Jello Cells...Yum!

To begin our study of the human body, we are learning about cells, the building blocks of, well, everything. We're using:

 
and also Body systems and organs: Covering system, skeletal system, muscular system, circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, excretory system, ... system (Step-by-step science series) Really long title for a little paperback workbook!

 We studied pictures of cells and their labeled parts, then decided to make an edible cell. Cuz every lesson is better when you eat it at the end.

 After raiding the refrigerator and cabinets, we came up with stawberry nuclei, gumdrop mitochondria, ribosome sprinkles, and tootsie rolls flattened and curled to look like rough ER. I wouldn't recommend the tootsie rolls - they melted in the jello. We could still see bits of them in there. The ooze wasn't pretty, though.



KID 1 adds ribosome sprinkles



KID 2 drops in mitochondria gumdrops







Our cells are ready for cryofreezing...or cryofrigerating in our case.

 



We put a cell on a glass plate and held a light under it...cool, huh?



Phoenician Purple Dye - The Color of Kings

We're making purple dye this week as we study the Phoenicians (The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times), a continuation of our classical study of history. The Phoenicians were well-known for their purple dyes, extracted from a type of sea snail and boiled for over a week. Cloth dyed with this purple hue was so expensive, only the very wealthy could afford it, making purple the "color of kings."

I got some helpful tips from this site: http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html

We'll need:

• 1/2 cup salt
• 8 cups water
• large pot
• blueberries (we used 4 cups)
• water
• colander/strainer
• cotton t-shirts 
• rubber bands, if tie-dying

Band your fabric if tie-dying. Simmer the fabric for one hour in the salt fixative: 1/2 cup salt dissolved in 8 cups cold water. Rinse and squeeze excess.

In the meantime, boil blueberries in water (water is double the amount of blueberries). Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer for one hour. Strain the liquid into a large pot.

Place fabric into dye bath and simmer until desired color is achieved.

KID 1 banded his own shirt (far left). I banded KID 2's shirt as per her instructions on placement (far right). We even made a shirt for Mommy...won't I just feel like royalty in my purple?

Loving Love & Logic

I've been reading this book




and reminiscing about a favorite old tv sitcom: The Cosby Show. I loved it as a kid, but I seriously LOVE it as a parent! And now I know why! The Love & Logic philosophy really appeals to me. The idea that we are not here to swoop in and rescue our children from their poor decisions. We are here to support them and love them right through their not-so-great choices and the consequences that follow. Can't you just see that wise, knowing smile on Mrs. Huxtable's face as she discussed with her children the choices they had made or were making? Remember the humor that never failed to shine through? I want to be like that as a mom!

Paper Punching Push Pins...Perfect!

An old mousepad gives them a soft surface for pin punching

I found these really cool maple and oak leaf outlines over at abcteach.com under their "Montessori Materials" category and decided to let our little homeschoolers try their hands at pin punching. I learned somewhere that wooden puzzles with pegs are great for pre-writing development. I'm thinking the push pin gives them the same grasp, but requires even better hand/eye coordination as they punch their way around the shape.

Both kids, ages 4 and nearly 7, thoroughly enjoyed this challenge. They were both so proud of their beautiful leaves as I held them up to the sun to see them sparkle!

We will be using pin punching with KID 1 as he creates a map of the world with the seven continents, then he can go back and punch out each country as we study it. He loves to do very careful work, so I'm betting cartography will be right up his alley.

Have preschoolers at home?

You might be interested in this book:

Bunnies and Eggs...Spring is Springing Up on Me!

Found this robin's egg soap at Pottery Barn this weekend and thought it would go perfectly with this little bunny soap dish. Reminds me of The Golden Egg Book!

Write On!: Our New Writing Center

I just love finding ways to facilitate creativity in my kids. This weekend I reorganized our art and craft supplies and repurposed an old tv stand to hold everything the kids like to have free access to. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, since I didn't spend a penny on it and I think I have eliminated one of our clutter culprits. Tons of junk always landed on the top of this table. I had to sift through stacks of school papers, artwork, old mail, and random objects thoughtlessly laid atop this tv table, but it was worth it! I hate clutter!

Here are a bunch of pics of our new writing/creativity center:

I used the baskets we already had, so they don't all match, but they work for now!

The top view: I used an old serving tray to define the mail center. The cake stand is for new mail.

We now have a "Cards and Envelopes" basket, "Sticky Notes and Small Note Paper," and an old utensil caddy that holds freshly sharpened pencils, hole punchers, scissors, tape, pens, and a variety of paper pads. A pretty clipboard holds a stack of kindergarten lined paper.

The middle section (where the dvd player used to be) holds Ikea boxes of markers, crayons, and other essentials for writing and drawing. The lime green basket is for stickers. I put a sheet of "make your own" blank stickers in there in addition to tons of little chart stickers and round tag sale stickers.

The picture labels make it easy for our 3-year-old to find what she needs, but also has the words for our 6-year-old to practice reading. These little boxes are from Ikea and are the perfect size for our art supplies.

The bottom drawers hold stencils, colored construction paper, and a basket of sight words.

The kids know exactly where to put the mail when they bring it in. When they need a stamp on their envelope, it goes in the green pot for me to stamp it. I gave them some return address labels that we got for free in the mail...they love these! The basket in the back is our "Bird Watching" basket with binoculars, sketch pad, bird book, and colored pencils, ready to be carried outside on an expedition.

So far, this writing center has inspired lots of writing and creativity! Hopefully it continues to be a good clutter-buster, too!

Felt Story Fun

This is one I grew up with, so when I had to decide which books I wanted to make into felt story sets for our 3-year-old, Caps for Sale was a definite choice.

 A peddler, who carries his wares on his head, goes for a walk in the country and naps under a nice, big tree. When he wakes up, his caps are missing - all but his own checked cap! He soon discovers the culprits: a tree full of monkeys, all wearing his caps! How will he get his caps back?

Another favorite:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

These felt sets, along with the gilt-framed felt board, were our little bookworm's big Christmas gift from Mommy and Daddy. A rainbow stack of felt from Michael's, some wiggly-jiggly eyes, and a hot glue gun were all I needed to create these pieces.

KID 2 loves her storyboard! I'm working on adding more stories and poems for her to play with. Do you use a felt board at home?

The January Banner is Done!

I made our "Banner of the Month" for the mantle this week using snowflakes from the dollar store (packs of 6/$1) and felt. January is snow themed in our house, since this month lacks any great holiday decor. As soon as the Christmas aisle is cleared out, they bring out Valentine's Day decorations! We're not ready for that yet!

We brought the snowmen down out of the attic when we put away our Christmas decorations and I got a can of spray snow at Walgreen's 50% off after Christmas (paid $.99). Our windows are nice and frosty now here in Central Florida!

I'm beginning to lose touch with how hokey my "theme months" are, which is just fine with the kids...they love it!

Note: The quilted piece behind the banner is up on my mantle. It was created by my sweet friend, Kay, over at PrettywithRibbons.com. I love it!

Our Listening Station is "Ripped!"

Can you believe I still have most of my books on tape from my own childhood? Our kids love having a box full of books on tape to sit and "read" all by themselves. Granted, some are quite dated (remember the "Wuzzles"...or how about the "Little People" series by Fisher Price?), while others are classic. Goldilocks, the Wild Things, the Gingerbread Boy, and Little Red are all in the box.

Finding a cd player with a tape deck wasn't easy, but we have a good one that will hopefully last a long time. I've instructed the kids on how to use it properly, so they can listen to their books independently (KID 2 struggles with getting the tapes into the deck, but she's getting better).

We've been slowly adding to our listening library as the kids' birthdays roll around, and sometimes new books come with a "bonus" CD recording. Our large board book copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar came with a CD recording of the book read by Eric Carle himself. That one is pretty cool! Gwyneth Paltrow did the recording of Brown Bear, Brown Bear; and James Earl Jones recorded the most recent addition to our library, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

But with the advent of the CD, books on tape are not as easy to find. Most are on CD, which is great for listening in the car, but when you let your kids handle their own audio books, CD's get damaged VERY easily. So, I don't know how legal it is, but I've just finished ripping our entire CD audio book collection onto the computer. This way we can burn a new copy if (WHEN) their CDs get scratched and won't play anymore. I feel much better about letting them handle their own books on CD now that we have a way to replace them without having to repurchase the recordings.

The listening library in no way replaces our reading time together, but in a house with no TV, it's nice to have things they can fill their time with independently and still have the benefit of reading!

Homemade Advent Calendar

This is the Advent calendar I made over the weekend using dollar store finds. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Find out more over at MotleyMoms!

Easy Advent Calendars

I've posted some of my Advent calendar activities over at Motley Moms. Go check it out!

In the meantime, I've seen some really cute ideas for creating your own Advent calendar. You can use mini galvanized buckets, numbered 1 - 24 to hide little treats in. Hang them on a ribbon or cord to create a garland. You can even hang them out of order so the kids have to search for each day's treat.

Another cute idea is to use mittens (use mismatched or find them at thrift stores). Add numbers using felt or stitch them on and hang on ribbon or cord.

I found some really cute examples online by searching for "bucket advent calendar" and "mitten advent garland"...there are lots of ideas out there, both simple and elaborate. Have fun!

Math Munchies: Fruit Loop Number Line

We love edible math around here...I mean, who doesn't, right? So I gave my just-turned-3-year-old a bowl of fruity-O's and some plastic lacing cord, the length of a necklace, and invited her to make a necklace. After finding lots of reasons to eat them before stringing them (this one's broken, I'll have to eat it; these two are stuck together - I'll have to eat them) she got to it and strung about 25 cereals. I tied a knot at the open end and showed her how to slide the loops down to the end as she counted. She let me do about two of them and then told me to "Stop, Mommy! It's my turn!"

It was fun to make, fun to use, and fun to eat. When she tired of counting (she counted the whole strand 4 or 5 times by herself) I tied it around her neck and she set to work nibbling her necklace!

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Happy November! I'm sharing my super-secret recipe for Pumpkin Pie Playdough to celebrate (okay, it's probably not that secret, but it was new to me and has gotten rave reviews everywhere I share it).

Start with this basic playdough recipe, but add a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger or use several teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Put orange food coloring in the water before stirring it into your dry ingredients.

Mmmmmmmmm! Everytime the kids play with playdough, the house smells like pumpkin pie!

Folk Tale Fun for Halloween

Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, Woodcutter, and Grandmother

The kids loved that we dressed up with them. They were fascinated by the way my powdered hair and drawn-on wrinkle lines made me look really old!

We had everything we needed for our costumes except the red cape and hood. I used the leftover gray fur from KID 1's Max costume (Where the Wild Things Are) to make ears and stapled them to his hat.

The cape and hood reverse to a green, scaly dragon...why just make a boring red cape and hood, right? ;)

Hope you had a fun Halloween (or Fall Fest) with your kiddos!

Books We "Fall" For!

Bring in the pumpkins

Fall Fun with Sight Words

Found these leaf doilies at the dollar store and just knew I'd find a way to use them...

This is KID 1's placemat:

He was so excited he started chanting, "I've got leaves for sight words! I've got leaves for sight words!"

Gotta love Kindergartners!

Kid-Friendly Way to Celebrate the Season: CUPCAKE LINERS!

KID 2 was hungry before school, so we broke out the cute fall cupcake liners and filled one with raisins for her to nibble. They make great snack cups! I'm brainstorming other ways to use these cute seasonal papers:

• Craft Corral: great for holding glitter, googley eyes, pom poms, or whatever we're working with

• Same and Different: I have the kids sort and categorize little items like coins, beads, M&M's, etc.

• Lunchtime Helper: perfect size for corralling chips or pretzels on their lunch plates

• Flower Power: flip inside out and snip down the sides to make a paper flower for a seasonal collage.  Glue a button or pom pom in the center.

• Handyman special: hold the little parts, nuts and bolts in one spot as you assemble those awesome birthday and Christmas toys

Any other ideas? Kids love seeing the season reflected all around them and take joy in the small reminders we incorporate into their day.

Aa is for Apple

Now that KID 1 is spending his days in his Kindergarten classroom, it's up to KID 2 and me to keep the alphabet soup bubblin'!



This week was "Apple Week" here. I only wish we had apple orchards nearby where we could go and pick fresh apples! We studied an apple and all its many colors, then filled in a big apple outline with colored tissue paper. KID 2 had fun tearing the tissue into little pieces for gluing. I watered down some Elmer's and gave her a paintbrush to apply her glue. She really enjoyed this project!





This one is MY apple project. I want to make a banner for each month so we can hang it on the mantle to mark the beginning of the new month. Here is September's banner:

How do you celebrate the month of September?

Summer Fun: Build a Teepee!

We're spending some time in the woods this summer, looking for some good, clean fun. Remember the days when your mama sent you outside and told you not to come back 'til dinner? And you just had to make your own fun. Video games, DVDs, and iPods had nothing to do with our childhoods, and I'm thinking that was probably a good thing. This summer we're going back to basics. I'm finding ways to share the fun and imagination I developed as a kid with our kids, without sending them off to fend for themselves...you just can't do that nowadays, unfortunately.

Here's the teepee they made with their Daddy this weekend and what a joyous time they had dragging all those branches out of the woods and into the back yard! KID 1 had the idea to cover the basic tripod with leafy branches to enclose it. Next summer, the base will be ready to support pole beans as a cover.

We made some old fashioned string phones for the new hideout. Remember those? I just needed to raid the recycling bin for tin cans and we were all set!

Hope you're having some good old fashioned fun with your kids this summer!