Sucking Up the Water Materials Required: A piece of cotton clothesline Two small, baby-food jars Water Some plants and trees have many little roots. Others have one larger, long root going deep beneath the ground. But add up the “sucking’ area of the small roots, with all of their tiny parts, called “root hairs”, and you can understand how such a root will gather water faster than a larger root since...

Moisture for Germination Materials Required: Eyedropper Bean seeds Water Plastic egg carton Potting soil Marking pen Paper and pencil Water is essential for the development of a seed into plant. We will carry this task with a bean seed, to see how much water it requires to grow. Hypothesize that a seed will not grow if there is not enough water. This often takes place in nature, when there is a...

Ground Temperatures Materials Required: Oak tree Pine tree Two thermometers A cold winter day Pencil and paper Deciduous trees are those which lose all their leaves in the fall. Oak tree is a kind of deciduous tree. Conifers are trees that stay green all year. Pine tree is one such example. During winters, is the ground underneath a pine tree warmer than the ground under an oak tree? Find a pine...

Retaining Freshness Materials Required: Four brands of plastic food-wrap A ruler Masking tape Spring-type clothespins Scissors A table Pencil and paper We have many ways to preserve food and to keep it fresh. After dinner, when there are leftovers, people often wrap them up in a plastic wrap or put the food in bowls and cover them with a wrap. If the air is to be kept out of the plastic...

The Brain and Nervous System The human brain is more complex than any computer known to man. The brain is divided into two primary parts called the Cerebral Hemispheres. These hemispheres have separate areas which control vision, touch, smell, taste, coordination and balance, breathing and blood pressure. The outer layer of the brain is called the grey matter and is rich in nerve cells. The inner layer of the brain is...

Using the Senses Materials Required: Four small butter or margarine containers with lids An orange, an apple, a grapefruit and a banana Pencil and paper A friend or parent Our five senses namely sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing help us determine our environment. We can study them in detail, with the help of a friend. After peeling off a portion from each fruit, place them separately in the containers. You...

Classifying Dead Insects Materials Required: Dead insects A book on insects Pencil and paper What kind of insects live in your neighbourhood? Collect insects from window sills around your home. An undisturbed screened window in an attic, garage or shed, where insects are often trapped, may have a lot of dead insects lying there. Remember spiders are arachnids, not insects. Insects have three pair of legs, but arachnids have eight legs....

Studying Animal Sounds Materials Required: A tape recorder Paper and pencil Nocturnal creatures are those who sleep during the day and remain awake at night. Owls, raccoons, frogs, crickets and locusts are a few examples. We can hear animal sounds, all times of the day. Hypothesize that the sounds we hear in the morning are different from the ones heard after dark. Go out of the house one early morning and...