A Believe in Yourself Book & a Dancing Giraffe Experiment!
After reading Giles Andreae’s “Giraffes Can’t Dance” we decided to see if we could make giraffes dance? We had just recently bought these adorable little giraffes and knew we had to try, just like Gerald! Do you think it worked? I can’t wait to show you our results, let’s get started…
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Summary of “Giraffes Can’t Dance”
“Giraffes Can’t Dance” by Giles Andreae and illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees is a believe in yourself book about a giraffe named Gerald, who is different from the other animals because he can’t dance (or so everybody thinks). He is made fun of because of it and begins to believe the others, starting to feel sorry for himself.
That is, until a cricket shares some words of wisdom, “Sometimes when you’re different you just need a different song”. The text of the story has a melodic rhythm to it, just like a song, and it rhymes from the beginning to its sweet ending. This is a great story to read if you’re looking for a Growth Mindset outlook that teaches you to believe in yourself.
How We Did a Dancing Giraffe Experiment…
This bookish play was adapted from a classic science experiment kids often do in school, called “The Dancing Raisin Experiment”. Instead of raisins cut in half; we used Giraffes! Because they are super lightweight; we were able to get three of them to dance at one time! A glass is typically used, but we decided to use a tall glass vase we found in the dollar store instead. Don’t you just love the dollar store? 🙂
There are at least two different ways of doing this experiment, after searching Pinterest, I realized using soda tends to be a more popular option. I’m guessing its because it involves less materials. But in my opinion, that takes out a lot of the learning, and ya know, “experimenting”. So we used the recipe that calls for baking soda, vinegar & water found here on 123Homeschool4me.com. However we modified it a bit.
My daughter measured the baking soda and water and poured both into the glass vase. She stirred it with a chopstick (longest tool she could find that would reach the bottom… problem solving! 😉 ) until the baking soda was completely dissolved. Next, she measured the vinegar and poured that in SLOWLY! It only fizzed a bit and we thought we could pour a little faster but we quickly realized it will overflow with fizz. 😮
Did it Work?
At that point we added our giraffes, one by one and watched them sink to the bottom. This experiment takes patience. We excitedly waited to see what would happen. The bubbles began to stick to the giraffes from head to toe, then lifted them up to the top. The tiny bubbles that lifted them would pop and the giraffe would float down to the bottom again, waiting for its next bubble ride.
Sometimes the giraffes hung out on the top or bottom for a while. We tried all sorts of things, adding more giraffes, less giraffes, more baking soda, more water, more vinegar, etc… Each time waiting, watching, talking about our hypotheses and whether we were correct or not. You can watch it in action by viewing our “Story Highlights” on Instagram or you can view the post here. It was fascinating watching the little colorful giraffes dance around and bring Gerald (the giraffe in the story) to life!
I would definitely suggest conducting a Dancing Giraffe Experiment if you’re looking for a fun & educational activity to connect with your child.
Materials We Used
- “Giraffes Can’t Dance” by Giles Andreae (from the library or buy it here)
- Glass vase
- Baking soda
- Water
- Measuring cups
- Chopstick (for stirring)
- Vinegar
- Giraffes
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
How to Conduct a Dancing Giraffe Experiment?
- Measure & pour 2 Tbsp (tablespoons) of baking soda into the glass.
- Measure & pour 2 cups of water into the glass.
- Stir with a chopstick (or long spoon) until baking soda is completely dissolved.
- SLOWLY pour some vinegar into the glass.
- Add up to three giraffes into the glass.
- Wait & watch the bubbles make the giraffes dance.
- Feel free to experiment, try more vinegar (SLOWLY), more baking soda, etc…
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
Wait, There’s More…
I believe you can easily strengthen communication skills and foster independence all while playing and connecting with your child. To help you do this; I’ve created a FREE printable for each activity called, “Communicating & Connecting”.
It will give you a list of suggestions I’ve found very helpful as a Mom & as a special education teacher; to help you build lifelong skills. Please don’t feel obligated to do everything on the list (but if you do, you’re a rockstar 😉 ).
As a Thank You for subscribing; this is a special FREEBIE for our Email Subscribers Only. 🙂 Click here if you’ve already subscribed. Otherwise, Sign Up below to get the password & access to our entire FREE Printables Library today! 😉
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