On Monday we were scheduled to have thunderstorms in the afternoon. So, I hopped over to Almost Unschoolers to see if there were any ideas of an activity I could do with the kids. As usual, this wonderful blog did not disappoint! She had her kids watch an episode of "The Magic School Bus" about storms. My kids have never watched that show, so I thought it would be a good first time for them to see it! They loved it, of course!
After lunch and Hunter going down for his nap, Trent and I conducted an experiment showing how thunderstorms are caused by convection. We followed all the links that Almost Unschoolers recommended to learn about how it worked. Taking a clear plastic box and filling it with hot water, we put ice cubes that had blue food dye in them on one side, and red food coloring on the other. The cold blue water pushes the red warm water to the top of the box. We did the activity a few times so Trent could get the idea. It only worked successfully about two of the times that we did it though. You really have to make sure that the ice goes on one side and the red food dye on the other. Other wise you end up with purple and the entire effect is lost!
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