As some campers head off for vacations with family, others return and we remain at full capacity. As school is just around the corner, Team Tiger has been doing a little math and grammar review along with their regular online math and reading programs. Everyone is finishing up their summer learning packages and summer reading requirements as well. Often we can take an assignment from one camper's packet and use it for the entire group, such as the volcano experiment we did last week. Despite the fact that our campers do math, reading, and science every day, they still manage to fit in lots of fun activities, including parachute games, Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue (also known as Red Light, Green Light), box ball, Seven Up, Four Corners, Legos, Chess, etc. On Monday, our science experiment involved copper oxide. We made a solution of vinegar and salt and soaked some old pennies in it until they were shiny. Half of the pennies were rinsed with water and half were left on a paper towel without being rinsed. Verdigris, a green copper oxide, formed on the pennies that were not rinsed. Next, we put three steel nails into the vinegar/salt solution that we had used for the pennies. The copper oxide from the pennies essentially copper plated the nails. This was a clean experiment compared to today's experiment. It was so messy that we had to do it outside on the sidewalk! We made a non-Newtonian fluid called a dilatant (or in Dr. Seuss speak, oobleck). By mixing cornstarch with water (and food coloring, of course), we created a slime that has the properties of both a solid and a liquid. It was definitely worth the mess. Learning should be fun; messy is just a bonus!
