Supplies: - 1 hardboiled egg per girl - twigs - leaves - string or yarn cut into 3-4 inch pieces

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1 BUILD A NEST Use materials that birds could find to build a nest for an egg and then imagine doing it with feathers instead of fingers. - 1 hardboiled egg per girl - twigs - leaves - string or yarn cut into 3-4 inch pieces - mud (or dirt and water) - straw - grass - newspapers (optional) 1. Cover the work surface with newspapers this would be an ideal outdoor activity if possible. 2. Explain to the girls that they are going to each build a nest for their egg. Brainstorm with them about how birds find their building materials they don t run to the hardware store! 3. If your space allows, the girls can go gather some fallen materials outside. Explain that they should only take items that have already fallen to the ground. 4. Gather the girls around the materials you have already collected, and have them add anything that they found. 5. Let the girls decide their best way to build a nest for their egg. They may try several methods, and no two nests will be built the same way. The girls may want to check the progress of their building with their egg, but the eggs should be kept in a safe spot during most of the building. 6. As girls finish their nests, they can keep their egg in the nest. Once everyone is finished, let each girl share how she decided to build her nest. Talk with the girls about which materials were the easiest to work with, and how they would build another nest if given the opportunity. 7. Remind the girls that birds build very strong nests by using their feet and their beaks along with their wings. If your girls have access to the internet or a library, you may want to look for more information on how birds build their nests. All animals need food, water, space and shelters to survive. Birds build nests as part of their shelter, and that is where they lay eggs. Some bird nests are very tiny, where large birds such as hawks and eagles can build nests that are several feet wide. The location birds choose to build their nests is important too, it needs to be safe from predators and the weather elements.

2 HOMEMADE PUFFY PAINT Use a little science to create your own threedimensional work of art. - mixing spoons - 4 drops of food coloring per bowl - cotton swabs - 1 tablespoon of salt per bowl - small bowls or cups - 1 tablespoon of self-rising flour per bowl - 8 x10 sheets of cardboard per girl - microwave 1. Help the girls mix the flour, salt, food coloring and enough water in each bowl to make a paste, it will not be smooth. 2. Let the girls use cotton swabs as brushes to paint a picture on the cardboard. There needs to be a thick coating of the paste, a thin coat may not puff up. 3. Microwave each sheet of cardboard individually for seconds. SAFETY WARNING: Watch the cardboard in the microwave, if it is left in too long with will start to burn. The girls will enjoy watching their paint bubble up as it cooks. 4. Set the artwork aside to let it dry completely for minutes. The paint will be hard and will stay puffy when done. 5. If time allows, girls could make multiple works of art. Self-rising flour contains a little baking powder and salt. The baking powder in the flour is heated with the water in the microwave causing the baking powder to release small amounts of carbon dioxide in the form of tiny bubbles. The paint puffs up in the microwave just like a cake rises in an oven.

3 LEMON SODA Create your own refreshing, fizzy drink by using a little kitchen chemistry! Supplies (one set for each girl): - drinking glass - 2 lemons, cut into wedges teaspoons sugar - spoon - 1 teaspoon baking soda - ice (optional) - citrus juicer (optional) 1. Show the girls how to squeeze the lemon halves, putting the juice into the drinking glass. Let the girls juice their lemon halves into their glasses. Watch for seeds, and help the girls remove any with the spoon. This is a great time for some older helpers, or to use a juicer to help extract the lemon juice. 2. Let the girls add water to make the water/lemon juice ratio roughly equal. 3. Let the girls taste the water/lemon mixture to see if they need to add a little sugar. The girls can add sugar if necessary. 4. Instruct the girls to stir in the baking soda and wait for the reaction; let the fizzing be a surprise discovery. 5. Add ice (if desired) and enjoy! 6. As you drink the lemon soda, discuss how the baking soda and lemon juice create carbon dioxide bubbles that are the exact same bubbles that are in sodas. Lemon juice is an acid and baking soda is a base, and when acids and bases combine there is a chemical reaction. In this case, the solid baking soda mixes with the liquid lemon juice to create carbon dioxide gas (bubbles). This experiment could be recreated using oranges, limes or any other citrus fruit.

4 SODA AND CANDY SCIENCE Use soda and candy to create some spectacular science experiments. Supplies (one set for each girl, or small group of girls): - Pop-Rocks - balloon - small bottle of soda (variety is good) - funnel - 1 tube of Mentos - 2-liter Diet Coke (or other diet soda) - Paper to form funnels for Mentos 1. This is an experiment best suited for the outdoors. Girls may get soda spilled on them, so this would be a perfect activity to do at the end of a day, or before a water activity. 2. Show the girls how to use a funnel to pour a packet of Pop-Rocks into the empty balloon. 3. Let the girls carefully attach the mouth of the balloon to the small open bottle of soda. 4. Tell the girls to lift the balloon so the candy drops into the soda, and then they will start to see a chemical reaction. The girls will need to watch the soda in the bottle, as well as notice what happens to the balloon that is still attached to the bottle. 5. Gather the girls after that experiment and explain that the candy and the soda reacted for form a chemical reaction that made the soda bubble, and the bubbles were captured by the balloon. 6. Prepare the girls for a bigger reaction, explaining that when you add Mentos to Diet Coke, the reaction is very fast and very easy to see. You may want to have adults or older girls help, and then it may be best to have each girl or group of girls go one at a time so the rest of the girls can watch the reaction. 7. Unwrap a tube of Mentos and open the bottle of Diet Coke. Use paper to form a funnel the Mentos can be poured into. Place the Diet Coke on the ground, and if it not stable someone will need to hold onto it to make sure it stays upright. (This person will get wet!) 8. Let one of the girls drop the Mentos into the paper funnel, and then watch the reaction! 9. After the materials have been cleaned up, discuss how the two soda/candy experiments are similar and how they are different. Both types of candy contain ingredients that cause a chemical reaction with the carbon dioxide in the soda. If you use different sodas, there might be different levels of carbon dioxide that cause slightly different reactions. If you use a type of soda that has sugar in it for the Mentos experiment it will be a very sticky reaction.

5 WATER IN FLOWERS See how water travels in flower stems, and create your own colorful blooms! - long piece of cotton string tied in a loop - 3 small bowls vases - white flowers (carnations, daisies, Queen Anne s lace, etc.) with the end of the stems freshly trimmed 1. Explain that water helps keep flowers fresh by traveling up the flower stems to the blooms. 2. Fill the three bowls with water and let the girls add different food coloring to each bowl. Ask the girls to predict what will happen with you place the string in each bowl. 3. Drape the string between the three bowls, making sure that a portion of the string is submerged in each bowl of colored water. Make sure the girls can get close enough to the bowls to watch the color absorb into the string. 4. Explain that the string acted like a flower stem, moving the water. Ask the girls to predict what will happen when they try to do the same thing with flowers. 5. Let the girls fill the vases with water and food coloring, and then help them divide the flowers between the vases. 6. Let the vases sit for a day or two, checking on them regularly to discuss the progress. 7. Wrap up this activity by asking the girls to try this again at home, maybe with a different type of white flower, or by dividing the stem into two sections and putting each section in a different colored water. Water travels through a process called capillary action. It wants to travel from a place that has an excess of water, to a place that doesn t have water. The water traveled on the string, much like water absorbs into a paper towel. When the water is traveling in the flower stem it isn t clear to see until it reaches the white blooms and you can see the food coloring in the petals.