Hands on Science Activities for Ages 4 – 12

Step by Step instructions for Experiments

Aligned with the National Science Education Standards

Affordably priced at $1 per page

 

Miss Ava, locally known as “The Science Lady”,  has been offering hands on science programs in the Charlotte area since she founded The Original Curiosity Camp on June 14, 1993.  Parents are thrilled because their children learn so much AND there are lots of fun make and take activities.

Since then she has taught over 250,000 children in more than 100 schools. Together they have made gooey substances, erupted volcanoes, climbed mountains, gone canoeing, searched for rocks, built models of dinosaurs and cities, caught critters on land and in the water, and slept under the shark tank at Ripley’s Aquarium. 

Because of the Corona Virus Pandemic and social distancing, Miss Ava is offering some of her most popular programs  as DIY Science to children who would like to do all the hands on science activities in the safety of their home and to educators who have access to a facility where they could, teach small groups of children. Ironically Miss Ava started her business by teaching children ages 4 – 12 in groups of 10 so she knows the benefits of doing so from experience.

Each camp package includes

• Title Page                                                           
• Flyer (for Teachers)
• Supply List
• Registration (For Teachers)
• Roster (For Teachers)
• Daily Lesson Plans for the Week
• Step by Step Directions
• Links to experiments and activities
• Worksheet

DIY Science being offered at this time include:

• Building Dinos………………$28……………………..NSES: A, C
• Catching Critters……………$33……………………..NSES: A, C
• Earth Buddies……………….$45……………………..NSES: A,C,F
• Future Builders……………..$41…………………….NSES: A, B, G
• Nature’s Art…………………..$30…………………….NSES: A, B, D
• Ooze, Glop, & Slime……….$37……………………..NSES: A, D
• Rocket Launch………………..$19……………………..NSES: A, B, D, G
• Rock Hounds………………….$55…………………….NSES: A, D, G
• Safari Adventures………….$36…………………….NSES: A, C
• ZAP! Electricity………………$28…………………….NSES: A, B, G

To place an order

1. Go to http://paypal.me/missavasciencelady  to submit your payment OR send your payment through ZELLE at 7049428817.  Mention your name in your transaction
2. Then email missava@missava.net and list the names of the camps you are ordering.
3. Miss Ava will  attach the camp packages you are ordering in her response to your email.

Building Dinos

Journey back in time when T-Rex ruled the Earth. Imagine going outside and running into a dinosaur as tall as a telephone pole or as long as a football field. Discover how paleontologists learned about these giant creatures by studying fossils.

Use Plaster of Paris to make a fossil print. Identify fossils from the Aurora Fossil Museum.  Each camper will construct a 3 foot tall model of a T-Rex outlining its bones and internal organs. Projects include:

• Building a model of a T-Rex
• Making a fossil print
• Identifying fossils
• Making a dino door hanger

Catching Critters

Fascinated by bugs that can change from a caterpillar into a butterfly………..what!!!!!!!!!!! or a worm that morphs into a beetle? What about water striders that can skate on top of the water? That’s crazy cool.

Children will search for insects like grasshoppers and beetles that hide in the leaves of trees and shrubs or burrow in the dirt. They can go to a neighborhood park  to catch and release critters that live in a shallow stream. Students can buy mealworms and painted lady larvae that go through metamorphosis.

 Projects include making a:

• Stuffed insect to show its 3 body parts
• Mealworm container
• Butterfly habitat
• Paperbag puppet

Earth Buddies

What do cheetahs, zebras, and giraffes have in common? Their numbers are dwindling. Everyone can reverse this by recycling, reusing, and reducing to save Mother Earth, her natural resources and her inhabitants.

Earth Buddies raises awareness by teaching  about endangered species. Children choose an animal to paint beginning with their own hand print and ending with a mat showing its skin pattern.  Totally awesome…..completely frameable.

 Other projects include:                                                                              

• Decorating a clay pot
• Making a mega crayon from old crayons
• Leaf prints
• Animal prints

Future Builders

If you can dream it, you can build it. This camp gives each child a unique opportunity to envision something, make a drawing of it using pencil and paper, and then build a scale model of it. This is a week long project. Children can work together to plan a community, each taking responsibility for constructing what they believe to be an essential part of it.

Since the Corona Virus pandemic in March 2020, we have learned that essential businesses include medical facilities, grocery stores, homes, and hardware stores. Nonessential businesses include movie theaters, entertainment venues, schools, florists, beauty salons, sports events, and churches. To avoid spreading the virus, everyone was asked to practice social distancing, wear gloves and face masks, and stay home unless there is a real need.

They learn about famous contributors like architect Frank Lloyd Wright and engineer/architect Gustave Eiffel. By studying the infrastructure of homes, the Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower, campers learn how to think outside of the box.

Learning concepts include:                                         

• Kinds of Architecture
• Styles of Architect
• Artistry & Design                                                                            

Nature’s Art

Are your eyes playing tricks on you? These two photographs were taken at the same time in exactly the same spot. What??????  The first was taken facing the pier. The second one was taken facing the other direction. Light is just one of Mother Nature’s wonderful mysteries.

Children learn about light and color, how to make natural dyes for fabrics, flowers, and sand, and use stone and glass to decorate. Projects include:

• Making a wall hanging out of fabrics dyed by hand
• Painting a bird house to put in their bird sanctuary
• Decorating a t-shirt demonstrating negative and positive space
• Designing a sand art
• Decorating with glass and stones

Ooze, Glop, & Slime

In the beginning, there was Ooze, Glop, & Slime. Still everyone’s favorite way to get messy. Children mix ordinary kitchen ingredients to make extraordinary concoctions that they can squish and squash between your hands, dribble off the tips of your fingers, or change color when exposed to heat or cold.  Squeals of joy emerge as youngsters blow bubbles in their Glop or watch their volcanoes erupt.

Students learn about gases, liquids, solids, and plasma, the four states of matter. Parents are amazed at how much their children know about atoms and molecules in just one week. Projects include making:

• Ooze (also known as Dr. Seus’s Oobleck)
• Glop (a substance made with glue and Borax)
• Slime that changes color
• Identifying acids and bases using an indicator
• An erupting volcano

Rock Hounds

Intrigued by colored rocks, rocks with lines and layers, rocks with holes in them, rocks that sparkle, beautiful crystals, geodes (rocks formed from bubbles trapped in the Earth), or rocks that came out of a volcano? Rock hounds are. Toddlers, kids, teens, adults, and even old timers can work side by side in search for that one special stone more magnificent than the last 3.

Mr. D. and Miss Ava started their collections over 20 years ago with just a handful of gemstones. Now they each have boxes and boxes of rocks. They are displayed in their classrooms and in their homes. Their children are collectors as well. Mr. D’s latest addition is a meteorite from Northwest Africa. Miss Ava’s is a stone from the Great Wall of China, a gift from a friend traveling to East Asia. Can you even imagine?

Campers participate in mineral tests to determine color, cleavage, and magnetism. They will learn how to identify sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks.   Projects include:

• Dyeing a t-shirt in red mud for collecting
• Decorating a collection box
• Making a sieve for river collection
• Constructing a portable sluice
• Painting a pet rock

Rocket Launch

     

Five…………four………..three………….two………….one……………BLAST OFF!!!!!!!!!!!  Watch your Alpha III climb to heights of 600 ft. before the parachute deploys and it drifts back to the ground hopefully just several yards from where you are. Be sure to aim into the wind so it won’t get swept away.

Build your own launch pad and igniter using a battery pack, split wiring, and alligator clips. The Alpha III is a level 1 rocket perfect for launching on a football field or in a city park. No special license required.

Projects include:

• Building an Alpha 111 Rocket
• Building an igniter
• Building a rocket launch pad

Safari Adventure

 Did you know that there are only 2 Northern White Rhinos in existence?  It is important that students learn how to take care of endangered animals and their environments so they do not become extinct.

Learn the difference between wild, exotic, and domestic animals. Projects include:

• Identifying animal tracks
• Making a cast of an animal footprint
• Building a diorama
• Sewing a sock puppet

ZAP! Electricity

 

Learn about static electricity and current electricity. Design and build your own circuit board using simple tools to mount buzzers, lights, motors, and a battery pack. This is a week long project.

  Learning concepts include:

• Static and current electricity
• Conductors and insulators
• Series and parallel circuits