Encouraging Critical Thinking for Children in the Summer - Sidewalk Chalk Cryptograms

I snuck (or sneaked, for my non-American friends) out early this morning, before the children were awake, to chalk out a quick cryptogram puzzle for them to discover, and hopefully, solve later in the the day.

Who says we have to give up teaching thinking skills, just because it's summer?

I read an interview with a female engineer (I forget who, now) reflecting on the events in her childhood, that had encouraged her into pursuing a math heavy career.   One of the things she remembered most was a daily puzzle, put up by her father, on a chalkboard in their kitchen, for the family to race to solve. 

I  would love to do that eventually, but I haven't found the right chalkboard to fit with our new house, yet.  In the meantime, we have plenty of patio space here and there around the yard, the weather is fine, and I want the children outside, anyway.  So, a sidewalk chalk puzzle seemed like a natural fit for summer.

Kid Zone has a fantastic cryptogram maker.  You just type in your own message (or let the computer choose one for you), indicate how many clues to give, and it generates the puzzle for you.  I decided to start out with a familiar Bible memory verse for our first try.  I'm all about killing two birds with one stone.  If we can strengthen strategic thinking, and build better Bible knowledge at the same time - so much the better.

The book of the Bible is included at the end, but the chapter and verse are not (one final challenge for the children).

Can you solve the puzzle, and find the verse?

Summer Challenge - Learn to Juggle with Water Balloons

Learning to juggle is tricky...

...no matter what the YouTube guys say (below are a couple of videos we did find helpful, though).

Learning to juggle with water balloons?

Well, that's just plain, summer fun.

We didn't really learn to juggle.  But, much to my surprise, the children stuck with it for quite a while, before beginning...

...the inevitable water balloon fight.

One tip:  If you decide to try juggling water balloons yourself, you'll want to have plenty of filled balloons on hand.

We used a couple of the instant fill boxes - not the ones pictured (non-affiliate link), but I think they're all somewhat similar.

They are fast to fill, but we had quite a few duds.

However, the children discovered the little filler stems they come on (see the arrow above) make excellent water sprayers.

That was clearly my cue to head back inside...

...while they finished up the morning watering for me.

It's always so nice when children help out with the chores.

Braided Tail, Mouse (or Vole) Bookmark Craft

A shy little mole 

lived in a hole 

and was lonesome by night and by day 

'til a spry little vole 

tumbled into the hole

and said, "Oh, how nice.  May I stay?"

-excerpt from "The Courtship of the Mole and the Vole" from Thunderboom! Poems for Everyone by Charlotte Pomerantz.

When we moved to our rental house, last summer, we had to rescue a baby bunny from the girls' window well.

 We thought at first it was a snowshoe hare, but realized later it (and the hundreds of others around town) was a mountain cottontail.

 We have one that visits the yard of our new house regularly, too.  So, when the girls heard a scratching at their window this time, they were expecting a bunny - but were surprised by a mouse, at least we thought it was mouse (the same mouse - I'm hoping, that I spotted in the garden, and the one that skittered across the phone guy's shoe, while he was hooking up our Internet).  Only, on closer inspection, I'd have to say our little visitor (relocated by the Man of the House to a nearby field) was not a mouse...

...but a vole (with a rounded nose, and in-set ears).  Which of course, has led us on a day of searching out books from our boxes with a sentence or two about the little guys, and crafting a quick bookmark to keep our place in each book, as we look for more.

I think these might be cute bookmarks for when we reread Mouse and the Motorcycle (which naturally, we'll have to now).

I've seen mouse bookmarks with long tails for the bookmark part, and I've seen mouse crafts made out of hearts before.  Our bookmarks are just a combination of the two.

We cut medium to smallish sized hearts out of flattened cereal boxes, using the crease that was already in the box, as the center of our hearts.

Since we were making voles, and not mice, we rounded the tip of the heart/nose of the vole.

 Then, we folded the crease backwards...

...glued the printed sides closed...

...and drew on little beady eyes, inset ears, and twitchy noses (some of us opted for whiskers, too).

All that was left then, was to poke a hole at the back...

..to thread through...

 ...two long pieces of yarn...

...which could be divided into three...

 ...to be braided and tied off...

...into a long tail; a tail that is too long for a vole...

 ...but just right for a bookmark.

And, I'm happy to say one fact we learned about voles today, is that they don't usually like to live in houses. 

Phew!

Morning Message Muffins

It only takes a few extra minutes to add a touch of magic to a summer morning, with a special message written right on a batch of otherwise, plain old, morning muffins.

First off, mix up the muffin batter.  We prefer the Best Ever Muffin recipe from Allrecipes.com.  Not only is it quick, easy, and fairly foolproof, but it's extremely adaptable, and can be made into banana-nut, berry, savory (think bacon or cheese) or chocolate chip versions with just a few quick substitutions.  Nuts, berries (though they might be tricky if they "bleed"), bacon, or chocolate chips would all work for this sort of thing - so choose your own favorite.

We (meaning the children) prefer chocolate chip muffins.

Mix up the muffins as usual, and place them into the muffin pan, but save aside a little of the add-in ingredient (again for us that would be chocolate chips) to spell out a message on top of each muffin.

The message could be anything (that uses 12 letters or symbols) - such as a birthday greeting, or smiley faces, or even a special child's initials.

Once you have your message in place, pop the muffins in the oven (in our case, for 24 minutes at 350° F).  Again, save a few of the add-ins aside, out on the counter, where they are handy...

...so that if any of the message disappears into the muffins during baking, you can add a few replacement pieces right to the top, as soon as you take the pan out of the oven. 

For chocolate chips, that means pressing them down into the hot muffins, point first, and then not touching them again, as the heat of the muffin will instantly melt the chocolate into place.

Arrange the muffins on a plate to display the message, and serve without saying anything.

It's fun to watch the look of surprise as your family realize their breakfast has something to say.

Backyard, Beetles, and a Book - Summer Science

A new yard to explore...

...and a new ladybug to identify (we're thinking Anatis lecontei - a Rocky Mountain native).  What could be better than that?

Maybe a great backyard science book, chock-full of interesting facts, colorful illustrations, hands-on projects, and suggestions for exploring even the tiniest of yards?  Thanks to Donald Silver's One Small Square series...

...we have that, too.  I almost passed the thin little picture book up, thinking it might be too young for my children (ages 9 and up).  I'm so glad I didn't, because it's just perfect for us, and so full of information - we'll be paging through it all summer, I'm sure. 

A Cappella Muppets! Our Favorite Song of Summer.

As I mentioned yesterday, June was pretty much of blur of cleaning, packing, and cleaning some more.  We had a wonderful landlord, who let us out of our lease early, to move into our new house, so when he decided to put the rental house on the market, we wanted to make sure that it showed as well as possible - given it was full of boxes.

That meant a number of days though, with me rushing to clean for a last minute showing, while the children waited, trying to stay entertained, without messing up their clean rooms.  One of the days, while I was busy cleaning a bathroom, and the youngest three were (I thought) playing a video game, I started to hear a racket - sort of half singing, half chanting, followed by bursts of laughter, coming from the room they were in.

I figured they were playing some sort of computer game that called for them to repeat silly characters, or morphed their voices, or something like that.  I was surprised the older girls, who were reading in the living room, hadn't complained about the noise (normally they would have) - except that it was strangely rhythmic.  Then, G (age 16)'s voice joined in, adding a melody over the top of the chanting, and I realized they were singing a sort of impromptu a cappella song.  It was rough, but it was pretty cool.

Naturally, as soon as they realized I was listening, they stopped, and refused to sing again.

The next day, hoping to encourage their creativity, I Googled "a cappella for kids" and came up with the video below.

The children still won't sing for me, but I have to say, we have a hands down, family favorite song for summer.

Letter Garden - Our Favorite App of Summer

Thanks to our move, which was complicated when the landlord of our rental house decided to put the house we were moving out of on the market, during the last few weeks before we moved (making for daily showings, while packing and cleaning were going on) we didn't do much for crafting, baking, or elaborate summer fun in June.

I pretty much left the children to their own devices, with some interesting, and rewarding results.  Hopefully, as we settle into our new house, and get back into the swing of summer fun, I'll get a chance to share a few of them along the way.

As for tonight, I'm planning on unpacking another box or two, and then collapsing into a comfy chair, with my Kindle, for a round or two (or ten) of Letter Garden - our new favorite app for the summer.

We discovered the free "spelling" app when looking for something to pass the time with while we were waiting out of the house during showings.  At first, it was "my game", but it wasn't long before the children decided, one by one, to give it a try, and became completely hooked, as well.

It's a drop down type game, where you clear rows of letters by making words from adjoining letters, within a given time period.  Each level requires more rows to be cleared within the time - adding a few help type buttons as you progress.  Three letter words are allowed (though rude words are not), making it easy enough for younger children, while still challenging enough for adults.

It's a great way to keep the mind sharp, pass the time on those days when it's too hot to get outside, and sneak in a little summer spelling practice in the guise of a very enjoyable, and ridiculously addictive game.