Here’s a chemistry experiment to see which of four household products can best clean tarnish off old pennies.
Supplies:
5 Dirty Pennies per work group
5 Disposable Cups per work group (3 ounce Dixie cups work great)
Lemon Juice
Vinegar
Salt
Ketchup
Coca-Cola
Baking Soda
Water
Directions:
In first cup, mix 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and a scant 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then drop in a penny.
In second cup, mix 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice and a scant 1/2 teaspoon, then drop in a penny.
In third cup, pour 1 Tablespoon of ketchup, then drop in a penny.
In fourth cup, pour 1 Tablespoon of Coca-Cola, then drop in a penny.
In fifth cup, mix 2 Tablespoon of baking soda to 1 Tablespoon of water. Set aside.
Wait a few minutes (15-20 then take out the pennies, rinse and dry. Rub with some baking soda paste to bring back the shine. Compare each penny with the fifth penny that was not cleaned. Which penny is the cleanest and shiniest?
Important Note About Pennies:
Pennies made prior to 1982 are 95% copper and 5% zinc. Pennies made since 1982 are 99.2% zinc with 0.8% copper, coated with pure copper. Zinc does not polish very well and will tarnish to a dark gray when put through this process.
Book Suggestions:
Andrew Clement’s Lunch Money could be introduced as a read-aloud while waiting for the pennies to soak.
Steve Spangler’s Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes includes a “Taco Sauce Penny Cleaner” experiment (p. 61) that is a nice variation on this experiment.
Thanks to Christy Valentine at Fountain Hills Library for putting together this experiment!
David LaRochelle’s book, 1 + 1 = 5, won the 2013 Grand Canyon Reader Award for Non-Fiction. This award is selected by school children in Arizona who vote for their favorite book in several categories. 1 + 1 = 5 combines math with creative thinking. David provides a teaching guide and some great activity sheets and activity suggestions on his website. I was introduced to his book when I heard his acceptance speech at the Arizona Library Association Annual Conference in November. I couldn’t wait to introduce the book and activities to my Just 4 Kidz group so it was the first one I scheduled for our spring sessions. We talked about equations a little bit and I read enough of the book for the kidz to get the idea of what to look for and to know there could be more than one answer if they really stretch their imaginations. Then I let them choose some of the activity sheets to warm up their creative thinking before challenging them to come up with their own creative equations. We had a chance to share some of their crazy equations with the group at the end of the hour. And one lucky winner got to take home the signed copy of the book that I had won at the conference! This fun and original non-fiction title would make a great classroom addition to cross-curricula studies of math, art, and creative thinking skills.
With the inspiration and suggestions from Noel MacNeal’s 10-Minute Puppets book, our last Just 4 Kidz session for the fall was a smorgasbord of puppet-making. The whole idea was to make a variety of different puppets quickly and with a minimum of materials on hand.
While waiting for all the kidz to arrive, we colored and cut out the elephant finger puppet. The kidz had been invited to bring along a close-up photo of themselves or a family member to make a personalized puppet.
With Noel’s stick puppet templates (one with shorts, one with a skirt), some wooden sticks, and some old magazines for kidz who didn’t bring or chose not to use a photo, the kidz made both personalized and a creative variety (including a snake-headed and dog-headed) of stick puppets.
I shared Mo Willems’ That Is Not a Good Idea! with the kidz so that each worktable could make puppets for all the characters (fox, mama goose, goslings) and we could try to put on a puppet play. I had some suggestions and materials available …
… white athletic tube socks and colored Sharpies for Sock Puppets (for fox or goose) …
…. colored paper cut into squares for Origami Fortune Teller Puppets (for fox or goose) …
… business envelopes, markers, crayons, and Post-It notes for Envelope Bird Puppets (for goose) …
… egg cartons, clothespins, and crayons (for the goslings) …
… and they went to town from there.
We ran out of time for each group to present the puppet play but everyone went home with a bagful of puppets and plenty of ideas for making more.
Resources:
10-Minute Puppets by Noel MacNeal (Workman Publishing, 2010)
That is Not a Good Idea! by Mo Willems (HarperCollins, 2013)
Noel MacNeal’s website has lots of other resources and ideas on it as well.
I like to do origami programs at least a couple of times a year. Origami is a great way for kidz to practice fine motor skills while creating something fun. For a late October program, origami masks sounded like the perfect fit. I wanted the masks to actually be wearable so I cut 9 x 12″ construction paper into 9″ squares. The construction paper didn’t fold as smoothly and easily as origami paper but the size was perfect. And for this project, unlike a lot of origami figures, the folds did not need to be as precise and perfect. Variation just gave individual character to each mask.
I used Michael G. LaFosse’s Making Origami Masks: Step by Step for the instructions. The masks in his book are all wearable and, unlike some origami creators, LaFosse is particularly good at providing clear, easy to follow instructions. Although I prepared to teach several mask styles, we ended up just doing the first Mardi Gras mask.
Before beginning any origami program I always go over the Requirements for Good Paper Folding:
- Listening or Reading Carefully
- Following Directions
- Working Slowly and Carefully
- Precise Folding with Strong Creases.
To make the masks wearable my teen helpers put duct tape on the back of the mask and punched holes. The kidz then threaded pipe cleaners through the holes to fit around their ears.
The kidz had an opportunity to decorate their masks after finishing them. And those kidz who have done origami with me before and have developed a good memory for folds were able to able to fold more than one mask and try some different variations in style.
If you’re looking for some other great How-To Origami Books for Beginners, I recommend:
Easy Origami by John Montroll
Not-Quite-So-Easy-Origami by Mary Meinking
Origami by Clive Stevens
Origami: The Fun and Funky Art of Paper Folding by Thiranut Boonyadhistarn
Origami Activities: Asian Arts & Crafts for Creative Kids by Michael G. LaFosse
Origami For Fun! by Thiranut Deborah Berry
The fall Just 4 Kidz programs kicked off with a chance to try out and practice some jump roping skillz. When I lived in North Carolina I was introduced to competitive jump rope through the amazing Bouncing Bulldogs so we started out our program with a peek at some of a YouTube video of the team in competition. 
In order to be successful as a jump roper, it is vital to have a jump rope that fits you. The jump ropes the library had available to give-away tended to be on the small size so the first thing we did was fit our jump ropes. To make sure your jump rope is the right size, hold the two handles in one hand with the middle of the rope tucked under one foot flat on the floor. The top of the handles should come to somewhere between your armpit and your shoulder. Ideally, for beginners, the handles should reach to the shoulders. More experienced jumpers have a bit more control when the handles reach their armpits. We had to make more adjustments than I had hoped would be necessary to get the jump ropes to fit everyone adequately.
Did you know there is more to jump roping that just jumping up and down over the rope? There are all sorts of different kinds of jumps. There’s the Double Bounce, the Skier, Alternate Foot Step, Backwards, and so much more. We tried out a number of different jumps.
Of course, all that jumping worked up a powerful thirst and appetite so we had to take a break for cookies and water and juice while I shared a shortened version of the classic short story Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon (Lippincott, 1937) about a little English girl who learns some magical skips (skipping is what they call “jump roping” in England) from the fairies and eventually uses them to save the skipping grounds from development.
Everyone went home with a jump rope and a lovely hand-out about jump roping challenges and activities for a healthy heart available online from the Children’s Heart Center.
Our last Just 4 Kidz before the summer break, we made ice cream in a bag. This was a fun and easy activity with a sweet treat at the end. The perfect ending note for a season of Just 4 Kidz programs.
We talked about turning liquids into solids. We made predictions as to what would happen to the ice cubes and the milk mixture. And I shared some ice cream trivia. Then it was time to pass out the ingredients and start shaking. There are a lot of recipes and instructions easily available online as well as in books. I found the PBS Go! site had particularly useful hand-outs and I mostly followed their recipe.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup half-and-half (*you can substitute a non-dairy milk — soy, almond, rice, etc. — for any children with a milk intolerance)
1 Tblsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Quart-size heavy-duty FREEZER zip-lock bag (*believe me it’s worth the extra cost to buy the heavy-duty freezer bags)
Gallon-size heavy-duty FREEZER zip-lock bag (*believe me it’s worth the extra cost to buy the heavy-duty freezer bags)
2 cups ice
1/4 cup salt (*I used ice cream salt but you can use regular table salt, rock salt, water softener salt, kosher salt, etc.)
8 oz. cups
Towels
Spoons/bowls
Instructions:
- Pour the milk, sugar, and vanilla into an 8 oz. cup and stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Pour milk mixture into quart freezer bag.
- Gently squeeze extra air out of bag and firmly seal.
- Put quart bag inside gallon freezer bag.
- Pour 2 cups ice and ¼ cup salt into gallon bag.
- Gently squeeze extra air out of bag and firmly seal.
- Gently shake the gallon bags for 5 – 10 minutes. Children may want to wrap towels around bag.
- As you shake, take a few breaks to notice what is happening to the ice cubes and the milk mixture. Were your predictions correct?
- When the milk mixture feels solid, remove the quart bag from the gallon bag.
- Be sure to wipe the quart bag off with towel so the salt doesn’t get in the ice cream.
- Spoon out ice cream into cup (or eat straight from bag) and enjoy!
I owe this Just 4 Kidz program to the fine work of Christy Valentine at our Fountain Hill Branch Library. Christy runs a regular science program at the library for primary grade children and shared this program at an in-service training last year. Thanks Christy!
Simulating a volcano eruption is a really fun and easy science project that can easily be done at home as well as for a school lesson or library program. The actual eruption is a chemical reaction with baking soda and vinegar, which happens pretty quickly once you put the two together. In preparation for the eruption, we spent some time in Just 4 Kidz talking about volcanoes and watching a few YouTube videos of some actual eruptions before creating our volcano. Only after our volcanoes were made and decorated did we mix together the ingredients for the final eruption. It was pretty exciting!
Start by making your own volcano! 
Supplies:
- Paper Plate
- Disposable Cup (3 oz. works best)
- Aluminum Foil
- Scotch Tape
- Scissors
Directions:
- Tape the bottom of the paper cup to the middle of the plate.
- Completely cover the cup and plate with aluminum foil, wrapping the foil under the plate edge and taping it down.
- Poke a hole through the foil in the middle of the cup and fold back to the inside edge of the cup. Tape the foil to the inside of the cup.
- If desired, decorate the volcano with markers, Wikki Stix, toy figures, etc.
Now make your volcano erupt! 
Supplies:
- Water
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
- Tablespoon
- Disposable Cup
- Pan or Tray (we used disposable aluminum roaster trays)
- 1-2 drops of Food Coloring
- Dish Detergent
Directions:
- Place the volcano in a pan or tray (essential if you don’t want lava making a mess everywhere!).
- Fill the volcano crater with 2 tablespoons of water, 1-2 drops of food coloring, a few drops of dish detergent, and 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Stir until it dissolves.
- Measure 2 tablespoons of vinegar into a separate cup.
- Pour all of the pre-measured vinegar into the volcano crater and watch your volcano erupt.
I grew up learning origami — Japanese paper folding — from my mother. As a teacher-librarian and storyteller, she had perfected ways of explaining the various folds and sequences so that school-age children could be successful at this often tricky art, which requires careful attention to detail and good manual dexterity. I have enjoyed following in her footsteps by teaching origami workshops every spring and fall as part of the Just 4 Kidz program rotations. The origami workshops are popular and I have a number of regular kidz who have been folding paper with me for several years now. Usually, I choose a theme and teach how to fold 4 or 5 different origami figures. We’ve done animal origami, paper airplanes, spooky origami, origami toys, etc.
This time around I decided to kick things up a notch and try something really challenging: modular origami. Modular origami is making a single figure out of multiple pieces of paper that fit together. I found instructions for a modular origami top that required three pieces of paper. Even though there were some tricky bits, most of the folding was pretty simple and repetitive. Besides my usual teen volunteer helper, I recruited a couple other librarians to help out so that even the younger and newer kidz could figure out all the folds. We all practiced ahead of time so that we all knew the folds inside and out. Our practice sessions also gave us extra pieces we could substitute in case any of the kidz became totally frustrated with their own creations.
Whenever I teach origami, I always start by reminding the kidz that Good Paper Folding Requires:
- Listening or Reading Carefully.
- Following Directions.
- Matching edges precisely.
- Making strong creases.
For this project, I set up three different stations. We all started out together as I taught how to fold the first section. When a number of the kidz were ready to move on to the next section, I moved with them to the second table while my helpers remained with those who were still working on the first section. We moved on to the third section in the same manner.
The instructions for this modular top can be found in Paper Made! 101 Exceptional Projects to Make out of Everyday Paper by Kayte Terry. It’s called “Spin Me Right ‘Round Top” and can be found on page 101. I adapted the instructions to make it easier to teach. I think the hardest section of the top to figure out (and teach) is Part A so to give everyone the best chance at success, I taught the Part C, the inner most part of the top, as the first section .
Then Part B as the second session.
Finishing up with Part A.
And then we put them all together starting with the last, bottom, piece and tried out our tops. The great thing about this project was that even if the “fudgey” bits in Part A didn’t come out all crisp and pretty looking, the top still worked just fine. Everyone did an amazing job completing their very own modular top! (And we really didn’t need those extra pre-made pieces at all.)
I’m very behind in posting our Just 4 Kidz program activities but am just going to jump in with our most recent.
Making SLIME is a perennial favorite so I repeat this program every year or two. To introduce the scientific concepts we talk about what is a SOLID and what is a LIQUID. Slime is a polymer that is both a liquid and a solid. Once they’ve made their slime, I encourage them to play with it to see how it can take on various shapes and forms when placed in containers but will release that form if handled or allowed to sit on a flat surface. The fun parts of making the slime come with adding and mixing colors and when the borax solution is added and the slime starts forming. The final mixing really needs to be done with your hands. A few kidz will resist putting their hands in the forming slime at first but they usually come around when they see how much fun it is to handle (and when they realize that the slimy mess will start to stick to itself rather than their hands as they do the final mixing). Some washing up is required at the end, but not a lot.
There are a lot of slime recipes online and in science experiment books. This is the one that I like to use:
Materials:
- White Glue (4 oz.)
- Borax (powdered soap found in the additive section of the laundry aisle of grocery store)
- Mixing Bowl or Plastic Container with lid (I use Ziploc containers for the mixing bowl and take-home storage container)
- Measuring Cups or Plastic Cups (2 each; if using plastic cups mark one with 2 oz. line and one with 4 oz. line)
- Measuring Spoons
- Plastic Spoons
- Food Coloring
- Water
- Zipper-lock Bags (only necessary if you don’t use a plastic container with lid for your mixing bowl)
Directions:
- Pour 4 ounces of white glue into measuring cup or marked plastic cup. Pour glue into mixing bowl.
- Pour 4 ounces of water into the same measuring cup or marked plastic cup. Stir the water to mix in any glue still in the cup before pouring mixture into the mixing bowl.
- Add several drops of food coloring and carefully stir the glue and water until they are well mixed.
- Pour 2 ounces of warm water into measuring cup or marked plastic cup. And 1/2 teaspoon of Borax powder. Stir until the Borax is dissolved.
- Slowly and carefully stir the Borax mixture into the glue/water mixture. The glue/water mixture will start to form a ball. Use your hands to squeeze the ball together, scraping up the extra glue/water mixture as you do so. If there is a lot of glue/water mixture left in the bottom of the bowl, you can add a little bit of extra Borax/water mixture.
- Take the slime out of the bowl and play with it. Notice how it is like a solid and yet, if you leave it on the table, spreads like a liquid.
- Store your slime in a zipper-lock bag or other sealed container.
Have fun!
Anyone done an experiment to see how long your slime lasts?
Jenn Fisher, founder of Nancy Drew Sleuths, came to share her love of Nancy Drew with Just 4 Kidz this month. Since it was close to Halloween, she brought along some masks for the kidz to decorate with sequins, foam shapes, and tiny Nancy Drew pictures. At the end, the kidz tracked down some clues to get a bag of treats.
The best part: the kidz excitedly checked out Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books at the end of the program. The most coveted title was The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book that gave pointers on becoming a detective yourself.
Just 4 Kidz 