5 Minute STEM Activity 18: Blind Spots - Make Yourself Disappear

To see as we do, our brain takes the information it receives from both eyes, puts it together and makes sense of it. Your eyes can't take in everything all at once non-stop, so our brain fills in any missing information. Sometimes it gets it a little bit wrong...

Make Yourself Disappear!
Find your blind spot

EQUIPMENT:
Yourself
Paper - scrap paper is fine
A pen or something to draw with
Optional - A photograph

5 Minute STEM Activity 17: Solids that pour. Liquids that can be piled up.

Normally we need to add or remove heat to change something from a solid, to a liquid, to a gas. Non-Newtonian Fluids are a liquid when left alone, but they behave more like a solid when we try to move them quickly or apply pressure... It can pour, but if you hit it, it can feel as hard as rock.

Solids That Are Liquids.
Non-Newtonian Fluids.

A Non-Newtonian Fluid is a fluid that breaks Newton's Law Of Viscosity. Viscosity is what we would call 'thickness' (for example, oil is 'thicker' than milk) and it usually affects how quickly something will move. Non-Newtonian fluids will pour, but they don't quite follow the rest of the standard rules for liquids.

5 Minute STEM Activity 16 - Scared of soap

This is a great little activity which takes seconds and, like the Gluten activity earlier, it helps children understand what it is that really makes up the foods they eat. We are going to scare colour into running away...

Scaring away the colour in milk - with soap

EQUIPMENT:
A breakfast bowl
About 2oz milk - enough to cover the bottom of the bowl. Any milk should work, although I've not tried them all!
A tiny amount of food colouring
2 drops of washing up liquid

5 Minute STEM Activity 15: The Spinner

Back in the old days, before plastic and huge toy companies filled our toy boxes, children had to make their own toys at home. Here's one we can all make which can also help us understand colours...

The Spinner
Can you make it hum? Hmmm? 

EQUIPMENT:
Large cardboard pieces - cereal box or pizza box is great. If you have no card then stiff paper works too.
A small plate - the cardboard must be at least as big as the plate.
Scissors
Pencil
Colouring pens or pencils
Ruler or a straight edge
A small book
A teaspoon with a plain handle
Sticky tack

5 Minute STEM Activity 14 - The Diver

This project helps you to understand some really complicated Scientific principles, including pressure, volume and buoyancy - but it is really easy and it's fun... And you don't need anything special.

The Diver
Neutral Buoyancy

EQUIPMENT:
A water bottle with a screw top lid.
Water
Small square interlocking construction bricks - 4 stud LEGO or similar.
Sticky Tack or Dough

5 Minute STEM Activity 13; Floaty Paper Boat Challenge

Playing with water is great fun, but always make sure you are safe. Never lean your body over water more than 5cm deep without a safety harness or a responsible grown up, in case you fall in. You actually only need a sink half full of water to test your boat, but safety first...

We Are Sailing
Make a floating boat

EQUIPMENT:
A4 Paper - it will not survive it's bath, so scrap paper is perfect.
Wax Crayons

Hopefully you've made a paper boat before, and if not then it's definitely time. Paper isn't generally a very floaty material, but our boat can float for 5 minutes or more...

5 MInute STEM Activity 12 - Cleaning With Acid

Every child has to make their coppers shiny at least once, it's a right of passage. This is a very effective experiment to make us all consider what we are really putting into our mouths and tummies...

Shiny Pennies. 
Cleaning the filth from money

EQUIPMENT:
Money - only coins. 1p and 2p 'copper' coins work best.
Small cups or jars - NOT metal. Glass is best.
Acids - for example, Cola, vinegar, lemon juice
Patience.

5 Minute STEM Activity 11: Mind Control

Human beings think we have free-will to do whatever we want, but nature has other ideas. We are bound by instinct and our bodies' will in just the same way as fish returning to their spawning grounds and birds flying South for Winter. Most of it is necessary to keep us alive and protect us from harm, or at least used to be necessary, and we often take our cues from people around us...

Mind Control
Control your family

EQUIPMENT:
Yourself
Another person
We react to what other people do and even copy their actions - it is built into us and has protected humans from potential danger and made us 'part of the pack' for thousands of years. There is safety in numbers, not only because our mates can help us fight off bears, but they can help us spot potential dangers too.

There are absolutely loads of things you can make other people do without discussing it. Not everyone will fall for every trick, and a few people won't be completely caught out by any - but you should get some degree of success with anyone. Here are a few to try. If you want to prove your powers, write down what you are going to make them do, and show them afterwards.

5 Minute STEM Activity 10: Blowing out a candle with gas

We can't see lots of things, including a lot of gasses, but we can prove that they are there. We can create Carbon Dioxide gas very easily, and because it is heavier than air, we can use it for a trick...

Blowing out a candle by magic...
Gas-powered

EQUIPMENT:
1 candle - a tealight is perfect
1 bowl with about 1cm water in the bottom
A small jug, mug or beaker.
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 big glugs of vinegar (about 1oz)
Cling Film

5 Minute STEM Activity 9: Spoon Catapults

Cavemen probably played with miniature catapults as children, the technology is incredibly old. They are very simple to make and this is one of the simplest. It is a great way to use energy and motion to create different types of energy and motion. Mechanics, powered by your finger...

Spoon Catapult
Fantastically Flingy

EQUIPMENT:
Small collectible toys, rubber are best*. The type that come in blind bags and don't cost more than 50p each - then your mum won't be mad you won't be sad if you do temporarily lose any (don't use your favourites).
Dessert or soup spoon
Plastic water bottle, half full of water with the lid on tightly or cardboard tubes (kitchen roll or crisp tubes).
Sticky tape
Plastic bowls or similar for targets

*Small objects to fling - if you don't have any small collectible toys or yours are too precious to risk losing, you can use tightly crunched up paper. There are other rules:
a. Your objects cannot be metal or glass, or feel heavy or hard like metal or glass - e.g. dice.
b. Your objects cannot have sharp edges, points or corners.
c. Never aim towards animals or people, and watch out for your cat/baby brother getting into the way.
d. Your objects must not be bigger than the spoon, if they overlap the edges, they're too big.

5 Minute STEM Activity 8: The Banger

The Butterfly Effect suggests that when a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon jungle, the ripples around the world might cause a roof to blow off in China, an apple to fall from a tree in the UK, or a Russian woman's hat might blow away. We see the butterflies' wings flap, but we can't see the waves of pressure it causes. In this activity we can hear them though...

Bangers and Sound Waves 

EQUIPMENT:
A sheet of A4 paper

5 Minute STEM Activity 7: Is it warm, or is it cold?

Today's 5 minute activity is one of the very simplest, but most effective. Our bodies and brains are incredibly complicated and clever, and most of the time they work together really well, but it is possible to confuse our brains and make it appear that something isn't what it seems.

Is it warm, or is it cold?
Confusing Your Brain.

EQUIPMENT:
Your hands
1 bowl cold water - from the cold tap
1 bowl lukewarm water - 2/3 cold and 1/3 hot
1 bowl warm water - comfortably warm and toasty

5 Minute STEM Activity 6 - Turn Black To White (well, almost...)

Science can't explain everything, but sometimes it has a very simple explanation for something that seems impossible. If you hit yeast extract (Marmite, Vegemite etc) it appears to change colour from very dark brown to very light tan colour, almost from black to white. But why?

Turn black to white.

Marmite Bashing. 

EQUIPMENT:
1 level teaspoon Yeast Extract - Marmite, Vegemite etc.
A spoon, fish slice or other utensil to hit the yeast extract with.
A plastic plate or shallow bowl - not a Melamine camping plate, it'll break. The softer sort of plastic.

5 Minute STEM Activity 5 - Step Through A Hole In A Postcard

Here's something for the engineers of the future to get their teeth into. You can make a hole in more than one way, and if you do it carefully, you can even walk through a hole in a postcard...

This activity is quite hard because it requires concentration and careful cutting. Younger scientists may need older assistance, and there is always sticky tape!

Step Through A Postcard

EQUIPMENT:
A postcard sized piece of thin cardboard. A postcard is perfect, cereal box is great.
Scissors
A light coloured, thin felt tip or a pencil or wax crayon
A thick marker or felt tip in a dark colour.

5 Minute STEM Activity 4 - What is Gluten?

Lots of people are diagnosed Gluten-intolerant, but it's very hard to understand what that actually means. It's very easy to 'make' Gluten, and when you do then you will be able to understand why people with Coeliac Disease have trouble digesting it...

What Is Gluten? 
Separating flour.

EQUIPMENT:
1 cup of flour - strong bread making flour is best.
Water
A bowl.

If you don't have bread flour then use plain flour. I've used plain flour here just to show that it can still be done, but bread flour gives a much better result. If your mix doesn't seem to be working, wait half an hour and come back. It's not failure, it's science!

5 Minute STEM Activity 3 - The 5cm World Challenge

Some activities make a great challenge, either for yourself or against other people. Today's activity is an outdoor one that is perfect for a quick competition and makes you look at the world in a different way to normal. What is everything made from? Is concrete just concrete? Is grass just grass? Where do the living creatures hide in your garden? You can get better at noticing your world, the more you pay attention...

The 5cm World: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
Get up close and personal with the ground beneath your feet.

EQUIPMENT (for each person if you aren't challenging yourself).
Outdoor space
2 sheets of paper or card (we used 1 of each).
Something to write with
Scissors

5 Minute STEM Activity 2 - The Floating Arm Trick

I've drafted a few 5 minute simple STEM activity posts and I'll share them with you over the next few weeks of the Summer holiday. These 5 minute activities are designed to make your children think and learn about what makes up their world. None of them require anything complicated or any scientific qualifications, and if you want to learn more - you have the Internet and the entire knowledge of the world, right there in front of you...

The Floating Arm Trick.

You don't need any equipment other than yourself and a flat wall. A closed door works perfectly.

The Kitchen Science Cookbook Review - and a 5 Minute STEM Activity (Age 4-14+)

Here at the brick castle we are very keen on easy and fun science experiments. Children ask loads of questions and by exploring their world they learn the skills to answer those questions for themselves.

I've written several 5 minute STEM activity posts that cost pennies, and I'll be posting one a day for as long as I can keep up. By coincidence we were asked if we wanted to review The Kitchen Science Cookbook by Dr Michelle Dickinson. She is part of Nanogirl Labs and believes, like me, that science should be for everyone.

The Kitchen Science Cookbook is chock full of fantastic experiments and challenges, so the first 5 minute STEM activity for this Summer holiday is from this book.

The Kitchen Science Cookbook is a big hardbacked book which is split into several sections of experiments and activities - colourful, construction, edible, electricity, motion, pressure, reaction, sound and surfactant. Before that though, it has information about safety and how to conduct experiments, note taking and other useful tips.