What do the Nepal earthquake, Sydney storm, and Mount Batur in Bali have in common? They’re all natural disasters!
This weekend, mama decided to run an impromptu lesson on natural disasters based on recent events and trips. As we always do, we borrowed books – on floods, earthquakes and volcanoes …
We talked through the news (printed and online), looked up YouTube videos, and even dug up these water and land formation cards I made when we were homeschooling. Back then I got more out of these than he did, so it was nice to see him actually read some of the words now, recognise more formations and associate what he’s seen like Singapore island, Marina Bay, Macritchie Reservoir, River Valley, Puteri Harbour, Bukit Timah (hill), Jurong Lake, Alexandra Canal, etc.
Best of all, we recreated these natural disasters at home, getting some hands-on, messy fun along the way!
First, I took out our modeling clay and aluminum food trays. Using the visuals as a guide, I invited B to make a mini volcano and river inside the trays. I helped him to shape the volcano while he did a good job on the river, adding little trees and animals along it too ….
Then, I hunted around the house and found these items – baking soda, dish soap, paint, vinegar, paper or plastic cups, water and something to stir with. If you remember science class (or else, just search online), you’ll know what comes next!
Fill one cup with vinegar and set aside. In the other cup, mix a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda, a dash of dish soap and paint (to match what you’re trying to simulate). Add water and stir until it’s a nice even mixture. Pour this into the volcano to get the red “magma” inside or blue “river water” along the banks.
Lastly, pour the cup with vinegar slowly into the mix and see the volcano erupt with “lava” spilling out,
and the riverbanks overflowing!
How awesome is that? We had so much fun that B asked to do this again. And again. Science is cool.
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Awesome! Very creatively done! By the way those cards are great, I didn’t even know some of the terms! Hahaha. He looks so happy with his creations, especially when the volcano erupted!! =) Great job there, Mummy! Thanks for linking up and sharing! We will definitely do the vinegar and baking soda experiment very soon! Been on my list for a long while!
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Haha yes. The video was the 3x time he did it – wanted to show the grandparents, and he was still so delighted. Love this curious age!
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