Spring Project: Eggshell Planters

As spring and Easter approached, I remembered an activity my friend told me about several years ago...using egg shells as planters for grass seeds.  This is such an easy project for kids.  With just a little supervision they are able to practice "gardening", learn about plants/seeds, and welcome a new season.

I began by collecting eggshells.  I washed and rinsed them thoroughly, and I even sprayed them with Clorox Anywhere (we've met Salmonella before so I was super-cautious).  Once I had enough shells, we moved the project outdoors.  

An old egg carton helped keep the shells steady as the kids filled them with potting soil.  Then they sprinkled rye grass seeds over the soil and covered them with more soil.

This led to a discussion about what seeds need in order to survive and grow.  While the boys went off to ride bicycles, Memphis Belle and I headed inside to water our newly planted seeds.

We placed the egg planters in ceramic bunnies that I bought from Hobby Lobby several years ago.  We made sure they were close to a window for natural sunlight.  Each day the kids would check on their seeds.  After only a few days small, green sprouts could be seen.  The kids were so excited!

And they continued to grow and grow.

Save your eggshells, gather some seeds, and watch new life grow.

Jenny

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Tadpole to Frog

I just love when life presents those "teachable moments."  For us this happened a few weeks ago when the boys stumbled across some tadpoles.  

Days of nonstop rain brought large puddles and ponds to normally dry areas.  While at my parents house for Sunday lunch, all the boys went on a 4 wheeler ride and found a huge puddle filled with tadpoles.  They ran back inside, grabbed one of my mama's mixing bowls, and filled it up with tadpoles.  They were thrilled and wanted to bring them home.  I thought sure...why not?  It would be a wonderful learning experience for all of us.  And then I began researching how to take care of tadpoles...clean the water twice a week, use non-chlorinated water, boil lettuce to freeze for their food, find a large enough aquarium, etc.  My goodness!!!  They had been living in a mud puddle for crying out loud.  But for the sake of learning, I smiled and brought them home.  :)

And I'm so glad I did!!  We had such a special time watching this miracle take place...one that only God could have designed.  Watching this transformation reminded me of our time with the butterflies.  

Here is our journey with the tadpoles.

March 17--We brought home the tadpoles.  

We placed the aquarium in the kitchen so that we could always watch them.

Sidenote:  While I initially thought all of the guidelines for tadpole care seemed ridiculous, I'm so glad I researched and followed through.  All of our tadpoles developed correctly, and they are healthy little froglets.    

March 25--The tadpoles grew their back legs.  Their lungs were also beginning to form...we saw them come to the top to take a breath and go back down in the water.

April 1--They now have their front legs.  Soon after this, their tales began to shrink.  Their eyes are also bulging and their head is shaped like a frog.  Their lungs are fully formed and they float on the top of the water.  They are also no longer interested in eating the lettuce.  Their appetites are changing as well. ;)

April 3--The tadpoles have now completely changed into froglets.  They can now jump out of the water and onto the rock.  Their tales have completely disappeared.

April 6--We released the froglets back into their natural habitat.

A few of the tadpoles developed more quickly than the others.  We released them a few days earlier.  Now that the remaining ones were ready to find flies and crickets we found them the perfect spot.

And that's it...until the cycle begins again. :)

While we were watching the metamorphosis, we read books about tadpoles and frogs.  Here are the books we kept in our book basket.

Growth and Life Cycles: Tadpole to Frog by Jim Pipe

Tadpoles by Theresa Greenaway

From Tadpole to Frog by Shannon Zemlicka

From Tadpole to Frog: Following the Life Cycle by Suzanne Slade

From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer (A Let's Read and Find Out Science book)

The Mystery of Nature:  Tadpole to Frog by Oliver Owen

If you happen to run across some tadpoles, don't hesitate to bring them home.  You'll love watching this miracle unfold.

Jenny

Fun in the Cotton Field

Back in October, we had the chance to tag along with Crazy Horse's preschool class for a trip to the cotton fields.  What a blast we had!!  I wanted to include this with our crop studies and do a more in-depth study for Old Crow, but with the holidays and our crazy schedule we just didn't have time.  So I thought I'd share our trip and the fun the kids had.

The first leg of our trip was a hay ride through the cotton field.  As we rode through the middle of the "southern snow," the kids were able to see how the cotton grew.

Then the hay ride stopped and let everyone get off for a close-up examination of the cotton plants.  The kids were able to pull off some of the cotton and feel the texture.  They also looked for the seeds inside the cotton boll.  

We boarded the hay ride and it took us farther down the field to the cotton module builder.  They opened the doors and let all the kids play in the cotton.  They had such a good time!!  So did the adults! :)

Then we once again boarded the hay ride, and as we rode back through the field the cotton picker drove alongside us.  It picked the cotton, and we were able to look closely at this mighty machine.

Back at the barn we all had a picnic...a perfect way to end the morning.  :)

Jenny 

Cloud Unit: The Heavens Declare His Glory

The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of his hands.
Psalm 19:1

Old Crow shared with us that he was interested in learning about the clouds.  So I set out to make that happen.  As I began looking for ideas and projects, a unit began to take shape.

Here's a look into our fun with clouds. :)

Books We Enjoyed

          

               

Nature Study

Each day we spent time outside cloud watching.  We would talk about the clouds we saw and take pictures with our camera.  (I saved these pictures in a separate file on my computer for a later activity.)  Then Old Crow would draw in his nature journal.

Bible Study

As I began gathering ideas, I was fascinated by how many times in Scripture the Lord used clouds for his purposes.  Here are the verses we read and discussed.

Our main verse for memorization was Psalm 19:1.

Exodus 13:21   God went ahead of the Israelites in a cloud.

Exodus 16:10   The glory of God appeared in a cloud.

Exodus 19:9   God comes to the people in a dense cloud.

Exodus 24:15-18   The glory of God settled over Mt. Sinai in a cloud.

Luke 21:27   Jesus will return in a cloud of power and great glory.

1 Thessalonians 4:17   We will be caught up in the clouds with the Lord.  

Craftivities

Cloud People:  Our first activity was to make "Cloud People."  I made 3 different clouds in their typical shapes and 3 different pairs of legs in varying lengths.  Old Crow looked at each cloud shape and labeled them and then added the correct pair of legs.  So the stratus clouds are low in the sky.  Cumulus are in the lower/middle part of the sky, and cirrus are high in the sky.

Cloud Art:  To create a puffy and textured paint, we mixed together equal parts of Elmer's glue and shaving cream.  Then Old Crow created his clouds.  Once dry, the paint is a soft and puffy!  Very cool!!!

Then he wrote his memory verse and we added it to his painting.

It looked like a... activity:  After reading It Looked Like Spilt Milk, Old Crow designed his own cloud shape with cottonballs.

Cloud Flip Book:  Old Crow used cottonballs again for this activity as he depicted the three different clouds.  You can get the labels here.  

 

Sensory Play

Cloud Dough:  Instead of "playdough," we created Cloud Dough.  By mixing together 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of baby oil, we had a soft, cloud-like sensory activity.

Soft enough to feel like a cloud...yet it held its shape.  

I suspected Crazy Horse would love this...and boy, was I right!  He played, played, and played!  :)

Ivory soap cloud experiment:  We put a bar of original Ivory soap (and it must be Ivory) in the microwave and watched as it transformed into a soap cloud.  It grew and grew and grew!!  It feels stiff in the expanded form but can be easily smashed into smithereens...looking like snow.  So beware of doing this part in the house.  We also took it into the bathtub and let it snow!  You can find more great ideas for the soap cloud here.

Shaving Cream:  We sprayed shaving cream onto the tabletop and had fun.  Drawing, writing, and playing in the cloud-like shaving cream!

Extras

All About Clouds...YouTube Children's Video

Clouds...YouTube Children's Video

Science for Kids: Clouds...website

All About Clouds reponse sheet for recording information from videos, websites, books, etc.

Cloud Snack...jello and whipped cream.  :)  

Now as for all of those daily pictures we took of the clouds...

Once we have several pictures of all the different types of clouds, I will have them printed.  Then we are going to sort them by type and create a booklet.  We'll also add our craftivities to the booklet to have all our projects in one place.  I made these booklets once we finished our Butterfly study and Crop studies.  We keep them in our Nature Center, and Old Crow loves to go back through them and look at the things we have done.

Happy cloud hunting!  And I hope you see more than just clouds when you look into the sky...I hope see the glory of God and the works of His hands.

Jenny

P.S.  I'm sure family and friends may wonder where Memphis Belle was during this entire unit.  I assure you we have not given her away. :)  Most of these activities were done during her naptime.  We saved the cloud dough...she'll get her turn. ;)