STEM • Brownie
Badge Blueprint
Home Scientist badge
Purpose: This badge teaches Brownies to see science around them
and discover where science is hiding in their homes.
Quick Tip: Increase the supplies if everyone wants to do her own
experiment. Wear clothes that you can get messy.
Step 1: Be a kitchen chemist.
Science is responsible for producing lots of different foods. Name some foods
you think involve science, like salad dressing. Vinaigrette is made with two liquids
that don’t want to blend and need an emulsifier to bring them together. Discover
the science in food by making your own salad dressing, and then taste testing it.
Materials:
Put the mustard in the bowl. Add the vinegar and whisk together.
Slowly add the oil while still whisking. Watch closely as the
1 tsp. dijon mustard
dressing starts to get smooth.
1 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Bowl
Whisk
What do you see happening? If you look closely, you’ll see
the dressing is not a mixture, but tiny bubbes of oil floating
in vinegar. The mustard acts as an emulsifier and helps this
happen.
Step 2: Create static electricity by making pepper dance.
See what happens when electric charges jump back and forth. Talk about the
words particle, which means a very tiny piece, attract, which means pull closer,
and repel, which means push away.
Materials:
Salt
Pepper
Sheet of paper
Balloon
Pour some salt and pepper onto the paper. Rub the blown-up
balloon on your hair. Hold the balloon over the salt and pepper
and watch a “dance.”
Additional steps on next page
Remember, girls gain confidence and leadership skills through girl-led activities. Whenever possible, let the girls
take charge when completing activities. Adult help is necessary for guidance, support and safety.
Step 2 Discuss what you observed. When you rub the balloon on your hair, it creates a
cont.: negative charge. When you bring the balloon close to the paper, the charge attracts
the pepper because it’s lighter than salt. The pepper moves with the balloon, gets
a negative charge and is then repelled back to the paper. There, it loses the charge
and the “dance” starts again.
Step 3: Dive into density.
Play a game of Sink or Float to learn about density. Select an array of items, both light
and heavy, food and non-food, etc., and use a bucket, bin of water or sink. Before
dropping an item into the bucket, discuss whether you think it will sink or float. Then
talk about why it sank or floated when dropped.
Materials:
1 can lemon lime soda
Tall, clear glass or cup
Small box of raisins
Discuss whether you could make raisins move without
touching them. Pour the soda into the glass. Drop six to
seven raisins into the soda. Observe what happens.
Raisins are denser than the soda so they sink at first. Then,
the soda bubbles fill the wrinkles in the raisin, lifting them up.
When the bubbles reach the top of the glass, they pop, and
the raisins sink again.
Step 4: Blow up a balloon without using your breath.
Mixing a gas called carbon dioxide (CO2) with some household items can result in a
fun reaction. In this activity, you’ll see how CO2 reacts with different elements. Wear
glasses or safety glasses for this experiment. Gases like CO2 will try to find a place to
go when they are expanding in small spaces.
Materials:
2 spoons
2 tbsp. vinegar
Clean and empty
plastic bottle
Balloon
1 tsp. baking soda
With one spoon, add the vinegar to the bottle. Using the
other spoon, pour the baking soda into the balloon. It’s
helpful for a second person to hold the mouth of the balloon
open while you do this. Stretch the balloon’s opening over
the mouth of the bottle, making sure the baking soda inside
the balloon falls into the vinegar. What happens? The baking
soda and the vinegar create CO2 when they mix. Because
there’s not enough room inside the bottle for the extra gas,
it expands into the balloon and blows it up.
Step 5: Play with science.
Science is used to make nearly every toy. Think about silly putty, jack-in-the-boxes,
even LEGOs. Make a homemade toy, called Dinosaur Snot.
Materials:
Bowl
1 1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
Yellow food coloring
Green food coloring
In the bowl, mix the cornstarch and water. Add a few drops of
each food coloring to the mixture. Use your hands to combine
thoroughly. After about a minute, you’ll have a stretchy, slime
that looks like it came from a dinosaur.
Congratulations! You have now earned this badge!