Crack of Dawn Crafts: mad science party

For a Science Lab Birthday Party, we gathered our friends and distributed sunglasses (for eye safety), disposable gloves, notebooks explaining the experiments (pages to glue in notebooks below), pens for jotting down hypotheses, and a mesh bag for collecting prizes. Everyone's MAD SCIENTIST name badge was personalized with their own photo.

We were in the middle of moving across country, so the party was outside and decorations were simple... bright colored table cloths, balloons, blown up gloves, and hand painted black/white signs for the experiment stations.

Newton's Laws of Motion, Part 1. We explored Newton's laws of motion with balloon powered rocket cars. They raced them down a box ramp. Directions for making the cars here: http://www.hometrainingtools.com/balloon-rocket-car-project/a/1346/

Newton's Laws of Motion, Part 2 We did more "work" with Newton's laws of motion using alka seltzer rocket cars....We did regular rockets, too with film canisters and a bit of alka seltzer tablet. Went higher than our roof! Directions from NASA Kids here: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/education/activities/pdf/alka_r.pdf

Volcano (Acid/Base Reactions). This experiment involved pouring vinegar into the mouth of a sand volcano. In the mouth of the volcano was a film canister that contained a ball of baking soda. Scientists successfully rescued frogs that were hibernating in the volcanoes (hidden in the baking soda mixture). A bit of red food coloring and dish soap were added to the reaction for effect.

Elephant Toothpaste Experiment. We combined hydrogen peroxide (from beauty supply store), yeast, dish soap and food coloring to create elephant toothpaste, a fast forming non-toxic foam, way cool! shouts of delight were heard as the foam quickly oozed from the bottles. They really "got into" this experiment! Directions here: http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/toothpaste.php

Hydrophobic station #1: Oil and Water. We filled tubes with oil, water, food coloring, a pinch of glitter and a piece of alka seltzer tablet for a cool lava lamp effect. The kids really loved their tubes and got to take them home. (There are many ways to do this... http://peoria.macaronikid.com/article/103069/science-at-home-make-your-own-bubbling-lava-lamp)

Hydrophobic station #2: Magic sand. We compared regular sand to magic sand as they mixed in water... the magic sand stayed completely dry and made cool shapes under water.

Polymer station #1: Bouncy Balls. We added ethyl alcohol to sodium silicate (from ebay) to make our own super bouncy balls. Kids were all concentration as the ball formed magically from the two mixed liquids. Putting the gloves on was an experiment in itself! The mixing was great fun, and the bouncy balls really worked (though they soon dry out at home)! Directions here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Super-Bouncy-Ball/

Polymer station 2: Magic snow! add water to snow powder and watch snow magically appear, awesome! Kids got to take home a bag of snow!

Cake Break The flask cake! Mad scientist cupcakes! Directions and even cuter original here: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/fantastic-flask-cake-699360/ You just have to check out this awesome mad scientist cake though...

The finale. Scientists got to be germ busters, using a 3 ft. long inflatable hammer to destroy germs (balloons labeled "poisonous," "biohazard," etc). Of course, this game turned into whacking each other... Happy whacky scientists! "Germs" were felt finger puppets inside the balloons (free template here).