensory organs, which increases emotional imbalance. Instead, focus on nonverbal communication. Hug your child. Pat me on the shoulder. Smile and express sympathy with your facial expressions. Nod. Once your child has calmed down a bit and is able to listen, you can begin redirecting by using words to address the situation on a rational, conscious level. 5. We think more about the behavior itself than about what dictates it. Any doctor knows very well that a painful symptom is nothing more than an external manifestation of a problem that really needs to be eliminated. Poor behavior in children, as a rule, turns out to be a symptom of some kind of internal trouble. And it will repeat itself if we do not empathize with the child’s feelings, his subjective experience, pushing him to behave badly. The next time your child loses his temper, try on your Sherlock Holmes cap and try to discern behind the behavior the feelings - curiosity, anger, disappointment, fatigue, hunger, etc. - that caused it. 6. We don't pay attention to how we say What we say to children is important. How important! But just as important is how we do it. No matter how difficult it may be, you should try to show kindness and respect in all communications with children. This is a lofty goal, and although we do not always succeed, we must strive for it. 7. We teach children that they should not experience strong or negative feelings. Do you manage to extinguish this impulse every time your child overreacts to something? Even if unintentionally, very often parents signal to children that they are ready to show interest in them only when they behave like good boys. For example, they say: “When you become a good girl again, then come back.” On the contrary, we need to show children that we are always open to them, even in the worst moments. We may reject certain behaviors or ways of expressing feelings, but we always accept the feelings themselves. 8. We overreact, and children focus on our behavior instead of their own behavior. By going too far - trying to punish first, acting too harshly, overreacting - we distract children from their own behavior and give them a reason to focus on how cruel or unfairly, in their opinion, we treated them. Do your best not to make a mountain out of a mountain. Stop the bad behavior, remove your child from the scene if necessary, and then give yourself time to calm down before you say too much. Then your response will be restrained and thoughtful. Now all the attention will be paid to the child’s behavior, not yours. 9. We do not restore shaken relationships. Conflicts with children cannot be avoided. How impossible it is to always be on top in every situation. At times we will act immaturely, reactively, or insensitively. The most important thing is to admit your bad behavior and restore the relationship as quickly as possible, and the easiest way to achieve this is to forgive the child and ask for forgiveness yourself. By restoring what was destroyed sincerely and with love, we set a good example for children - by learning to do the same, in the future they will be able to maintain truly deep and meaningful relationships with people. 10. We impose sanctions in the heat of the moment, acting reactively, and then we realize that we overdid it. Sometimes our threats look, to put it mildly, excessive: “You will be left without swimming for the whole summer!” Realizing that you got carried away, promise yourself to fix everything. Of course, it is important that the parent’s words do not hang in the air, otherwise the children will stop taking them seriously. But by remaining consistent, you can get out of the trap into which you have driven yourself. For example, you can “give another chance.” Say, “I didn’t like what you did, but I want to give you another opportunity to do good.” You can admit that you overdid it: “I lost my temper here, said different things without thinking. But now I’ve weighed everything and changed my mind.” 11. We forget that sometimes children need our help to make the right choice or come to their senses. When a child starts to get excited, our first instinct is to order: “Stop it now!” But there are situations, especially at an early age, when children are simply not able to calm down instantly. This means your intervention is required to help your child get on the right path. The first step is to establish emotional contact - through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Let the baby see that you are aware of his problems. Only then will he be open to your efforts to redirect him in the right direction. Remember: it is often necessary to pause before responding to bad behavior. When children lose control of themselves, it is not the best time to adamantly demand compliance with the rules. By calming down and becoming more receptive, the child will be able to learn the lesson better in any case. 12. We are overly concerned about what people think of us Most of us place inordinate importance on what others think of us, especially when it comes to raising children. But if you raise your child differently depending on whether people are looking at you or not, that's simply not fair. You may be more harsh or reactive in the presence of your spouse's parents because you feel like they are judging whether you are a good parent. Get rid of this pressure. Take the child aside and quietly address only him, without witnesses. Then you will not worry about what those present will think of you, you will be able to focus all your attention on the child and be more sensitive to his behavior and needs. 13. We get involved in a power struggle Feeling that he has been driven into a corner, the child instinctively responds with counter-aggression or completely withdraws into himself. Don't dig this hole. Give your child room to maneuver: “Do you want us to drink lemonade first and then put away the toys?” Or offer negotiations: “Let’s think about how to make both of us happy.” (Of course, some things are not discussed, but the willingness to negotiate in itself is not a sign of weakness - it is evidence that you respect the child and his needs.) You can even ask the child for help: “Do you have any ideas?” It is possible that you will be surprised at what sacrifices a child is willing to make in order to find a peaceful way out of a conflict situation. 14. We follow our habits and experiences, rather than responding to the individual needs of a particular child at a particular moment. Sometimes we take it out on a child because we are tired or because that’s what our parents did, or maybe we are fed up with the behavior of his brother, who is everything the morning tormented us. It's unfair, but understandable. However, you need to strive to be aware of your own behavior, fully devote yourself to communicating with children and respond only to what is really happening here and now. This is one of the most difficult tasks of parenting, but the better we do at it, the more effective our loving response to our children's needs. 15. We shame children by shaming them in front of strangers. If you have to call a child to order in public, consider his feelings. (Imagine how you would feel if a significant other reprimanded you in front of everyone!) If possible, leave the room or simply draw your child close to you and speak in a whisper. This does not always work out, but show respect for the child to the best of your ability, without adding humiliation to educational measures. In the end, feeling humiliated will only distract him from the lesson you are trying to teach him, and he will hardly hear you at all. 16. We immediately expect the worst without allowing the child to explain himself. Sometimes the situation not only seems, but actually happens to be bad. But sometimes everything turns out to be not as bad as it seemed. Before making a fuss, let your child speak. Perhaps he will explain everything to you. It’s terribly offensive, having a rational explanation for your actions, to listen to: “I don’t care! And I don’t want to hear anything! What excuses can there be!” Of course, don't be naive - every parent needs to exercise critical thinking at all times. But before blaming the child, even if at first glance everything is clearer than clear, listen to what he has to say. And then decide how best to behave. 17. We brush aside the child’s experiences When a child reacts violently to a situation, especially if this reaction seems excessive and even ridiculous to us, we are tempted to say: “You’re just tired,” “Stop being hysterical,” “Just think, what nonsense!” or “I found something to cry about.” All this devalues ​​his experiences. Imagine hearing a similar phrase yourself when you are very upset about something! A much more sensitive and effective approach is to listen, show empathy, and truly empathize with the child's feelings before responding to his behavior. Don’t forget: what seems small to you is very significant for a child. You don’t want to neglect something that is so important to him! 18. We want too much Most parents verbally understand that children are imperfect, but in reality they still expect them to always behave perfectly and invariably distinguish right from wrong, even if this is not yet possible for them due to age and level of development. This especially applies to firstborns. Another mistake is to assume that because a child sometimes controls himself well, he will always be able to do so. But the ability of children, especially young children, to make sound decisions is very fragile. Now he succeeded, but in the next minute he might not succeed. 19. We suppress our intuition under the influence of “experts” By “experts” we mean both book authors and education specialists, and friends or relatives. It is important that our approaches to discipline are not guided by someone else's idea of ​​how we should raise our children. Get information and advice from a wide range of experts (and non-experts), and then listen to your inner voice. He will tell you which approach will be optimal, taking into account the characteristics of the family and the individuality of the child. 20. We are too harsh on ourselves We have noticed that it is the most caring and conscientious parents who treat themselves the strictest. They try to show their best every time the child loses his temper. However, this is impossible. Give yourself the right to make mistakes! Love your children, set boundaries for them, raise them with love, and put up with them when you break down yourself. This is the best approach to discipline for all involved.