Does it get any easier than this?
1. Add water to magic powder (cornstarch)
2. Play, play, play in the drippy ooze
Cornstarch + water = irresistable, slimy fun.
This is an amazing hands-on activity that is a sensory treat. We can't get enough cornstartch around here.
What do your kids love to sink their hands into?
"I love you. Come back and visit me," whispered the boy to his butterfly.
We re-purposed an old birdhouse that was falling apart at the foundation. My husband took out the floor and mounted it up on screws to a sturdy new base. He cut a hole on top and made a little door with copper flashing. Then Jack and I sanded down the sign on top and wrote a new message. After some deliberation (Jack had a lot he wanted to say to the birds) we edited it down to "Welcome Birds. Free Food!" He was very pleased with the results.
We got some sunflower seeds from a local garden store that has bulk bins where you can scoop the seed out yourself, weigh it, and pour it into a paper bag. What a great activity -- look, feel, choose, scoop, weigh, pour -- the process alone was an event and Jack loved it.
Filling the feeder is yet another great sensory and fine motor activity. And watching the birds come and go, and the mischievous squirrels compete for the food is great fun too.
My son has so much to say to the birds. He makes me roll down the windows in the car so he can tell the geese in the road to be careful. He has a conversation going on with the pigeons at a construction site we pass every day. And he likes to hear the birds "talk" to him when he wakes up in the morning.
Does your child ever have conversations with critters?
Our catepillars arrived a few days ago. They have already tripled in size! We ordered them from Insect Lore and they seemed to come almost immediately. (We've been waiting for ants for our ant farm for months!) We check on them throughout the day because they are constantly changing. They are eating and spinning silk and growing like crazy. We have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and have some other butterfly books on reserve at the library. Jack is already sure that he will be too sad to release them when they become butterflies. I told him we can plant a butterfly bush in the backyard, and they will come back to visit us often. I hope this is true! I will keep you posted on our metamorphasis...
We performed an impromptu science experiment when Jack asked, "What are stems?" Luckily we had some daisies on the dining room table and some food coloring in the cabinet...
After quite a bit of waiting, the results were subtle (not as vibrant as I had hoped), but still interesting.
I think we'll try this experiment with celery next to see if the effect is more dramatic. But Jack saw enough to figure it out anyway. He observed, "So stems are like pipes that carry water!" He related it back to his construction frame of reference all by himself. I LOVE that he made that connection!
Who knew science could be so fun?
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