Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Flat Snowmen - For Children With Very Little Snow


We finally did get about an inch of snow, at around midnight last night. It's already melted off, but for a brief bit this morning, it looked like winter.

We rushed out first thing, to take a look of the jumble of tiny snowflakes through our handheld microscopes.


Then, we quickly set to work crossing at least one project off of our winter to-do list. There wasn't quite enough snow to make a proper snowman - at least not in 3D, but by pressing the rim of a plastic bowl into the snow, and with the addition of a few carrot shreds from our salad mix, dirt clods form the garden, and twigs from under trees...


...we could make all the two dimensional snowman we wanted.


At least until around noontime, when the melting started in earnest. Then, we retreated to the house for lunch with hot chocolate, and snow themed audio story.


After I read to the children yesterday, about Snowflake Bentley, A (age 10) remembered that she had read about him already in Megan McDonald's Judy Moody and Stink, The Holly Joliday. By the time she got around to asking me what a stellar dendrite was (Stinks costume in the book), I decided to download the audio story from the library, so we could all listen to it together. It turns out to be much more about snow than about Christmas - making it the perfect addition to any (ever so slight) snow day.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

8 comments:

Phyllis said...

Love your snow through the microscope picture. Cute snowman, too. I never thought of soing that.

Unknown said...

GREAT idea for little snow- which is pretty much what we get around here in the valley of East Tennessee...

Debbie said...

I am with Phyllis love the snow through the microscope! We could have made snowmen in the frost this morning. Though that might have been a little colder then your snow.

Joyful Learner said...

We read Snowflake Bentley recently. Love the snowflake photo under your microscope! Which microscope did you use? Does it take pictures? I've been on a look out for one.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Joyful Learner - I used a Learning Resource pocket microscope (they cost under $10.00 on Amazon) with a 30X magnification, and just stuck my camera up to the eye piece :)

Christy Killoran said...

I bought that microscope on your recommendation and we love using it. Now, if only it would snow!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

At least you have some snow. We were thinking of driving to the Sierra foothills this weekend, but apparently there is very little snow there too. What a strange winter we are having!

Jackie Higgins said...

Great idea! I think we are only going to have 2 dimensional snowmen this year also!