Mad Scientist Day Camp Theme need ideas...

[avjens]

I am thinking about doing a Mad Scientist Day Camp for our local Girl Scouts. There will be approximately 25 girls ranging from 1st grade to 5th grade. There will be 2 or 3 adults present to help with it.

Do any of you have any suggestions how I could run it for the day and what experiments would be fun and safe the girls. :)

[annknee]

I am running a sleepover with my Guides and am thinking of doing a similar theme for the girls to earn their science badge;

http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/guides/programme/badge_science.asp

[Smudge]

You can mix up cornflour and water - it is solid when squeezed but reverts to liquid form when released - not really into science so that it the best I can come up with!

But we did something with candles when my brownies were doing their science badge so will see if I can find out what it was cos the girls loved that!

[ARam_Kelp]

For snacks you can use dry mix a drink with dry ice and it will bubble and fog up. Our camp did it for a wizard themed snack at one point. Tip: if you use pop use something caffine free and neutral. Sprite works well, Mt. Dew and Root Beer lead to problems. Orange or apple juice would probably work well to.
Jell-o has great possibilities as mad scientist food.
You can make your own soda by mixing citric acid powder (you can get this at most pharmacies, but they may have to order it, they are also likely to ask you if it's for an experiment) and a small amount of baking soda into juice or coolaid.

You can make silly putty by 2 parts white glue and one part liquid starch, then drying the resultant glob.

If you boil red cabbage in water until the mixture is medium purple. The liquid once cooled can be used to test acids and bases. It will turn green or yellow if it's a base it will turn dark blue or green. Kids really seem to really like this activity. Boiling cabbage doesnt smell very good however.

Do one of those corny surgery things they do at halloween. Use grapes for eyeballs, spagetti for brains, etc. Don't let kids see what they're touching.

Sperate colors by making dots with markers on a coffee filters then letting them sit with a tiny amount of the filter in a plate of water. The kids like the ways the colors seperate and it can be modified to make it an art project.

For a nature project find rotting logs and disect them to see what kind of insects, fungi, etc. are in them. This is probably an outdoor project though with enough newspapers and foil cooking pans I have seen it work inside. Use plastic knives to dissect.
Note: when finding logs you may want to kick them once or twice to scare off potential snakes.

I've been involved in several GS science days.

[Strand]

I am thinking about doing a Mad Scientist Day Camp for our local Girl Scouts. There will be approximately 25 girls ranging from 1st grade to 5th grade. There will be 2 or 3 adults present to help with it.

Do any of you have any suggestions how I could run it for the day and what experiments would be fun and safe the girls. :)
The wonders if dry ice.

You can also try a diet coke and mentols rocket.