Science Can Be Fun

Not another boring video! Tired of hearing this complaint? Lizzy spent the last five years of her career as a science teacher for 600 elementary students. She did not show one video. Her philosophy, science should be fun.

Lizzy’s challenge was to engage students ranging in age from kindergarten to fifth grade. No easy task. Hopefully, you don’t have that many students. Elephant Toothpaste is a science experiment that always makes learning science fun. . . for students, teachers, and parents alike. Yes, this can easily be done at home.

Preparation

For this activity participants need safety glasses and a lab coat. . . a must for safety and to maximize the fun. Lizzy’s lab coat said, “Queen of Science.” 

You can do this kid-safe version of Elephant Toothpaste using common household materials, except for the hydrogen peroxide. Household solutions only contain about three percent hydrogen peroxide, which will not make a very exciting reaction. You’ll need to find a much higher concentrated solution. We found it at the hydroponics store. . . or you can order it online. Then, mix your solution with water until you have about a six percent solution. 

Each little scientist will need a cake pan, a plastic bottle, dish soap in a small cup, food coloring, 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide, and one teaspoon of yeast dissolved in warm water.

Science Fun

With the bottle standing in the cake pan, use a funnel to pour in the dish soap and hydrogen peroxide. Then, drip the food coloring long the inside of the bottle. Now, for the fun part, add the yeast mixture and remove the funnel quickly to watch the reaction create foam that shoots up out of the bottle. After a few seconds, it begins to come out in a stream that looks like toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube. 

Yes, the students can play with the foam. It is just soap and water with oxygen bubbles. They can also touch the bottle to feel the heat of the reaction. Afterwards, you can show a water molecule and a peroxide molecule diagram, pointing to the extra oxygen that freed during the reaction. Perhaps, most interestingly, you can talk about how the yeast worked as a catalyst, which made the peroxide molecule release the oxygen atom faster. 

What’s Your Catalyst?

So, what acts as a catalyst in your life? What can stir you up and into action?  The Apostle Paul worked as a catalyst to encourage a young disciple named Timothy. He said:

“stir up the gift of God, which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6 )

Elephant toothpaste is a good reminder that God has given each of us gifts. Sometimes we need encouragement to put them into action. We don’t need to be pastors or missionaries to use our gifts for God’s purpose. We can show the love of Jesus at our school, workplace, or just around the neighborhood. Look around you. Who can you be kind to today? Whose load can you help lighten? Whose day can you make brighter? Lizzy and I were in a restaurant recently and the hostess had been one of her students. She is now a young adult who said, “I loved your class. We always had fun, and we knew you loved us.”

Science should be fun. Elephant toothpaste is a fun activity that Lizzy has done with hundreds of students, and our own grandkids. Kids and adults love it. It produces a dramatic reaction and, hopefully, it is a catalyst to stir up the gifts within you.

Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear