Week 8, July 31-Aug 4
Science is Cool! Let's play mad scientist today. There are entire books on simple science projects for kids you can check out or visit one of a thousand of websites for ideas. I'll type out a couple of my favorites here:
Dancing Raisins: Cut raisins in half and drop 2 or 3 pieces into a glass of fresh 7-Up (or Sprite or any clear soda). The bubbles in the 7-Up will float the raisins to the top where the bubbles pop and the raisins sink back to the bottom. See how long your raisins will "dance" before all the fizz in the 7-Up is gone.
Balloon Blowing (Warning: Messy! Do Outside): Pour 1/4 cup of vinegar into a small empty plastic bottle (like a 20oz pop bottle or smaller). Stretch open the balloon and pour in 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Carefully put the mouth of the balloon over the bottle opening, either holding the main part of the balloon to the side or pinching it shut so the baking soda doesn't fall in. Make sure you have a good seal between the balloon and bottle. Then shake the balloon so the baking soda falls into the bottle and watch the balloon blow up!
Sidewalk Chalk Art Show: Remember the scene in Mary Poppins with the different chalked scenes? Divide your sidewalk or driveway up into squares and let your kids create their own masterpieces. If you want, get the neighbor kids involved and hand out ribbons for "Best in Show", "Best Colors", "Best Abstract" and so forth. Don't forget to take pictures before the rain washes everything away!
Bake Bread: There is nothing better than the warm softness of freshly baked bread (unless it's freshly baked chocolate chip cookies but that's another day!). Let's introduce the children to yeast and kneading. Here's a very simple recipe or use one of your own. Let the kids knead their own loaf and talk about the "old days" before plastic bags of sliced bread. Bake, slice, slather on a little butter, and enjoy the taste of hard work!
Scrapbook "Take a Picture Day": Time to develop those lovely pictures your children took! Buy (or make) inexpensive albums, stickers, papers, glues, scissors, and let them decorate their pictures. Help them "journal" the pictures, why did they take this picture, what does the subject mean to them, etc. For any scrapbookers out there, this is a great way to use up leftovers!
Have a Picnic! I don't know about you but I love the romantic idea of a large cloth spread out over the grass and the children eating a meal together outdoors. And I don't know why I don't do this more often. Maybe it's all the preparation beforehand, the bugs during, the mess afterwards. But I won't let this stop me, we're going to have a traditional picnic and enjoy it! Even if there are a few ants in the cherry pie.
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