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

It's Winter

The arctic blast blew through Georgia and brought with it freezing temperatures.  We were beginning our winter unit, and it couldn't have come at a better time...helping us experience winter in its pure form.  70 degree weather makes it hard to discuss winter. :)

So here are all things winter!

Science

Our first night of below freezing temperatures, we set buckets of water outside to freeze overnight.  I placed a few toys in the water that they would have to "dig" out the next day.  Old Crow and I reviewed the freezing point.  When we noticed that the water had not completely frozen,  Dad reminded us that 32 degrees is the freezing point for pure water.  Impurities in the water can keep it from freezing unless at a lower temperature.  We made an educated guess that our water had some impurities.

They enjoyed feeling the ice and digging for their toys.

This also gave us the opportunity to discuss the states of matter.  We felt the ice and talked about how it was a solid.  We left the container of ice on our counter and watched it melt and turn to liquid.  After it had completely melted, we boiled it on the stove and watched the steam rise...creating our gas.

Solid, liquid, gas...all from one fun experience.

Crazy Horse and I read from an ABeka Kindergarten Science book about the different seasons.  He enjoyed playing a file folder game where he sorted various pictures and placed them in the correct season.

Sensory Activities

Our first attempt at making snow was a lot of fun for the kids...but extremely messy for me.  We made Sparkling Snow by mixing:

2 16 oz containers of corn starch

1 can shaving cream

White sparkling glitter, flakes, or confetti

 

Our next attempt at snow was much more life-like and MUCH cleaner!!!  We used Insta-Snow that I ordered from Amazon.  You can read more about our fun with Insta Snow here at my previous blog post.

We also made white slime from our trusty recipe that I first used back when we made green slime during our Grinch Unit.  Crazy Horse begs to make slime about every two weeks...that boy loves it!!!  

Directions for slime taken from Grinch Unit:

You mix 1 teaspoon of Borax powder with 1 cup of water.  Mix and set aside.  In a separate bowl mix a whole bottle of Elmer's glue (4 oz.) with 1/2 cup of water.  Add food coloring choice to the glue mixture (dont' add any to make white).  Mix well.  Then combine the glue mixture with Borax powder mixture.  Almost immediately the liquid will begin to form solids...perfect science lesson!  The more you knead and squeeze the more it will turn firm.  Pour out excess water and continue to squeeze!

Reading and Literature

Old Crow is currently reading Stone Fox and it is the perfect addition to our winter unit.  We enjoyed researching dog sled races to give us background knowledge for the book.  More to come on this soon! :)

We created a book basket with all of winter themed books.  We collected winter books from our house and checked out some from the library.  This basket was available so the kids could pull them to read at anytime.

Art

We created our own snowmen art by making a white puffy paint.  We mixed equal parts glue and shaving cream.

I found that the younger two needed help in creating their snowmen.  So I created the 3 circles and then had them move the paint around until they were filled.  This gave them a template of sorts.

Once the paint dried, we pulled out our art materials and they had free reign to create their snowman.

Extra Fun

They loved pulling out the game, Don't Break the Ice, and it is a perfect addition to any winter unit.

Memphis Belle and I also enjoyed creating her snowman for her preschool class.  They sent home the snowman cutout from poster board and then each child could decorate it.  We had a lot of fun with this one.  It was her idea to cover it in the sparkly flakes that we had leftover from our sparkling snow activity. :)

   

Stay Warm,

Jenny

Instant Snow

For the past couple of weeks, we have been playing and creating with "winter."  Here in the South we don't get much of a winter (the arctic blast we had last week was a shocker) so the kids have enjoyed experimenting with "snowmen" and ice.  :)

Today we created snow, and it was definitely the highlight of our winter unit.  I bought a jar of Insta Snow from Amazon when I was online looking for another winter related activity.  It had great reviews so I thought I would give it a shot.

This one little can provided us with so much fun!!  A small scoop of powder and a little water...then snow began forming before our eyes.  It was even cool to the touch.  A perfect sensory activity!  It didn't take long for the kids to get their toys involved. Memphis Belle's ballerina danced in the snow and the boys acted out an avalanche with helicopter rescue. :)

It was super-easy to clean up (not at all like the sparkling snow we made earlier with corn starch...more on that later).  We can store it in a sealed container for several weeks, and tonight we are putting it in the freezer so we can have more life-like snow in the morning.

For the Classical Conversationers out there, this activity provided us with a great example of the states of matter.  We watched the liquid turn to a solid and compared the two different stages.  It also gave us the chance to practice our liquid equivalents. :)

Happy "Snow" Day,

Jenny

Year in Review: Science with CC

Animals, rockets, planets, and even aeronautics are regular topics around our house--making science the favored subject.  This year with Classical Conversations science has been made easy for us.  Each week we memorize a science fact and then we can learn as much or as little about that fact as we want (or as much as time allows).   

We began the year with Ecology and spent 6 weeks learning important facts and information.  We read books about biomes, pretended to be carnivores and herbivores, drew pictures of food chains, researched the water cycle, dressed in pajamas and "hibernated", watched documentaries on pollution and took a nature walk to pick up litter.  

Our CC group visited Grand Bay Wetland Education Center and we had the opportunity to view animals in their natural setting.  Along with the alligators, we saw bobcats, snakes, owls, turtles, deer, lizards, and much more.  With its education center, boardwalk through the wetlands, and 54 foot observation tower, Grand Bay was a treasure!!

For the next 6 weeks our focus turned to Astronomy.

As we began learning about stars and the sun, we read many books and the boys drew pictures of different types of stars.  We also created Star Jars.

Next came the planets in our solar system.  We used sidewalk chalk to create the planets outside and watercolor paints for inside. :)

Food makes everything better (especially chocolate).  So we made a Brownie Solar System.  After we made the brownies and licked the bowl of course, we let the brownies cool completely.  We used yellow icing for the sun, white icing for the orbits, and M&Ms as the planets.  This was lots of fun!  Everyone named the planets in order--even Memphis Belle!  When Daddy came home, you know they had to see if he knew them all. ;)

The boys also created the solar system using paper cut-outs for the planets.  They enjoyed doing this with their CC group.

The phases of the moon came next in our study of Astronomy.  We talked about the how the moon is made of rock and found rocks we pretended were moon rocks.

We also made Moon Dust (a new twist to the Cloud Dough we made last year).  We made a new batch and the kids had fun pretending it was moon dust.  

Each night we watched the moon, talked about its shape and discussed how it seemed to be changing.  We read books on the moon phases and enjoyed making the phases using Oreos.

Asteroids, meteors, and comets made the list and we enjoyed researching the difference between them.  Lastly, we learned about US Space Missions.  The Military Channel devoted a day to space missions, and we were fascinated by the documentaries and hearing the names of what we were memorizing.

In the new year we will turn our focus to physical science.  We are excited to see what it has in store for us!

Happy New Year,

Jenny

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