Glow in the Dark Glue Paint

A cold, snow-laced, north wind put a quick end to our outdoor plans for the long weekend.  Of course, being trapped inside, with nothing in particular to do leaves plenty of time for cleaning out cupboards. Cleaning out cupboards leads to all kinds of interesting finds, like dozens of half empty bottles of glue, and the remains of a can of glow-in-the-dark paint from last summer.  And, suddenly, there's plenty to do.

Remember the school glue paint we like to make by adding food coloring to the glue (still a favorite of ours)?

If you add a little...

...glow in the dark paint...

...instead of food coloring...

...to the glue...

...not only do you end up with...

...great glue paint...

...you end up with great, glow in the dark, glue paint :)

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Color Changing Volcanic Lemonade - The Mad Scientists Strike Again

Fizzy acid/base reactions never get old, do they?

But, add a pH indicator, like say a viola infusion (see yesterday's Mad Science Make-up Lab for instructions), into the mix...

...and the same old, same old type of fun - which is still fun, becomes mad science fun - which is so much better.

Red cabbage water would work just as well for this, but it wouldn't taste as good - and yes, I said taste, because after all, if you use a powdered sugar free lemonade mix to introduce an acid to the infusion, instead of the normal vinegar...

...you won't just get a color changing volcano, you will get a color changing volcanic lemonade!

 Not a very good lemonade, mind you (there's a definite baking soda aftertaste).

But, with a little bit of tinkering...

...to adjust the ratio of baking soda...

 ...to lemonade, you can come up with a mixture...

...that if not quite good...

...is still good enough to share with the rest of the mad scientists hanging around the lair.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Making Pretty Pink Lemon Lip Balm, Mad Scientist Style

First of all, roll up your sleeves.  Just because this is mad science...

 ...doesn't mean it has to be messy.

Then, gather up the ingredients with lots of little beakers, and eye-droppers, and those sorts of things, if you have them.  Don't worry if you don't, they're actually just window dressing this time around.

What you're really going to need is shortening (all the amounts depend on the amount of lip balm you are trying to make, but we used about 1/8 cup), viola tinted water (made by steeping 1/2 cup of clean viola petals in 1/2 cup of boiling water for a few hours, and then straining out the flowers), and powdered lemonade mix (sugar-free, so it won't be sticky).  Oh, and some type of containers, cleaned and sterilized with boiling water, to hold the finished lip balm (we used candy machine toy containers).

Pour about 1 teaspoon (or to taste) of lemonade powder into the shortening...

...and mix it in completely.

Add a few drops of the blue, viola infusion (or pour a bunch in), and mix, repeating until...

...the shortening can't hold any more liquid, and has started to turn a lovely shade of pink (thanks to the anthocyanin from the violas reacting with the citric acid in the lemonade).  There's your mad science "oooh" factor, too.

All that's left to do is scoop some up into whatever cute containers you have cleaned, sterilized, and ready to be filled.

Just remember, shortening based lip balm won't stay good for long - about three days.  It doesn't usually last that long anyway - mad scientist have been known to use large amounts of lip balm.

They must have very chapped lips...

 ...because I'm sure, no matter how mad they are, they'd never be caught eating the lip balm...

...even if it does taste like lemonade.

 It's great to be a homeschooler.

Peter Pan Extension Craft - "Second Star to the Right" Necklace

Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything, they must just look on for ever.

It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was.

So the older ones have become glassy-eyed and seldom speak (winking is the star language), but the little ones still wonder.

They are not really friendly to Peter, who had a mischievous way of stealing up behind them and trying to blow them out;

but they are so fond of fun that they were on his side to-night,

and anxious to get the grown-ups out of the way.

So as soon as the door of 27 closed on Mr. and Mrs. Darling

there was a commotion in the firmament,

and the smallest

of all the stars in the Milky Way

screamed out:

"Now, Peter!"

Text from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan (p. 18). Neeland Media LLC. Kindle Edition (2004-03-30).

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Fairy Kisses

As we started reading through J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan....

...I couldn't resist handing out a fairy kiss, or two.

It's great to be a homeschooler.