Sisters kids have fun learning science

"Fizz! Boom! Read!" at Sisters Library finished the summer reading and science series for kids 6 to 11 years old last week with "Splashtastic and Waverific!"

About 20 curious and eager kids listened as Josie Hanneman shared experiments, stories, songs and fun with H2O. Hanneman, who has a degree in library sciences, read to them from a book about the water cycle and explained how evaporation, condensation, and precipitation work together to recycle water on the planet.

To remind them of these big words and what they mean, she taught them a song to the tune of Clementine, and had them sing it a number of times during the hour presentation:

"Evaporation, condensation, precipitation on my mind.

It is just the water cycle and it happens all the time!"

Based on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) scientific process skills are encouraged including observing and questioning, investigating, analyzing and reporting, and reflecting on the "big idea." With this in mind, Hanneman explained the principles of evaporation, condensation and density then engaged the children in several hands-on experiments.

The children were given a Q-tip and some lemon juice, and were asked to write a secret message on a paper towel. They got to see their message disappear as the liquid evaporated. When Hanneman used a hot iron on the paper towel, the acid in the lemon juice turned darker and revealed their messages.

Next Hanneman made a cloud form in the top of a plastic water bottle by filling it with rubbing alcohol and squeezing the bottom of the bottle, thereby increasing the pressure, then she released the cap. She explained how warm, moist air in the atmosphere rises and the pressure reduces as it goes higher. As pressure reduces it gets colder and eventually forms clouds.

The third experiment about density involved an egg and the difference between it floating in fresh water and salt water. She had them put the egg first into fresh water to see if it sinks or floats (it sinks), then they added salt until the egg floated. The big trick is to get the egg floating between the fresh and the salt water.

When she released them to go experiment on their own, most of them rushed to the egg table first, and water was precipitating and evaporating everywhere as eggs sank and floated in plastic cups.

Hanneman also showed them a couple of arts and crafts projects, including watercolor paints, so the children could experiment further with density - how much paint to add to how much water to create interesting effects, as well as mixing paints and colors to explore primary and secondary colors.

And there were riddles: What do you call a fish without an eye? Fsh. What has a bed you can't sleep in? A river. How does the ocean dance? By doing the wave! What can run, but can't walk? Water!

Children learned that our bodies are about 60 percent water. Water regulates our body temperature, moves nutrients through our cells, keeps our mucous membranes moist and flushes waste from our bodies. So, don't forget to drink plenty of water this summer!

"Fizz! Boom! Read!" consisted of five weekly fun and educational programs for young readers over the summer to excite their curiosities about the science of how things work. Participants got to explore the world of sound through their voices and their ears, to learn about volcanoes and lava from the High Desert Museum staff, how to build a paper structure to save the day for their action hero, and how color affects our mood and taste.