Bird Feeders (Part 3)

It's been a while now since we've made a bird feeder for our backyard. We had some pinecones lying around (Monkey loves to collect them on walks) so I thought it would be a good way to use some of them. 

Supplies: pinecones, peanut butter, birdseed, string, knife, shallow dish 

After I had tied a piece of string to each pinecone, Monkry started covering them with peanut butter. 

Once he was done, I went over them quickly just to make sure the peanut butter was spread all over the pinecone. I'm pretty sure Monkey ate more than he put on the pinecones! 

Next, we poured some birdseed into our tray. Then, holding them by the string, Monkey rolled the pinecones in the birdseed. 

In a couple of minutes Monkey had all the pinecones ready. 

We took them straight outside and hung them in our backyard. 

Less than an hour after hanging them we saw the first bird! 

Mar 

Rock Candy

We've been working on this science experiment for a little over a week now. I'm going to be honest, it took me a few tries to get this right, but in the end it was a pretty neat thing to watch. 

I followed the instructions from: http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2015/02/rock-candy-experiment.html?m=1

...but I looked at a lot of other websites after the first try didn't work. 

Supplies: sugar, food colouring, clothespins, measuring cups, pot, glass jar, wooden sticks

The first thing you need to do it get your stick ready. First get the stick wet, then roll it in sugar. Then set it aside to dry. It has to dry completely before you use it in the jar. 

Next it is time to make the sugar solution. I found many different measurement amounts for the sugar. The first time we tried, the water to sugar ratio was 1:3, as per the instructions from the link above. This did not work for us at all. I had a feeling it had been too much sugar, so after more research, we tried a 1:1.5 ratio, which worked for us. 

Begin by putting one cup of water into your pot and adding one cup of sugar. 

Bring this 1:1 mix to a boil on the stove. The sugar should dissolve completely. Once the solution is boiling, add the rest of the sugar. We added another 1/2 cup. (The original recipe, and many others I read, suggested adding two more cups, but again, that didn't work for us.) Once all the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat. 

Carefully pour the solution you've made into the glass jar. We were able to fill two jars with the amount of liquid we made. 

Without touching the jars, Monkey added some food colouring to each one. 

Finally, you need to put the wooden sticks into the jars. Once they are dry, place them into the jar, ensuring that thy are not touching the bottom or sides. Attach the clothespin to hold the stick. 

Now you wait and observe what happens inside the jar over the next few days. 

Here are our jars after three days. 

The sugar in the water had formed crystals on the wooden stick. The solution contains more sugar than the water can keep in liquid form, so the sugar crystallizes on the stick to remove itself from the solution. You can find a more detailed expiation here: https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/rock-pop.html 

Monkey decided he wanted to leave the candy to grow some more, so we checked on it again a few days later. 

This is what the candy looked like after six days. 

The pictures don't really capture the beauty of the crystals growing on the sticks, which we think looked the best when they were still in the jars.

Monkey couldn't wait any longer to taste his rock candy, so I gave it a quick rinse and he tried it. Of course he loved it because it's just pure sugar! :) 

You may have noticed in the pictures above that a lot of sugar crystallized onto the sides and bottom the jar in addition to on the wooden stick. To clean the jars I simply poured boiling water into them which softened up the sugar until I was able to get it all out. 

Because it took me more than one try to get this experiment to work, I was less enthusiastic about it than usual. But in the end it did make a really cool finished product. 

Mar 

Water Beads Marble Run

It's been about a year since we played with water beads so I picked some up at the dollar store last week. Monkey got an amazing marble run set for his birthday and I've been waiting to use it with water beads ever since! 

I can't remember anymore exactly where I saw this idea... I think it was on one of the teacher Instagram accounts I follow. I apologize for not giving proper credit. 

Supplies: water beads, marble run set

I made the water beads overnight. They take about eight hours to expand completely. They were all ready to go this afternoon when Peanut went down for his nap. (These will never be out when Peanut is awake - he is way too little to understand that he can't eat them!)

Monkey was so excited. He really loves his marble run set so this was a perfect play invitation for him. He started by building the marble run, which is a pretty big challenge for him. He usually needs help making sure all the drops are lined up properly. 

 

Whenever he does his marble run I encourage him to test it after every couple of pieces he puts on. 

 

Soon he had a tall tower that worked from top to bottom. 

Monkey isn't a huge fan of trying to pick up the water beads with his hands, so he used a gravy spoon to scoop them up and drop them in the marble run. 

This turned into a bit of a problem solving activity for Monkey. There were a few spots in the marble run where the water beads kept getting stuck and stopping. With my help, he made some adjustments, took some of the pieces out and ended up with a tower that only got stuck in one place, and Monkey seemed happy with that. 

The water beads last for quite a long time, so once Monkey is done using them with his marble run, we can find another way for him to play with them. If they start to dry out a bit, I'll just add some more water to the bin. 

Mar 

Marker Cars

Today I set up this amazing process art activity for Monkey. I knew he would be interested in doing it because it involves his absolute most favourite toys in the whole world... cars!! My boy plays with his cars for hours every day. 

I saw the idea here: http://www.housingaforest.com/drawing-with-cars/

Supplies: markers, cars, tape, paper

First, Monkey helped me get the markers taped on to the cars. He thought very carefully about which colour should be on each car. 

It wasn't easy to get the markers lined up perfectly so that they would write, but after some trial and error we figured it out. 

After rolling out a large piece of butcher paper on the table, Monkey was ready to go. 

He didn't waste a second! He got all the cars moving right away. 

He noticed that if a car sat for too long without moving it left a big dot. 

The markers needed lots of adjustments while Monkey was playing with them. He didn't seem to mind, and after I helped him a few times he was able to fix them on his own. 

The finished product doesn't look like anything in particular, but again, this art is about the process and not the final product. 

Mar 

Roll and Dot the Number

Monkey has been very interested in numbers lately. He'll ask me, "What does a 1 and a 3 together make?" or "Which number is bigger than 100?" Although this activity doesn't hit on those sorts of questions so much, it does help Monkey practice his subitizing (recognizing number representations without having to count) and number recognition skills. 

Supplies: die, bingo daubers, roll and dot the number page

You can download the roll and dot the number page for free here: http://mominspiredlife.com/preschool-math-game-roll-dot-number/

This game could definitely be done independently, but I printed out a few sheets so that Monkey and I could play it together. 

The game is very straightforward. First, roll the dice, and then find and mark the number you rolled. Each number appears many times on the page and they are not in order, so it does require the child to discriminate between numbers. 

As the game went on and more numbers were covered, Monkey started to notice that he was running out of 2's, or that he had covered all his 3's, observing and making generalizations about his sheet a whole. 

Monkey enjoyed this game. We played it two separate times today, each time for about fifteen minutes or so, which is a decent length of attention for a four year old. We haven't covered all the numbers yet, so we'll get to play another time or two. 

Mar

Painting Rocks with Water

Today I did an activity with Monkey that I put out multiple times a year in my Kinder class. It's easy to set up but very entertaining. 

Supplies: rocks, water, paintbrushes 

I set the rocks out on a baking tray because it helps contain the water. 

This is a very open ended invitation to play. I didn't give Monkey any directions, I just told him to sit at the table and go! Kids are always so intrigued by natural objects, they really can't help but be curious and explore them. 

Monkey loved doing the first stroke on each rock and observing whether it changed colour or just looked wet. 

This kept Monkey entertained for more than a half an hour - for a mom, that's forever!! He did get a little frustrated because he couldn't finish painting all the rocks fast enough before they started drying, but he still loved this activity.

 

As always, this activity was a huge hit. Monkey has asked to do it every day this week. 

Mar 

Magnet Walk

The boys and I are on a little road trip this weekend. Tonight we were at my aunt's house. It rained all day and Monkey really needed some outside time. Luckily, before we left home, we had grabbed Monkey's magnet, so I knew it was the perfect opportunity for us to do a magnet walk. 

Supplies: magnet

All you have to do is grab a magnet and go for a walk! Monkey ran around testing out anything we walked by to see if it was magnetic. I didn't let him put it on any cars though, which he really wanted to. 

After Monkey had tested each object, we talked about what the object was made of and whether or not it was magnetic. 

After testing a few objects at the park, Monkey decided that it was time to play, and I agreed because there's nothing wrong with burning off some energy before bedtime! 

Mar