Elephant Toothpaste

The day started out with our school hosting Strong Dads. I vaguely remembered it being on the schedule, but I had completely forgotten. Nevertheless, I had arrived early to school to set up some lab experiments. It was a rainy, muggy, drizzly morning and I struggled to get all of the experiment items out of my car and not spill my Starbucks coffee. I remembered about the Strong Dads program about the time two dads walked in my room. "Oh my goodness," I thought to myself, "are they in for a shock!"

After attendance, lunch count, announcements, etc. I was off and running ready to 'wow' my kiddos. My students really didn't seem to grasp why line charts are so cool with documenting science. They also didn't seem to understand chemical changes and properties. What better way to explain both at the same time than to just explode something! I passed out safety goggles and established a safety zone. The dads seemed to be concerned when I put on the goggles myself and the figured out they weren't just for "SHOW".

The first experiment was for a slow reaction of warm yeast blowing up a balloon on a water bottle. The next experiment was to demonstrate a moderate reaction of vinegar and baking soda blowing up a balloon. The final experiment was the "Big Bang" theory of a rapid chemical reaction. We made green "Elephant Toothpaste" and green bubbles were flying all over the desks. I know I was a kid on Christmas morning, and the dads were impressed.

I love teaching science! I'm so glad the Dads came to school today. We don't get to explode stuff everyday, but today was well worth the trip to school!