A few weeks ago we had a “snow” day off from school (it didn’t really snow, much to our dismay). We ended up having visitors who were also off from school, so Engineer and I made up a science scavenger hunt with LEGO bits and bobs.
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a science scavenger hunt for kids who love LEGO!
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Materials
Baking soda
Vinegar
Building bricks & minifigure ice cube trays
Random LEGO pieces and people
Twisty eye droppers
Prep
Engineer and I searched through his LEGO bins for small pieces to hide in the ice cube trays. He and I then set everything out on a white piece of paper and took a picture (so the kids knew which pieces they were hunting for).
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Then we whipped up a batch of baking soda and water. When we created our icy, fizzy letters, the kiddo and I determined the best “recipe” was 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water. This yields kind of a pasty mixture, but that’s the goal.
Engineer and I grabbed the LEGO-inspired ice cube trays and added a little bit of our baking soda mixture. Then we popped in our LEGO bits and bobs and covered them up with more of the mixture. To get the mix to settle into the trays, simply tap them a few times on the counter. They’ll look more uniform and liquidy at this point.
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The trays went into the freezer, and then we had to wait. They were in the freezer for about three hours before we played with them.
Set Up
I grabbed a colorful sorting tray I’d picked up at the Dollar Tree. A bowl of vinegar went in the middle, along with some fun squiggly eyedroppers. Then I popped out some of the bricks and men, leaving the rest in the freezer for later.
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What the kids did
Of course, by this point I was swarmed by kiddos who wanted to play our science scavenger hunt game! I told them we were looking for the LEGO items in the picture and challenged them to work together to find everything. So off they went!
A ton of fun ensued! Engineer schooled the younger kiddos about the reaction that occurs when vinegar and baking soda mix. I loved hearing him explain it to them, and they definitely paid attention!
The kids took turns squeezing vinegar onto the LEGO bricks and men. There were exclamations about the fizzing reaction, the coldness of the liquid, and the happiness over finding some of the hidden LEGO bits.
This activity took over an hour, and we only stopped because we ran out of frozen bricks! I’ve already been asked twice to redo this experiment, so I’d say it was a hit.
The learning
Some of the concepts the children touched out during our science scavenger hunt:
- Fine motor skills
- Changing states of matter
- Endothermic reactions
- Visual discrimination
- Chemical changes
So, would your kids enjoy our LEGO science scavenger hunt? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Had to stop by to see the whole post after seeing this on Pinterest. This is an awesome idea. What a lot of fun kds wll have with this one! Sharing
Great fun! I’ll definitely add this to my ‘snow play’ board. I might try to use my son’s little animal figures– I just need to find a tray with big enough spaces for them!
Super cute and clever!
Where did you get those squiggly droppers?! Our little hands would LOVE those!