Your Quarantine New York Kids Weekend: April 24-26

You’ll need: one egg (hard-boiled and peeled), one glass bottle approximately 1.25 inches wide at the opening (like a standard milk bottle or science lab beaker) and a few matches

Instructions: first, set the egg on top of the mouth of the bottle. The egg should be too big to fall through. Lift the egg, light your matches, and toss them into the bottle. Quickly put the egg back on top of the bottle and watch it be sucked in!

The egg creates a seal at the opening of the bottle, and as the air within the bottle cools down, its pressure becomes lower than the air pressure outside of the bottle. The high air pressure outside of the bottle pushes the egg through the opening!

Experiment and Photo via Nellie’s Free Range Eggs

For more fun science experiment ideas check out 15 Fun and Easy Science Experiments Kids Can Do at Home

This can also be modified to make bookmarks or a journal cover.

Materials:

Get an old box such as a cereal box, cracker box, etc.(we used a cereal box)
Paints
Mod podge
Scissors or box cutter

Directions:

1. Get your box
2. Cut the box into the shape you’d like to use
3. Paint a base layer
4. Create your art such as making a collage using old magazines, stickers, etc. You can also add a quote, paint, or whatever you’d like. We made a heart and wrote, “Everyone is Creative.”
5. Let it dry
6. Apply a layer of Mod Podge to seal in your masterpiece
7. Display

You’ll need: white coffee filters, water-based markers, short glasses or cups, water, scissors, tape and small twigs

Instructions: choose any color marker, and draw a thick circle around the center of a coffee filter where the ridged edges meet the flat center. Fold the filter in half and in half again, creating a cone. Fill a glass with a little bit of water, and place the coffee filter cone into the glass so that its tip barely touches the water (make sure the marker lines don’t touch the water!). Watch what happens as the water flows up the coffee filter, taking color from the marker with it. This will take 20-30 minutes. Try out a variety of different marker colors to see what happens with each! Then take the filters out of the glasses, place them on newspaper and let dry. When dry, cut off the extra white edges of the filters and pinch the centers into a cone-like floral shape. Tape the pinched center to hold the flowery shape in place. Then tape each new flower to a twig and create a chromatography bouquet! 

Experiment and Photo via Buggy and Buddy

For more fun science experiment ideas check out 15 Fun and Easy Science Experiments Kids Can Do at Home

The Whitney is bringing art straight to your home. Go to Whitney Kids Art Challenge, a free online resource designed for both kids and grownups to do together. All activities are based on the works of art from the Museum’s collections which will introduce families to the way artists think and work! Keep your eye out for new projects being added on a regular basis to their site.

Kids Can Help Make Fish Cakes

For the Dipping Sauce

• 1 ⁄ 2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

For the Fish Cakes

• 3 firm flaky whitefish fillets, such as cod or orange roughy (about 1 1⁄4 pounds total)
• 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 large baking potato, baked and flaked (bake it in the microwave for 10 minutes, so it’s quick)
• A handful of cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (panko or regular), seasoned with salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil lime wedges, for serving

Preheat the oven to 450°F. To make the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lime juice, sugar, and cilantro and set aside.

To make the fish cakes: Sprinkle fish fillets with the chili powder, oregano, and salt and pepper and roast 5 to 7 minutes, until cooked through. Let cool, then using a fork, flake into pieces.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, egg, and lime juice. Add the fish to the bowl along with the potato, cilantro, and more salt. Toss and, if you have time, refrigerate for 30 minutes. (This will make it easier to pack the mixture into patties, but it’s not a do-or-die move.)

Pack the fish mixture into patties and coat each in bread crumbs that have been spread on a dinner plate. (If you haven’t had time to chill the mixture, the patties will be delicate, so do this carefully. Also: I find wetting your hands helps to prevent sticking.)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties in batches of four and cook until the crusts are golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Serve with the lime wedges and dipping sauce.

Photo by Jennifer Causey

The Metropolitan Museum of Art grants you free online access to tons of photos, 28 featured exhibitions, and a 3D tour of the museum halls. Explore art-making activities for the whole family and listen to musical performances from around the world. The Met offers you everything from cutting-edge 360-degree videos to downloadable catalogs from previous exhibitions.

For more virtual tours, visit Virtual Museum Tours in New York Families Will Love

Mr. Tiger, Betsy and the Blue Moon written by Sally Gardner, illustrated by Nick Maland

A 2018 Times book of the year, this is a must-read for late elementary and middle school readers. If your kids are crazy about fairytales, they’ll love this imaginative story about the daughter of a mermaid and an ice-cream maker, who meets the mysterious Mr. Tiger. The two have a huge challenge ahead of them: a moon to turn blue, berries to collect, and wishable-delicious ice cream to create. For any reader who enjoys a fantastical, creative narrative with beautiful illustrations, Mr. Tiger, Betsy and the Blue Moon is for you. All grades. $16.99

The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean

A moving story for kids, The Ship We Built is all about finding the bravery to stand up for yourself, even to those you love. Rowan struggles to fit in — he’s not the “right kind” of girl and he’s not the “right kind” of boy. Feeling abandoned by his parents and classmates at school, Rowan discovers another way to share his secrets: letters attached to balloons. But when Rowan befriends a classmate who knows what it’s like to be lonely and scared, even at home, Rowan realizes that there might already be a person he can trust right by his side. Coming out late May, you can preorder the book now. Grades 5th to 8th. $16.99

The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection by Colby Sharp

This isn’t your typical read — it’s an explosion of creativity on the page! Colby Sharp invited more than forty authors and illustrators to provide story starters for each other; photos, drawings, poems, prose, or anything they could dream up. When they received their prompts, they responded by transforming these seeds into any form of creative work they wanted to share. The result is a stunning collection of words, art, poetry, and stories by some of our most celebrated children book creators. A section of extra story starters by every contributor provides fresh inspiration for readers to create works of their own. Kids get to be both readers and creators with The Creativity Project. Grades 4th to 6th, $10.89

For our whole roundup of books, check out Books from Pre-k to Teenagers During Coronavirus Quarantine