Toilet Paper Tube - Paper Toss Game

We were bored last night, but only for a minute. Then, it was toilet paper tubes to the rescue. In fact, our boredom solution was so simple, I almost didn't post it - except that it was fun too.

I glued together a few empty toilet paper tubes, and balled up some scrap paper pieces, to toss into the tubes...

...and let the fun begin.

For some reason it really brought the sillies out in the older children.

The younger children took the competition far more seriously.

They were pretty good at it too. They got more "balls" into the tubes than I did. And believe me, it's more challenging than it sounds.

We had the most fun by placing the game in the middle of the table, with all of us seated around it, tossing our papers at the tubes, in a free for all, at the same time.

Of course, a math element could easily be added, by placing a number on each tube, and having the children add up their scores after each turn, or by appointing two, three, four points, or so on, to each throw, for skip counting practice.

At any rate, it kept us busy, and happy for an evening, which I thought was pretty good for empty toilet paper tubes, and scrap paper.

And, it's great to be a homeschooler.

Candy Verse Bracelets

We had some fun this weekend, making Marlee Dawn inspired, candy verse bracelets.

Basically, they just involve matching a verse to different colors of Lifesavers, Wordless-Book-style, and then stringing the candies onto licorice ropes, and tying them around the child's wrist.

Marlee Dawn's website suggests verses to use for various colors of candy, but we were using ours as an Easter activity, and I purchased bags of Lifesavers with only five colors of candies, so I altered ours a little.

Verses copied from BibleGateway.com.

Purple -When we pulled off the first licorice rope, we talked about how Jesus was beaten before he was executed. Then we went right to the purple Lifesaver for:


Isaiah 53:5 and 7 (New International Version, ©2011)
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Red - 1 Peter 1:18-19 (New International Version, ©2011)
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.


White -Isaiah 1:18 (New International Version, ©2011)
18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.


Orange -Revelation 21:23 (New International Version, ©2011)
23 The city (the new Jerusalem) does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Green -Knowing these things we want to grow in the Lamb.

Psalm 1:1-3 (New International Version, ©2011)
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Using the same flower cookie cutter I had for the lamb cookies (washed off, of course), I traced out paper lambs, and wrote the verses on the back.


Then, I placed them in baggies with the various colored candies, and the the licorice ropes, to hide in the yard. Since I have six children, I put 12 candies in each baggie, with two baggies for the green candies (adding II Peter 3:18a to the second bag), so each child could hunt for two baggies, one with Lifesavers, and one with licorice...


...putting them into one basket...


... to bring back inside, where we reviewed the verses, and then assembled our bracelets.


Then, it was back outside to eat them, and run off the sugar rush.

For more Bible themed fun and games, click over to this week's Bible Alive! Tuesday link-up, hosted by The Fantastic Five.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Lamb Cookies Take Two

I mentioned this morning, that things are getting back to normal around our house. If you read this blog at all, then I'm sure you knew another plate of cookies was on the way.

Actually, we made these lamb cookies just before Easter, as part of our hunt for the Lamb activity (click here, for an explanation of that), but they were so much fun to make, I thought I'd share them, even though Easter is over.

We started with plain sugar cookie dough, mixing half of it with a couple of teaspoons of baker's cocoa, as we often do.

We rolled out the dough, and cut our "lamb shapes" with a flower cookie cutter.

We've actually made lamb (and lion) cookies using the flower cutter before.

But, I wanted to leave off the frosting this time, so they'd be easier to place into baggies, for hiding. Which is why we had the chocolate dough, so we could cut out face circles, with a cleaned pop bottle cap...

...and replace two vanilla petals, with chocolate petals, for feet.

Then, we smooshed a small ball of chocolate dough into a circle, and cut it in half for ears, to be placed on the cookies just above the face circles.

Finally, all that was left was to use small bits of both doughs, rolled into balls, and smooshed again, for eyes, and noses...

...and our cookies were ready to bake - ideally for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees, but I popped ours in the oven right as we started our Resurrection Cookie activity, which we became so engrossed in, we didn't hear the timer buzz, and left them in a little longer.

But, you get the idea, right?

It's great to be a homeschooler.

When Company Leaves, Or Peach Pie for Breakfast

Usually when company leaves, especially company as dear as the children's grandparents, we lose a day to mournful mopiness. But, I think I've finally found a solution - peach pie for breakfast! It can't be any worse than Pop Tarts right?

And besides, it wasn't just any old peach pie. It was the special pie, that A (age 10) made together with her grandmother.

The children looked a little puzzled as they watched me dipping it up.

"Really?" they asked. "We're really having pie for breakfast?"

Instead of answering, I hit play on Brian Hall's "Pumpkin Pie For Breakfast", which I had downloaded from Amazon (you can go there to hear a snippet of the song, if you're not familiar with it). It cost me 99 cents, but it was worth it to watch the children's confusion turn first to annoyance, as the folksy, kid-songish notes began to play, and then to amusement, as they caught the words of the chorus:

"How 'bout some pumpkin pie for breakfast, and some Digimon juice,

Pokemon cereal, with marshmallow Pikachus?

How 'bout some pumpkin pie for breakfast, and some Power Ranger punch,

Obi-Wan Kenobi Fritos in your Darth Maul lunch?

How 'bout some pumpkin pie for breakfast?"

By the time the song ended, everyone was eating happily, except for G, who didn't want pie, unless she could have ice cream with it, and D, who likes routine, and was disturbed at the lack of muffins on the table.

In other words, we were back to normal.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

A Reason To Celebrate!

Matthew 28:5-6 (New Living Translation)

5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.

If that's not a reason to celebrate, than I don't know what is!

Because...

1 Corinthians 15:17-20 (New Living Translation)

17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.

Phew! Happy Easter.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Peeps Experiment #3 - Egg Drop

We had a very busy, but extremely enjoyable week. Things have calmed down around our house enough now though, to slip in one last Easter Peeps experiment.

Since it ended up taking a solid 60 hours to dissolve our Peep, in contact with pineapple, and the one in water never did dissolve (click here to view that experiment), we decided to opt for a non-eating experiment this time, going with the ever popular egg drop, instead.

I gave the children a couple of packages of Peeps, a raw egg, some tape, and two different containers to choose from - an empty Pop Tarts box, and a washed out Cool Whip tub.

After a little trial and error, testing out how things would fit, they decided the Pop Tarts box provided the better shape for centering the egg in a protective layer of Peeps, all the way around. Besides, doesn't a Peeps packed Pop Tarts box sound healthy? Just remember, no Peeps were actually eaten in the course of this experiment (I have no comment on the Pop Tarts, though).

Once the children had the egg completely surrounded by Peeps...

.... they taped the box shut...

...and dropped it off our deck (and, look at that sky, could it be anymore blue!?!)...

...to the hard, and not yet green, sod below.

Apart from a little marshmallow goo, where one Peep stuck to the side of the egg...

...the egg came out with out a crack, protected by the Peeps from Newton's Second and Third Laws .

For more science themed fun for children, check out this week's Science Sunday link-up, over at Adventures in Mommydom.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Peeps Experiment #2 - How to Dissolve Peeps

For those of you not interested in actually ingesting Peeps, how about dissolving them - for the sake of science, of course. The children, and I perused the ingredients list from our box of Peeps, they are mainly sugar in various forms, gelatin, and food coloring, with a little wax thrown in for good measure. We've certainly dissolved our share of sugar in water, and we learned, nearly a year ago about the protein eating enzyme in fresh pineapple, that will break down gelatin.

So, since we happened to have some fresh pineapple, and a few Peeps left in the the box after making Peeps S'mores, we thought it would be fun to see whether Peeps dissolve faster in water, or when in contact with pineapple.

The children took two Peeps, and placed one into a glass of lukewarm water, and one into a glass with pieces of pineapple core - the part we weren't going to eat, anyway (though later we added a juicier chunk of pineapple, as well).

The Peep in the water floated (the children noted, this is because of the air bubbles in the marshmallows), but colored the water yellow, almost immediately.

After about four hours, we could see some evidence of the pineapple at work on the second Peep...

...and turning the Peep in the water over, discovered all of the food coloring on the water logged side, was completely gone.

By bedtime, about eight hours after the start of the experiment, our Peeps looked like this...

...and by this morning had not changed much.

It appears the pineapple enzyme is winning over the water. But, it does make you wonder how long one of these little guys might sit in your stomach.

You can find further (sort of tongue in cheek) Peep dissolving experiments at www.peepresearch.org, if you want to know more.

It's great to be a homeschooler.