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In New England the sap buckets are going up on the sugar maple trees. As the thaw begins maple farmers are beginning to harvest sap for one of my favorite treats...maple syrup!
There is so much to learn in the process of maple sugaring. Science, math, botany, engineering, history! Here is some background on the process of making maple syrup and lots of learning resources. Whether you hail from an area that makes syrup or not, there is something here to help you teach kids about maple syrup.
When you are finished with the learning, may I suggest consuming some pancakes and syrup as an capstone to your maple syrup unit?
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I make a small commission from purchases made from these links at no additional cost to you. Please see disclosures for more information.
Making Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is a versatile sweetener full of antioxidants. A secret treasure humans have borrowed from nature.
Maple syrup is a product made from the sap of a sugar maple tree. When winter begins to thaw into spring and temperatures fluctuate back and forth from warm to freezing the sap begins to flow.
Positive pressure builds in the tree when temperatures rise above freezing. This pressure forces the sap out of holes made in the tree for sugaring. Then as temperatures dip to below freezing again, negative pressure develops. This causes suction to draw water into the roots, replenishing the sap. The freeze-thaw cycle allows sugar farmers to collect sap during a short window of time as winter turns to spring.
Native Americans and European settlers collected the sap of sugar maples as it began to flow during early spring thaws. Much as we do today, they painstakingly boiled it down into a syrup. It was an excellent way to preserve food without refrigeration.
Today trees are still tapped and sap is collected in buckets, as has been tradition for years. More modern methods include collecting syrup through a series of plastic tubing and utilizing methods like reverse osmosis to maximize the time spent harvesting and boiling sap.
Sap is boiled down into syrup. In general it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. It is a time and labor intensive process for a small yield. Remember to thank a maple farmer next time you are enjoying some glorious maple syrup!
Maple Sugaring Teaching Resources
If you are fortunate enough to live near a sugar bush, then perhaps you can take your class or children on a maple syrup field trip! If not, here are tons of other learning resources for learning at home or in the classroom.
Achoo! Cold, flu, and allergy seasons are fabulous times to learn about germs and how to keep them to ourselves. Kids are not always great at covering up a sneeze. The Great Sneeze Experiment will help children understand the importance of sneezing into an elbow.
This science experiment is inspired by Zoey and Sassafras: Gnomes and Sneezes. This is the latest book in one of our all-time favorite series. A fabulous mix of fantasy and science concepts appropriate and engaging for kids ages 4-10.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I receive a small commission from purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you. See disclosures for more information.
Gnomes and Sneezes
In book 10 of the Zoey and Sassafras series, Zoey discovers gnomes in the secret room of her friend's new house. The gnomes have a case of the sneezes! Zoey systematically works through the gnomes' symptoms and the environmental factors in their living space to identify what it causing these sniffles. Readers see her use graphing as a way to collect data.
You'll have to read the book to discover what is making the gnomes sneeze! We thoroughly enjoyed Zoey and Sassafras: Gnomes and Sneezes, and it inspired my kids to read the entire series over again (this will be the 3rd time for one of them!). If you want to encourage kids to test things out, experiment, and use logic and creativity to solve their problems, this series is the best!
You can grab a free Zoey and Sassafras science journal at the bottom of this post.
The Great Sneeze Experiment
In this simple experiment students will collect data on a "sneeze" that has not been covered and a "sneeze" that has.
Tape a piece of paper up about kid's chest level on the wall. (We used re-used paper from packaging.) Mark a place to stand a short distance away from the wall.
Fill up the spray bottle with water. If your paper is dark, using plain water will work just fine. You can also experiment with different colored water. If more than one kid is using the same piece of paper, colors can be helpful to tell whose "sneeze" is whose.
Standing in the spot marked on the floor, hold up the spray bottle at chest level and spray once. It's optional but fun to let out a big "ACHOOO" sound when you do this.
Draw a circle* around all of the spray drops on the paper from the "sneeze". Measure how wide the circle is. Note this on a data sheet.
*This step is important if you are using plain water for your experiment. The wet spot will evaporate and dry fairly quickly, so note your results!
Now, cover an arm with the towel and position your spray bottle as close to the same position as possible. Spray behind the towel covered arm. This represents sneezing into your elbow. Let out another "ACHOOO!"
Again, circle any spray from the "sneeze" you see on the paper. Measure the spots and note them in a data table.
The Great Sneeze Experiment: Results
What did you find out? I don't think I want to be in the way of that uncovered sneeze! If you are completing this experiment as a class, compile all the data before discussing it.
Some discussion questions:
What does covering the sneeze do?
How is this experiment like real life?
How is it different from real life?
More Zoey and Sassafras Science Investigations!
We love Zoey and Sassafras! Here are two other Zoey and Sassafras inspired experiments to try.
My kids were so excited to try out another MEL Science kit. In the Heat Transfer set we completed activities that taught us about heat. Through the use of a thermochromic screen included in the science kit we were able to actually see heating and cooling.
This was a very engaging set that kept the kids busy long after the original activities were completed. Read on to learn more about our experience this physics set from MEL Science and for an exclusive promo code!
This post contains affiliate links meaning I receive a small commission from purchases made from these links at no additional cost to you. Please see disclosures for more information.
Heat Transfer Physics Kit from MEL Science
The Heat Transfer kit from MEL Science includes everything you need to complete three physics activities. We were able to make heat visible in the "heat trace" activity, explored evaporative cooling, held a thermal race.
Directions for each activity are in the kit, and you can also follow animated step-by-step instructions on the free MEL Science app.
This kit is intended for ages 8 and up. As I was doing the experiments with my kids, my 8-year-old and her 5-year-old sister worked easily and safely together. Although the younger one didn't grasp as much of the science, they both found these activities engaging and fun.
Making Heat Visible
The activities in the Heat Transfer physics kit make use of a thermochromic screen. Thermochromic means a substance that changes color as it changes temperature.
Thermochromic pigments and liquid crystals are used in familiar items such as color-changing mood rings, forehead thermometers, or if you grew up in the late 80's and early 90's like me, those popular Hypercolor shirts! (If you are looking to share a little nostalgia with your kids, you can still get heat-sensitive color changing shirts here.)
The thermochromic screen makes an excellent tool for allowing students to see heat in action. You can see how heat transfer through conduction works if you press your hand on the screen for a few seconds. You can also see how warm your breath is if you breathe on it through a straw. This particular screen changed color in a temperature range of 75-93 degrees F.
Evaporative Cooling
Another way heat is transferred is through evaporative cooling. This is when temperature is reduced due to moisture evaporating and removing heat from a surface. When we sweat we cool down due to evaporative cooling.
We once again experimented with the color changing screen. It was neat to see the heat dissipate as the water from a paintbrush evaporated. My daughter explored painting with water on the thermochromic screen for quite a while.
Heat Conduction: A Thermal Race
Lastly we experimented with two different metals to see which would be a better conductor of heat. It's so cool to be able to see the temperature change!
The thermochromic screen in our kit has really been put through its paces, but I'm sure it will be played with more before it is worn out. When the time comes, we would be excited to order this heat sensitive color-changing sheet. It's bigger too, so many possibilities!
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