Tag: science activity book

October Is Pumpkin Month

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date September 6, 2024

Yes, this is September. However, now is the time to get ready for Pumpkin Month. One way to do that is to check out “The Pumpkin Project”.

It is too late to grow pumpkins as frost kills the vines. Fall is when pumpkins arrive in the stores and get ripe in the garden.

Sugar pie pumpkins are the best eating pumpkins. Larger pumpkins can be eaten, but are coarser and not as sweet. Giant pumpkins are not eaten.

Pumpkins Aren’t Just Decorations

Pumpkin displays start appearing at houses around town in late September. I like to keep track of these as most people putting these up throw the pumpkins away after Halloween. Unless the weather has been very cold, I like to take these pumpkins home.

At my house the smaller pie pumpkins become pumpkin puree for cookies or soups. Some are chunks in stews.

Bigger pumpkins are treats for my goats. I cut them into bite sized pieces and take them out each evening. A few pieces go on each plate of grain.

Different goats eat the pieces differently. Agate pushes hers around as she eats all the grain. Then she eats the pumpkin pieces. Drucilla and Spring attack the dish before it is even set down in front of them as they grab the pieces, then eat their grain.

“The Pumpkin Project”

This science activity book has lots of pumpkin puzzles and investigations in it. Many of them start with the seeds and growing pumpkin vines.

There are stories about pumpkin history and growing giant pumpkins by people in the U.S., Sweden and Australia who grew award winning giant pumpkins. These are weighed at special fairs called Weigh Offs.

For Pumpkin Month there are more things to do with pumpkins. Of course, you can carve a pumpkin, but then it’s not good for anything but display. Painting one lets you cook up the pumpkin later.

What Can You Cook Up?

There are recipes for making pumpkin puree. Then you can make not only cookies, but pumpkin bread, Caribbean pumpkin bread, cheesecake, soups, pie and more. You can even roast the seeds for snacking.

In honor of Pumpkin Month, you can get a free pdf of “The Pumpkin Project” by emailing me and asking. The book is only available in print or as a large pdf.

Tags all about pumpkins, Ozark gardening, science activity book

GKP Writing News

Reviewing the Pumpkin Project

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date November 2, 2023

I try to keep several copies of each of my books in case someone wants to purchase one. Getting ready to order more, I am reviewing the Pumpkin Project.

Another reason is to look over the pumpkin cookie recipe. The three sugar pie pumpkin vines were very prolific and pumpkin cookies are my fall indulgence.

Wandering Down Memory Lane

This was my first science activity book. I’ve had to revise and edit several times already as I learn more about constructing puzzles.

This book also introduced me to the world of giant pumpkins. The growers I met both in person and by email were very interesting people. A pumpkin weigh in is a great place to be that first weekend of October.

Massive File Size

In reviewing the Pumpkin Project this time I did find a few grammar mistakes, some misspellings, mior things. What really impressed me is how big the file is for this book. I started wondering why it is so big, which is why I haven’t been able to make a digital version.

All of the pictures in this book are at 400 dpi. In the City Water Project, the images are only 300 dpi and print fine. And, even though this science activity book is half the length, it is one fifth the size.

Future Plans

I would like to have a digital version of the Pumpkin Project. For now I will keep the massive file to have more of these books printed.

The images can be resized to 300 dpi a few at a time. It won’t take a lot of time to do a few each day. I’m starting with the Investigations.

In reviewing the Pumpkin Project, I’ve accomplished several things. I corrected some minor problems and found the possible reason I’ve never been able to create a digital version. Perhaps I should review some of my other books.

Tags botany experiments, science activity book, science experiments, science projects

GKP Writing News

Chemistry Puzzles

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date October 28, 2022

One of my favorite parts of my science activity books are the puzzles. At least they have been. Devising the chemistry puzzles has been a challenge.

There are lots of fun sayings about water and pumpkins. There are lots of fun facts. Putting lists of words about these is easy too.

Not for chemistry.

Looking For Word Lists

I’ve found lists of famous chemists. Since “The Chemistry Project” will have many younger experimenters, the things these chemists did won’t mean anything to them. Thermodynamics is studied in college, not in high school. Electricity, while it can involve chemistry and explains some of what chemistry is about, is not familiar below high school or college.

That means my usual word searches and word skeletons will be few in number. Even mazes need something going from one place to another, and I’m still searching for these things. I did find one, but that isn’t nearly enough.

Other Possible Puzzles

Deduction problems are one of my favorites. I can probably do several chemistry puzzles of this kind. Not everyone likes these.

cover for "Goat Games" by Karen GoatKeeper — Although not a science activity book, “Goat Games” has lots of pencil puzzles of many kinds about goats. This book gave me the idea for the science activity books.

I’m reaching into “Goat Games” for more puzzle ideas. I have a couple of word puzzles now. Maybe I can think of a few more.

There will be lots of chemistry sayings and chemistry tales. These are challenging to devise. I like using a Scrabble board and letters to change the saying or tale into words for the clues.

Each part of “The Chemistry Project” has about six puzzles. I am now working on part 3 on solutions for the investigations and activities. I am short two puzzles for part 2 on matter. Part 3 needs another five puzzles.

Because chemistry puzzles are so hard to come up with, I could cut back on how many puzzles are in “The Chemistry Project”. That would solve my dilemma. But I would hate to do that. I just have to search harder for more puzzle material and ideas.

Tags devising pencil puzzles, science activity book

GKP Writing News

Teaching Basic Chemistry

Post author By Karen GoatKeeper
Post date September 16, 2022

Teaching basic chemistry was something I looked forward to when I was teaching high school sciences. Every year brought new challenges.

I suppose chemistry can be taught strictly from a book. That is so boring to me because science is hands on, experiments, seeing how things work. So my classes spent a lot of time in the lab.

There are lots of experiments available for a chemistry class. Most of them take lots of expensive equipment and chemicals. Small schools like the ones I was teaching basic chemistry in often don’t have lots of money for such supplies.

Some of those chemicals can be dangerous. Acids, poisons, fumes. These were not things I wanted to use a lot of in my classes. High school students aren’t always the most careful people.

Writing Science Activity Books

After I left teaching in a classroom and started writing books instead, science activity books seemed a good fit. Except I didn’t want a textbook, I wanted something more fun, more challenging.

I tackled botany first with “The Pumpkin Project” and found the concept of a science investigation, science activity, trivia, puzzles, stories and more fit the bill. But I also found writing such a book was a lot of work.

Instead of writing another book, I put chemistry projects first and motion physics later on my website. This brought up the challenge of how to do these without all the equipment I used to use from my storage closet. That forced me to take a good look at the experiments to find ways to achieve the same goals using everyday supplies.

This led to my second science activity book, “The City Water Project”. It has the investigations, activities, trivia, puzzles and stories I like to include. Lots of work went into doing all the investigations, activities and puzzles.

Tackling Basic Chemistry

Those chemistry projects sitting around bugged me. I started playing around with the idea for “The Chemistry Project”. Trivia and puzzles are harder for chemistry. Story ideas are harder too.

Still, there is the challenge of teaching basic chemistry for fifth grade up and all those projects using easy to obtain equipment and supplies.

Tags basic chemistry with home supplies, science activity book