Fire! Fire! Everyone Run Outside!

Fire! Fire! Everyone Run Outside!

These are the words poor Samuel was running around frantically hollering, while Bella and Isaac stood paralyzed in their chairs after and experiment I was doing with the kids went a little awry.

 

The kids love science experiments and so my goal this summer is to have at least one day a week where we conduct a few fun experiments. This experiment titled “Hungry Jar” sounded simple enough. Basic air pressure principles at work as you fill up a water balloon that is too big to fit into the jar, light a paper towel on fire to remove the oxygen from the bottle and the great finish, the balloon is sucked into the jar!

I love that the science book says, “This experiment uses matches. Make sure you supervise your child during this experiment!” A few paragraphs down it says, “Always have adult supervision and watch what you’re doing when using matches. Make sure you drop the paper towel into the jar!”

Okay first mistake with this experiment that Samuel was quick to point out. It’s a little hard to drop a burning paper towel into a jar. Paper towels burn pretty quick and after I started it on fire I tried to drop it into the jar, but the flames were climbing and almost burned my hand. So I rotated the paper towel and then the flames really took off which caused me to scream and drop the paper towel onto the island. Thanks goodness I have granite countertops or I would have scorched the island! It was at this point Samuel got a little scared, jumped down off his chair and proceeded to run around the kitchen hollering Fire! Fire! Everyone Run Outside!

This was one of those times when everything seems to move in slow motion. I had a million thoughts run through my mind about how to take care of this problem before it got any worse. I wondered if it would just go out by itself, I knew the fire extinguisher was under the sink but wondered if I would be able to figure out how to use it fast enough, finally I realized the paper towel was close to the sink. I grabbed the end, whisked it into the sink and turned on the water.

Samuel jumped back onto his chair and said, “Mom I told you that you should have put the paper towel in the jar and then dropped the match in!” Yeah, why didn’t the people writing the book talk to the six year old first! That’s exactly what we did the next go round and it worked much better.

 

This is an experiment the kids won’t soon forget! And it was a great chance for me to talk to the kids about why they should NEVER playing with matches.

Speaking of fires, this was the scene outside our bedroom window Friday night. A fire was started on the Indian Reservation a several miles west of our home. Luckily crews were able to put it out before any homes were lost. I took the kids outside to see the flames earlier in the day and they were a little nervous that it looked so close. There usually isn’t much traffic around our area, but people were flocking all over the place to catch a glimpse of the hillside on fire. It was pretty spectacular from a distance.