Cucumbers are green, cylindrically shaped vegetables that are often sliced and paired with dipping sauce to be eaten as an afterschool snack. Besides snacking, explain to your child that cucumbers can have many possible uses. Show him how to do simple experiments around the house using cucumbers and other materials.
Teach your child a lesson on animal feeding habits with the use of a cucumber and carrot. Wash and cut the cucumber and carrot into halves. Tell your child to place the halves in different locations around your yard. Over the course of two weeks, have him observe and take photos of the cucumber and carrot halves at the same time each day. He can document if the cucumbers and carrots were bitten by animals and what insects are currently feasting on each. At the end of two weeks, he will have an idea of whether animals preferred to nibble on the carrots or cucumbers.
A child will notice that after a warm shower the bathroom mirror fogs up. She will want to see herself reflected in the mirror again without the fog. Use this opportunity to have her experiment with a cucumber to remove the fog. Instead of reaching for a towel, have her simply use a sliced cucumber to wipe the fog from the mirror. Remind her that the cucumber slices contain chemicals that stop water vapors from settling on the mirror. She may find the next day that the mirror does not steam up after her bath due to the cucumber cleaning.
Leather shoes need shining to keep a clean, polished appearance. If you have a pair of leather shoes in need of a shine, let your child make them look like new again with cucumber slices. Cut up a cucumber into several slices. Let him rub the slices all over the shoes to make them shine. He can use a cloth to wipe off any residue. The cucumber slices are not meant to replace shoe polish but will temporarily shine the shoes until polish can be replaced.
Your child can determine whether refrigeration storage effects the flavor of a cucumber. Have her place one cucumber in the refrigerator and another cucumber on a kitchen countertop. Let the cucumbers stay in their locations for two days. After that time is up, slice the cucumbers. Place the cucumber slices on plates and label one plate "fridge" and the other "counter." Let her eat a few slices from each plate. Have her determine if there is a difference between the taste and flavor of the two sets of cucumber slices and which she prefers. If she determines the cucumber sets taste the same, refrigeration does not affect the natural flavor.