Black and White, Simple Winter Science for Kids

The sun was out today, and so were the children. So, it seemed like a good time to combine some much needed rambunctious play, with a simple, Science Sunday lesson.

First, the girls helped me put out two plastic garbage bags, one white, and one black. Then, we checked the temperature - it was cold, though balmy in comparison to some of the temperatures we've had lately.

We moved the thermometer onto the black bag, and watched the temperature rise, right before our eyes. It was really neat.

We tried it out on the white bag too, but it didn't drop as quickly as I hoped, and since the girls were raring to go, we moved on to the next part of the experiment.

I filled the bags with air, by twirling around with them, and then quickly tied them shut, balloon like.

The girls happily bopped them about, for a half an hour, or so, while I supervised to make sure they didn't try to suffocate themselves with them.

Then, we untied them, and they felt the air inside. The air in the black bag was significantly warmer, than the air in white bag, which felt pretty much like the air outside.

We talked, quickly, about how black absorbs the light energy (heat) from the sun, while the white deflects it. Then, they asked to have their balloon bags refilled, so they could keep playing. Since the bags were in use, we moved the thermometer, which had had a chance to return to its correct temperature, onto a sheet of white paper.

The temperature went up a little, on the paper, from what it had been sitting directly on the snow, allowing for a short discussion about insulation, but it was not as dramatic a rise, as we had seen with the black bag.

At that point, one of the bags got bopped over the fence into the neighbor's yard, and I decided it was time to end the lesson, before that became the new game of choice.

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

It's great to be a homeschooler.

What My Child is Reading - A Couple More Chanukah Stories and Links

We received a treat from Montana Public Radio, this morning, when I happened to turn on the radio, while making the morning muffins. At 8:00 AM, Mountain Time, every Saturday is a program called "Children's Corner", where stories are read for children by the librarians from across Montana, and every other week Dr. Katie visits, with a "Science is Cool" segment.

Today's broadcast was filled with Chanukah stories, and music, and was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, it doesn't look to me like you can catch the broadcast after it airs live, so I can't pass on a link to the stories we heard today, but next week at 8:00 AM, Mountain Time, you can tune in live, on your computer, by clicking the link, here, for a fun story time.

In the meantime, I have a link to a Chanukah story, you can enjoy today. After, our laktes (is the singular - latke, or is it always latkes?) post, we got a comment suggesting we check out the Lemony Snicket story The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, A Christmas Story, which we did, and really enjoyed. We also found it being read, here, on YouTube. So, if you can't get your hands on it, you can check it out there.

It's a funny, but thought provoking story, about giving Chanukah a place of it's own, separate from Christmas. In it, a latke runs screaming into the night, trying to explain himself, and the history of Chanukah, to all the Christmas decorations, who do their best to include him in their celebration. After all, a tasty little hash brown, might go nicely with the Christmas ham.

However, if you are a family that celebrates both Chanukah, and Christmas, side by side, you might enjoy Margaret Moorman's Light the Lights! A Story about Celebrating Hanukkah & Christmas. Moorman wrote the book, according to the note on the flap, after searching in vain for a story that reflected both celebrations. It does take kind of a secular approach to the holidays, though it leaves room to expand the discussion into the faiths behind them.

For more children's story reviews, and recommendations, don't forget to check out this week's What My Child Is Reading link-up, at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Clothespin Button Racer

For a easy boredom buster, gather together:

• 1 clothespin (per car)
  
• 4 buttons, of the same size
  
• 1 drinking straw
  
• 2 bread ties
  
• colored tape
  
• school glue (optional).

Cut two, one inch, pieces from the straw.

Thread the bread ties through the straws, and secure a button on each side, either looping the bread tie through the back hook, or the holes, depending on the type of buttons you have.

Clip one of the straw axles in the front of the clothespin. You can glue it in place, but that isn't necessary.

Slide the other straw axle into the back of the clothespin, up against the spring.

Secure it in place with a piece of tape, as shown.

Make more than one...

...and let the racing begin.

If you don't have a large piece of poster board, you can make a pretty good racing ramp out of an empty cereal box, too.

I found the idea for this toy, in Mary Wallace's excellent, for-kids, toy making book, I Can Make Toys. It's one of those books, where almost every idea looks like fun, and can actually be done by children, on their own.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Three in One Cookies

We were trapped inside, all day, yesterday, by gloomy skies, and a freezing drizzle, of all things. I'd never even heard of a freezing drizzle before, but believe me, it's as miserable as it sounds. By evening though, it turned to big, beautiful, fluffy white snowflakes. Which, are still no good for getting out, and about in, especially on top of a freezing drizzle, but which did put us back into the holiday mood.

So, I pulled out the Christmas books, and the sugar cookie dough, and we went to work.

In Lillian Hoban's Arthur's Christmas Cookies, Arthur wants to make Christmas cookies, as a Christmas gift. When he mistakes the salt for the sugar, though, it takes some fast thinking, and a little paint, to save the day. And, while he doesn't end up with cookies, he does make some lovely ornaments, instead.

We wanted to end up with cookies, so we stuck with sugar, instead of salt, and used food coloring instead of paint. Green, and yellow food coloring to be precise...

...leaving a third of the dough white, for snowmen. Sorry about the dark pictures, but the day was really that gloomy.

We decorated them with mini chocolate chips.

And, gave them a quick powdered sugar, sprinkling once they were baked.

Then, we moved on to green Christmas trees...

...and yellow stars.

We cut the centers out of the stars...

...and made holes in the trees, with the cap from our food coloring bottle...

...lifting the dough out with a toothpick...

...and filling it with crushed candy pieces, for a stained glass look.

For the candy, we used cherry, and butterscotch Lifesavers, and a few butterscotch candies from the bulk bin, at the grocery store.

The cherry Lifesavers worked fine, but the individual butterscotch candies were better than the butterscotch Lifesavers for both color, and texture, for melting inside the cookies, as they baked.

The stars baked, as normal, for 10 minutes, in a 350 degree oven. While the trees baked for 8 minutes, without candy, and then the last two after the candy was added.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Christmas Bear Craft

The Man of the House had to go back into the office, last night, after supper. So, I seized the opportunity for some late night, messy crafting, with the girls.

When, I checked out Kestutis Kasparavicius' The Bear Family's World Tour Christmas, from the library, it was because I thought it would be a Christmas-around-the-world sort of book. It turns out to be more about bears around the world, than about Christmas, as a bear family takes their house, attached to a hot air balloon, and travels the world to help all of their relatives, in distant lands decorate for Christmas.

In keeping with the book, I found a Christmas bear, paper doll print-out, here (the Internet can be a mother's best friend). I printed two copies as 5"x7" prints, then flipped the picture, and printed them again, so each of the younger girls, could have two bears, that sit facing each other. While their older sisters went to work helping to cut them out, the younger girls made houses for them to decorate for Christmas.

I gave them each a cardboard house cutout, along with a fireplace shape, an oval for a rug, and dryer sheet boxes.

They painted the boxes brown. We used acrylic paint, because it dries quickly, and is very easy to clean up, with soap, and water (though it can stain clothing).

Then, colored, and glued the house fronts, to the flaps of the boxes, with the bottom of the house, touching the fold of the lid...

...so they open to reveal the "house" interiors, where they glued the fireplaces, and placed the rugs.

They have some more decorating to do, but at that point, it was time to clean up the mess, and put on jammies, before Daddy arrived home, tired from work. Though, we left the houses out, so he could see what the girls had been up to (minus all the wet paint, and paper clippings).

For more story stretching arts, and crafts, check out this week's stART (story + ART) link-up, at A Mommy's Adventures.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Lots of Latkes

We read three latkes themed stories, in honor of Chanukah, today, starting with Leslie Kimmelman's The Runaway Latkes. I'm not sure why holiday food is always running away, or why children find it so funny - but they do.

Unlike the gingerbread men, latkes don't have feet, so they roll away, instead of running.

"Big and round, crisp and brown, off we roll to see the town! And YOU can't catch us!" is what they sing as the roll away from their maker, Rebecca Bloom, the Rabbi, the Cantor, two boys playing ball, a hungry dog, the mayor, and a pair of police officers. They roll through town, and to the river, where they meet with a Chanukah miracle, that has everyone returning to the synagogue for more of the tasty treats.

Latkes, Latkes Good to Eat, a Chanuka Story by Naomi Howland, also involves a Hanakkah miracle. In return for an act of kindness from a hungry young girl, an old women gives her the gift of a magic pan. When secret words are spoken, it produces latkes, until more secret words make it stop.

The girl, and her brothers enjoy days of hardy Chanukah meals, until one of the brothers overhears the words, and takes it on himself to make a snack. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the correct phrase to stop the pan. The story ends happily, though, with the whole village being invited to share in the feast.

Papa's Latkes, by Michelle Edwards, took us on a more serious turn. It is the story of a widower, and his two girls, celebrating their first Chanukah without their mother. The children loved the story, but I had a hard time getting through it - it is very sad.

Of course, after all the reading about latkes, we were curious to taste some. Howland's and Kimmelman's stories have recipes at the back, to try. Not being Jewish, we don't have anything to judge the oil fried, potato pancakes against, except McDonald's hash browns. And, they were better than that, so we're calling them a success.

Besides which, we had a very festive time making them, as everyone crowded around with an opinion. Were they cooking too long? Were they going to be burned? Would they be cooked on the inside? Why did the kitchen smell like fish? Would this be the day Mother finally managed to catch the kitchen on fire?

I'm glad to say they did not burn, and they did cook through. And, although the fishy smell of the hot olive oil is still hanging in the air, the kitchen is unsinged.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Families of the World Series Review

We recently discovered Master Communication's Families of the World DVD series, thanks to a recommendation from Natalie over at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

I understand it's a series aired on many public broadcasting stations, and you can find sample clips on YouTube. We were fortunate enough to find most of the series available through our local library.

So far, we've watched about a dozen of them, visiting countries like France, Japan, Canada (for a comparison study, since we're familiar with that country), Costa Rica, Vietnam, and Israel, to name a few.

Each program is about a half an hour long, and follows two children, one from the city, and one from the country, through a normal day, from waking up, to going to bed. The children range in age from about 5 to 11, so my own children, who range in age from 4 to 13, have found them interesting.

Each program is crammed with material for further study, just touching on many things as the children pass by them, in their normal day. There is a real emphasis on the importance of education, and family life. And somehow, even though the countries we've visited so far, vary widely on the world economic scale, class differences are not highlighted at all. This is life as seen through a child's eyes, and it focus on the positive.

I didn't think to check, until I was preparing to write this, but there are free teacher's guides, student handouts, and quizzes, including some companion activities, and recipes, on the Master Communication's website. Click here, to go there.

Or, click over to the Geography and History link-up, at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn, for more fun with history, or geography.

It's great to be a homeschooler.