Awesome Potion Making Activity

At Someday School, we want children to learn naturally, out of curiosity rather than because we tell them that they must learn. However, sometimes there is not much to learn if you are just hanging around a school playing with the same toys every day. So, we create opportunities for learning to occur naturally.

This week, I wanted to create an opportunity for children to do something sciency that also went along with our Halloween mood. In other schools and child care situations I've worked in, I've often done science experiments involving vinegar and baking soda. Usually, the experiment was more of a demonstration, as I would tell the children what we were going to do, and guide them to make predictions about what would happen. I wanted to use the same idea, but have it be more of a child-led activity. So I came up with this potion making activity.

I gathered a bunch of pourable, kid-safe materials I had around the house. Because children love to use all of stuff, I used pop bottles to give them a limited amount of each material so they wouldn't clean me out of house and home. I wanted to be sure to include a few things that would create some sort of reaction or interesting thing to observe. For example, when mixed with baking soda, lemon juice will fizz. (So will vinegar, of course, but I didn't have any left!) Xanthan gum powder, when mixed with a liquid, will cause the liquid to become thick and jelly-like. Baby powder, when having a liquid poured on it, will not immediately get wet, but will stay dry for a while. Oil will create a layer beneath the water instead of mixing with it. (If you have other suggestions, please let me know so I can use them for next time!)

I gave the kids jars, but had them keep the jars inside a plastic tub to contain any spills. This made an otherwise very messy activity a breeze to clean up!

I told them they were free to mix any of the materials however they liked to create their potion. From then on, I didn't really do any "teaching" at all. I was there providing maximum support with minimal interference, by opening bottle caps for them and making exclamations like, "Wow! Look at that!"

It is important to note that children who often seem to have short attention spans for activities will become fully engaged when it is something that interests and appeals to them. The little girl in these photos is a very active kid who loves running, jumping, rolling, somersaulting, spinning, and playing a lot of impromptu hide and seek. But when given this learning opportunity, she stayed completely engaged for a whole hour, and would have continued to be engaged with it if it hadn't been time for her to leave. 

Some people will ask, "But are they actually learning anything?" 

Definitely! A lot of science is based on how materials will react with each other. But children, especially young ones, are concrete thinkers. They learn best when they can see, touch, and do. I could have pulled out a science book before or after the activity and explained to the children why the materials reacted in certain ways to each other. But they are four. Trying to teach a lesson beforehand, or giving them specific instructions for what to do, might have actually limited their learning and engagement. 

So for now, they scooped, poured, and stirred, in this potion making activity otherwise known as a Someday School science lesson!