Salt Dough Fun

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I have written in several entries about my love of playdough.  It’s hard to beat the stuff from the store because nowadays it is so cheap &, unlike when we were kids, soft right out of the can!  However I absolutely LOVE homemade salt dough!  We had not made any in 3 years so only my oldest even remembered doing it.  It is one of those things that you need to do every once in a while if for no other reason than the wow factor!  It is so easy & your children will be so impressed that you can make playdough yourself!  I call it Mommy magic- you’ve got to always keep them a little amazed at the things you can do! 

My absolutley favorite part of salt dough is playing with it right after you make it & it is still warm; it is really a delight to all the senses! 

I had lost the recipe for the kind we made 3 years ago which we all loved but I found it recently in a wonderful book that I am really enjoying.  It is Kids Create by Laurie Carlson.  I highly recommend this book for basic craft recipes & fun simple ideas to do with your children- things like what you did as a child before every craft came from Oriental Trading!

This recipe calls for 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tarter, & food coloring.  You put all the ingredients in a large saucespan & stir contantly with a wooden spoon over medium heat.  The soup will magically form a ball at which point you remove it from heat & turn out on a lightly floured surface to knead & cool.

Another thing I love about homemade dough is making your own colors!  These are the 4 colors my boys & I made recently.  To get these eye popping colors I recommend using bakers food coloring (for cake decorating.)  Mine is in a gel form & although a little expensive I have used the same few bottles for years on everything from salt dough, to cakes, to mashed potatoes!  We store our dough in recycled peanut butter jars & do not keep ours refrigerated (although that is what the recipes says to do.)

B1 & I played today.  I can’t imagine anything better for finger dexterity & the imagination!

This was HH’s supper plate that we had waiting for him when he got home- strawberry, blueberry, pear, french fries, ham, cheese, & bread- yummy!

Active Volcano!

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In Mystery of History II we studied Pompeii this week.  It is a tragic but fascinating story from the pages of history about a city that is literally frozen in time- buried in volvanic ash!  We also read Pompeii…Buried Alive! by Edith Davis.  We love the activity suggestions at the end of each MOH lesson & what better way to end a lesson on Pompeii than to make our own volcano!

Here F9 is helping L4 add the vinegar as E6 looks on.  We used a ratio of 3 tablesponns baking soda to 1/2 cup vinegar.  We added a few drops of red food coloring & dish soap for effect!

I don’t know why it suprised me that they went GA-GA over this little experiment.  They are all boy & what’s not to love- it’s messy, explosive, & and "dangerous" (it’s is a real volcano-remember!)  The looks on their faces says it all!

Mount Brookgreen was definately an active volcano.  They repeated the experiment many times- I finally had to put a limit on the amount of vinegar that could be used!  They even started experimenting with capping the bottle & added a little shaking to the volcano with very pleasing results- try that at home yourself to see!  Here are the unsuspecting Playmobile men oblivious to the impending danger!

And finally, the carnage left in the path of Mount Brookgreen.  The poor guy never knew what hit him; he’s still smiling!  Life with boys is sooooo much FUN!

ABC Beads

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We are in our second day of non-stop heavy rain at my house which can become stressful when you have 6 people (5 of them male) in 1000 sq. feet.  Yesterday, I had to banish the boys to the hay barn for a short noise break.  Today we all got involved with a box of ABC beads from Walmart ($3.67.)

The idea was to make one of those water filled bottles full of floating stuff to go in one of L4′s preschool activities in a bag which I use in his workboxes.  The basic idea is from Preschool Activities in a Bag Book 2 & is called ABC HIdden Treasure. The book instructs you to hide the ABC beads in rice but we had been wanting to make one of the floating bottles so we decided to do that instead.  Luckily our bag of beads included 300 beads so we’ll have enough to do a rice version as well.

Basically, we used an empty water bottle filled with 50% light corn syrup & 50% water (although I plan to experiment with this % & see how it changes) & added ABC beads (2 of each letter to make it a little easier) & glitter!  The whole crowd got invloved.  L4 found the letters to his name & then E6 & F9 wanted to do the same of coarse!

E6 & F9 went in order to make the complete alphabet in a line of beads (so we could make sure we got 2 of each letter in the bottle.)

Afterward we decided it would be best to store the beads sorted so we could easily find any letter we needed so E6 went through the remaining 248 beads & grouped them by letter alphabetically.  It was really great alphabetizing practice & fun for him too.

Here is E6 posing with his alphabetized piles of beads & the " ABC Under Water Search" we made for L4!

Poster Centers

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Poster Centers are an idea introduced to me by Sue Patrick to be utilized along with herWorkbox System.  We have been using them & my boys have really enjoyed them.  Although we use them during our workbox time poster centers could easily be added to anyone’s school day with success.

In the photo above L4 is doing one of his favorite posters which is a counting & number recognition poster.  It is called Colorful Crayons.  There are 11 cards (which we keep in a ziplock bag) that have crayons pictured on them ranging from 0 to 10 crayons.  I got the crayon cards from The Dollar Tree.  Then I used a regular piece of posterboard & added library pockets which you can purchase from Oriental Trading Company or easily make from paper yourself.  I printed the numbers on the outside of the library pocket & then added the corresponding number of dots below (so that as L4 tries to place the cards he can count the dots if he does not recognize the number.)

The benefits of poster centers are many, when used correctly.  One major advantage of posters is that they are cheap & readily available.  The Dollar Tree & Walmart have even started carrying educational posters, maps & placemats.  If you are lucky enough to have a school supply store near your house you can get a poster about practically anything for about $2.  And as you can see above you can make your own!  The first poster we used was a small poster about the weather that was folded inside a free catalog from a school supply store as a sample.  The KEY to making posters work in your school day is to make them interactive!

Imagine all the posters you have around your house that no one ever reads or uses.  Now imagine making those posters NOT something to look at but something TO DO instead.  The easiest way to do this is to have 2 identical posters!  One you keep whole as the background & the other you cut up- picking & choosing words, pictures, etc that you want your children to learn.  Take those pieces & laminate them & add velcro so that your child can build on the background poster.  For example, we have an ABC poster.  We use one to hang on the wall.  I have cut the letters (upper & lowercase seperately) & the pictures that go with each letter out from the second poster.  L4 can match the uppercase letters where they go.  On another day he can match the lowercase letter & E6 can work on beginning word sounds by matching the picture that goes with each letter pair to where it goes.

Children really enjoy them & they allow them to learn while getting up & moving around.  If you want to use single posters you already own just photocopy small portions, draw them free hand or add vocabulary words or some other component.  

I have seen  some really great posters done for older students using maps, posters with geography terms, Roman numerals & more.  Another benefit is that although posters are large they don’t take up floor space & can easily be stored behind a cabinet or under a couch or bed.

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Pretty Pumpkins

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There is just so much to do with pumpkins this time of year- carving, roasting seeds, pies, painting- here’s one more to add to your repertoire- stained glass pumpkins.

The best part of pumpkins is picking them so if you can grow your own or visit a local grower.  Many pumpkin growers (at least in our area) don’t plan to sell any after Halloween so they will give them away.  Our crowd went & collected pumkins the other day so we could teach stained glass pumpkin art at our 4-H Club meeting.  Here is F9 showing off for the camera!

Stained glass pumpkins are not only beautiful & make great Thanksgiving table centerpieces but they also complement a study of color wonderfully.  We had a lesson on the color wheel & this project which utilizes layers of tissue paper allows the artist to experiment with color in so many fun ways.

Basically, you take a clean, dry pumpkin & wet a small spot using a sponge brush to apply a white glue/water mixture (about 50/50.)  Then you take small pieces of tissue paper (several layered together for vibrant colors or one for a more transparent look) dip them in the glue mix & stick on the pumpkin.  You use your fingertips to smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles & make sure the edges of the tissue paper are wet & flat.  You continue around the pumpkin in any way you desire.  With 20 kids doing this project you got 20 different styles & that is of coarse the best part of art.  Here are our family’s pumpkins, enjoy!

Perfect Picture Book for the Adventurous Boy

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Do you have an adventerous, inventing, imagination filled little boy at your house?  Well, here’s a really fun picture book to look for at the library.  It’s a bonus if you like Moon-Pies too!  We actually checked this book out because my E6 is a real live Jimmy Zangwow look alike!  When I saw the book I said, "E, if you were a drawing this is exactly what you would look like!"  They are a match from the red hair, freckles, boots, goggles, scarf, & big belt.  My E6 is all about costumes & accessorizing & he says he is going to an inventor when he grows up.

Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure by Tony Diterlizzi is a really fun imaginary adventure of a boy who gets turned down when he asks for his favorite snack-moon pies of coarse!  And who can blame his Mom- she doesn’t want to ruin his brussels-sprout-noodle-bean casserole.  So to pass the time before supper he takes a trip in his junk jumbilee jalopy to see the moon, the Milky Way, Mars, some martians & one Grimble Grinder.
It’s just a fun book with great art & it showcases the imagination of a little boy.  It’s also a really fun time saying expressions like "Gadzooks, Jumping June bugs! & zip pip kaboodle."  This book could be be worked into a lesson on space, math (the milk is in pints, quarts & gallons & there are 999 mars men,) the spirit of inventing, sharing, or even poor snack choices (if you want to be a real downer.)  My suggestion however, is to check this book out & buy a box of Moon-Pies to enjoy together after you read it.

By the way, loud burping is used to save the day in the end so if that offends you pass this one up.  But let’s be honest if you’re not used to burping you probably don’t need books for boys anyway!  Here is my E6 with his own Junk Jumbilee Jalopy (what can I say, he was inspired!)  It even has an emergency shoot (umbrella,) headlights (mason jars,) & a Moonpie holder (cardboard box.)

Spontaneous Science

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We all know the best learning takes place when it is self-motivated!  We have borrowed a book from the library called Every Kid Needs Things that Fly! by Ritchie Kinmont.  We got it to go along with L4′s Fabulous FUN Family Friday on Airplanes but have kept it for several weeks because the boys are so interested in it. 

Above are F9 & E6 trying out their modifications of one of the hot air balloon experiments.  We did not have all the exact components on hand but they switched a few things around & tried it a little different.  The goal was to make a hot air balloon with a basket that would carry an action figure.  When their helium balloon would not lift the basket or the action figure by himself they decided to try a Playmobile man, then a legos man.  When it wouldn’t carry away even this tiny man they changed their idea & thought it might make a good parachute instead.

Here they are trying to do a paratrooper jump from their playground cabin.  The wind blew their man way off coarse & then…he came untied!

The legos soldier landed safely in the sandbox but here is their hot air balloon escaping into the heavens above the tree field.  Like most of life, sometimes we learn the most from our mistakes!

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History Fair

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This week has been CRAZY for our family.  Smack dab in the middle of it we had our local homeschool support group’s History Fair.  Usually we would not take on extra activities during this time of year since we also started making wreaths this week & are preparing to harvest Christmas trees BUT our boys (& our entire family) love history so much & we believe public speaking is such a vital skill that we couldn’t pass this up.

F9 did his presentation on D-Day, on which he is an unofficial expert!  He did this presentation 100% by himself including his display board, deciding what he wanted to say, & memorizing the speech Eisenhower gave the troops just before the invasion (which he used as his opening.)  We were very proud of how well he did in preparing for this event & his love of WWII history.

E6 did his presentation on Cherokee Indians who are the American Indians who lived in the Appalachian mountains (where we live.)  Here he is posing with his display table which was the most beautiful there (in my humble opinion!)  E6 is ALL about the costumes & accessories!  He made the small fringed bag at his side & we worked really hard (well, I worked really hard-he supervised) on the rest of his costume.  He really had a great time & makes quite the little pale faced Indian!  I so love the way he enjoys dressing up & gets excited about all that stuff because I love costumes & dressing up too & F9 is way too serious & practical for that sort of thing!

This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you...

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The other day I was trying to explain this old saying, handed down from generation to generation of parents, to F9.  Tonight I got to refresh my own memory of what it means.

As we were getting ready to tuck in all the boys F9 looked in his treasure chest (his tiny few inches of private space in a room he shares with 2 brothers) & realized all his money was missing.  It took a few lines of questioning before L4 admitted that he had taken his brother’s money & put it in his own box.  I was devestated.  Just last week we had an issue of taking from each other’s boxes & had discussed with L4 the grave severity of not being trustworthy & taking things that do not belong to us.

By God’s divine wisdom & grace towards me, my HH walked in the back door as L4 & I were headed to the bathroom to discuss his offense.  HH took over for me & I know it was God’s hand because there is no way I could have done what had to be done.  In our home the consequence for stealing is asking for forgiveness & double restitution.  After discussing his offense with HH in the bathroom L4 came back to his room eyes swollen & heart broken.

He tearfully got out his own box & with HH’s help turned every penny he had over to F9 as restitution!  It broke my heart too!  L4 is the most loving & gentle child I have ever seen & to see his little eyes swollen with tears as he gave away all his money was more than I could have beared alone.  E6 must have been heartbroken too because he got out of bed & went to his box & gave L4 $5 of his money in honor of L4′s courage & honesty in admitting his offense!

I love my boys so much!  And I know that consequences that don’t sting a little won’t be remembered.  I hope L4 will remember tonight & I thank God that he made little boys to have a Mommy & a Daddy.  I don’t know if I could make this trek alone like my Mom did.  Thank you Lord for godly men & please Lord, make my 4 boys be godly too!