Fingerprint Science for Kids

Fingerprint Science Activities for Kids

Fingerprint science is a fun experiment that explores one area of the human body -- if you missed our Science of Sound Waves experiment, hop over and try that one too as kids get a big kick out of the different ways our body works!

Our first step was to find a way to look at our fingerprints. We'll outline a few techniques we used along with affiliate links for items that will help you to do the same at home.

Now most parents will tell you all you need to do is give a kids some chocolate and you'll find a messy set of fingerprints all over the walls ;)

Or there's always the good old fashion FingerPrint Pad ink kits too.

But I thought we'd try a less messy approach --

We used some Crayola Model Magic Clay and had each member of the family press one of their fingers into it to create a fingerprint.

Then we grabbed our much-loved magnifying glass -- seriously, you need to have one of these around the house for the kids to use -- AMAZING science tool that is super cheap! Here's an affiliate link to one if you're thinking it might be a cool gift idea: Kids Magnifying Glass.

As we looked at the prints, we noticed a few things:

Science Observations

• Not all of our fingerprints looked the same even though we are all related.

• Some of our prints have a swirl pattern to them while others looked liked 'mountains'.

• There were different numbers of lines in each of our fingerprints -- sometimes the lines are really close together and sometimes they are farther apart.

Even though the clay was pretty cool, we wanted a better detailed view of our prints.

So we pulled out the baby powder and put some on our fingers. (If you don't have any powder in the house, try flour or powdered sugar instead).

Then we placed a piece of Clear Packaging Tape over the powdered finger and Voila! instant fingerprint!

I know - pretty awesome isn't it?!

Hold the tape up to the light and you can really see all the lines and ridges plus a very clear view of the fingerprint pattern.

But we still wanted to answer one more question -- where can we find fingerprints?

So we talked about places around the house that people were most likely to touch -- doorknobs, the handle on the fridge, glasses, etc.

And then we grabbed our baby powder and got to work.

We used a Makeup Brush to lightly tap baby powder onto the handles of the fridge. Be sure not to brush it on hard or you can brush away the prints - they're delicate little suckers.

And then we also tapped some powder onto our breakfast glasses to see if we could lift some prints off them with the tape too.

We used the clear packing tape to cover the powdered areas and then placed the tape onto a dark blue construction paper so we could see if there were any prints.

We could easily tell that some of the prints belonged to Mom or Dad just due to their size. We used the prints we created in the pink clay as a comparison to our newly found ones.

The Science Behind Fingerprints

So what can you learn from collecting fingerprints?

Quite a few things!

The study of fingerprints is called dactyloscopy and is used by detectives (such as the police, FBI and those that investigate crime scenes) and also medical personnel.

First, everyone has different fingerprints -- no two are alike (kind of like snowflakes). And yes, even twins will have different prints.

Here's a great post from Livestrong about how fingerprints form in the womb .

Now even though we all have different fingerprints, there are really one three common types of prints: arches, loops and whorls.

After you create your own fingerprints at home, match them up to the prints in these photos to learn more about your individual fingerprint pattern.

Be sure to look at all the prints of family members -- do you all fall into the same pattern?

Doctors are researching how fingerprint patterns can tell us more about a person's health -- for example, they've found that those with ridges closer together are more likely to develop certain diseases later in life.

If you'd like to learn more about fingerprints, browse these affiliate links for great hands-on science kits -- they make great gifts for kids who love the idea of playing detective or those interested in forensic science:

POOF-Slinky - Scientific Explorer Fingerprint Science Mini Lab Kit with Dusting Powder and Magnifying Glass

You can also head over to Wonderopolis for more fingerprint fun.

Don't forget to check out the titles on our

Be a Detective: 15 Marvelous Mystery Books for Kids!

Original article and pictures take http://www.kcedventures.com/blog/fingerprint-science-for-kids site