Earth and Sky

Look down. Look up. What do you see? Earth below and sky above!

#1. Can You Dig It?
DASEF has soil sample kits to show the difference in soil types and how ground water is filtered by soil.

#2. Hot Time in the Sun  

DASEF has Frisbees that detect UV rays, and solar viewers that let you watch the sun without damaging your eyes. We also have an evaporation and condensation demonstration kit.  

#3. Going, Going, Gone
DASEF has a nature trail and there is another in Big Oak Park (next door) with a stream to study erosion. We also have stream tables for demonstrating water and wind erosion.

#4. Sky Watching
DASEF has the materials for making cloud pictures. We also have telescopes and binoculars for sky watching.

#5. Creatures of the Air
DASEF has materials for bird study and insect study including images, insect models, and identification books.

#6. Make a Rock
DASEF has rock and mineral samples for studying the three types of rocks.

#7. What's an Eclipse?
DASEF has a model for demonstrating what happens in an eclipse.

Earth Is Our Home

The earth is your home. Living things like people, plants, and animals make their home on our planet. How can you make your home a better place?

#2. Project Recycle Check with an adult to get a list of items that are recycled in your community.
DASEF has a collection of household objects that can be classified as recyclable or non-recyclable in Delaware.

#4. Cooking with the Sun
DASEF has active and passive solar collectors on the roof of the Outpost for studying renewable energy.

#6. Earth's Caretakers Adopt a special outdoor place in your community for two or three months. Pick a place where there are always people around. Make sure you have permission to work in the area you have chosen. Remember to wear work gloves and have the right tools for the job. Here are two ideas:

Help the Street Trees on Your Block
Loosen the soil in each tree pit (the square where the tree is planted). This will allow more water and air to get to the roots. Do this a few times during the spring, summer, or fall.

Plant Flowers
The spring is a great time to grow flowers in your neighborhood for everyone to enjoy. Plant them around street trees, at a school, or at a nursing home. Go back to water them and pull out any weeds every week or two weeks.

DASEF has lots of trees and flower beds that could use maintenance throughout the growing season.

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Eco Explorer

"Eco" is short for ecology. Ecology is the study of how plants and animals live together in the environment. Have fun trying these activities as you become an eco-explorer.

#1. Exploring Nature
Try one or both of the following activities to explore nature:
Activity 1:
Try to find both living and nonliving things in the natural environment. you'll need a pencil. When you find an item, check it off. Do your best not to harm, move, or take away any of these things. Animals and plants may depend on them.

DASEF has grounds and a nature trail with several different habitats to study.

#3. Make a Habitat
Pick one of the animals from the following list (or any other animal you like) and make a pretend habitat for it to live in. Don't forget to include food, water, and shelter for your animal!

·         Squirrel

·         Lion

·         Shark

·         Bear

·         Hawk

·         Monkey

·         Horse

DASEF has large floor puzzles to assemble that show insects, birds, and other animals in their habitats.

#6. Helping Wildlife
As a Girl Scout, you care about the earth. When you recite the Girl Scout Law, you promise to "use resources wisely". Pick at least one of the activities below to help wild animals. Work with your leader or another adult.

·         Put up bird next boxes.

·         Make brush piles by piling up lots of dead branches and leaves. Small animals, like snakes, toads, chipmunks, and turtles often hide under them.

·         Snip six-pack plastic soda rings with a pair of scissors. Those plastic rings that are used to hold together six-packs of soda. Why? Because the rings can cause harm. Animals can get their necks or beaks caught in them. In many cases the animals can't eat, so they die.

·         Plant a butterfly garden. Butterflies are only attracted to certain types of flowers. Also some flowers don't grow well in your area. Check at a plant store to see which ones will be best for this project.

·         Put out a bird feeder and keep it filled all winter long.

DASEF has plans and materials for building bird nesting boxes and bird feeders. We are also in the process of constructing a butterfly garden behind the Outpost.

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Making Music

Music is the art of making sounds. Different people find different sounds pleasing to the ear. Some sounds in nature, like birdcalls, are musical.

#4. Melody Glasses
Drinking glasses filled with different amounts of water can become a musical instrument.
You Will Need:

·         8 same size drinking glasses

·         Water

·         Spoon

1. Number the glasses from 1 to 8.
2. Fill each glass with the different amounts of water.
3. Test each glass for the higher/lower notes.
4. Try to pick out the song "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" with your glasses. If a note doesn't sound quite right add or take away a little of the water. Tap fast or slow in different places to follow the rhythm.

DASEF has the materials to make melody glasses. We also have Boom Whackers – plastic tubes of varying sizes and lengths which a group of girls can test and then hit in a pattern to play a tune.

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Movers

The wind can create a gentle breeze or make a powerful hurricane. An airplane couldn't fly without the wind blowing over its wings. Can the wind help you have fun? Do these activities to find out.

#1. Pinwheel
Just like a windmill, a pinwheel uses wind energy to make it spin. Make your own pinwheel to see how this works.

 

DASEF has the materials to make pinwheels.

#2. Paper Copter
Helicopters use whirling blades to move through the air. You can see how this works by making your own helicopter out of paper.

 

DASEF has a pattern and the materials to make paper helicopters.

#3. Ring Glider
Have you ever seen a glider with wings shaped like rings? These wings don't flap like a bird's, but they do help the glider move through the air. Try It!

 

DASEF has the pattern to make the ring glider from straws and paper and also a plan for making a ring wing glider.

#6. Lunch Bag Kite

 

DASEF has a pattern and materials to make a simple diamond kite.

#7. Balloon Rocket
Rockets, like airplanes, need fuel to move through the air. When gases from this burning fuel are pushed out the back, the rocket shoots forward. You can make your own rocket to see how this works.
You will need:

·         String about 10' long (nylon string works best)

·         A long, thin balloon

·         Tape

·         A paper lunch bag (decorated)

·         A drinking straw

1. Slide the string through the straw.
2. Tie each end of the string to something (like two chairs). Pull the string tight. This is the track for your rocket.
3. Tape the paper bag to the straw as shown. Slide the paper bag to one end of the string.
4. With an adult, blow up the balloon. This will be the "engine" of your rocket. Hold the balloon closed so that the air does not get out!
5. Launch your rocket by placing the balloon inside the bag, then letting go! Blast off!!

DASEF has the materials to make the balloon rocket and also a rocket powered by a seltzer tablet.

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My Body

Try these fun activities to learn more about your body.

#3. Funny Face
Muscles help you breathe, see, eat, and walk. Even your heart is a muscle. It pumps blood through your body. The more you exercise your muscles, the stronger they will grow.
Your face is full of different muscles. Looking into a mirror, make a frown. Make a happy face. Pretend to chew food of blow a bubble. Each change in expression is a result of your brain sending messages to the muscles in your face.
Your eyes also have muscles. Sit facing a friend. Keep your head still. Using just your eyes, look to the left, the right, up and down. The muscles in your eyes help move both of your eyes in the same direction even if your head is not moving.

DASEF has several books that show the parts and systems of the body. We also have a human skeleton and small animal skeletons to study joints and movement.

#6. Pulse
Your heart pumps blood through the body. Every time your heart beats, it pushes a new supply of blood though your body. Arteries are the tubes that carry blood away from your heart. You can feel the blood going through your arteries when you take your pulse.
Now try to find your pulse on your wrist. Hold your finger directly below your hand on the bottom of your wrist. Remember not to use your thumb in checking a pulse. Your thumb has a pulse of its own.
Now take a friend's pulse on her wrist.
Check your pulse after you have run around or played a game for a little while. Has your pulse rate gone up or down? Why?

DASEF has books with diagrams to show the circulatory system.

#8. Body Parts
Your body has many parts that work together. Choose a friend and trace an outline of each other's bodies on paper.
You will need:

·         Butcher paper or other long pieces of paper

·         Pencils

·         13 paper fasteners for each girl

·         Scissors

·         A partner

1. Take turns tracing each other's body on the paper.
2. Cut around the body that was drawn.
3. Cut the body parts apart at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, thighs, knees, and ankles.
4. Fasten the body parts back together with the paper fasteners. You now have moving body parts like parts of a puppet.
5. Label the different body parts. Draw the eyes, nose, ears, mouth and hair.

 

DASEF has a human skeleton model and books with diagrams of the body’s systems.

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Plants

Plants have many uses -- food, lumber, medicine, paper -- and they make oxygen that is part of the air you breathe.

#1. Seed Race
Seeds take different amounts of time to grow. Try an experiment to see which seed wins a sprout race.
You will need:

·         Potting soil

·         6 kinds of seeds

·         1/2 of an egg carton

·         A spoon

·         Water

Fill each section of the egg carton with about two tablespoons of potting soil. Put one kind of seed in each section. Label each section. Cover the seeds with soil and sprinkle with water. Add some water every day. Write down what you see happening each day. When did you see little green leave pushing up through the dirt? How long did it take? Did some of these plants grow faster than others? Use a ruler to measure the height of each of the plants as they grow.
Move the plants to small pots with more soil. When they are bigger (at least 6'' tall, try planting your sprouted seeds outside (if it's warm enough).

DASEF has samples of various kinds of seeds, leaves, roots, and bark form plants and trees.

#2. Plant Rubbings
A rubbing is one way to bring home something from the out-of-doors without harming nature.
You will need:

·         Crayons

·         Plain white paper

·         Notebook with a hard cover or a table

Lay your paper against the bark of a tree. Gently rub a crayon back and forth until a pattern starts to show. Pick up a leaf from the ground. Put it on a hard surface like a notebook with a hard cover or a table. Then place the paper over the leaf. Rub the crayon over the paper. You can make many different kinds of rubbings. Do any of the rubbing patterns look alike?

DASEF has the materials and the environment to do rubbings. We can also make chocolate “leaves” that copy a real leaf.

#4. Leaf Hunt
Look for different types of leaves that have fallen to the ground. (Don't put your hands in your mouth after touching leaves and never put any leaves in your mouth. Be sure to wash your hands when you are done).
Pick one leaf that you like a lot. Describe it by drawing it or writing about it. You and your friends can put all your leaves in a pile. Describe your leave to someone. Can she find which one is yours?

DASEF has a nature trail and environment to do a leaf hunt.

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Science in Action

These activities will help you understand more about science in your life.

#1. Science and Technology Hunt
Technology is a way of using science to create tools that make life easier for people. Go on a science and technology hunt! Each of the things on the following list is an example of science or technology at work. How many of them can you find?

·         Something made of plastic

·         Something made from trees

·         Something that moves in a circle

·         Something that comes from the earth

·         Something that uses a switch

·         Something made of metal

·         Something that uses electricity

·         Something that uses wheels

·         Something that measures

·         Something that makes or uses sound

·         Something from the ocean or a lake

·         Something run by a computer

DASEF has samples of all of these things in its classroom that would make a great hunt.

#2. Weird Glop
Almost everything in the world is a solid, liquid or gas. Things can change from solid to liquid to gas. It changes to a solid when it freezes. When it boils and you see steam, it has become a gas.
Weird glop isn't really a solid or a liquid. Do not eat it!
In order to make weird glop, you will need:

·         1/2 cup cornstarch

·         1/4 cup water

·         spoon

·         measuring cup

·         bowl

·         food coloring

1. Pour the water into the bowl.
2. Add the cornstarch a little at a time while stirring.
3. Keep mixing until all your glop looks and feels the same.

How is weird glop different than water? How is it different from starch? Store the glop in a plastic bag. What can you do with it? Try adding food coloring to make blue, green or red glop.

DASEF has the materials to make glop.

#3. Balloon Blowing
Try to blow up a balloon without using your own breath. This will take several people working together.
You will need:

·         1/4 cup vinegar

·         A small plastic bottle (with a neck over which you can place the mouth of the balloon)

·         2 tablespoons of baking soda

·         A small balloon

1. Pour the vinegar into the plastic bottle.
2. Stretch open the balloon mouth and carefully pour the baking soda into the balloon.
3. Place the balloon mouth over the bottle. Make sure the balloon mouth is tightly around the neck of the soda bottle.
4. Hold the balloon to the side so that the baking soda does not fall into the bottle.
5. Shake the balloon so that the baking soda falls down into the bottle.

What happened? Can you figure out why?

DASEF has seltzer rocket materials that could be used to demonstrate this effect.

#4. A Butterfly of Many Colors
The ink in a black felt-tip pen is made from chemicals of different colors. Mixed together, these colors look black. How can you see the different colors?
You will need:

·         A black, water-soluble, felt tip pen

·         A coffee filter

·         Scissors

·         1 cup of water

1. Fold your filter in half and cut out a butterfly shape.
2. Using your felt tip pen, run a heavy black line down the center of the fold (open your filter so the whole body of the "butterfly" shows and draw down the center of it's body).
3. Dip the filter into the cup of water.

Watch closely, but don't touch the filter. What happens?

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment.

#6. Light and Color
All colors are made from three basic ones: red, yellow and blue. These are called primary colors. How do you make other colors from these three colors?
You will need:

·         Scissors

·         4 flashlights

·         Red, blue, yellow, and green balloons

·         White wall or ceiling or white sheet of paper

·         Dark room

1. Cut the neck off the balloons.
2. Stretch the balloons across the flashlights.
3. Turn off the lights in the room.
4. Shine the red light onto the white surface.
5. Shine the blue light onto the red.

What happens? What color do you see?
Red plus blue = ___________________
Red plus yellow = _________________
Yellow plus blue = ________________
What happens when you shine all four colors together?

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment and our observatory is painted black which provides a dark room – perfect for viewing the results of the experiment.

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Science Wonders

Try these activities to see how wonderful science is. The changes seem like magic, but a scientist can make them happen. And you get to be the scientist!

#1. Home-Grown Crystals
Crystals are minerals that are clear and sparkly. Some crystals have colors, too! Ice, salt, and diamonds are all crystals. So is rock candy! Try growing some of your own crystals with this experiment.
Do all the crystals have the same shape? After you finish your observations, you can eat your crystals-on-a-string!

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment and magnifiers to look at the results.

#2. Bubbles
You can make some special bubbles.
Try this mix:

·         1 gallon of water

·         40 drops of glycerin

·         1/2 cup dishwashing liquid

Mix everything together in a large flat pan. Stir slowly. If you can, let it set for at least one day. The glycerin will make stronger bubbles if you do.
For your bubble make, have an adult help you shape a metal hanger. Did your bubble make into the pan and then gently wave it in the air. Try other shapes for your bubble makers.

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment.

#3. Homemade Recycled Paper
A fun way to recycle is by making your own paper. You can use this special paper to make note cards, books, collages, and many other things.
You will need:

·         A large mixing bowl

·         An eggbeater

·         A cup

·         A big spoon

·         An old newspaper

·         Water

·         A screen about 3'' square or bigger

·         A flat pan a little larger than the screen

·         Starch

1. Tear a half-page of newspaper into very small pieces. Put the paper in a large mixing bowl full of water.
2. Let the paper soak for one hour.
3. Beat the paper with an eggbeater for 10 minutes. The paper should be soft and mushy. It is now called pulp.
4. Mix 2 tablespoons of starch in 1 cup of water. Add this to the pulp. Stir well. The starch makes the paper pulp strong.
5. Pour the pulp into the flat pan.
6. Slide the screen under the pulp. Carefully move the pan back and forth to form an even layer of pulp on top of the screen.
7. With two hands, lift the screen straight up (horizontally) out of the water. Place it on half of the remaining newspaper.
8. Fold the other half of the newspaper over the screen and press down very hard. This will squeeze some of the water out of the pulp.
9. Carefully peel back the newspaper to uncover the pulp. Let the pulp dry overnight.
10. When the paper is dry, carefully peel it from the screen.

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment.

#6. Static Electricity
A special kind of electricity, called static electricity, can be made by rubbing some things together. Lightning is a kind of static electricity in the clouds. The spark you sometimes feel when you touch something after walking on a rug is static electricity. You can try making your own static electricity with these activities.
You will need:

·         Balloons

·         String

·         Very small pieces of paper

·         Wool cloth

1. With an adult, blow up the balloons and tie the ends.
2. Rub the balloon very quickly on a wool cloth or your hair.
3. Hold the balloon over the very small pieces of paper. What happens?
4. Take two more balloons and tie a piece of string to each one.
5. Rub the balloons on the wool cloth.
6. Hold the balloons by the string and try to make them touch.
7. Rub another balloon on the wool cloth.
8. Hold the balloon next to a thin stream of water from the faucet. What happens?
9. Hold the same balloon to the wall. If it has enough static electricity, it will stick. Rub the balloon on the wool cloth again to give it more static electricity.

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment.

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Space Explorer

Learning about the stars and planets and other things up there in the sky can open up a whole new world. Astronomers and astronauts use telescopes, satellites, spaceships, and other scientific equipment to study space. You, too, can take a step into space exploration.

#1. The Night Sky
Go star gazing with an adult who knows the planets and the stars, or have an adult help you read a star map. Try to find the North Star, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, or other groups of stars. (They are called constellations).

DASEF has a portable planetarium to study constellations and telescopes for stargazing and seeing the moon and the planets.

#2. The Moon
Why does the moon look like it changes shape? One week it is full. The next time you see a half-moon. The moonlight you see is the sun shining on one side of the moon. As the earth and the moon move around the sun, you see the moon in different places. you also see the parts of the moon that get sunlight. Draw the moon on the same day of the week for four weeks. What did you see?

DASEF has models for studying the moon and a Power Point presentation on the planets and the moon.

Ready, Set, Jet!
Pretend that you are on a journey to a Girl Scout center on the moon. How would you dress for space? How would you move in space? Draw or create a costume for your journey. Show your drawing to others. Be ready to answer questions about your space outfit.

DASEF has a short video on a Mars space suit and an activity to design a space suit.

#4. Shadow Time
Did you know that the earth rotates? It turns around much like a top. Have you seen the sun in different places in the sky? It looks like the sun is moving, but it is the earth that is moving. Try this activity to mark the earth's movement.

1. On a sunny day, take a stick and put it in the ground. It should cast a shadow. Mark the very end of the shadow by placing another stick on the ground.
2. Leave your sticks in the ground and return in an hour Has something changed? Use a third stick to mark where your shadow is now. Do this once more in another hour. Which way did your shadow move? What do you think made your shadow move? Is there a way you could use this movement to tell time?

DASEF has a Sun Tower that can be used to show the movement of the earth and to use markers to show the passage of time.

#5. Star Maker
Pick a favorite constellation, or create a pattern of stars to make you own indoor star show!
You will need:

·         A cylinder-shaped oatmeal container

·         A flashlight

·         A large safety pin

1. Draw your constellation on the bottom of the cylinder-shaped container on the outside. Make dots to mark where the stars are in the constellation. Using the safety pins, punch holes in the box where you made the dots.
2. At night or in a dark room, place the flashlight in the box and shine it on a blank wall or on the ceiling.
3. Show your constellation to others. Tell them about your constellation. Put on a star show with your friends who have made their own constellation boxes.

DASEF has materials for making constellation pictures, to follow a session in the portable planetarium. We also have the materials and plans for making a folded wishing star from paper.

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Water Everywhere

Find out about water without getting wet!

#4. Water Snooper
To build a water snooper, you will need:

·         A large can

·         Clear plastic wrap

·         Rubber bands

1. Have someone help you remove both ends of the large can.
2. Take the plastic wrap and put it on one end of the can.
3. Hold it in place with the rubber bands.
4. Use the water snooper to look into a pond or other body of water. Make sure it doesn't just rest on the surface, but that it goes under the water.

Now, make a water-drop magnifying lens. Take a piece of clear plastic wrap and put two or three drops of water in the middle of it. Hold the plastic over the letters a book. Are they larger? Hold the plastic over other objects. How do they look.

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment and a deck with openings for underwater viewing on our water retention pond.

#5. Water Explorer
Visit a pond, lake, small stream, or tidal pool at the seashore with your troop or group. Look for creatures and plants that live in the water.
You will need:

·         A strainer

·         A white plastic bowl with water in it.

Dip the strainer in the pond or other body of water. You should not go into the water. Empty what you fine into the white plastic bowl that has water in it. If you find living things, how do they move? What do the plants in the water look like?
Look under rocks in the water. Do creatures hide under them or cling to them?
Remember to leave the area as you found it.

DASEF has a pond and access to a stream on the county parkland adjacent to our property.

#6. Water Layers
You can see that salt water is different from fresh water in more ways than taste.
You will need:

·         2 glasses

·         Warm water

·         Container of salt

·         Food coloring

·         Spoon

·         Measuring Cup

1. Put 1 cup of water in a glass. Slowly add salt. Keep stirring. Stop when the salt won't dissolve and stays at the bottom.
2. Add some food coloring to the salty water.
3. Hold the spoon to the top of the water and very slowly pour 1 cup of fresh water onto the spoon. The fresh water will stay on top, because it is not as heavy as the salt water.

Now do this experiment in reverse. Add salt water to the fresh water. What happens? Next, try adding cold salty water to warm fresh water. What happens?

DASEF has the materials to do this experiment.