Mad Scientists!

For the past week, Cooper has been begging me to do the Magic Science kit that he found in Cole's closet.  Since Cole was out of town, I told him that we had to wait until Cole got back so that we could all do it together.  So, without further adieu, we broke out the kit this morning and had a great time.

We started by making the wizard hat and magic wand.  Ivy helped from the tabletop but soon became more of a hindrance than a helper and was whisked off to bed.  The hat turned out to be a smidge small for Cooper's ginormous noggin but it was cute, none the less.


The magic wand would first be created in a test tube by adding polyacrylamide crystals to colored water and then would be transferred into the longer tube/wand for the real magic.  These jiggly crystals absorb up to 300 times their weight in water and after about an hour you have a cool concoction ready to be stuffed into your magic wand.  Cooper opted for a rainbow of colors because he wanted to offset the "girly" purple wizard's cap.

Polyacrylamide Crystals soaking it up

Cooper practicing his spells

Cooper testing out the purple - Is that a magic spark?

Once the "magic tools" were complete, we began the various experiments (i.e. The Basics of Wizardry) which, when accompanied by a spin of the wand and an "Abracadabra" work crazy magic in the eyes of a 4 year old:

• Fizzy Frenzy: citric acid, baking soda and water

• Hocus Pocus Powder: more of the above plus red cabbage juice powder which has amazing color-changing abilities

• Frothing Color-Changing Potion: a combination of the above that turns the separate red and blue mixtures into a purple bubbling potion

• Test Tube Crystal Ball: combine vegetable oil, color tablets and water for an awesome lava-lamp-looking thingy

• Magic Wizard Lava: use the same stuff as above plus the red cabbage juice powder, citric acid and baking powder - throw in an Alakazoom! - and you've got a bubbling-over mess that will thrill any blooming wizard!

The finale was the Glow-In-The-Dark Bubbling Potion which added zinc sulfide (and a "do not drink" disclaimer) for a bright-glowing-yellow-green-hide-in-the-bathroom-for-darkness Potion of All Potions!  It was super-duper awesome...and over in a matter of seconds.

The boys continued the fun when Cooper decided to turn Coleman into a tiger.  So, Cole decided to take him up on it as long as Cooper would close his eyes while casting the spell.  Cooper agreed and donned his wizard cap, waved his magic wand and shouted out what few magic words he could muster.  After opening his eyes, he saw only a Mighty Beanz Tiger Bean sitting where Cole had been.  The size of his eyes and the smile on his face will forever be unmatched!