For my son's 8th birthday, we chose to do a science birthday because he loves science and experiments.
We found a group called Mad Science parties that we could call to do the experiments, but we decided that we could do our OWN experiments. He helped me to select all of the items. Invitations: They were hand-made. I used a cartoon pic of a mad scientist from my Printmaster program and added it navy paper. I also had found paper with science symbols (atoms, etc) on it and used it and cranberry paper to accent. I printed out the invitation details, which said on the front, Experiments, Explosions, Excitement! You're invited to ____s Scientific 8th Birthday Partyť. On the inside, it said, Please join us for science fun. We will do a bunch of fun (and safe) experiments, including Mentos & Soda, making crystals, & more! Decorations: When kids first arrived, they saw our caution: Scientist at work" signs and other caution signs on the front door. Once inside Kelly gave them their own personal goggles and Scientist name tag (which matched our invitations). I printed more and larger mad scientists and science pics (beakers atoms test tubes microscopes) from my Printmaster program. I hung them from lights and added them to my plain white table cloth (other decor was clean white lab color). Also displayed were my sons Science Fair boards from previous years and this year's Crystal Growing experiment with crystals. Activities: We picked out our favorite experiments and did them outdoors at a 6 foot table. 1 Fountain in a Bottle - From Oriental Trading we ordered connectors & straws to turn 2-liter bottles into a fountain. The blue water in one bottle (on top) will drain into the lower bottle in a whirlpool while the straw spouts water back into the top in a fountain. Without the straws it makes cool whirlpool. 2 Copper Caper - <http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/copper_caper.html> Turn old pennies bright & shiny with vinegar. 3 - File Card Bridge http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/card_bridge.html This one took too long to set up. Basically you make a bridge out of differently folded file cards (long ways accordion etc) and show which kind of fold is the strongest by balance pennies on it. 4 FX Snow - from Oriental Trading. For $9.99 you can make your own snow by adding water to this special powder. It is amazing to watch it expand. It feels like a gel. 5 - Bubble Bomb http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/bubblebomb.html Create an explosion with a ziplock bag baking soda & vinegar. Cool & easy. 6 - The Amazing Water Trick - http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/watertrick.html Take 2 small containers of same size. Fill one with hot water (add red food coloring so that you can see which is which) and fill the other with cold water & blue food coloring. What happens when you place one on top of the other and the 2 combine?? (check out the details at the exploratorium's website for more. 7 Rocket canisters use an empty film canister and add an Alka-Seltzer. Quickly put a small amount of water and cap it. Place upside down (cap side down) and wait for pressure to build and launch your rocket. (we bought the Costco sized box of Alka-Seltzer and Costco gave us a TON of free film canisters so we did this experiment a ton). The kids loved quickly grabbing the rocket to bring it back so that we could refill it with water the fizzling Alka-Selter to do again. 8 Mentos & Diet Soda - http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-diet-coke-and-mentos.html This was of course the big ending. It was a huge hit and they all wanted to do it again and again. You take a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke and drop in Mentos (yes it has to be these 2 things). It creates a geyser like you wouldn't believe (15-20 feet at least). The more Mentos you can add at once the higher the geyser. This makes a big mess so do not ever do it indoors! Costumes: We did not have anyone dress-up but my son and I had lab coats on and everyone wore their eye goggles. Party Snacks: BBQ sandwiches kid-friendly snacks (fruit chips etc) and Blue Koolaid. Cake: I made a volcano cake by stacking smaller and smaller cakes and shaving sides to create volcano shape. Then I covered in chocolate frosting * Oreo cookie crumbs. I added red gel icing writing for the lava. Favors: They each got a personalized bag (which matched the invite and name tag) with: Break a geode create-a-scene scientist stick sheet Lego fruit snack experiment apron film canister & Alka-Seltzer 2-pack & glow stick. Plus they got to take home their goggles. "
