VanCleave's Science Fun

Your Guide to Science Projects, Fun Experiments, and Science Research

ABOUT THE SOUND PICTURE

With mouth wide open, vibrating air coming up the throat from the vocal chords leaving the open mouth and spreading in all directions. Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50+ best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years and now am creating this science website.   My scream was not staged. The picture was to be of two adult cats, which I was holding. A microsecond before the camera snapped, the two cats dug their claws into my skin as they prepared to leap out of my arms. A picture like this is great for making inferences. Kids could make "guesses" as to why I am screaming. They would be drawing on facts from the photo, such as I look like I am in pain or maybe I am just pretending.

Sound Supplies and Sound Investigations

Educational Innovation Sound Supplies A black and yellow logo for Educational Innovations. A place to find fun science supplies.

Shortening

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I love finding fun facts, such as why  solid cooking fat is called  “shortening.” It is a very “sciencey” reason based on the chemistry of baking bread. Dough is mixture of flour and water. The combination of these chemicals results in the formation of gluten. gluten A tough, elastic protein.  Gluten gives dough firmness but […]

Diffusion

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I added the squiggles to the photo to represent bad odors. The photo represents Salty, my husband’s dog who is presently peacefully  sleeping on a warm blanket in my office. Smells from his body are definitely diffusing throughout my office. So why do I have a smelly dog in my office? Its a long story […]

Pressure Cooker

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While  searching for a picture of a pressure cooker, I found the one shown. The mess in the photo is the result of the cook opening a pressure cooker too early. The mess shown in the photo is nothing compared to  having an erupting  volcano of green pea soup splatter your ceiling and walls. YEP! […]

Science Fair Projects: Scientific Method

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Notes from Janice’s Desk Scientists make observations, identify problems, ask questions, guess at the answer (hypothesis), experiment to test their guess, collect and analyze data, and then make a conclusion stating where the result supported their hypothesis or not. These are the steps for a process called the scientific method. Do scientists always follow the […]

Chemistry: Stain Removal

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Notes from Janice’s Desk I love blackberries but seem to always drop them on my clothes. Actually, I am worse than a small child when it comes to staining my clothes with the foods I eat.This means that I have lots of clothes that have food stains on them. While researching food stains I discovered […]

Science Fair Project: Alum Crystals

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Kids love growing crystals. The crystal shown in the photo appears to have been grown on a colored yarn string. It is interesting that the yarn seems to wind its way through the crystal. I also find the size of the crystal interesting. Determining how to grow large alum crystals could be a great science […]

Displacement

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Kids get in trouble for “bird walking,” which means to start thinking about other stuff instead of the teacher’s topic. As a kid, I was very guilty of this. But, I was bad about doing it when I taught and have a hard time with this as a writer. For example, I was studying about […]

How to Start a Science Fair Project

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Question: How do I start a science fair project? Answer: This is the one question that I am often asked about science fair projects. To help teachers and kids with Getting Started Ideas, I am developing ideas. At this time, my examples for different topic may vary. This is because with each new topic, I […]