Valentines Day Science Lab: Melting point of chocolates

I can across this on the Hershey website and thought it would be a fun activity for my class.

Materials:
- Milk chocolate chips
- White chocolate chips
- Dark chocolate chips
- Hot plate
- Bowls
- Stop watch

Objective: To see which type of chocolate will melt the fastest.

Have students make a prediction. You could make a graph as well.

Break class into groups.

Give each group one of each type of chocolate.

Have the groups put the chocolate in a bowl one at a time on the hot plate and time how long it takes to melt.

Have them record their observations.

Valentines Science Lab: Changing the Color of Flowers

I thought this could be a fun science lab for my students, and with Valentine's Day right around the corner I thought it would be a perfect time to give it a try.

In this lab students will be changing the color of white flowers, by giving them colored water. All you will need is
- White carnations
- Food coloring
- Water
- Vases (water bottles/cups work great)

For this lab I would have my class split into 4 groups. Two groups would get blue food coloring, and two groups would get red food coloring. One of the blue group would use warm water and one group would use cold water. And the same thing with the red group.

Each group would add 20 drops of food coloring into a 1/2 cup of water.

They would then place the stem of their flower into the water.

I would then have the students predict what will happen to the flowers. Which ones will turn more quickly? Which ones will have a brighter color?

Each hour we would check on the flowers. We would observe what is happening and put the notes into our science journals.

The flowers should change color within a few hours. The flowers in warm water should turn more quickly.  Sometimes it does take over night.

Let me know how this worked in your class!

Science Is Fun! Acids and Bases Lab

This lab is one that I used with my 6th grade student teaching placement. They loved it! Hope it helps with your students!

Red cabbage juice is an indicator, so it will change color based on if something is a acid or a base. If you mix it with an acid it will turn red, if you mix it with a base it will turn blue.
To make cabbage juice all you need is

• A head of red cabbage
• Cheese grater
• Water
• Strainer

Take your head of cabbage and grate it into a bowl. Cover it with water and let it sit for a few hours (warning this does smell very bad and the sent will linger). After a few hours strain out the cabbage and there you have it cabbage juice!

I didn't have a long class period so I pre-measured the cabbage juice into containers for my student but you could let your students to this part. I split my class into groups of 5 and gave them 6 beakers with an 1/8 of a cup of cabbage juice. I then had table spoon for each group. I had 6 chemicals to test (one for each beaker) I gave my students lemon juice, Windex, dish soap, water, baking soda, and vinegar. I would have the students pass the chemicals around to each group. I had the class mix a tablespoon of each into the cabbage juice then record what happened.

If you have a short class period or cannot do this experiment in class there is a virtual one online. PBS Zoom does a great job. Here is a link Cabbage Juice

I had my students keep a lab binder. For each lab we did I gave them a hand out (which I had hole bunched) and they put it in their groups binder. This is an idea of a handout I would use for this lab.

Names:
Directions: Write what chemical you are using on the line. Then add one table spoon of that chemical to the cabbage juice. Color the beaker either red or blue depending on the result of your experiment. Write if the chemical is an acid or a base on the line.

(I would have 6 of these for each chemical but you get the idea)

Chemical Name:________________________
Acid or Base:__________________________