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Enjoying a Family Movie Night has become a frequent Friday evening occasion at our house. So when the Academy Award Winning Movie for Best Animated Film, which was also my son's favorite movie in 2014,
BIG HERO 6 was released February 24, 2015 on blu-ray and dvd we immediately had a family movie night that weekend to enjoy it. My daughter and I swung by our local Walmart the day it was released to pick up the movie for our home video library and to grab a few other Big Hero 6 themed goodies for our night of family fun and bonding. Whether shopping online at
www.walmart.com or stopping by one of their brick-and-mortar locations,
Walmart has a great selection of
Big Hero 6 videos, toys, books and other merchandise.
We always like to try to incorporate some fun activities into our Family Movie Nights to make them a little bit more special than just watching a film together. Since a big part of
Big Hero 6 involves the characters' interest, accomplishments, and interactions with scientific topics, my wife and I decided to incorporate some demonstrations and experiments for our kids to do using everyday household items from our kitchen before we watched the movie. So we made some rock candy for our movie treat, created a mad scientist concoction, and attempted a color symphony.
Like the character Hiro Hamada from
Big Hero 6, my 6 year old twins have peanut allergies which often makes providing them with snacks tricky. A safe candy where we don't have to worry about food allergy ingredients or contamination that you can make yourself at home is ROCK CANDY, and the process itself provides an educational and entertaining way to point out some interesting information about chemistry and crystals with children. The downside though is you are giving children candy that is made 100% of sugar (which can get kids really wound up) and it takes a great deal of patience to do it yourself and get it done right. You really need to provide yourself 5 to 7 days to let the crystals form enough for an edible treat.
INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS (ROCK CANDY)
Glass Jar
Clothes Pin
Wood Skewer or Stick
2 Cups of Water
4 Cups of Granulated Sugar
Food Coloring **optional**
STEP 1: Wet your wood skewer or stick and roll it in sugar. This will provide a base layer for the crystals that will become the candy to attach to when they start forming. Set the skewer/stick aside to dry while you next begin to make a sugary syrup.
STEP 2: Place the water in a pan and bring it to a boil. Once the water is at a boil begin adding the sugar one cup at a time not adding the next cup until the previous one has dissolved into the water. Stir the water after each addition to help the process of dissolving the sugar into the water. Continue to stir and boil the water until all of the sugar has been absorbed into the water creating a syrup.
STEP 3: Remove the pan from the stove. If you want to add food coloring now is the time placing 3-4 drops into the syrup and stirring the pan to ensure even consistency.
STEP 4: Let the syrup cool for 10 minutes then pour it into your selected glass jar.
STEP 5: Place your wood skewer/stick into the jar so that it is within the syrup but not touching any of the sides of the jar. Hold it into place by using a clothes pin to secure the skewer/stick into place at the top of the jar. Your skewer/stick should be at least 1 inch from the bottom of the jar.
STEP 6: Set your jar in a cool place where it won't be disturbed or in an extensive amount of sunlight. Crystals should begin forming on the skewer/stick within 3 to 5 hours. The sugar was dissolved by the water when it was boiling but as the water cools it can't continue to absorb the sugar which re-emerges as crystals which are attracted to the wood in the skewer/stick. If you don't see crystals forming within 24 hours on your skewer/stick you'll need to start over again.
STEP 7: Allow the crystals 3 to 7 days to grow to your preferred size. When you are ready remove the crystals from the jar, allow to dry for a few minutes and voila you have yourself Rock Candy!
In addition to making the Rock Candy, we also tried out two science experiments with mixed success. First to show off how two stable items can be mixed together to cause a volatile chemical reaction we created a mad scientist concoction.
INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS (Mad Scientist Concoction)
Glass or Plastic Cup/Bottle
1/4 cup of vinegar
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of jello mix **optional**
STEP 1: Place the baking soda in your cup or bottle.
STEP 2: If you would like your concoction to have some color add the jello mix of your preference to the baking soda within the cup/bottle
STEP 3: Pour the vinegar into the cup/bottle so that it mixes with the baking soda.
STEP 4: Grab a sponge or rag to clean up as your children observe a bubbly mess that is created from the chemical reaction of these items being mixed together. The bubbles are created and filled by carbon dioxide which is formed when the vinegar (acid) reacts with the baking soda (a base).
Next we tried an experiment called the Color Symphony. Kids that like art class will enjoy this!
INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS (Color Symphony)
A Flat Tray
Food Coloring - at least 3 colors
Whole Milk - low fat milk will not work!
Liquid Dish Soap
STEP 1: Pour milk over the tray so that its entire surface is just barely covered.
STEP 2: Add 3-4 drops of food coloring from each different color at various spots on the tray.
STEP 3: Add 5-7 drops of the liquid dish soap on top of each of the food coloring spots.
STEP 4: Enjoy a Symphony of Colors - the dish soap will go after the fat in the milk as it does the food coloring will scatter and mix creating a colorful display.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out that well for us though because we used 2% Milk and
you really need to use Whole Milk to get the whole impact of the
demonstration. A teachable moment about always reading instructions
carefully! While we didn't get a symphony of colors, my kids did see how
when you add various chemicals together they trigger reactions. When
we added milk, soap and food coloring together the food coloring quickly
expanded within the milk when the soap was added. It unfortunately
didn't have the burst of colors that would have occurred from there
being fat included within the mix.
So after we cleaned up our experiments, we grabbed our rock candy and enjoyed our feature presentation
BIG HERO 6. This animated, family friendly movie focuses on the special bond that develops between a giant plus-sized inflatable robot named Baymax and a young prodigy named Hiro Hamada. When tragedy strikes these two team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes who try to right a wrong. This movie based on a Marvel comic book series is filled with both action and drama which makes it a perfect selection for a family movie night.
If you grab this movie from Walmart, they have two exclusive blu-ray packages while supplies last. One package has a bonus dvd featuring
The Science of Big Hero 6 which is what we picked up to go along with our family movie night's science theme.
The other exclusive Walmart blu-ray package has a
VUDU INSTA WATCH feature. When you purchase a
Big Hero 6 Blu-ray/DVD + INSTA WATCH it includes a digital movie on Vudu while supplies last. Simply scan your receipt using the Savings Catcher in the Walmart app. Then look for a message on your phone or email. Now you can watch
Big Hero 6 on any device!
So is your family as excited about
Big Hero 6 coming to home video as ours? How are you geeking out to enjoy this movie with your family?
