Book Club Week 6 {Math and Magic in Wonderland}

Chapter 6 of the math adventure novel Math and Magic in Wonderland centers around the classic "River Crossing" logic problem.  If you take the time to follow rabbit trails, however, there are so many more learning opportunities to be found...

Wildflower Nature Study {Homeschool Kindergarten}

I've been taking nature walks with the kids since before they could walk and encouraging them to observe the world around them.  Last week we did our first "formal" nature study, on wildflowers.  Here's what we did..

Diaper Science {and Sensory Experience!}

The other day, the kids were playing out on the deck when they ran to me with a gooey substance in their fingers asking what it is.  At first I was worried that it was something toxic or some type of insect egg and freaked out a little as H (2 years old) wanted to put it in his mouth.  A couple hours later I realized that H's diaper must have torn and this was the absorbent substance from his diaper (called sodium polyacrylate).  This inspired me to try an experiment with my twins (homeschool Kindergarten) to learn about The Science of Diapers...

Homemade Plantable Paper (AKA Seed Bombs)

One of the homemade presents that the girls made for Christmas were these colorful pieces of plantable paper (also known as "seed bombs").  They make a cute holiday gift and make planting flowers really easy (just put them on the ground, sprinkle with soil, make sure they get enough water and soon flowers will appear).  This was a great way to incorporate two of the topics we've been learning about in Homeschool Kindergarten - seeds and recycling.  Here's what we did..

Observing Caterpillars

Two weeks ago, we received some mail-order caterpillars.  The girls (and I) have been having a great time observing them and learning about the butterfly life cycle...

Indoor Penguin Snow Play! {Antarctic Antics and My Penguin Osbert}

It snowed this past weekend, but instead of bundling the kids up in layers upon layers of winter clothing, I decided to bring the snow play indoors this time!  And why not integrate it with a mini-unit on penguins?  Here's what we did..

Preschool Science Experiments and Exploration

I come from a family of scientists, so naturally science is one of my favorite subjects to do with my children.  I absolutely love watching their brains at work as we do experiments and they observe, ask questions, try new things, and make inferences - lots of fun!

I rounded up links to some of the science activities I've blogged about over the past year (twins were 2.5-3.5 years old)..

Montessori Monday: Child-Led Learning

I've noticed recently that L and E (3.5 years old) are starting to take the lead in making up educational activities for themselves.  I love watching them as they make observations and invent new experiments and activities.  I'm getting much better at sitting back and following their lead rather than getting too enthusiastic and trying to dictate the process.  Here are three examples of child-led learning that I remembered to take photos of...

Bubbles in a Bowl and Other Water Experiments

My kids are always asking to blow bubbles, but now that the weather is colder, it's hard to get outside (and with the amount of bubble liquid that my kids spill I'm not going to attempt having them blow bubbles indoors).  Today after we did a sink/float experiment in the kitchen, I thought of a super-easy solution - put some water and dish soap in a bowl, hand each kid a straw, and voila - instant entertainment!  Just for fun, here's the train of thought that got us here...

Learning About Frogs

The latest issue of Zootles magazine was about frogs, so the girls (3 years old) and I decided to learn all about frogs and do some extra frog-related activities.  After we read through the magazine, I got on YouTube and showed the girls various videos of frogs eating insects, worms, and even birds.  We found videos of frogs jumping in slow motion, and even male bullfrogs fighting each other.  The girls were fascinated and pretended they were frogs the rest of the day.  Here are some of the other activities we did on the topic..

Preschool Science: Colors and Capillary Action

There are a number of experiments on light and color that I'd like to do with the kids.  Unfortunately, last week I just couldn't find the time to prep the experiments, so we ended up exploring colors (as well as capillary action) spontaneously using materials we had on hand.  It ended up being a lot of fun.  Here's what we did:

Preschool Science: Learning about Air

A couple days ago, the girls (3 years old) and I did some science experiments to learn about the properties of air.  They were inspired by both Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding (BFSU) and the book Science in Seconds for Kids by Jean Potter (which contains over 100 experiments that have very little setup time).  Here are the four experiments we did...

Preschool Science: Baking Soda and Vinegar

I don't know anyone who hasn't heard of the classic experiment where you add vinegar to baking soda and watch the chemical reaction (which produced carbon dioxide bubbles).  For L and E (3 years old this month), the scientific details of this chemical reaction is beyond their level of comprehension.  However, this fun experiment is a great way to reinforce the concepts of the scientific process and observation...

Preschool Science: Experiments in Buoyancy

This morning, the girls enjoyed doing some basic science experiments to explore buoyancy: Dancing Raisings, and Egg Floating.  The experiments did not go quite as planned, which gave them an even more important lesson in the scientific process...

Learning About Plants

The girls (34 months old) planted some pinto beans in a clear container with some wet cotton balls last week.  Within a day, two of the beans started growing.. and growing.. and now one of them is over a foot tall already!  L and E were very excited to check on their beans every day, and I was amazed at how quickly they grew.  Today we learned more about plants...

Land and Water Forms

I'm going to start a Geography unit with L and E (33 months).  Today we did a variation of the Montessori Land and Water Forms activity using real sand and water.  Since the girls have no need to know the difference between a Peninsula and an Isthmus (as in the Montessori curriculum), I made up my own variation.  We made mountains and valleys, islands, lakes, rivers, forests, and other natural formations that the girls were already familiar with...

Plastic Frog Habitat and Games

One activity the kids are especially fond of is a little habitat for their plastic frogs.  I fill up a plastic tub with water add a log and some Lilly pads out of craft foam, and voila - hours of fun play ensue!

Nature Walks and Outdoor Exploration

Now that the weather has been getting nicer, we've been taking the kids on nature walks.  My little scientists love exploring all things big and small in the great outdoors.  I put together little explorer backpacks for them:

Animal Matching Activity

The kids have quite a collection of little plastic animal models.  One activity we do involves matching the animal figures to animal cards.  A month or two ago, I found some flashcards in the Target $1 section for North American Animals and another for Insects.  They went perfectly with our North American Animal Toob and the insect tub (from Oriental Trading).  After laminating the cards that had matching figures, I presented it to the girls as an animal matching game: