Fun Valentine's Day Activities for Middle School Science
Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Love is fascinating to study from a science perspective. Neuroscientists have discovered that love activates areas of the brain associated with reward, motivation, and bonding. Recent studies from Harvard show how love affects our brains over time. It's fascinating stuff, though the articles are meant for adults, NOT your classes. 😂 For them, I've been thinking up some fun activities for this week:
😍 Valentine's Dichotomous Keys: I've made a collection of nine silly science Valentine's Day cards you can have for free, here! Print and cut apart a set for each student, then have students separate them into groups and subgroups by their characteristics. Use questions like, "Does the card have a heart on it?" Once they have all the cards sorted, have them create a dichotomous key. If you have time, have them switch keys with another student to see if they arrive at the right answer!
😍Osmosis Colorful Bouquets: You can explore osmosis by creating colorful carnations! This is a classic: place white carnations in water that's dyed with food coloring. Over time, the carnations absorb the colored water through osmosis, resulting in vibrant, colorful flowers. You'll need to plan ahead on this one - the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has an easy lesson plan.
😍Candy Heart Experiment: Grab a bag of candy message hearts and test how different liquids (water, vinegar, soda) affect the dissolution rates. Get fizzy with baking soda and vinegar, even! Make observations and predictions, then design experiments to test the hypotheses. There's a ton of fun you can have - your students will say "U ROCK"! 😂
I hope you'll "love" these activities! 😁
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