Kitchen Chemistry
Kitchen chemistry can be defined very broadly or very narrowly. Ms. Alicia and I took it to mean that the children would use items found in the everyday kitchen to explore basic chemistry concepts. We used baking soda, water, pepper, dish soap, bowls, paper towels, vinegar, honey, and other basic cooking items in our investigation. Our science concepts included combining items together, separating them, making new objects, studying phases of matter (solids, liquids, gases), and properties of matter such as density. We did experiments with chromatography, making slime, layering liquids, and making crystals in order to get a glimpse of the many ways in which chemistry can be done with common household items. We also tried to stress to the children that these were objects they would have in the house and experiments they could try again at home.