no girls allowed

Nathan was invited to be in a "skills group" this summer with five other neighborhood six year olds. Last week, they made Gak/Goop/Slime and that lovely concoction brought hours of enjoyment to all three of my boys all week. This week was our turn to host. I decided to do some of our favorite experiments. These are standard repertoire around here but they never fail to delight.

We watched the wonderful science of soap with color changing milk.

Pour milk in a plate (the fattier the better). Put a few drop of food coloring into the milk. Dip a Q-tip into liquid dish soap and then into the milk. Enjoy all the beautiful color. It is better to just dip the Q-tip on the surface of the milk and be careful not to swirl.

Then we went to the fabulous go-to: dry ice.

Drop pieces of dry ice into a glass of warm water. Then when you tire of that, drop pieces of dry ice into a glass of warm water with a few drops of liquid dish soap.

Finally we made ice cream in a bag. The boys got a little carried away in the shaking and some bags leaked. Still I think everyone got a bit to enjoy. Anne certainly did.


Ice Cream in a Bag
In a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag, mix:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. sugar
Seal the bag tight. You could tape it for good measure.

Fill a gallon-sized Ziploc bag about halfway full of ice. Then add 1/2 cup of coarse salt (ice cream salt or kosher salt work best). Stick the smaller bag down into the larger one. Shake the bag for about five minutes or until the cream gets firm (about soft-serve consistency). Pull out the small bag, wipe off with a wet washcloth, open and enjoy.