exploring clouds

We did this cloud project a couple of months ago and it is something that has really stuck with the boys. They often point out "serious" (cirrus) clouds, which always makes me smile. I think that making clouds with cotton balls is such a fun way to learn about them!

First we made a mini book about clouds with this Clouds Mini Helper (free when I did it, not sure it will stay that way!). We also read a this cute book we found at the library" Clouds (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) and talked about the atmosphere and water cycle. The fun part was making clouds! We used blue paper for a background and then played with the cotton balls into the shapes we wanted.

Clouds Mini Helper

Cloud types

Clouds are fun!

Hanging clouds

Close up view

pumpkin seed art

I usually save seeds from my squash and pumpkins for next-season planting, but one pumpkin has enough seeds to spare some for roasting and some for fun! We hadn't ever dyed pumpkin seeds before this but they came out really pretty; some of them dyed dark, some light, some speckled.

What you need:

• pumpkin (or other squash) seeds
• food coloring
• white vinegar
• paper and glue

Just add some white vinegar and a few drops of food coloring to a bowl, mix, and add pumpkin seeds. Leave them in until you are happy with the color, then drain and let them dry on towels at room temperature or a cookie sheet in the oven at a low temperature. Glue them on however you'd like. Love this tree idea!

Dyed seeds.

Bowls of vinegar, dye.

Counting out seeds.

H&F both wanted to make shapes - they each made a circle and rectangle.

Yellow rectangle!

fairy house

It has been an insanely busy spring for us! There is so much to catch up on but I'll start with this sweet fairy house we built outside when the weather was summery one week in March. We gathered up sticks from around the yard, and one was bent, according to F, "like a rainbow!" With that, and some rocks we had painted previously, we started our fairy house. I asked what a fairy might need and got lots of responses - a bed, some food, shelter from the sun, and a doorway were just some of their ideas. I used some string to bunch some of the straight branches together. It has held up quite well!

rainbow window catchers

Last year for St. Patrick's Day we made shamrock and clover window decorations, so this year we made rainbows! I had some rainbow ribbon/yarn and gave long pieces to the kids to cut up and put down on clear contact paper.

What you need:

• contact paper
• rainbow colors - ribbon, tissue paper, stickers, etc.
• scissors to cut the ribbon/paper and to cut a rainbow shape

They are so bright and cheerful!

Materials.

After putting the ribbon down, put on another piece of contact paper face down, then trim.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

shiny pennies and copper plating

Our local children's museum had posted about doing a penny activity; it sounded like something my kids would like so I followed this one and it was very simple and fun! The write up for it was very straightforward and easy to follow. The pennies get shiny very quickly (part 1 of the experiment), but the second part takes a bit longer.

Setting up.

Starting the experiment.

Pennies right after they went in.

Shiny!

After the pennies were done, we removed them to dry and added other items for the second part of the experiment.

Wow! Watch the experiment carefully - check on it every 10 minutes or so.

The bolt was in the solution halfway - you can really see the copper plating.

One control screw, one copper plated screw.

What will you try to copper plate?

memory noun game

After playing with the noun cards I printed out last week, the kids wanted to sort them again, but as they were sorting them I thought we could instead use them to play a game. I grabbed a couple of the wooden cubes in my craft stash (the same used in color resemblance sorting) and some stickers I had from a yard sale. H and F made their own dice with the stickers, and then I put a different colored sticker on each of the noun categories. We turned all the noun cards face down, and then they took turns rolling their die and turning over two cards at a time trying to match the category. When they found a match, they placed it in their pile. Great for learning about nouns as well as for memory.

Color coded noun categories.

Noun game die.

Game setup.

if you give a mouse a cookie activities

I stumbled across these cute word cards to go with Laura Numeroff's If You Give A Mouse A Cookie (the collection is worth having; it even has an audio cd so you can listen to the stories on the go). There are also some domino cards and other activities listed there, but I thought since all of the words are things commonly found in homes, it would be fun to have a scavenger hunt. Pretending to be the mouse means you won't have to go looking for any mice (unless you're into that, then go for it, but they make me squeal and jump up on chairs). The word cards have both words and pictures so this is great for readers and pre-readers alike. To make it more challenging for your older child, have them try to find the items in alphabetical order!

Other activities to do with this book:

• make some cookies! while they are baking,
• get out some brooms and sweep up, or mop! and then,
• draw a picture of your family and hang it on the refrigerator  

Enjoy! 

We put the word cards in little bag and pulled them out one at a time.

F finds a broom.