Pit Of Fun

 Okay. So I found a wading pool at Walmart for only $6 and I had this brilliant idea to use it as a ball pit in Super E's room. I bought a bag of 100 balls thinking that should be enough to start out with.

Wow! I seriously underestimated the number of balls that it would take to fill up that pool! At this rate it would cost me a small fortune to fill it.

And Super E was looking at me like, "Okay, what am I supposed to do with this?"

 

Then I found this great idea on... you guessed it... Pinterest:
 

This site has directions for making a pool noodle pit as well as other ideas for pool noodles.
 

I bought 6 pool noodles and cut them up. It worked out great!





The pool noodles actually work out better than the balls because they are softer. Those plastic balls are hard! Another plus is that they are less likely to be thrown. Not saying that your child won't throw the noodles all over the room (Super E does) but they are a lot more likely to throw a ball. I mean, let's face it, balls are for throwing. And if they do throw them, at least they're soft.

A word of caution: I wouldn't recommend the noodles if your child tends to bite or chew on things. They could bite a chunk of the foam off.



 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

The Dishes

I think most moms can relate to this.


  

Exercise Moves

 

Playing The Blues

We have been learning the color blue this week. The idea was to expose Super E to as much blue as possible and repeat the word "blue" a million times... Or more. But Super E has had a Super cold and hasn't been feeling all that super. So we didn't get to do everything that I had planned. I will be adding more once he is feeling a little more like his super self.

I gathered up a selection of blue items from around the house. I tried to make sure to only use things that were almost completely blue because I wanted to avoid any confusion with other colors. We played with these items and made sure to say the word "blue" each time Super E picked up a new object to examine.

We made letters out of blue bottle caps.

We made an E for Super E.

We played with blue play dough.

 

We played with blue water beads.

 

For those of you who do not know, water beads are awesome! They are basically wet, squishy, marbles. They start out as these little tiny beads and grow to be about the size of marbles when you put them in water. They are a great sensory material - wet, slimy, slippery, squishy, bouncy, shiny, colorful... you get the idea. The best part is that they are super cheap! You can find them in most dollar stores and they are normally with the plant stuff. Their intended purpose is actually for watering plants but this is way more fun.

 

A word of caution: Super E played with these water beads under CLOSE supervision. You should use caution when deciding if your child should play with water beads. They are a choking hazard.

This stuff is wet! And yes, there are water beads everywhere.

The beads that didn't survive the wrath of Super E.

What should we do with the survivors? We made a blue sensory bottle.

I filled the bottle halfway with the water beads and filled it the rest of the way with water. I hot glued the lid on. Just make sure that the top of the bottle and the inside of the lid are both dry. Work quickly so that the glue is still hot when you screw the lid onto the bottle. The Gatorade bottle that I was using had an orange lid so I painted it blue. I glued on some ribbon and added a little scented glitter glue for an extra sensory touch.

Super E loves it!

We made blue Fruity Fizzy Fluff. Click on this link for more on this fun, fruity, sensory material.

Love this stuff!

For more ideas click here and check out our other color of the week posts.

 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

 









Fruity Fizzy Fluff

This is officially my new favorite sensory material. And discovering it was kind of an accident. My intent was for the boys to play with some baking soda and vinegar - make it bubble. For some added fun I mixed in a packet of Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid.

I made sure the Kool-Aid was mixed in thoroughly with the baking soda because I wanted it to turn blue regardless of where the vinegar was dropped.

I filled an empty vitamin dropper bottle with vinegar.

And let the fun begin!

I should have know that Super E wouldn't be content to just watch the magic happen, but I was a bit concerned about him digging in. It was Kool-Aid after all! And blue, at that! He couldn't resist. He had to see what those blue bubbles felt like.

I just knew he was going to end up looking like Baby Smurf! Amazingly, the Kool-Aid didn't stain his hands at all. It smelled great! You couldn't smell the vinegar but the fruity smell of the Kool-Aid filled the house. The boys had a blast!

And then, right when we thought we were finished, we discovered something even cooler. The blue fluff that remained was moldable! You can shape this stuff.

More vinegar...

Wow! The possibilities! I will be adding more ways to play with this fluff in the days to come.



Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com. 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

Weighing In

On a personal note, I have quite a bit of leftover pregnancy weight that I need to lose - and Super E isn't exactly a newborn either! I wanted to be able to hold myself accountable. I need that little extra incentive to stick with it! So I have created the Weighing In page here on my blog. I will be keeping track of my weight loss goals and progress here and I hope that others will join me.

For anyone who would like to keep track of their weight loss with me, simply post your weight loss goal (how many pounds you would like to lose - no need to include your actual weight... I would rather not disclose that information) into the comment section at the bottom of the page. Each week, come back and let us know how much weight you've lost (or gained) and we'll mark it off.

If you have any good tips or advice, please feel free to post those as well.

Losing weight can be so frustrating and can sometimes seem impossible. Together, we can support each other and offer encouragement and motivation.

Synoptic Gospels

 

This is a lesson that we did on the Synoptic Gospels. I started by explaining that Mathew, Mark and Luke were different than John because they all told the same story from different view points. I used the following example:

"If three people go to the zoo together and see all of the same exhibits, they are seeing everything from different view points. If later on they are asked to write about what they did, they wouldn't write the same thing. One person might have been fascinated by the zebra while another barely noticed the zebra but was amazed by the lions. Their accounts would be different even though they are writing about the same trip."

The Synoptic Gospels are like that. They each give a different perspective of some of the same events in Jesus' life.

The book of Matthew was written by a disciple. Before he met Jesus he was a tax collector. Tax collectors were looked at as thieves in those times. (He was not exactly winning any popularity contests!) He gave up his life of greed and possessions to follow Jesus. Matthew tells the story of Jesus the promised king. His Gospel was written to the Jews.

The Gospel of Mark was written by a preacher or evangelist. He was an interpreter for the apostle Peter at one time. His Gospel is written to the Romans. He tells the story of Jesus the servant and obedient son of the Father.

The Gospel of Luke was written by a doctor. As a doctor, Luke's interest was in Jesus as a man. He writes his Gospel to the Gentiles (non-Jews).

So each of these Gospels tell the same story, concentrating on different characteristics of Jesus, and with different audiences in mind.

I drew out these bible character outlines for Dr X. to decorate and cut out. And yes, I realize they are bow legged. I was trying to make them easy for Dr. X to cut out. We're not talking masterpiece artwork here, quite obviously - just a Sharpie outline.

He added a money bag to Matthew (That is the Israel new shekel sign on the money bag, in case you were wondering -  Dr. X's idea.) and a stethoscope to Luke. He drew their faces and colored them. Then he glued them to construction paper. I cut three rectangles out of construction paper, folded each in half and glued them under the Gospel writers. On the front section we wrote out the name and occupation of the each of the writers.

 

On the back of the front section we indicated the characteristic of Jesus that the writer was focusing on. And on the opposite section we labeled the audience that each writer had in mind.

 

 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.

 

Internet Educated - "I learnt it on the enternet."

Isn't it funny how the Internet can make you feel like a virtual mastermind.

That first one is for my hubs. He will attempt just about anything after watching a few YouTube videos... And he's usually successful.

I'm more of a professional pinner, myself. A little time on Pinterest and I think I'm a master chef, Michael Angelo, and a skilled seamstress all rolled into one (I'm really not very good at sewing).



  

Our Lucky Day



Dr. X and I were outside enjoying the beautiful weather this afternoon. As we were walking along I looked down at the ground and spotted what looked like a four leaf clover. I looked closer. Sure enough... four leaves! I showed my find to Dr. X who immediately started searching the same patch of clovers.

"I found one!" he shouted.

So we kept looking and found another... And another... And another... We hit a four leaf gold mine!

Dr. X holding his bouquet of clovers

We found 7 all together.

"If we could plant these would they grow more four leaf clovers or would they only have three leaves?" Dr. X inquired.

 

 

Hmmmm. Sounds like a science experiment to me. I love it when we just stumble right into a learning opportunity. Regardless of how much money you spend on curriculum or time you put into planning, accidental lessons are always the most fun.

 

We cut each clover stem at about a 45 degree angle.

We dipped the tip of each stem into the water and then into the root hormone. Then we carefully placed each clover into the vase of water.

Nothing left to do but to wait and watch.

All we need is a variable. We're going to pick 7 three leaf clovers tomorrow and follow the same steps.

 

So here are our questions:

1. Will we even be able to get them to grow? I'm not exactly known for my green thumb.
2. Will the four leaf clovers produce more four leaf clovers, a mixture of four and three leaf clovers, or only three leaf clovers?
3. Will the three leaf clovers produce any four leaf clovers? If so, which will produce more four leaf clovers - the three leaf or the four leaf? Or will they produce the same amount?

Our hypotheses:

1. We are going to say that they will grow. I like to think positive.
2. We think that the four leaf clovers will produce a mixture of three and four leaf clovers.
3. We believe that the three leaf clovers will only produce more three leaf clovers.

We'll update you once we have some progress.

 

Here's The Hubs and Super E trying to get in on some of the luck.

 

Update: Okay. So I did some research and have learned that you can't root the clover plant from a clipping. :(

 

While that has put a bit of a kink in our experiment, we're not going to let that stop us. We are heading out today in search of more four leaf clovers. We plan to dig up the plant that contains the four leaf clover and replant it. We will also dig up and replant a second clover plant that does not have a four leaf clover. We will examine them both as they grow and see if either plant produces more four leaf clovers (assuming that they survive the replant).

 

We did learn something from our first experiment. We discovered that you can't root a clover plant from a clipping. That's the great thing about Science! Sometimes you can learn just as much (or more) from a failed experiment as you can a successful one.

 

If you would like to try rooting another type of plant from a clipping you would follow the same steps as above (if it's a plant that can be rooted, that is).

 

Stay tuned! We'll let you know how the replanting experiment works out.

 



Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.



 



Puddin' Cup Paint

I wanted to make some paint to do some finger painting with Super E. I've seen several recipes for pudding paint (made with instant pudding and food coloring) on Pinterest. Well, I really didn't feel like mixing up a batch of pudding... I had enough dishes that needed washing already. And I only needed one color - orange. So I looked in my kitchen and found some pudding cups. Why not?

And thus puddin' cup paint was born.

I just took the pudding cup, added my coloring, gave it a little stir...

And viola!

 

Time to turn things over to my testing panel.

And we have a winner!

And it's yummy too!

 

We LOVE this paint! It's so easy to make that it's ridiculous! It dries nicely... You wouldn't think that pudding would, or at least I wouldn't. And, if you prefer, you could always mix up a batch of instant pudding and get the same effect. I just like to cut corners whenever I can.

 

 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.



Top 10 Trashy Treasures

In lieu of Earth Day I decided to look for some good recycling projects to do with the sidekicks. As usual, I found way more potential project ideas than I could ever even think about doing. But with all of the wonderful ways to reuse, as great as it all sounds, the big problem that I have is space. I don't have enough of it! If you do have plenty of space, then, no problem. But searching for trashy treasures can become pretty addictive and I do tend to have a bit of an obsessive personality. I am not trying to land myself on the next episode of Hoarders.

So I've compiled a list of the top 10 "must save" trashy items along with ideas for how to manage the extra clutter.

#10 Baby food jars
They are great! They make wonderful storage containers for anything small. They can be used to store homemade paints. They can be used to plant a seed or catch a bug. They can be decorated to make pretty tealight candle holders. They only make #10 on my list because they are pretty hard to come by unless you have a baby in the house. And even then, many people choose to make their own baby food. Super E is a toddler now and we don't buy a lot of baby food. No baby food = no baby food jars. If you do not have any baby food, maybe you have another product that is packaged in small jars. Our bouillon comes in jars that are just a little bigger than the baby food jars.

 

If the labels are difficult to remove soak them in hot water. Then you can tackle any remaining sticky residue with Goo Gone. You can find it at most stores in the cleaning isle. It takes the sticky right off! 

Here are just a few of the neat ideas I've found for using the jars:

1. Lego head storage jars

2. Crayon organizer

3. Animal jars 

4. Magnetic spice jars

5. Snowman ornament

6. Snowman candle holder

#9 Small clear plastic bottles
There are many things that you can do with large soda bottles but they take up a lot of space. I try to keep a few smaller bottles on hand (water bottles or small drink bottles). They can take up quite a bit of storage space as well. But they are super useful so it's always nice to have a few around.

Here are a few ways that you can use them:

1. Sumo bowling (Too cute!)

2. Maracas

3. Bio dome lesson

4. Glow bottles

5. Discovery bottles

6. Waterfall


#8 Cereal boxes, shoe boxes, and other cardboard
Cardboard has so many uses! Boxes can take up a lot of space but if you take them apart they fold flat for easy storage.



They can slide right under the bed and they're out of sight. People do some really amazing stuff with cardboard! But if nothing else, the kids can draw on it.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Trains and cars

2. 50+ things to do with cereal boxes

3. Mailboxes and more

4. Build a rocket

5. Doll bed

6. Pizza

#7 Magazines
These are great for art projects. Let the kids cut out pictures and words and glue them to their work. Once they've had a lot of use and are starting to get pretty holy, throw them out and replace them with new ones.

Here are some ways to get the most out of your magazines:

1. Making faces

2. Make a vase.

3. Make a bow.

4. Picture frame

5. Magazine box

#6 Egg cartons
They can get bulky but if you open them up you can stack them. They can be used for paint trays, art projects, games, sorting activities, or even growing seeds.

More ideas:

1. Play dentist

2. Flowers

3. Table centerpiece

4. Make an owl.

5. Christmas tree - Will need a lot of egg cartons for this one!

6. Spy glasses

#5 Newspapers
We use these daily for protecting our table from our arts and crafts projects. Of course you can do more with newspapers than using them as a paint guard but that alone makes them worth keeping.

Here are some other things you might like to try:

1. Make a Koala.

2. Make a hat.

3. Build a fort.

4. Make a basket.

5. Paper mache

#4 Grocery bags
I line our trash cans with these. They make good diaper disposers too. Why would you throw away an empty trash bag? They are definite keepers! You could crumple them and let the kids experiment with stamping paint to see the texture. You could use them to stuff a scarecrow. But mainly, we use them for trash bags.

#3 Toilet paper/paper towel/wrapping paper rolls
Sword fight! Binoculars! There are so many things you can do with cardboard rolls!

Here are a few:

1. Super hero cuffs - Yes, we will be making these!

2. Make a snake

3. Snowman

4. Octopus

5. Loads of other ideas

#2 Advertisement magnets
You know, like the ones that come on the front of the phone book. I never throw these away. Free magnets! Cut these up and glue them to whatever. The only issue with these is that they are usually pretty weak. So you wouldn't want to glue them to anything too heavy.





Which brings us to the #1 junky jewel - Bottle caps
Yes, I said bottle caps. If you have a young child, bottle caps are awesome! And the best part - they take up very little space. You can collect them to your heart's content and just throw them all in a box somewhere. Count them, stack them, play games with them, stick foam stickers to them and use them as stampers, sort them, use them in art projects, the possibilities are endless!

But just in case you aren't sure what to do with them here are a few more ideas:

1. Spell with them.

2. Make spiders.

3. Ladybugs - Adorable!

4. 10 bottle cap activities

5. Mosaics

6. More ideas


I have no cabinet space to spare so I bought a pop up laundry hamper to store away some of my finds. It was really cheap - Just a few dollars. And it helps to hide my stash.

 

Happy Earth Day!

 

Questions and comments are always welcome. You can also email me at adventuresofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by! Please make sure to check back. I'm just getting started but I will be adding new stuff daily.