Budding Scientist

We started discussing displacement and water tension in the bath while on vacation.  I recorded a common conversation after Oliver carefully fills a cup with water, usually something like: "Mommy, do you see how it's a meniscus."  He will then test the edge to make sure it is a true meniscus.  Then he moves on to demonstrating water displacement with some kind of vehicle.

I did get him a bath "chemistry set" with conical tubes for Christmas, which will be much better for demonstrating the "concave" meniscus formed by water.  But, he still has several presents under the tree that have not yet been opened due to the total excess of gifts and our quick departure to the Sunshine State on Christmas day. 

Another hot topic these days is the Big Bang theory.  If you tell him something happened a really long time ago, e.g., dinosaurs or the invention of cars, one of his first questions will be whether it was before or after the big bang happened.  Then he will launch into his very detailed explanation of the big bang.  Something like...way out in space it was all darkness and there was nothing then there was a big BANG!  And the universe expanded and earth was formed....mommy the big bang was before I was born, right?  We are still clarifying some details on this one.

We have a Thomas book about finding dinosaur bones, which started a conversation about how dinosaurs lived long ago...after the big bang, but before cars.  We also talked about how after dinosaurs roamed the earth there were cavemen who used tools, then people who lived in huts made out of clay or stone, and then after a lot of time people invented modern houses.  His response, "Mommy, don't forget about baby Jesus." 

Next week, nuclear physics....