My Three Sons and Hubby: Trolley Museum / Chemistry Class

Justin and I went to the National Capital Trolley Museum for Fall Fun Day.

All the kids who attended listened to a story, made paper conductor’s hats, then took a trolley ride through Northwest Branch Park. We learned about some of the history of the trolleys/street cars. The yellow trolley that we rode was originally from Belgium. It was interesting that all the signs and words inside were in a foreign language. After the trolley ride, a video of Thomas the Tank was shown, but we had to leave to go to Justin’s preschool.

This week is National Chemistry Week.

After lunch, I picked Kevin up from school and brought him to a kids chemistry class for 7 to 9 year-olds. There were two chemists from an army research center who had prepared several chemistry experiments for the kids to do.

The first experiment compared how well water, soap, and acetone cleaned up red wax pencil marks. The second used several white powdery substances - sugar, chalk, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

The kids added water, vinegar, and iodine to these substances separately. Then the kids were given a mystery white powdery substance. They had to figure out what their mystery substance was by adding water, vinegar, and iodine and comparing the results.

The final experiment mixed polyvinyl alcohol and borax, which made a gooey gel. All the kids enjoyed doing this experiment best. It was an interesting class, and Kevin was able to use pipettes, vials, and chemicals for his first time.

Justin’s class has begun to study the letter ‘P.’ They had a Pajama Party today, played with Play-doh, ate Popcorn and Push-Up Popsicles, and watched a video about Winnie the Pooh. They also made a Paper Pillow for their craft. Justin kept jumping up and down with his pillow after class.

Below is a picture of the teachers and students in their pajamas that were in the classroom at the beginning of class.