Valentine’s Day can be an amazing holiday for kids: exchanging hand-made valentines, making your own decorations, and the candy (So. Much. Candy.). But once the valentines are exchanged and the candy placed somewhere Dad won’t eat it all, what other activities are there for kids to do? Wouldn’t it be great if there was some sort of Valentine’s Day-themed activity to spark your kids’ imaginations? You’re in luck, because we’ve got three of them for you to do with your STEM Jr. Wonder Lab.
Valentine’s Day Milk Hearts
For a festive twist on the Marbleizing Milk Painting experiment, gather milk, red food coloring, toothpicks, dish soap, and a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Put the cookie cutter in the tray of your Wonder Lab and pour a small amount of milk into it (it’ll leak out a little, but you only need a thin layer of milk for this experiment), then add a few drops of food coloring to the milk. You don’t need paper for this experiment, as the cookie cutter will hold the milk in place. Now, have your kids dip their toothpick into the dish soap, and then into the colored milk. They should start slowly tracing designs into the milk.
Parenting Hack
Making small, deliberate strokes will produce better results than stirring the milk. More Hacks
Build a Bridge of Love
If your kids love the Marshmallow Monolith experiment, then they’re going to heart this Valentine’s Day version! Gather some toothpicks and heart-shaped marshmallows. Now start attaching marshmallows to toothpicks, chaining them together, and building different structures. Challenge your kids to build tall structures, stable structures, bridges, and anything else they can think of. Have them experiment with building structures using squares, cubes, triangles, and other shapes for the base. Which shape of base works best for different kinds of structures? Can they build a free-standing heart shape?
It’s a Love Potion
Did the Wizard’s Brew experiment get your kids bubbling with excitement? Try this fizzy and fun new version to really brew up something fun this Valentine’s Day. Grab some baking soda, vinegar, water, red fruit drink mix, plastic cups, and some mixing spoons. This experiment can get a little messy, so we recommend experimenting in the kitchen or a room with tile floors. Put a small amount of each ingredient into each cup. Have your kids add the water to the vinegar, then add the fruit drink mix to the baking soda. Now have them pour the water/vinegar into the baking soda/fruit drink mix and watch what happens! Let them experiment with different amounts of water, vinegar, baking soda, and fruit drink mix to see how they can vary the experiment. Are there certain combinations that yield bigger bubbles or longer fizzing? You can even mix in different colors of fruit drink mix to experiment with creating colors.
