A Whole Lot of Learning With A Few Little Bears

We inherited these little manipulative bears from my sister once her littles had outgrown them. We use them for all kinds of things. Recently I put them in a busy bag along with these counting cards I made using Microsoft Word and my laminator.

There are so many things you can use these for. A and I counted

 and created patterns on the number cards

 Then we made patterns without the number cards. I started several and A would finish them, then we would switch. We made tons of different patterns and I introduced him to ABABAB, ABBABBABB, ABCABCABC, amongst others.

Then we sorted them by color. We actually have two different sets, you can see the difference in the above photo, so A eventually sorted them by color and into the different sets. 

A sat and played with these for about an hour before going off to something else. When he started getting bored I would introduce a new concept and he was off and running again. Now he is able to sit with these by himself and do different activities, without my guidance.

Cornstarch and Water

This is a regular activity at our house, everyone loves it! I don't have specifics, just mix some cornstarch and water together until the consistency is right. Add water a tablespoon at a time so you don't end up with to much liquid. Of course, if it gets a bit watery, just add more cornstarch!

This stuff is especially cool because it defies most rules of science! When force is applied, the mixture becomes a solid, but when force is removed, it instantly turns into a liquid.

 You can demonstrate this by gently pushing on the surface of the mixture, you should feel resistance and be unable to push your finger tip through the liquid. Then hold your finger in one place for several seconds and the solid will appear to melt and your finger will sink right in.

This stuff can create a giant mess, but it wipes up extremely easily.

 Occasionally we add food coloring to spice things up a bit. I haven't tried saving it yet, so I don't know how well it would keep for future play.

 

 DO NOT DUMP THIS MIXTURE DOWN ANY DRAIN!!! 

The liquid will run off and the cornstarch will turn into rock. We either dump it outside, or let the mixture sit over night. The liquid will evaporate and you can scrape the remaining solid right off with a spatula, and into the garbage can.

Bubble Dough

I originally saw this idea here and she called it Bubble Dough, so I'm going with it.

We have been experimenting with cornstarch a lot lately, it's cheap, generally is easy cleanup, and it makes really fun sensory materials. 

 I explained to A what we were doing and then let him run with it.

He was unsure at first but got into it and our bubble dough started to take shape.

I didn't pay attention to the recipe included in the original post (I didn't think there was one, but I just went to check, and there is. Oops!) So I got a little over zealous with the cornstarch and we started with an entire box. This worked out ok for us since we buy our liquid dish soap at Costco, for the rest of you, you might want to start out with around a cup of cornstarch. 

A mixed and mixed, and apparently we took a photo break somewhere in there, because eventually we ended up with this...

It's kind of a cross between Playdough and Gak (does anyone even remember Gak!?) It has a thick enough consistency that you can shape it and use cookie cutters on it, but if it sits for a couple of minutes it starts to spread and settle. We ended up with about a quart of this stuff and I'm keeping it in a Zip-lock bag in the fridge, where it seems to be happy in between play times.

Disgusting Science: Digestion Lesson

J's second experiment from his Disgusting Science Kit was to recreate how the bodies digestion system works using a balloon.

First he tore up a piece of bread and forced them into the neck of the balloon through the "esophagus". 

 Then he used a pipette to pour vinegar (stomach acid) into the balloon along with the bread.

 Then he squished and squashed everything together

 Then his balloon became the intestinal system and he squeezed his bread concoction through the neck of the balloon (the intestines) and out.

Gross I know, but it's a fact of life, and this was a very easy way to give him a quick idea of how the digestive system works.

Color Changing Milk

We picked up a copy of Steve Spangler's Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes for J recently. From what I've seen so far, I would highly recommend it if you're in the market for some fun science experiments. The book has a wide range of activities for various ages and skill levels. Some of them are much more in depth than others, but it looks like all of them are done with items you can find around the house, though you may have to hunt for some.

The first experiment we did was the Color Changing Milk, and I am hooked! This experiment was SO much fun. J and I both loved it. I also love that Spangler's book has simple explanations for how each experiment works. I didn't read word for word, but skimmed over it and explained it to J myself.

Basically you fill a dinner plate with milk and then add a couple of drops of food coloring as shown. Then you take a plain dry q-tip and hold it in the center of the plate for several seconds. If all goes well, nothing should happen :).

 Then you dip a q-tip in liquid dish soap and once again hold it in the center of the plate. If all goes well this time, the colors should jump towards the edge of the plate and away from the q-tip.

 Once we got things going we kept adding drops of food coloring and swirling.....

 ....and added and swirled....

...and added and swirled...

 It was so fun to watch the colors mix and isn't it beautiful!?

 Eventually things started getting a little muddy.

I'd tell you the science behind it but that wouldn't really be fair to Mr. Spangler, so I guess you'll just have to get your hands on a copy of his book and find out for yourself.




I would recommend this to any age, even if you have pre-k's that won't understand the science, I still think they would love watching the colors dance!

Assyrian Siege Tower

We used the suggestion from Story of the World Volume 1 Activity Guide to build an Assyrian siege tower out of legos.
We spent a few minutes looking at images of siege towers on Google to get an idea of how to build one.
I put together the base to get the boys going and they had fun building up the sides of their tower.

Once we had our siege tower put together, we drug out the box of wooden blocks and put together some heavy duty town walls.

A grabbed the ladder from our Lincoln Logs so he could help the little Lego men get atop our siege tower.

Then the fun started! The boys had no trouble using the siege tower to fight their way through the walls! They took their job very seriously and not one stone was left unturned.

Why We Love to Homeschool

Just a quick reminder about why we homeschool!

 J started really reading on his own this week! We are so excited!

School time came and the boys were cuddled up in the recliner together with J reading and A paying careful attention. So I kept quiet and the boys happily stayed this way for an hour!

In all of the new found reading excitement we've been scouring the beginning reader shelf at the library. These were on our list this week.

The Berenstain Bears at the Aquarium

Dixie and the Big Bully

I Want To Be Somebody New!

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

Dixie Wins The Race

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

Bert and Ernie Go Camping