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The Brownie Home Scientist badge is one of the most popular badges that new Brownie troops complete. This is a great starter badge because it incorporates a lot of fun, science and allows the girls to get messy. It's very hands on which girls enjoy as well.
Like all Brownie Badges, there are 5 steps to completing this badge.
Be a kitchen chemist
Create static electricity
Dive into density
Make something bubble
Play with science
To help you maximize your Home Scientist Badge, here are some of our favorite activities for each of the steps.
Step 1: Be a kitchen chemist
There are so many great chemistry lessons that can be found in everyday life. Baking is one way that we use chemistry on a consistent basis. When you follow a recipe, you're mixing different ingredients that will eventually cause a chemical reaction. It's SCIENCE!
Step 2: Create Static Electricity
I think most kids will be familiar with static electricity by the time they do this badge. But we can inject some new ideas to show off static electricity. The easiest way to start this step is to get some balloons and follow some of the ideas below.
So grab a few balloons and make sure the girls are okay with getting their hair messed up let me see.
Step 3: Dive into density
For this we have two favorites. Since our meetings are a bit shorter, a great quick idea for teaching density is to place two eggs in two glasses of water. But one of the glasses will have salt water in it, changing the density of the liquid. The egg in water should float but the egg in the salt water should sink.
If you have more time, and are more adventurous, make a density tower. Check out the site below!
Step 4: Make something bubble
For some reason my household always makes bubbly things, like bubble solution. But by far their favorite is a volcano. It’s a simple little experiment using baking soda, salt, food coloring, dish soap, and vinegar. Here’s a great tutorial.
Step 5: Play with science
Oobleck is a fan favorite. Have the girls make their own oobleck. You can use food coloring or tempera paint to make it any color.
Do you have a favorite experiment for this badge? Send us a message and let us know!