I had hoped to bundle the children up, and send them out with handheld microscopes today, to view snowflakes up close, before reading to them about Wilson Bentley, the man who discovered, that no two snowflakes are alike.Unfortunately, despite our weatherman's promise of snow, we were met this morning with rain, giving way to a beautiful, and balmy, blue sky covered afternoon. I still sent the younger children out to play, considerably less bundled, and without the microscopes, while the older girls went to work on "plan b", forming six pointed, snowflake designs out of pony beads...
...on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet...
...to melt and fuse together in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven (it takes about 15 minutes, and smells terrible - with what I can only assume are toxic fumes - I was glad it was warm to throw the windows open).
We had planned on poking holes in the tops of each snowflake for hanging, while they were still hot, but they cooled very quickly, and still looked melted, so we missed the chance. I'm thinking we might try melting them slightly again, so we can add the holes.
But first, we had cookies to bake. I made up a half batch of chocolate sugar cookie dough, and added a few drops of black food coloring, rolled it out, and cut it into squares before baking...
...to serve as a background for Snowflake Bentley inspired, melted white chocolate chip, snowflakes.
They're not as beautiful as Mr. Bentley's pictures of the real thing...
...but they're as close as we could get today.
It's great to be a homeschooler.
12 comments:
Just discovered your site and enjoying it...I remember Mr. Bentley.
What a GREAT idea! Another way to celebrate snow!
Both the projects are awesome. I didn't know that you can melt regular pony beads in the oven, but I guess why not, especially if you manage to get them into the oven without disturbing your design.
Ever thought to "experiment" with a DRILL to make a hole? Hot glue a looped string on? Just yesterday I tried dremmel on plastic lid.... time to visit Menards to explore what other kind of bits they have!
Jean - I think these would crack - but I'll speak to the Man of the House about it :)
We are anxiously awaiting snow here, but with temps in the 50s and 60s (so weird) there is none in the forecast!
I forgot to make a hole in a salt dough ornament and we just hot glued ribbon on to hang it - worked great.
I know I haven't read that book, but the illustrations seem so familiar. I'm gonna have to research it to see why.
Oh, and I can only imagine the smell. UGH!
I love the cookie snowflake slides. They go so well with the book, which is also beloved at our house.
So, love your site, been following for awhile. Where do you get your ideas for books? You may have answered that in a post, I can only blame on baby-brain if you have posted and I have since forgotten :)
Mary - Thanks! I find a lot of good books through Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns "What My Child is Reading" link up - I think there's a link to it in the sidebar. And, I spend a lot of time perusing the Amazon book section. Often, one book leads nicely to another we've never heard of. It's hard to believe how many good books are out there!
My daughter would love the pony bead snowflakes. Thanks for sharing.
We have a ridiculous number of pony beads around our house. We'll have to give this a try today while it's mild enough to open the windows!
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