Ravina Sewani

Things you will need:fresh liquid soda, small transparent cup, raisins (fresh ones show the best results). How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them for protection.<ol><li>Take a transparent cup or a glass and fill it with liquid soda.</li><li>Take about 7-10 raisins and drop them in the glass.</li><li>Now wait for about 2 minutes and observe how science makes the raisins dance!</li></ol> Why do the raisins dance?When the raisins are dropped in the soda, they sink at the bottom. The gas bubbles from the soda attach with the raisins and make them rise to the top. The gas bubbles attach. When the raisin reaches the top, the gas bubbles pop out and so the raisin falls down again. This continues until all the gas bubbles have left the soda.<ul><li>Try adding other things to soda and see what happens – uncooked pasta, rice, corn kernels.</li><li>You can also take 2 cups and compare the raisins in the soda and the raisins in the water.</li></ul>

Significance:With this easy to set-up activity, you can drive your child towards science and the magic it creates.

Dancing Raisin

Things you will need:Water colours, water, brushes, white crayon, chart paper, water colour tray. How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them for protection.<ol><li>On a white chart paper, write/draw with the white crayon.</li><li>Place different coloured drops in water colour tray.</li><li>Dip a paint brush first in colour and then in water.&nbsp;</li><li>Paint on the chart paper and observe the words/drawing come alive.</li></ol> Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity can be very exciting because you can ask them to find out hidden message. They learn the difference between the textures and results of different colour mediums.

Resist Painting

Things you will need:Vegetable oil, food colouring, bubble forming tablets e.g. aspirin or alka-seltzer, water. How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them and help them with risky steps for protection.<ol><li>Take a transparent jar and fill 1/4th of the jar with vegetable oil.</li><li>Fill remaining 3/4th of the jar with water.</li><li>Now add a few drops of food colouring. If you are using liquid colouring, you can directly add 3-4 drops. If you are using powdered food colouring, mix the powder with a small amount of water. Now add these coloured drops to the jar.</li><li>Break your alka-seltzer or aspirin tablets into half and add the tablet in the jar one piece at a time.</li><li>Observe your lava lamp erupting.</li></ol> Why is there an eruption in the jar?As water is denser than oil, it sinks to the bottom. The food colouring is water soluble and so mixes with water. The oil floats above water. When aspirin tablet is added, it dissolves in water and produces carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide gas mixes with water and food colouring and they rise up to the top of the jar. At the top, the bubbles pop out. The more the tablets, the more the carbon dioxide and more bubbles are produced. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This is a fun indoor activity which will develop curiosity about science in your child.

Lava Lamp

How to:You can gather a few kids and teach them slime making! Kindly do this activity under an adult’s supervision only. There are ready-made slime making kits available in the market which you can buy for this activity. If not, you can use ingredients available at your house to make a slime. One such simple slime making method is as follows:1. Add 7 tablespoons of skimmed milk (without milk fat) to a cup. Then add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the milk. Gently stir the mixture until you see solids being formed.2. Let the solids sink to the bottom of the mixture and then remove the extra liquid using a filter. Let the solids drain for a few minutes.3. Add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to the solids and knead together to form a slimy mixture.The slime formed will be white in colour. If you want to make it interesting, you can add food colour in the milk before adding vinegar. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity will improve your child’s sensory skills. It also relieves stress. This activity also enhances your child’s motor skills.

Slime making

Ali Momin

Things you will need: paper and pencil How to:You will have to write these words down on a piece of paper for your child to do this activity. Here is the list to get you started with the activity: <ol><li>Can you unscramble this word to the name of a pet animal? - OGD</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing that gives you air? - NFA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing on which you sleep? - DEB</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the big ball that gives us light? - NSU</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the name of the king of the jungle? - OILN</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the animal who lives in water? - SHIF</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the body part you walk with? - NSU</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the animal that likes to drinks milk? - TAC</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing that is used with a ball? - TBA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the colour of tomato? - EDR</li></ol> You can think of more such words depending on your child's vocabulary. Happy Gaming!

This activity will enhance your child's thinking ability.

Unscramble the words - Easy

Things you will need: a balloon, 1 litre plastic bottle, funnel, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 tablespoons of vinegar How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them for protection.<ol><li>Wash and dry the 1 litre. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the bottle using the funnel.</li><li>Pour vinegar in the balloon by placing the small end of the funnel into the opening of the balloon. Be careful while adding the vinegar.</li><li>Carefully stretch out the open end of the balloon and place over the mouth of the bottle. Leave the rest of the balloon hanging. Your child(ren) will need assistance at this step.</li><li>Hold on to the balloon at the point where it is attached to the bottle. Lift up the rest of the balloon to pour the vinegar inside the bottle, do not lose the hold at the mouth of the bottle and balloon.</li><li>Observe the bubble formation and balloon inflation.</li></ol> Why does this happen?Carbon dioxide gas is released when baking soda and vinegar mixes. Due to this gas, the balloon inflates. Happy Exploring!

Significance:This activity will interest your child further in exploring science and will enhance his/her observational and motor skills.

Self Inflating Balloon

Thing you will need:Large transparent container, toy dinosaurs, water, shells, stones, bowl of hot water, salt, tweezers or something similar which is heavy and can break the ice, blue food colouring (preferably powdered colour)Activity should be done with a group of 5-10 kids. How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them for protection.<ol><li>Fill about 1/3rd of the container with water and freeze it.</li><li>Place a few toys, stones and shells.</li><li>Pour another layer of water above these toys and freeze it again.</li><li>Place remaining toys, stones and shells.</li><li>Pour the last layer of water and freeze it again.</li><li>Place the ice block you prepared out in the open or on a table.</li><li>Mix salt and the blue food colour in sufficient quantity. Sprinkle this mixture on your ice block. You will see that the ice block is starting to melt.</li><li>Pour the hot water over your ice block so that the ice block melts faster.</li><li>Using tweezers break the ice so that you can recover your dinosaur toys, stones and shells.</li><li>Repeat the steps. Add more salt, more hot water, break the ice with tweezers.</li><li>This activity will definitely keep children busy for a good 2 hours. Let them discover how they can recover the toys faster.</li></ol> Note:Carry out this activity in your backyard or veranda so that your house does not get messy. Why does the ice melt by adding salt?Salt helps in melting the ice faster because salt decreases the melting point of ice. The kids also have fun as they see a blue stream of water running down. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity helps children bond well and develop their co-ordination of fine motor skills.

Dinosaur Dig

How to:2 or more children can play this game. This activity requires nothing. Begin the game by saying out loud a word starting with letter “A”. Your child will then have to say a word that starts with letter “B”. When it is your turn again, you will say a word that starts with letter “C” and so on. This can be played in groups; gather your child's friends and they can have fun for hours. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity will improve your child’s focusing skills and vocabulary.

ABCD

How to:Hundreds and Thousands of grids for word search are available online. You can get them printed of the required difficulty level depending on your child’s age. The grids of this game are either rectangular or square. The grid consists of letters of words placed randomly. The goal of the game is to find all the words hidden in the grid and mark them. The words can be arranged horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Usually such grids come with a list of the words hidden in the grid. This list can help your child find the words easily. Fun fact:You can level up the game by not providing the list of the words hidden or by setting up a timer.&nbsp; Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity will enhance your child’s observational skills and concentration.

subject activities

Activities are an interesting way to teach important life skills to children. Here are a few suggestions for you.