INVITATIONS
- Make invitations that appear right before your guests' eyes using this scientific
experiment. Use paintbrushes or toothpicks to write the party details with milk on
white paper. Tell your guests to heat the paper over a candle or in the oven, with
adult supervision. The heat will reveal the invitation!
- Write the party information with a white crayon, and then have the kids color
over the paper with another crayon to reveal the secret message.
COSTUMES
- Buy some men's white shirts at a thrift store, and use them as lab coats for your
guests. Write their scientist names on one pocket, such as Dr. Frankenstein or Dr.
Schweitzer, with a permanent felt-tip pen.
- Offer the kids goofy glasses and wild ties to go with their outfits, and tuck
some pens into their pocket protectors.
DECORATIONS
- Place jars full of colored water on the table, and run hoses from one jar to
another to look like experiments.
- Set dry ice in the center of the table so the steam creates a weird bubbling
experiment.
- Cut out question marks from black construction paper, and tape them to the
walls or hang them from the ceiling with string.
- Borrow microscopes, chemistry sets, magnifying glasses, compasses, and so on,
and place them on the table and all around the party room.
GAMES
- Before the party, take close-up pictures of everyday items. Develop the pictures,
glue them onto colored construction paper, and draw a magnifying glass around each
picture, so they look as though they are being viewed through a magnifier. Have the
kids examine the pictures and try to guess what everyday items are represented.
Since the items have been enlarged, identifying them should be a challenge.
ACTIVITIES
- Use a child's chemistry set to do some science experiments.
- Make Slime for the kids to enjoy. Mix 2 cups of white glue and 1 and 1/2 cups
of water in a large bowl. Add a few drops of food coloring. In a separate container,
dissolve 2 teaspoons of Borax in 2/3 cup warm water: mix well. Combine the Borax
solution with the glue solution and watch what happens to the mixture. Distribute
to the kids for exploration. Tell the kids not to eat the Slime!
FOOD
- Have a Popcorn Volcano Eruption. Spread out a large clean sheet on the floor
and have the kids sit outside the edge. Set a popcorn maker in the center, and
prepare popcorn according to directions. Do NOT put the lid on the popcorn maker!
Watch the "volcano" erupt and shoot "hot lava" all over the sheet. Make sure
everyone stays away from the popper while it's on, so the kids don't get sprayed
with hot oil or kernels.
- Cut celery stalks and set them in glasses of water tinted with food coloring.
Let the celery stalks soak up the colored water, remove them from the glasses, and
serve to the kids with cream cheese or peanut butter.
COMPASS CAKE
- Bake two round cakes; cool.
- Cover one cake with frosting, top with second cake, and frost THE entire cake
with white frosting.
- Using a frosting tube, draw a compass face onto the cake, marking north, south, east, and west.
FAVORS
- Send the scientists home with magnets, compasses, bug collectors, magnifying
glasses, kaleidoscopes, or the ingredients for Slime.
- Give the kids small books on famous scientists.
- Offer the kids easy-to-do scientific experiments to take home.
VARIATIONS
- Instead of having the party at home, take the scientists on a nature walk and
discover new life forms.
- Head for the museum and explore the world of dinosaurs, early man, or other
science-related adventures.
- Instead of a Compass Cake, make a Rock Cake. Bake a chocolate cake filled with
nuts and marshmallows, cover with chocolate frosting, and top with "rock" candy.
HELPFUL HINTS
- Tell the kids that experimenting with science can be dangerous, and warn them
to use caution and adult supervision when exploring.
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