How does science work?

My daughters love investigating things: from hunting for worms on rainy days or turning over rocks to find beetles, to pouring water between containers, and collecting leaves, flowers, conkers and pine cones! They are great at asking questions about the world around them and trying to think of creative ways to test out answers.

We’ve talked about how to be a scientist but they want to know how science works. What do scientists do when they are doing science? It’s time to find out about something called ‘the scientific method’…

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What do rotten eggs smell of?

Rotten eggs smell really, really bad! But what makes them smell so rotten? My daughter wanted to know because she read a story in which something was described as smelling of rotten eggs. So, she did an experiment to find out the answer:

How do you make bubbles?

At bathtime, I heard a lot of giggling and splashing and, when I opened the bathroom door, I found my daughter in the middle of the biggest, bubbliest mountain of bubbles imagina-bubble! She said she was “doing science”, making lots and lots and lots of bubbles in the bath…

Bubbles appeal to kids of all ages and they are super easy to make – all you have to do is trap some air inside a thin film of soap.

Where does static come from?

My friend asked this question about ‘static’ when she was having a bad hair day. Static electricity causes lightning, makes a crackly noise when you take off a polyester jumper, and can make your hair stand on end. But where does static come from?

What is an experiment?

My husband and elder daughter have annual membership at the local science museum. Every couple of months, they go there for some quality daddy-daughter time and a few hours of fun doing experiments and testing out new exhibits.

But what is an experiment? And why do scientists use experiments in their work?