The Sun In A Bottle

To do this you’ll need an empty bottle, oil of some kind, food coloring, a funnel, water and I recommend a hot glue gun.

Fill your bottle about halfway full of oil.

Mix red or orange food coloring with water and fill the bottle the rest of the way up.

We added drops of food coloring after mixing the oil and water and it took a lot of shaking and waiting to get it to mix with the water and separate, so I’d recommend coloring the water beforehand.

Marvel at the oil and water separating.

Wait a day, get a hair cut, & bruise your cheek. (See note above and you can skip this step.)

Put some hot glue into the lid and screw it on tight.

Let your child swirl it around like the gases of the Sun.

Note: This isn’t the most realistic model since the Sun has identifiable layers, but it definitely captured my son’s interest and helped him think of a familiar sight in a new way. I think it’s perfect for the preschool set!

A few general Sun facts you could present if your child is ready:

The Sun is made up of plasmas - extremely hot gases.

By mass the Sun is comprised of about 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, and 2% other stuff.

The Sun falls into the medium-large range of the stars in our galaxy.

The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old.

We’ll be back Monday with another science activity about the Sun.

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Original article and pictures take http://fumblingthroughparenthood.blogspot.com/2011/07/sun-in-bottle.html?showComment=1311569822861#c668124889966383480 site