Thanksgiving Science Experiment: Turkey Toothpaste!

By -
About seven years ago one of my favorite chemistry recipes made "elephant toothpaste" a household phrase. Today, I'm sharing a fun turkey twist you can do with it for a Thanksgiving science experiment: Turkey Toothpaste!



These turkey feathers are seriously the best you have ever seen! They just keep coming and coming and coming!

You can make them any color you have handy!!

Safety Notes:
1- This is meant to be a demonstration performed by an adult.
2- Even though "toothpaste" is in the name, do NOT actually put it in anyone's mouth!
3- Hydrogen peroxide can irritate skin, especially if you have sensitive skin. You can see that it doesn't bother me in the video, but if you are at all concerned, just wear gloves.
4- Hydrogen peroxide will burn your eyes. Wear protective goggles, and have any children within the splash zone wear goggles also.

And now...

Thanksgiving Science Experiment:


Turkey Toothpaste






 Supplies: 

for the "turkey" set-up:
2 water bottles
straws
food coloring
sharp scissors or knife
duct tape (actually, I used gorilla tape!)
turkey head & body
pan to catch the mess
optional: parchment paper on the pan

for the flowing feathers:
1 heaping tablespoon yeast
4 tablespoons warm water
12% hydrogen peroxide
liquid dishsoap
food coloring
funnel

How To:

1- Set up your turkey: Cut the top of one water bottle off, cut a slit in the other bottle, and tape the top the bottle, as shown in the picture below and the video. Use tape to make a strong seal around your new nozzle. This is super important--you don't want feathers escaping out the nozzle!


Finally, fit as many straws as you can into the bottle's top opening and seal them in with tape.

2- Prepare your yeast by setting it in warm water and letting it grow for about five minutes.

3- Pour 3/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide into the turkey. Add a big squirt of soap and swirl them together.

4- Make sure your lid is handy!

5- Quickly add your growing yeast/water AND put the lid on tightly. See the video for timing! Then step back and enjoy your festive little turkey!!






Are you looking for more Thanksgiving science activities? Check out how we grew Indian Corn, made "turkey" feather slime, and tried a turkey "feathers" STEM project!
Happy Educating,
Carla


Have you seen HEEP? It is a preschool homeschool curriculum! Learn more here!



I may share at any of these parties!




Never miss another post again!  Sign up for our weekly updates newsletter and get links to all our posts once a week in your inbox!  Sign up here!!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Science Experiment: Elephant Toothpaste

By -
Image
Update: "Elephant toothpaste" is a science experiment that I used to do with my high school students.  It is a strong multi-sensory demonstration that goes great with a lot of chemistry concepts. It is also very popular with preschoolers and homeschoolers!  The internet loves it too! It has now been read by more than 3.9 million people! This was the post that started the trend on science activity sites across the internet and "irl!"  Thank you for being here...I hope you enjoy it as well!  💕  This exciting science experiment works great in a discussion on reactions, as a demonstration, or as an actual experiment. We've also done seasonal twists with "elephant toothpaste" like making it in a pumpkin and using it for " reindeer toothpaste !" To use it as a science project, perform it once with your child, then ask your child what might happen if you changed the amounts or left out an ingredient.  Any time you experiment
Read more

Kind Words Sensory Lesson Friendship Activity

By -
Image
This sensory lesson includes a kindness activity for kids that is short and sweet,  and makes teaching kindness a beautiful thing! Learning to use kind words with our friends is one friendship lesson that I think we can never cover enough...kids always need reminding (sometimes adults do too)!  You will need these simple supplies for the kindness activity: cotton balls, course sandpaper, cup, Should I Share My Ice-Cream by Mo Willems Directly teaching good friendship skills, like using kind words, serves two purposes: 1- You can refer to the lesson when someone forgets or needs reminding, and 2- These skills are not intuitive for all preschoolers. This is a perfect age to bring empathy and kindness to their attention and help them cultivate these skills! You can use this lesson plan exactly as I did it with our kiddos, or adapt it to fit your group! 1- Read  Should I Share My Ice-Cream  by Mo Willems.   {Image below is an Amazon Affiliate Link:} D
Read more

Crazy Cool Giraffe Science Experiment

By -
Image
Do you know what color giraffe skin is? Today we're using a capillary action science experiment to make our own giraffe skins in this fun giraffe science experiment project! (Read on...I'll tell you the color in a moment! AND I have a few more fun giraffe facts at the end! Anyway, go on and make a guess before you see the answer!) Fun Spot  Giraffe  Fact:  There are four different giraffe species:  the Masai Giraffe, the Rothschild Giraffe, the Somali Giraffe, and the Nigerian Giraffe.  Each has its own unique spot pattern.  Even more unique, every single individual giraffe has a different spot design.  Just like fingerprints on people and stripes on a zebra, spots on a giraffe are unique in every individual! Giraffe skin is mostly grey. (Were you right?) It's also really tough and thick.  The coat is a shade of tan with brown spots or patches.  Male giraffes actually get darker as they get older! To make our "giraffe skin" we're going to us
Read more