News from Youth Services Category: Maker Monday

Maker Monday: Egg Experiments & Facts

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Eggs

Eggs are an incredible adaptation that allow birds to stay light and able to fly while their babies are growing.  Bird eggs are covered in a shell with lots of tiny holes.  These allow air and moisture to pass through.  Eggs are also covered in a coating that keeps out bacteria and dust. 

To see the parts of an egg and learn about how each part functions, visit: https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/eggcomposition.html    

chicken eggs of various shades of white and brown
“Eggs” by John Loo is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Egg Experiments

Unbreakable Egg 

  • Materials:  an egg or two  
  • Place the egg in your hand (take off any rings first).  Squeeze the egg with even pressure.  Does it break? 
  • Now (over the sink or outdoors) squeeze the egg with just two fingers.  Did it break? 

What will happen:  

  • The shape of an egg makes it very strong to even pressure.  Even an adult squeezing it can’t break the shell.   
  • When uneven pressure is put on the thin shell, the egg cracks easily. 
  • When a bird sits on an egg to incubate it, the pressure is evenly distributed on the shell and the egg can easily support the bird.  When a chick is ready to hatch, it pushes on just a small part of the shell with its egg tooth and the shell will crack to allow the bird to hatch. 

Shell-less Egg 

Materials: 

  • Vinegar 
  • An egg 
  • A drinking glass 
  • Place the egg in a glass and cover with household vinegar.  Wait about 24 hours, pour the vinegar out and replace with fresh vinegar.  Wait a full week and then take the egg out. 

What will happen: 

  • The shell is made of calcium carbonate, which dissolves in acetic acid.  The vinegar will dissolve the shell, leaving the semipermeable membrane intact.  The yolk and white will still be contained in the soft membrane, so it will look like an egg, but will be squishy when touched.   

More Experiments & Facts

For even more experiments, and for further explanation of the science behind these experiments, visit: https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/naked-egg-experiment/?utm_content=exp_rel_exp_main 

Learn more about eggs with these books:  

Maker Monday: Build a Braced Tower

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John Hancock Center

Photo of John Hancock Center by Drew Hays on Unsplash

February’s STEAM at Home program featured Awesome Architecture and fun building activities. We learned that x-bracing (seen here on the John Hancock Center in Chicago) is one way that helps keep buildings straight and tall when wind blows on them. X-braces and shear walls collect wind forces and carry them to the foundation. Build your own braced tower at home with a few simple materials! Idea and images from Building Structures and Towers by Tammy Enz.

  • Supplies:
  • spaghetti
  • mini marshmallows (the book shows gumdrops, but we used marshmallows)
  • ruler (optional)

Instructions:

Break 4 noodles in half and make sure they are roughly the same length. Put marshmallows in the corners to connect them into 2 squares.

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Break off about 1 inch from 4 more noodles and use these to connect your 2 squares. What happens when you push on the tower?

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Add 2 noodles to one side make an X. Repeat on all 4 sides of your tower. Try pushing again. Now what happens?

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As the marshmallows harden, your structure will get even stronger. What other structures can you build?

For more books and projects that explore engineering, check out one of these STEAM Kits.

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Maker Monday: Baking Bread

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Winter is a great time to bake bread.  While it takes time to rise, the hands-on time of baking bread is minimal.  Helping in the kitchen is useful for reinforcing following directions, practice with numbers, and is way to spend time with kids while bring productive. 

Kid Chef Bakes: The Kids Cookbook for Aspiring Bakers book cover

This recipe is from Kid Chef Bakes, the kids cookbook for aspiring bakers, by Lisa Huff.  It makes two loaves of white sandwich bread.

Tools:
  • Stand mixer or large bowl
  • Plastic wrap
  • 2 loaf pans (8 ½ by 4 ½, by 2 ½)
  • Pastry brush (optional)
  • Wire rack
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups warm milk (2% or whole is best, 105-115° f)
  • 2 T sugar
  • 1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
  • 2 T butter at room temperature
  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • Butter for greasing pans
Prepare the Yeast:

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment, or a large bowl using a spoon, mix the yeast, milk, and sugar. Let stand for 5 min.

Combine the Ingredients:

Add the 2 T butter, 4 c flour, and salt to the yeast mixture. Mix on low with the hook attachment until well blended.  Add more flour as needed, a little at a time, until the dough forms.  Raise the speed to medium and continue to knead for 4-6 minutes or until the dough is elastic.  Alternatively, mix the flour in by hand and knead by hand for about 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Let it Rise:

Grease a large bowl with oil.  Add the dough and turn to coat, then cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm place to double in size, about 1 hour (or more if your house is cool). Tip the dough out, split it, and form two loaves. Please each loaf in a greased loaf pan.  Allow to rise again for about 30 min.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. 
Bake:

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until brown and hollow sounding (bread should be about 200° F in the center when baked.) Cool slightly and then tip out onto a cooling rack.  Cut when cool.

Making Butter:

If you are looking for something to do while your bread is rising, try making butter in a jar.  All you need is heavy cream and a jar. Try this recipe: How to Make Homemade Butter

The Science of Yeast:

To learn more about yeast and for some simple yeast experiments, visit: https://redstaryeast.com/science-yeast/yeast-experiments/

Maker Monday: DIY Eco-Friendly Confetti

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This activity is a great way to create confetti for your New or “Noon” Year’s Eve. 

homemade confetti made with colored paper and a hole puncher
Image by Penny Whitehouse

What you need:

  • Lots of colorful leaves
  • Hole punch

Then, make the confetti by using the hole punch to punch out pieces of the leaves.

For other eco-friendly activities and crafts, check out these books: 

Maker Monday: Make Your Own Dreidel

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Happy Hanukkah!

To learn more about this holiday, we went to PebbleGo, accessible through the library website here.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday taking place for eight nights. This year, it started on Thursday, December 10 and ends Friday, December 18. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. Jewish people celebrate by lighting a candle on a menorah each night, eating special foods, and sometimes exchanging gifts. Many also like to play with a spinning top called a dreidel.

To celebrate, you can make your own dreidel and play a fun game to win treats of your choosing.

1. Draw equal triangles on your cardboard. You can do this by drawing two diagonal lines across the brown side of cardboard.

2. Draw the Hebrew letters below on each triangle.

3. Have a grownup poke a pencil in the middle of the cardboard square. Now you can spin it on the pencil tip!

Everyone gets the same amount of a small object- raisins, or stickers, or Hanukkah gelt (gold-foiled covered chocolate). You’ll be playing for these pieces.

examples of homemade paper dreidels

Image by Erica of What We Do All Day

This idea comes from https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/easy-hanukkah-dreidel-craft-kids/.  

Dreidel game: Before each turn everyone puts 1 piece into the pot. Spin the dreidel and if it lands on: Shin- put 1 piece into pot; hay- you win half of the pieces in the pot; nun- nothing happens, next player spins; gimmel- you win all the pieces in the pot.

Image by Simple Play Ideas

You might also want to check out this online coloring book from Google Arts and Culture to decorate your own Hanukkah art. https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/EQGYT2VgD7-9cg?cp&hl=en