Question:
Next week we are doing a fire safety themed week. We all know that when there is smoke, we crawl on the ground. My DS (the only preschooler for the moment) is very visual and remembers better what he understand rather than rote. Must be like Mom. I am trying to think of a way to *safely* demonstrate smoke rising in an enclosed container and the layer of air underneath. Thoughts? Or am I whacked?

Answer: -My first thought was to invite a bunch of smokers over to the house. DH comes from a family with lots of chain smokers, and he talks about dropping to the floor to crawl through the living room, to get under the smoke layer. And I know when I visit some relatives, I can SEE the smoke layer in their homes. Now, I'm not sure that's something you'd really want to do -- but if you live in an area where indoor smoking is allowed, maybe go someplace where you know there's lots of smokers and poor ventilation, and let him see how much better the air is near the floor.

-When I was a kid, we learned in school to roll in a fire and that smoke rises. So, when I got home, my brother and I got in the bathroom and turned on the shower so that it was steaming hot. The steam made it difficult to breathe, so we (my brother and I) got down low and found fresh air there. It was our own experiment, specifically to see how smoke rises. Okay, so it wasn't smoke, but it was good enough to prove it to us kids.