Our Little Scientist

The Scientific Snackie boy 
with Ogirl at his school fair

When you ask a 5 year old what they want to do for a science project, their answers aren't the typical, "potato battery" or "volcano" kinda deal. Five year olds, have uncorrupted minds, they have no science class experience, and don't even know what "science" really means. So the list of ideas Snacker gave us was very creative and unusual to say the least!  We had to narrow that list down to one project that would meet the scientific experiment qualifications, and so "Cloud Cannon" (as Snacker called it) was the project of choice. Bryce helped narrow the idea down to a workable project - what Snack really wanted to know was if he could be shot into a cloud and walk on it...like Mario does! So the topic of exploration was "Can People Float on Clouds?"

Bryce has the scientific mind in this house, so he figured out how to make a cloud (pumping air into a soda bottle with a bit of water at the bottom, then releasing the cap for a cloud to form). From there they dropped small objects into the cloud to test if they would float. Lego guys, leaves, candies, paper clips...nothing floated, so the conclusion, of course, is that if smaller lighter objects are unable to float a larger object, like a human, would not float.

Then, using their creative minds and abilities, Snacker and Bryce (with a little help from O-girl) created a beautiful display for the science board, and the project was ready for the "fair" (apparently science fairs don't exist anymore....you bring the project to school, it's judged...and you're done, no fair fun involved!). Well, our super scientist took 2nd place in the Kindergarten category at his school, and apparently the judges were very impressed during his interview, as everyone had wonderful things to say about him.

Receiving his award
at the District Fair

From there the 1st and 2nd place winner in each grade advance to the District Science Fair - which was held this month. Snackie was nervous as can be...he wasn't sure he could win another award! This fair included the winners from all of the schools in the district, so Snacker was competing against kindergarteners from 15 schools, and they don't just hand out awards willy nilly for this thing! We sat in the audience with Snackie saying, "oh please, I hope I win, I really want a trophy, oh please, oh please!" Can you imagine how nervous I was for him!!!?? We waited and waited and listened to all sorts of awards being given, and then....much to my relief
, and Snacker's excitement, his name was called!!! He won the award for a "Unique Topic of Exploration." Could it be more perfect?! His idea was completely original, and entirely his own. As his totally unbiased mother, I'm certain he could have won any number of awards that day, but this award speaks to his creativity and originality (he's just like his daddy) and we're so proud of him!!

Yearbook photo of the winners from his school