Week Seven - Travel - Science

Today is the day for air, water, and road experiments.

Air: You will need a balloon (get a couple, accidents happen and you wouldn't want the fun to end early because of a popped balloon), string, tape, and items of different weight. Blow up the balloon and attach the string. Have your child place the objects you gathered from around the house in order of lightest to heaviest. Attach the lightest one to the sting and see if the balloon caries it to the ceiling. Continue with each item and see if they were right about the weight. If you want, add another balloon to see how much more it can hold or see which item weighs more in a head to head.

Water: Will it float? You will need a large container for water (preferably outside - this gets wet) (a kiddie pool works well), waterproof items (or items you don't mind tossing after you play) and a record sheet for their hypothesis and actual outcome. Create the record sheet with your child - you draw the grid lines (I would suggest 5 - 7 rows, 3 columns [object, hypothesis, outcome]), then have them come up with the objects. Depending on time you can have them draw the object in the object column or you can write them in. This is a great time to work on beginning sounds and corresponding letters. Then have them guess if the object will sink or float. Record their guess and head outside to see the outcome. While they are placing the object in the water you record the outcome and talk about why that happened. This is a great time to talk about how boats stay afloat.

Roads: You will need objects that can be made into ramps (anything will do as long as it makes it easier  for cars to roll down hill - even a steep driveway), toy cars of all types (different wheels are best) and objects/textures found around the house (examples: towels, pencils, paper clips, cardboard, etc). Take the items to your ramp and start by rolling the chosen cars down the ramp without any items on it. Then add the items. Talk about how the speed and successful completion of the ramp changed based on what you added. Ask them if they would rather ride on a bumpy or smooth road. Talk about all the textures that real cars drive over.

This is sure to be a fun one, enjoy!

Week Six - Dinosaurs - Science Time

This will be a short post because one of the links I will provide is such a wealth of options that anything else I would provide would be superfluous.

First, keep it simple. Break out the play doh (recipe for make your own) and the dinosaur toys (other bone shaped objects optional) and make your own fossils. In my house this is often an explosion of imagination. Talk about how long it takes to make a fossil in play doh vs how long it takes in real life, what makes a fossil, and how heavy do they think are (info here).

Second, dig your own dinosaurs using ice. You need bowls of different shapes (balloons, ice trays, anything that will hold water and freeze without damage), dinosaur toys or other plastic items to freeze, water, tools to liberate the toys once frozen (rocks will do), a place to set ice and pound on it, and a freezer. Working together fill your containers with water. Then place the toys in the containers. Freeze the containers (about two hours). Remove your ice from containers and get to work "digging up" your fossils. Talk about what dinosaurs they are finding and how hard it is to get the dinosaurs out of the ice. Ask them to imagine digging out real fossils from layers of rock. Talk about the differences between your "digging" and actually digging for fossils.

Last (and I apologize in advance - if your child is as interested in dinosaurs as Little Man you will be here forever) the Dinosaur Train parent site. The have detailed instructions on over twenty different activities grouped by games, arts crafts and cooking, investigating nature, and hands on. As a Jim Henson company product these activities bring in dinosaurs to other core learning for the preschool set including; colors, senses, movement, etc.

They also have a great program called Nature Trackers Club that has a monthly science challenge, activities, and printable pages. This is all about getting kids involved in nature and the environment. Fun and nice to have someone else come up with the ideas once a month!

On a side note - is your child asking more questions about dinosaurs? here is a link with lots of facts on all types of dinosaurs. Amaze your child with all the things you know about their new obsession!

Week Five - 4th of July - Science Time

Here are a couple of activities you can enjoy with your child now that the 4th has passed. This is a great time to talk about what you saw, what was their favorite part, and what was their favorite tradition. Let them talk and see what parts they want to relive.

How about some firecracker cookies? These sugar cookies from CakeSpy.com with food dye and pop rocks look amazing, if a little intense. I like the option at the bottom with the sugar cookies and frosting on the top - but hey it is a holiday week - knock yourself out :) P.S. If you are trying to lose weight DO NOT go to CakeSpy! It is (forgive the language) food porn at its best!

Make your own fireworks. No, not the ones that will blow up and possibly cause you our your precious little ones to lose fingers, firecrackers in a jar. A clear glass, food coloring, oil and and water are all you need for this interesting and quick way to be part of the explosive parts of the 4th.

It is all about density. Use different densities of liquid to create a red, white and blue layered final product. Kids will get a kick out of the liquids not mixing and you can play with this all you want - any colors will do. Make are you talk about weight and what weighs more - and stretch it to the density concept if you feel so inclined.

Have fun!

Week Four - Beach - Science Time

The best thing about learning about the beach is to be at the beach - which is where we are headed tomorrow, so this will be a little short as I have a household of four to pack for a week.

The experiment for this week is to create a Motion Ocean. The folks at National Geographic have detailed instructions to make this a fun experiment for many different ages. Besides what kid doesn't like to get wet when it is hot?

I also found a great blog, Along the Way, that also did a beach theme in 2010. They made sand and it seems like something that a four year old could easily do - especially with the jumping and shaking. You may need to explain the sand a little more so they really understand that they made actual sand. This blog also talks about really looking at sand to understand what it is and talking about how it got there.

Other possible ideas:


Create a sand sensory area - after playing with the sand for a while add water. Talk about the difference between wet and dry sand. What different things could you do based on whether the sand is wet or dry (build a sand castle, pour it in a bottle, etc)? Then leave the wet sand out to dry check it out after it has had time to sit in the sun - what happened?


Explore shells - if you have shells around your house get them out and talk about the differences and similarities. Talk about the sea animals that live in shells and draw a picture of their favorite shells while talking about the different shapes and patterns they found on the shells.

Tomorrow - movies and games (especially helpful for long car rides/anticipation)

Week Three - Weather - Science Fun

Three great (and easy - bonus!) projects to get in our science and weather combo. These are so simple you could actually do all three but feel free to pick just one.

First, create a sun print. This is great project for kids to understand the power of the sun. It works best with cheap construction paper. You need three items - cardboard, construction paper, and sun. Find items around your house, or create pictures using the internet. I found you some weather related items here (you know how I am about themes) - print them out on card stock or print them and cut them out and then trace them onto cardboard. Place your items or cutouts on your cheap construction paper and place it in a sunny place. Feel free to place items overlapping in order to make interesting prints (but leave some of the construction paper uncovered or you won't see a difference). Leave it in the sun for a while (you can check it but keep the paper in the same place) and when you are ready remove the objects (or cutouts) and see the pretty prints. Ask your kids - where else do we see the sun's power? (sunburn, burnt leaves, things growing, etc.)

The other two come from Weather Wiz Kids. Your kids will enjoy it because it is giving them power over nature.

Make it rain. This is so simple and so cool. Follow the directions on the website and watch your kids be amazed. You will need hot water, ice cubes, a glass jar (recycle), a plate and white card stock. Talk about how this happens on such a large scale. This is a good time to talk about the water cycle. The link will take you to Kidzone and has a fun way to talk about the water cycle with kids and bonus coloring pages.

The last one you can do at dinner (or whenever you are enjoying a glass of water and it is sunny), make your own rainbow. Make sure you check out the explanation at the bottom of the link to explain the science of it all. Also, this is a perfect time to talk about the colors of the rainbow. Here is an interactive color the rainbow game. 

We had fun with this - after we made our rainbow we drank the water and talked about how there were rainbows hidden inside. I asked Little Man if he thought the water tasted different which lead to a whole discussion about what would rainbows taste like. In case you are interested, he thinks each color would taste differently.

Week Two - Night Sky - Science Fun

Today's experiment is a winner! I enjoyed this as much, if not more than little man. Of course that being said (you will be surprised to know science is not my strong suit) - the blog where I pulled this gem, Science Bob, would want me to tell you that it is a science demonstration - because you are not actually testing anything.

You will be creating a simple rocket. As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, this is where the film canister and Alka-Seltzer comes in.

The experiment calls for safety goggles - since it is summer you can use your sunglasses. As a note, these things really fly so we instituted a count down and I would suggest drawing a circle around in chalk and making that a "no fly" area. Little Man loved running in with me to set down the canister and then running back outside the circle - bonus calorie burn!

How your child will see this!

Questions to get the discussion going - how high do you think the rocket went? Taller than a giraffe, the house? two of mommy? how many of you? Where would you take a rocket? How would it feel to fly that high or go that fast? Why do you think it makes that popping noise when it blasts off? What noise do you think a real rocket makes?

Hint - my canisters were the black version, not the white Science Bob suggests, and the first times we tried it didn't blast off. In order to create a tighter seem I used masking tape around the mouth of the canister and it worked perfectly.

Enjoy and get ready for plenty of giggles!

Week One - Summer - Science Fun

Today's activity is really fun...my little man loved it, and the art work created is actually very cool.

Weird Science Kids is a great place to get ideas to show kids how the world around them works. The one I chose for summer (because it can be customized) is Bubble Prints.

You will need paint, water, dish soap, paper (all of the supplies are found if you follow the link). Weird Science Kids gives you very specific ingredients, but we used regular water, and bowls and everything worked fine.

Little Man's favorite part was getting to blow into the bubble solution to create the bubbles that will ultimately make the print. This is the part I was nervous about, because you want to make sure that they do not drink the paint - but it proved not to be an issue. He was so excited about being allowed to blow into something with a straw that it never came up.

Image from About.com

The pictures that we created were very cool to look at - and could be used multiples ways, cards, wrapping paper, art for a play room, etc.

Here are my hints to make this fun and educational:

1. Use colors associated with summer: oranges, yellows, reds, bright green, hot pink - talk to your child about why these colors remind us of summer. Ask them what colors they think of when they think of summer. (Note: If you are going to use this as a gift for others, use complimenting colors)

2. Keep some of the bubble solution for bubble blowing fun - don't add paint. This will give them something to do when they tire of the more directed experiment. Talk about the different ways you make bubbles - wands, using your hands in the tub, straws and what they have in common (soap, air, etc.)

What do you see?

3.  Once you have created your bubble art - talk about what it looks like to you (think of looking at the clouds). What does it look like to your little one - why?

4. The point of bubble prints is that the randomness makes it beautiful - but try to direct the bubbles to make a specific object - we tried a bird. This does not work very well - but we had a great time talking about how we would dip the paper to make the components of a bird (beak, belly, body, feet, etc). Then once it didn't work we tried to draw the bird onto the picture. I made it very silly as we tried to find the "beak" and others and see what our silly bird looked like. Little man laughed a bunch.

Tomorrow we have reached the end of week one - I will finally give you that sight word review and give some more books, and movies and shows that you could enjoy as a family over the weekend to keep talking about Summer. Have fun!