Phase Change Experiment--Making Butter

I saw this idea somewhere a long time ago and today I had cream that needed to be used so we made butter (otherwise known as a phase change experiment)

I filled a jar about 3/4 of the way full with heavy cream---any container would work.  To make butter just shake the container.

As you can see Bam was not really into this experiment--Mom, do I really have to shake this--I want to play with my new toy!  Bob was too preoccupied playing in the sand box to even notice us.

After 15 minutes of shaking, mainly by me and grandma, butter was made.  This butter is really good, we have been eating a lot bread with fresh butter.

Bam and I also talked about other things that go through phase changes such as ice.

So we watched the ice melt.  Then Bam came up with his own experiment, re-freezing the water.  He was pretty excited about it.

Drawing Games

Recently I bought a large whiteboard because it was magnetic, but Bam and I have been having fun playing these drawing games while Bob is asleep.  These games start by me placing random dots on the board.  

CONNECT THE DOTS:

Connect the dots with straight lines--pretty simple idea yet Bam found this very entertaining.  I was surprised at how straight Bam's lines were--He really took his time drawing them. 

DOTS:

We started with dots randomly placed on the board then we took turns drawing straight lines between dots.  Interestedly Bam didn't add on to my lines most of the time.  He would start his own path.   The first several times we played we connected two neighboring dots with straight lines.   Later on we started using diagonals.  

Bam has taken an interest in creating interesting drawings and stories to go with them.

He loves sharing these stories with Bob as soon as he wakes up but doesn't like it when Bob touches  the white board and erases the lines.

Science Sunday: Nature Walk

Our weather has been unseasonably cool lately and I am still using the heater in the mornings.  Although I am not looking forward to the heat that will be here before I know it.  Today we decided to take advantage of the sun and go for a nature walk.    

We started off the nature walk by doing a "sink or float" experiment. 

 Bob started throwing rocks into the water.  

Then we switched to leafs and other items.  Verdict:  rocks and shells sink while leaves and sticks float.

Bam thought this place was the best for a quick rest plus there were a lot of rocks to throw into the lake.  

Here Bob is trying to use the kid binoculars.  Next time we need to bring the real binoculars.  There was an island with lot of birds on it, but I couldn't tell what they were.  

zoo trip

We haven't been to the zoo much this winter so we made a quick trip while the weather was good and before all the end of the year school field trips invaded the zoo.  

All lot of the animals were out on this trip.  The tortoises were very active. 

Bob loves these yellow frogs...

and giraffes.  

Ooey gooey--Science Sunday

The 1st ooey gooey science experiment was oobleck which has unusual physical characteristics. It is equal parts cornstach and water with food coloring.  

Although it looks like a liquid, it feels like a solid.  

Bam is rolling and squeeze it to make a ball or snake, but ....

as soon as he opens his hand it turns back into liquid.  Bob would not touch the stuff.  He was interested in watching and saying "yuck" and "icky." 

The 2nd ooey gooey science experiment was gluep.  I have seen so many different recipes, two of which I have tried.  For some reason I can not get this to work.  Today recipe is as follows:

1. dissolve 1 teaspoon of laundry borax in 6 tablespoons of water. You will need to stir this for a while to get it to dissolve. (If a tiny bit does not dissolve, that is OK.)
    
2. combine 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of white glue. If you wish, you may color the mixture with a couple drops of food coloring. With a clean spoon, stir the mixture thoroughly until it is uniform.
    
3. Put 2 teaspoons of the borax solution into the glue mixture. Stir the mixture.
    
4. As you stir the mixture, it will stiffen into a soft lump. Then knead it in your hand for a couple minutes.

I followed the 4 easy steps, but the gluep was not elastic--it would break apart if stretched.   I even tried this recipe 3 times.  

Yummy Apricot fruit roll ups

A fellow member of we teach shared this recipe for homemade fruit roll-ups from familygo.com.  This recipe was so simple but you have to start it early in the day!

Combine 8 oz of dried fruit with 1 1/2 C water and simmered on the stove for approx. 30 minutes to soften the fruit.  Then puree and spread onto a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil coated with non-stick spray.  The 2nd time I made this, I used an icing spatula which made it much easier to get a thin even layer of fruit. The 1st time I made these, I didn't get an even layer and the thicker spots stayed mushy.  

Bake for appox. 30 minutes at 250 F.  Turn off oven and leave fruit in oven for 8 hours.

Peel fruit off foil and set sticky side down on wax paper then cut into strips. These are a huge hit in my house!  I can't wait to try other fruits and Quirky Momma's version which uses frozen fruit , sugar, and flax seed.  

truck math

I wrote numbers (0-10) on one side of the stick for Bam and dots for Bob on the other side.  They took turns picking out a stick.  Then they had to park the correct number of trucks next to the stick. 

 Bob's attention span didn't last long, but he had lots of fun playing with the sticks and trucks.  This will be a good activity for practicing addition.  I saw this idea on the adventures of bear when she linked to  joyful leaner's math mondays.

Science Sunday: Caterpillars

On Saturday we received our caterpillars.  I was totally unprepared because it had only been 2 weeks since I sent away for them.  The boys were so excited to get the package.

I found lots of information about caterpillars but didn't have much time to pull everything together.  We will continue learning about the caterpillars as they morph into butterflies.  This should be fun.

Left side:

caterpillar questions flap

caterpillar eat shape book

butterfly lifecycle diagram

Right side:

butterfly eat shape book

butterfly predators flap book

butterfly defenses T book

butterfly flowers shape book

butterfly cards pocket

Backside:

lifecycle book

butterfly anatomy

Here is Bob coloring his caterpillar.

Exploring our Neighborhood: bug collecting

I found bug jars at the Dollar store that came with small nets and tweezers.  The boys were very excited about them and immediately started looking for bugs.  Of course they go straight to the roses where we released the purchased ladybugs so I suggested that we go out front.

We did find some ladybugs and another kind of bug.  Bam is eagerly awaiting the arrival of our butterflies, we still have several weeks to go.

Ladybugs

Ladybugs are big at our house ever since last week's garden center tour.  All of us have learned a lot about these bugs.  We started by reading Ladybug by Emery Bernhard.  

We learned about their life cycle using a wheel  and labeling the cycle.  To practice sequencing Bam used these cards.   

I found a count and graph ladybug book for Bam. I mixed up the pages and had him count and graph (color in the number of boxes corresponding to the number of ladybugs on the page).  Then he put the pages in order.  He did a great job, I was impressed.   

While Bam and I were talking about the ladybug lifecycle and working on counting and graphing, Bob happily colored ladybugs, here, here, and everything Bam worked on.  

Fortunately for us, we have lots of ladybugs in our yard and the boys had fun looking for them in the plants on this beautiful spring day.