Quarantine Adventures: Aunt Amy's Science Camp

 My brother asked if I would watch my nephew while they went Christmas shopping. I said I would. There was one small problem with this.. I have nothing for a 9 year old boy to do for a couple of hours and he doesn't have any sort of "screen" to keep him occupied for that long. I was going to steal my brother's Legos when we were home a few weeks ago but decided we could do science experiments instead. My nephew likes science and I figured this would be a good way to kill some time.

After scouring Pinterest for ideas, I made a list of possible activities we could do. I wasn't sure what he was interested in more: Science or Engineering.

We did the following activities

Suck an egg in a bottle -- EPIC FAIL! The egg never was sucked into the bottle. I think our egg was too cold and the bottle too big. We used an quart milk bottle. I hard-boiled the egg the day before and stored it in the fridge. I think there was too much oxygen left when the flame when out in the bottle cause the egg to drop in the bottle. We will try this again another day with a smaller bottle and a warmer egg.

Lemon Volcanoes -- 

We sliced lemons in half and poked holes in them.

Then we sprinkled with baking soda and dish soap. 

We added extra lemon juice to speed up the process.

They were cool but kind of messy. J had fun pouring on the lemon juice. Not a big hit but fun enough.

Rain Clouds

This was a quick activity before lunch. Just food coloring and shaving cream. It kept J occupied for a bit.

Balloon Darts

This was the big winner of the day. I literally stacked a couple cups and J tried to knock them down by shooting an inflated balloon at it the stack. He never quite aimed right but it was fun trying.

Bottle Rockets

Another winner of the day. We filled a water bottle 1/3 of the way with vinegar, dropped a packet of baking soda in it, and stuck a cork in it. The bottle took off like a rocket when the baking soda and vinegar reacted. This is definitely an outdoor activity. J was so excited by this one, he had to show the hubby.

Inflating Balloons

J was not as impressed with this one as he was with the rockets. This was another baking soda and vinegar activity. You filled a balloon with baking soda and a water bottle with vinegar. Stick the balloon on the rim of the bottle and watch the balloon inflate.

Catapults

I found many different versions of this. I was excited to try making catapults. However, they weren't very good. Nothing flew very far but J had fun trying. 

Pencil Baggies

This activity J found in his science experiment book he brought with.

You literally fill a ziplock bag with water. Go outside and stick pencils through the bag. The water will not leak. This is a great hot summer day activity. J was impressed that it did not leak and it was fun to let the water out when we were done. 

Note: It doesn't ruin your good colored pencils :)

Balloon Rocket

This was a last minute add since we had time. We tied a piece of yarn to a chair. Then we added a straw before trying the yarn to another chair. Then we taped an inflated balloon to the straw and let go. It was fun but the string could have been longer.

It was a fun day of science fun. J couldn't stop talking about everything we did when he parents came to pick him up. Aunt Amy Science Camp for the win. Sometimes kids just need to do fun things that don't require screens and they will talk about it for ages.

458. Make jam

 When we were helping Janis make pickles, she asked if we wanted to help make pepper jam. I've never made jam but always wanted to. I would have preferred to make like raspberry jam but jam is jam. 

I've never made jam because of the quantity of jam produced. If I wanted to make jam, I would only want a jar or two but jam making produces many jars of jam. I could probably give them away but to be all the material to make jam would not worth the expense in my opinion. I am not a jam eater anyways.

Pepper jam is made from red, green, and jalapeno peppers. Janis actually had all the peppers chopped up and frozen ahead of time. That saved a lot of time. You want your peppers in small pieces so dices them in the food processor works great.

In a large pot, mix the peppers, apple cider vinegar and pectin. Bring to a boil and add sugar. Then boil for 2-3 minutes.

Then you need to fill the jars. An ice cream scoop works great because the mixture will be liquidy. You want that liquid. It helps set the jam since it is full of sugar and pectin.

After filling, wiping off the jars, and sealing the jars, the get water processed for 15 minutes. Set a timer. You do not want to forget how long they have been in the water. Once they are done in the bath, let them cool and mature for about two weeks before enjoying.

Besides chopping all the peppers and processing, the pepper jam is relatively quick to make. Since only a few jars can fit in the water bath at time, processing can take forever since they have to process for 15 minutes. It is a great time to drink wine and catch up with your fellow jam makers. Flying solo.. grab a cup of your favorite beverage and read a book.

It might be a while before I sample the pepper jam. I am not a big fan of peppers and the hubby won't touch them at all. I am thinking to gift some of them. I will eventually try it. I can not sample my morning's work.

7092. Create book folding art

 Back in March I signed up for a book folding class at the Menasha library. Then the pandemic hit and all library classes were cancelled. I really wanted to do this class and was seriously bummed about it getting cancelled. Then I saw that Kaukauna library was offering a take and go book folding art project and I signed up.

Book folding is kind of like origami.  You fold pages in an old book to create a design. I have seen words, hearts, and other shapes. 

It didn't sound too difficult until I read the directions. It still didn't sound difficult unless you can't do math, read a ruler, draw a straight line, or fold a straight line. Then it could be challenging. The real problem with this art form is it is tedious. We used the Measure, mark, Fold Technique (MMF) to make a snail.

First you have to count the ALL pages in the book including the unnumbered pages. Then you have to do math. (Eek). Take the number of pages subtract the number of pages that your pattern requires. Divide that number by two and that's where you start your pattern.

Once the math is done, you get to mark your book (gasp). Each page gets 3 marks -- 2 measurements lines and a fold line. The pattern tells you where to put the measurement lines and the fold line is a ruler width from the spine. My pattern had 187 steps.. That's 561 lines I had to mark in my book. It does go quickly but I did 20 pages a night. I crossed off each page as I did it so I wouldn't lose my place.

After I finished mark all my pages, the real fun began. It was time to fold each page to make my snail. You fold from each mark down to the fold line so 2 folds per page or 374 folds. Again very tedious. The first couple are rough while you figure out the technique. It helps to use your rule to fold the page to match up the lines. Each night I did about 10 pages.. again I probably could have done more but I really didn't want to fold that many more than 10 a night. 

The book does get fat as you keep folding. I used a elastic headband to hold my pages back as I folded. You can also use a rubber band. 

I was pleasantly surprised that it actually looked like a snail since I feared my marks weren't always on the right centimeter or my folds weren't quite lined up. It is currently displayed next to the TV until I find a better home for it.

I would love to do a heart or even the word READ in the future. It may take a while but I actually enjoyed do this project. I just would never use one of my own books. 

Quarantine Adventures: Chocolate Tasting

 One of the virtual alum events that Carroll University offered was a virtual chocolate tasting. We had to buy several different kinds of chocolate and then Bryn Kirk would walk us through the art of tasting chocolate. Hello... Chocolate tasting.. right up my alley. 

Half the adventure was buying the chocolate. We need to get 4 dark chocolate bars and 4 milk chocolate bars -- 2 in each category of 4 categories. We were told we could get them at Walmart, grocery stores, etc. The only brand I heard of on the list was Lindt. Everything else I never heard of -- Theo, Green and Black, Chocolove, Divine, Alter Ego. Walmart, Meijer, Pick n Save really only had Lindt and maybe Green and Black. I ended up getting most of it at Woodman's. And each bar was at least $3 on average. This was not a cheap chocolate tasting. 

Then came the actual tasting. The hubby was home. So while we were in the process of putting a shelf in my new office space we tasted the chocolate.

Apparently there is a method to chocolate tasting. Break off a piece of the two types you were going to sample. Let it melt in your mouth and then just before it's gone, bit the second piece. Repeat. This was to get the most flavor out of each type of chocolate.

I flunked out of Chocolate University. I could not really distinguish between flavors. At one point I thought the chocolate tasted like dirt. I never got hints of banana, fruit, or nut flavors. Guess I don't have the taste buds for a professional chocolate taster.

The hubby and I both decided that we didn't care for the Lindt chocolate. Chocolove Milk Chocolate was his favorite for milk and I would have to agree. 

For the dark chocolate, I went with 2 85% dark chocolate and 2 70% dark chocolate. The Theo was better than Divine in the 85% category. Green and Black beat out Lindt again in the 70% category.  The Theo was probably my favorite. 

It was a good night of tasting chocolate. In the future, I'm just going to buy what I like and not worry about what hidden flavors are in my chocolate.