Harvesting Potatoes

 Today we harvested potatoes.

 It was a lot like digging for treasure

And finding it.

Lots of it!

Yum!

Simple Science - Plant Maze

We have been planting and tending seedlings for a few months now, and the Figlet has been making all sorts of observations. 

One observation she had made was the way that the plants would 'reach' for the sunlight, so when I saw this experiment I knew 

we had to try it. 

First we soaked and sprouted some pea seeds.

Then we constructed a maze in a shoe box 

using pieces of cardboard, a TP tube and masking tape. 

When the maze was ready, we planted the sprouted seeds 

in a container and put it at the 'start' of the maze.

We set it up in a window, checking every few days to be sure that the soil stayed damp. It took longer than we thought it would for the peas to make their way to the light - about 10 days.

But they made it!

In case you are wondering, the technical term for the way that a plant orients itself to the light is phototropism. 

Simple Science - Making Butter

How we did it: We poured a pint of heavy cream into a quart canning jar, spun the lid tight, put on some good bouncing music and started to shake - and shake - and shake. When we noticed that the stuff inside was changing we popped the lid open. It looked a lot like whipped cream but without the sugar and vanilla it wasn't so tasty, so we put the lid back on and shook it some more. After about 20 minutes the cream did its thing - The fat and the water separated yielding butter and buttermilk! We drained off the buttermilk (future ingredient for Irish Soda Bread) , then mixed a dash of salt into the butter. As a finishing touch, while the butter was soft we put it in a cake decorating bag with a fancy tip and made butter dots.

Hard work but soooo tasty! 

Simple Science - Planting Seeds

What to do on a blustery February day when you are stuck inside? 

Plant seeds of course!

Prepare the dirt

Poke drainage holes in egg carton planters

Fill with dirt then gently plant seeds

Put them on a sunny windowsill  

(make sure the soil stays moist)

Watch them grow!!!

Simple Science - Ice

What do you do with a 12"+ block of solid ice? 

Science of course! 

In case you had trouble following that, the Figlet decided the block of ice needed to go, but how... First she tried hitting it with a hammer. Then she tried something with a brick (though she's not sure what). When neither of these were working quickly enough, she enlisted my help putting it at the top of a ladder and rolling it off. To round out the effort I brought her some table salt and food coloring that were liberally applied. The results were pretty cool!

(If you were wondering what that rumbling sound was on the video, we live by an elevated train.) 

Letter To A Home Town - The Science of Thanksgiving

Twisted Paper Bag Thank You Tree

 

 

The Science of Thanksgiving

 

Ahhh Thanksgiving: that glorious celebration of hedonism in honor of our foremothers and forefathers. What a wonderful way to pay homage! 

That could be sarcasm, but for once it is not. (Though it is easy to poke fun at a holiday marked by excessive consumption followed by napping.) The way I see it the hedonic quality of the day has the potential to be a positive thing. I know it doesn’t sound that way, but hear me out. There is some science to what I am saying.

Hedonism is, by definition, the belief that pleasure and happiness are the most important goals in life. This doesn’t sound so bad by itself, but hedonism is often associated with self-centered excessive behaviors in the quest for happiness. That is the downfall part. Happiness is a matter of perspective and some people are bound to overdo it.

In psychology there is a theory related to this called hedonic adaptation. In laymen’s terms it goes something like this. Everyone has a baseline of happiness. We hit that baseline by doing what we always do. If we experience significant positive or negative things it will impact our level of happiness, but only so long as those things do not become the norm. If they do become the norm (doing what we always do), we acclimate and that new normal becomes what is needed to achieve base happiness. It is a bit like jumping into a pool. Even if it seemed cold at first, you get used to the water.

This of course begs the question, if we always return to a stasis then how do we achieve greater happiness? One sure way is to actively plan out positive experiences that break normal patterns. This is where Thanksgiving fits in.

Not only is Thanksgiving an invitation to break from our normal routine, there is an increasing body of research pointing to gratitude as a vehicle for happiness. It is being found that people who consistently practice gratitude have lower blood pressure, higher immune systems, feel less isolated and experience more optimism, joy and happiness. That’s right – when on a hedonistic quest for pleasure and happiness it will serve your purpose to show appreciation for what you have and those who helped you out along the way!

I encourage everyone, when you get together with family and friends this week (and in your everyday), raise the bar. Make sure the people in your life that matter hear that from you. Tell a story of how someone right there at the table made a positive influence on you. Make a poster of things you are thankful for and invite everyone to add to it. Let grace last the whole meal instead of hold up dinner. Most of all, let your quest for happiness be laced with gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

               I hope that this letter has found you and yours in good spirits and good health. Until I write again…

Kid Led Science with a Balloon

It started with a red balloon. We went out to dinner for Valentine's and the Figlet, being all cute and stuff, received it from the waiter (I think she won him over when he spotted her sampling the Rainbow Roll).

To spite her insistence on holding it herself and the tantrum that ensued when a loop was put in the string, the balloon made it safely home via the train. From a mom perspective that was surprising in itself, but what followed was the truly amazing part. It was nothing short of... Science!

First she tied the balloon string around her bag to see if it would fly. It didn't. Concluding that it must be too heavy, she dumped the contents onto the floor and tried again. Still too heavy. So she proceeded to test:

All the 'people' that were in her bag

(who might want to go to the moon)

 

A small wooden ornament

 

 

Which flew!

 

 

Her and I on a chair

(She said I was too heavy)

 

 

Her juice

 

 

When Daddy came home she demonstrated

by testing his juice

 

 

Her toothpaste

Then the wooden ornament again

 

 

Because it is so cool when it works!

Blast Off Rockets - Toddler Art Project

Blast Off Rockets

Age: 18 Months - 5 Years or older (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 15 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Rockets, Space, Imaginative play

Books: On the Launch Pad: A Counting Book About Rockets by Nancy Atterbury, Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Materials:

Card Stock Weight Paper
Colored Cellophane (We used red but any color will do)
Glue Sticks
Small pictures of faces (I found them in old magazines and used a 1” round punch to cut them out)
Adults get to use Scissors or Exacto Knife and a Ruler

Prep: Cut the four primary pieces of the rocket out of card stock. Our rockets consisted of a 3” x 5” rectangle for the body, the side ‘wings’ are a 3” x 4” rectangle cut into 2 triangles, and the point was half of a 4” square, but you can cut them to whatever scale you like. Cut 3-5 strips of colored cellophane to be the jet, and several faces (human or animal) to act as passengers.

Activity: Each child gets a set of pieces: 1 large rectangle, 1 large triangle, 2 smaller triangles and colored cellophane. Using a glue stick, assemble the rocket (adding the jet last so it doesn’t take off before they are ready). Choose some passengers and add them onto the body of the rocket. Time to Blast Off!

 

Notes/Tips: Putting the 'passengers' out on a large paper plate will help them from ending up everywhere. Choosing passengers after the rocket is assembled will also give the glue a few moments to dry before playing. If you don't have any colored cellophane, party streamers make a fine jet too. Don’t forget to talk about the shapes - its a preliminary math skill.

 

Working on cutting skills with the scraps.

Simple Science for Toddlers: Magnets

I have seen this science activity in a number of places.

This week we finally got around to trying it ourselves.

First we picked out some pipe cleaners.

Then we cut them into pieces about 1" long

& put them into our bottle.

 

Then using a magnet we made our

fuzzy caterpillars crawl!

 

This activity didn't hold the Figlet's attention as long as I thought it would (she's 34 months) so I was pleasantly surprised when she got it out to show her Daddy when he arrived home. Since then she has played with it again & again! Science is fun!

Simple Science

Old School Lunch Tray, Baking Soda, Vinegar, Food Coloring

and 2 Plastic Spoons...

 

 

Cause and Effect, Fine Motor Skills, Color Mixing...

I loved watching her face as she was experimenting!