Exploring our Neighborhood: visit to local nursery

Today we went on a tour of our local nursery.  I am always impressed by this nursery and they did a great job with the tour.  The tour started with worms and ladybugs, great way to get the attention of preschoolers.  

Then the children were given ladybugs to place on the roses.

At the end of the tour, it was time to plant.  The gardener selected aylssum because when the weather warms up the flowers will smell like honey (didn't know that).    

Of course we came home with ladybugs for our roses.  For some reason we have lots of ladybugs in our front yard but not out back.  

Card Games, War and 52 pick up

I have been on the look out for more math activities lately.  I often use cards from games to play "memory" so why not use a card game as a math activity.  Bam and I have been playing "war" all week.    

This has turned about to be a great activity to enforce spatial concepts.  

 

I can't believe how many double wars we have gotten.  Note, I did remove the Kings, Queens, and Jacks from the deck.  

Bob is also enamored with the cards.  He patiently puts each card back in the box, a great way to work on his fine motor skills.  

"Mango" milk chipster cookies and movie night

To make movie night even better, I decided to try out a new cookie recipe, Strawberry Milk Chipsters.  I didn't want to buy a whole container of strawberry milk so I figured I would make some using freeze dried strawberries (Trader Joe's) and dry milk.  When I went to TJs they were out of the strawberries so I picked up some mangoes.  To make the "milk" I used approximately equal parts of ground up mangoes and dry non fat milk.

Bam and Bob helped make the cookies.

The cookies turned out good although I couldn't taste the mangoes.  I do want to try this again using the freeze dried strawberries.

We all enjoyed watching the Piglet movie and eating our cookies.  

Domino Parking Lot

To play the parking lot game, each player counts the number of dots on the domino and then places the domino in that parking spot.  Once the spots are filled stack the other dominos on top.  I saw this game at Confessions of a homeschool a couple of weeks ago and knew that it would be perfect for us.  At mathwire.com, they have many different activities that use dominos.  I can't wait to try them out.   Bob enjoyed playing his own variation of the game.  

Earth Day 2010

I decided that we should spend as much time as possible outside today because 1.  it was Earth Day, and 2.  it has been cold and rainy.  My plans don't alway appeal to my children as seen in the pictures below.  So off we go to a local bike path and we even decide to take a different route.  Bam enjoyed riding his bike down the hills while Bob made it known he was not happy in the stroller.  Luckily we saw many other cyclists and horses to distract Bob.  

At the end of the path, I let Bob out of the stroller (bad decision on my part).   He was still not happy.  Can you tell Bob is rapidly approaching two?!

Bam was happy riding on the flats and not so happy riding up the hills.  We did enjoy a nice snack break watching the horses in the fields and the tractor in the vineyards.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in our backyard playing and digging holes for plants.  Not a bad way to spend Earth Day.

Bubble Rocket

This weekend we came across this bubble rocket  (Gazillion-Air Powered Bubble Rocket).  

To launch the rocket, step on the bladder.  If the bottom of the rocket is submerged in soap, bubbles will trail behind.  Both Bam and Bob were able to launch the rocket which was fun until they started fighting over it. Bob figured out that if he laid on the bladder, he didn't have to share (see picture below).  Yes, it was funny and clever.  After having the rocket removed for a while, they learned to share it better.  Bam also figured out that if he jumped on it with both feet he could launch the rocket even higher--this wore him out :)))  

2010 Garden project

Last year I really wanted to plant a garden and it never happened.  Over the weekend Bam and Daddy set up the raised garden bed which everyone is excited about.  A couple of weeks ago Bam and I planted watermelon vines in our front yard and later this week when the rain stops, we will plant the raised bed.  I still haven't decided exactly what we are going to plant yet.   Any ideas?

In addition to our garden planting we are still trying to finish planting our yard.  We still have a long way to go.  Hopefully we will put in a patio this summer.  It will be nice not to have so much sand and dirt in our house this summer.

Unloading the veggie plants.

Helping me plant. So far we have planted tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, squash, watermelon (not in this bed), and lots of herbs.  Wish us luck :)

Our island of Sodor

So the other day to avoid a total melt down in Target by Bob, I bought him a Thomas and Friends sticker book.  I don't do this very often so I was a little frustrated with myself.  All of us have read the book and looked at the stickers a lot lately.  Then one afternoon I come downstairs to find that Bam and Daddy had created their own island of Sodor with the stickers.  Once again I was not so happy because I thought Bob would have a fit when he noticed a lot of the stickers missing from his book.  Well it turns out that this island has been a lot of fun for both of them.  Ever since I started doing the story bag activity, Bam has been into telling stories.  Many stories have come from this island and Bob enjoys rearranging the stickers on the island.  

Dyed Celery

This time we dyed celery instead of carnations.  This is such an easy experiment and Bam gets so excited about making the colored water and then watching for the color to appear.  As you can see by the picture, the carnations showed the color much better.  We still have the dyed carnations in regular water.  I am shocked by how long the flowers have lasted.

Spin Art Flowers

This activity was a big hit.

Supplies:
salad spinner
construction paper circle that fits into the bottom of the spinner
food coloring
craft stick or pipe cleaner
tape or glue


Place circle in bottom of spinner, add food coloring, and spin!  So easy!  I had the boys take turns working the spinner.  Bob loved this.   Once the circles were dry, we made them into flowers.

 I saw this idea at confessions of a homeschooler.

Team WhyMommy's Virtual Science Fair

When I found out that Stimey at www.stimeyland.com was hosting a virtual science fair for Whymommy, I knew Bam and I had to participate.  What a great way to show support to a fellow scientist, mom, and blogger!  

Bam and I enjoyed doing these space related crafts today.  By far his favorite was the 'stars on the wall' craft.  

Magic Stars

For magic stars,  draw stars or other objects on a white poster board (card stock or construction paper would work) then cover the paper with diluted black tempura paint.

Rocket coloring sheet

Stars on the wall

To make stars on the wall, cover one end of a toilet paper roll with black paper then poke tiny holes in the paper. Shine a flashlight through the roll to view your stars.

We finished the night off with this book.
 

The good, the bad, and the ugly dyed eggs

The GOOD:  back row, Bam dyed these eggs at preschool

The BAD:  middle row, brown eggs dyed with a chili powder natural dye.  What you don't see in the picture is that the dye rubs off.

The UGLY:  front row, brown eggs dyed with red wine.  The egg on the left sat in the dye for less than 30 minutes while the other eggs were in the dye overnight.  The overnight eggs almost could pass for dinosaur eggs.

As you can see I need to work on my techniques when using natural dyes :)  Next year I think I will use white eggs.

Bunny Sandwiches and Marshmallow rolls

For Bam's preschool party I made these bunny and carrot sandwiches.  Of course they didn't turn out as cute as I had imaged but the children loved them.  This whole week I have been making these sandwiches for the boys (minus the icing) and Bam has been eating lots of them.  Now only if Bob would eat more.

 As a treat the boys and I made crescent rolls filled with marshmallows.  They enjoy covering the marshmallows in butter then sugar and cinnamon.  When rolling up the rolls you need to make sure all the seams are sealed otherwise the melted marshmallows ooze out.

How to Melt an Ice Cube

 Bam rolled the die then found the corresponding number on the sheet and performed the activity.  One of the activities was to hold the ice in your right hand for ten seconds.  The printable is found here.