Summer Fun Day 27 - Fossils in Oobleck, Recycling Dino Dig Kits

D (age 9), received a couple Ja-Ru DinoWorld Fossil Kits last Christmas.  They are inexpensive, grocery store aisle finds, but turned out to be some of the best fossil kits we've ever tried.  Each kit contains a small egg shaped "rock" from which to excavate the tiny plastic bones of one of six different types of dinosaurs.

There are seven bones (1 head, one body, one tail, and 4 legs) for each dinosaur.  The bones snap together into a skeleton, and fit into a stand that comes with the kit, along with a digging tool and brush.

What D liked most about the kits was that the material the the bones were buried in was perfect for excavating, more like soft sandstone, or maybe even a sandy chalk, than the brick hard substance so many of the toy fossil kits contain.  It reminded me vaguely of dried Oobleck - the non-Newtonian liquid you get when you mix one part water to two parts cornstarch.

No-one sells Ja-Ru toys in our area, and since there are only six different types of Dino World  kits to choose from anyway, I decided to try recycling what we already had by dropping our dinosaur skeletons into a paper cup filled with Oobleck and a couple of teaspoons of play sand.

To shake things up, and increase the difficulty, I dropped the bones from four different dinosaur skeletons into the same cup (after taking pictures of them sorted out correctly according to skeleton, for later reference).

The sand dropped right to the bottom, giving our finished "rock" an interesting layered look.

The plastic bones floated to the top, and had to be pushed down into the goo, as it dried.

That, in itself, proved to be a fun game for the children.

Being a non-Newtonian fluid, there is a trick to burying the bones. You have to very gently push each bone down into the more solid substance below the watery surface, and hold it in place, keeping your finger still, as the solid liquefies around your finger, and then all at once, in a very quick movement, you have to pull your finger back out, causing the liquid to solidify, trapping the bone.

If you hold your finger still for too long in the liquid, too much of it will liquefy, and you will release already buried bones.  Or, if you pull your finger out too quickly, the liquid will not solidify, and the bone will float right back to the surface.  

Once we had all the plastic bones buried, we left our fossil to dry for a couple of days, before tearing away the paper cup, and going to work, using a knitting needle and small paint brush to excavate the mound.

It worked very nicely, just as I hoped...

...except that even with the picture aids, I'm not entirely sure all the skeletons were assembled properly.  There may have been some mixing and matching of leg bones...

...and despite a thorough search, one tiny skull was never recovered (it's possible there might have been some pillaging and theft by a rival museum's team).  Luckily, D had another skeleton, that was missing a tail, to borrow from - creating a new dinosaur (tristegosaurus?)  in the process.

That's paleontology for you.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Summer Fun Day 26 - Barbie Salon Science - Part 1

We started this rainy day experiment with more salon than science, but once we were done I thought of a number of science-type follow-ups we could have done.  So, keep an eye out for the part 2 to this post, if you are interested.

To begin with, we wanted to see if we could determine the best method for dealing with Barbie doll dreadlocks.  Our research had revealed three methods:

• Dip the doll's hair into hot water, before brushing it out
• Use a liquid fabric softener soak
• Or a vinegar soak (this made sense to us as vinegar is sometimes used as a fabric softener).

We tried all three, with the addition of a red wine vinegar soak (red wine vinegar is what you buy when you mean to grab apple cider vinegar, but get distracted in the aisle).

We let our dolls soak for an hour, wrapped in their luxurious salon robes - dish rags secured in the back by bobby pin.

Then, we gave our vinegar and fabric softener soaked dolls a cold water rinse...

...before brushing out their hair...

...and allowing them to dry.

All four of the test subjects showed positive results, leaving me to wonder if it wasn't more the brushing, than the soaking, that did the job.

But, the plain distilled vinegar soak did seem to leave our Barbie (the one with the curls) with a slightly nicer shine to her hair than the others.  The hot water treatment (for the blond on the right, with longer hair) came in second.  And, we liked the results of the fabric softener (the shorter haired blond on the left) the least.

The girls were concerned about the vinegar smell.  But it dissipated quickly, once the hair was dry.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Summer Fun Day 25 - The First Jane Austen "Novel" Every Teen Girl Should Read

As your daughters reach the age of Austen, let me suggest before they join Jane, and Elizabeth, Emma, Elinor or even Fanny in seeing Darcys, Knightlys and Willoughbys behind every male smirk and smile, introduce them to Catherine Morland.

Let them laugh at her (and themselves) as they see just how silly seventeen can be.

"Perhaps after all it is possible to read too many novels."

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Summer Fun Day 24 - Word Searches on the Windows

C (age 7) received a couple of packs of window markers for her birthday - precisely what we (maybe I) needed for the giant word find I had planned, using vocabulary words from...

 ...the girls' favorite summer book find.  Did you know Fancy Nancy has grown up into chapter books?

Beginning chapter books, really, but chock-full of fabulous "fancy" words...

 ...sublimely suited for a smidge of summer spelling fun.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Summer Fun Day 23 - Ice Cream Cone Piñata

I made this piñata for a summer birthday, but it would also work nicely for National Ice Cream Month in July, or National Ice Cream Day, which according to the International Dairy Foods Association, will be on July 21st, this year.

For a small "individual" piñata, start with an empty toilet paper tube, a 9 oz. paper cup, a small, elongated balloon only partially blown up (to allow some room for shaping), masking tape, and scissors (you will also end up needing white paper, a brown paper lunch bag, white school glue, water, and a bowl).

Note:  For a bigger sized piñata, use 9 and 12 oz cups to form the cone, instead of the cup and toilet paper tube, and a larger balloon for the ice cream.

Cut all but about 2 inches away from the bottom of the cup.

Tape the balloon just above the the middle, to draw it in, and give it more of the swirled, soft served look.  It's a good time too, to make sure the balloon will fit into the rim of what is left of the cup (you can cover the cut edge of the cup with masking tape, if you are afraid it will pop the balloon).

Stab into the bottom of the cup with the scissors, and cut out a hole big enough...

...to squeeze the toilet paper tube into.

Shorten the tube, to make a wafer-type, ice cream cone shape with the cup.

Tear a sheet, or two, of white paper, and a lunch bag into strips.  Prepare a bowl of glue mixed 1:2 with water.

Dip the strips into the glue, squeezing off the excess.  Use the brown paper to cover the "cone", and the white paper to cover the balloon (see below for balloon instructions).

The cone can be left upside down on top of another cup, to dry. It will only need one coat of paper, but be sure the bottom of the tube has been covered well, with long strips, secured with strips wrapped around the base.  One final strip draped over, and wrapped around the lip of the cup, will give the cone a nice finished look, too.

The balloon will need two coats of paper.  With the first, leave the tied end of the balloon exposed, and form a short cone around the tip, as pictured.

Allow, the glue to dry over night.  You can place the balloon into the top of a small cup to dry, but turn it over at least once, so it will dry evenly.

When you apply the second coat of glue soaked paper to the balloon, extend the cone, until it is long enough to twist into...

...a twirl on top of the ice cream.

Once the cone, and the second white coat of paper are completely dry, punch or poke holes into the sides of the cone, just below the lip, and run a hanging string through.

Remove the balloon from the "ice cream", by grasping the knot between two fingers, making a cut into the balloon between your fingers, and slowly letting the air out of the balloon, while you hold on to it.  Don't stress if you leave bits of the balloon behind, just use an unsharpened pencil, or knitting needle to scrape the pieces loose from the sides of the interior, and dump them out.

Fill both parts of the piñata with candy, toys, and /or stickers (in this case they need to be small candies and toys).  The base will need to be loaded heaver than the top, if you want the ice cream to hang right side up.  Otherwise, if you want to fill the top heavier, poke the holes closer to the top of the "ice cream", and use a long needle to help you thread the string through.

Squeeze a line of glue onto the bottom of the "ice cream", where it will meet up with the cone, and place the two together, being careful not to get glue on any of the candies or toys (the cup sticks out beyond the tube, making this easier than it sounds).

Add an extra line of glue around the outside of the seam where the "ice cream" and "cone" meet.  Allow the glue to dry, and your done.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Summer Fun Day 22 - Taking Time to be Thankful

This week were thanking God for the Man of the House.  Not that we aren't normally thankful for all he adds to our lives, but Father's Day brought a few special thank-yous to mind. I lost my father when I was nine, and know how precious every minute we have together can be.  I am very thankful for Father's Days like today.

And, D (age 10) who's favorite book is a very well worn copy of the Birds of Montana Field Guide...

 ...is very thankful for the pair of mourning doves that have set up housekeeping outside his bedroom window.
 

They couldn't have a more appreciative neighbor.

Summer Fun Day 21 - A Dollar Tree For Dad - Father's Day Craft

We jumped ahead to tomorrow's fun today, so we could finish up before the Man of the House was home for the weekend, and so we could share our present idea with any of you looking for a last minute Father's Day gift.

The children decided to show Dad money can grow on trees, at least on Father's Day.

They started by making a paper bag tree, following instructions from Pikadilly Charm, but substituting an inside out (so the printing wouldn't show) grocery bag, for the lunch sack called for in the original.

The larger sack...

...made for a bigger tree...

...with sturdier branches...

 ...for the dollar bill leaves...

...which we made following folding instructions from Make-Origami.com.

A few of the children contributed coins instead of dollar bills to the project.  They sprinkled those around the "roots", and then we whisked the tree into hiding until Sunday, when the children can sneak out early to place their present on the table...

 ...for the Man of the House to find and be amazed.

We probably won't tell him that once picked, the leaves never grow back - that's really a lesson every father has to learn for himself.

It's great to be a homeschooler.