Wings

The boys are supposed to be putting their toys away. Instead, I just saw Shmoo sit down with a couple of coat hangers and smear them liberally with glue. My first reaction was to feel a little cross with him because we often run out of coat hangers but I bit my tongue and casually asked him what he was doing.

He looked at me like I was stupid and slapped a sheet of paper on each of the hangers, saying, "Making wings, of course."

Of course.

Please don't let him be one of those kids who jumps off the roof and attempts to fly.

 

(He also has plans to get The OH to drill holes in a bicycle helmet so that an umbrella can be inserted to aid with his flying attempt...)

Homeschool Group - Kitchen Science

   

 

The homeschool group did some kitchen science experiments today... using red cabbage water as a pH indicator; making milk plastic; exploding snaplock bags, inflating balloons with bicarb and vinegar; popcorn lava lamps; and making sherbet.

I think the boys enjoyed the sherbet making the best! Shmoo and Loo were in one group and Beanie was in another. Beanie found it all a bit overwhelming so The OH had to do a lot of it for him but in the end he could be persuaded to help with holding and pouring (even if he did wash his hands a lot in between). I even managed to convince him touch his milk plastic.

 Every time we've been to Otto's Grotto lately we've come across big, black, hairy caterpillars congregating under the gum trees. I'd had a couple of quick looks online but hadn't been able to identify them. Until today, when I added 'gum tree' to my 'black caterpillar' search and came across a picture of steelblue sawfly larvae ('spitfire' grubs). They're not caterpillars at all but larvae of the sawfly (related to wasps). Fascinating little critters. Apparently when threatened they secrete a substance made from the oil of the eucalyptus leaves that they consume. And they communicate with each other by tapping their tails.

Full Circle

He was born at exactly 40 weeks gestation and today he is exactly 40 weeks old.

Look how far he's come...

  

Science Experiment - Cabbage Water

Making dinner tonight, I discovered half a red cabbage in the fridge (The OH bought it on the weekend and never got around to using it). I boiled up the outer leaves in several cups of water. When it was a nice, dark colour, I strained it and poured some of the now purple liquid into a glass. I gave the glass to the kids, along with some lemon wedges and a container each of bicarb soda and vinegar.

Loo was the most interested in it (the other 2 were a little distracted having their screen time). He was curious about the colour change to red when the acids were added and then to blue when he added the alkaline bicarb soda.

I'm starting to think that perhaps this explains our turquoise garlic incident last year.

It would have been fun to try using an egg like in this experiment but Loo's allergic to raw egg white. We still have a couple of cups of the cabbage water leftover so we might have to experiment with some other ingredients over the next few days!

Science Experiment - The Haunted Glove

Loo Bear was keen to try an experiment he'd read about in a library book...

A jar with a little water and vinegar in it. A glove, with bicarb soda in the fingers, secured to the rim of the jar with a rubber band.

  

Lift one finger to let the bicarb fall into the jar and... a spooky hand that rises up all by itself! Our rubber band wasn't particularly tight so a lot of the air escaped and the hand quickly deflated.

Take 2: We tightened up the rubber band and the hand stayed inflated for a good half hour.

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Based on a true story. Roy and Silo, two male penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, fall in love and are given an egg to rase: little Tango.

Such a beautiful book!

Nature Spotting - Pademelon

We were all very excited when The OH spotted a sweet little pademelon nibbling on the vegetation by our driveway the other evening.

Swimming

Baby Bear started swimming (water awareness) classes this term (the boys have had the same teacher for the last 7 or so years). B's very comfortable with submersions as I've done a lot of water play, splashing and 'ready, go's in the bath since he was tiny.

Avanti Apple Peeler, Corer and Slicer

 

We had another apple day recently except this time we used our new, pink Avanti apple peeling machine to peel, core and slice all the apples. It was really easy to use (and the suction base on it worked well - Shmoo didn't really need to hold it as he was in the photo - it didn't budge at all until I released the suction lever, despite some very enthusiastic handle turning by the boys). We had lots of fun and the apples were peeled a lot quicker this time.

Beanie turned the handle to peel the apples. Loo could put the apple on and turn the handle. Shmoo was able to do all of it by himself. And they all loved eating the super long strips of apple peel!

Science Experiments

 The big boys have been really into science for the last few months. They've been doing things like...

 

Bicarb soda and vingar experiments

'Singing' wine glass. This keeps Shmoo fascinated for hours - listening to how the pitch changes depending on the volume of water, listening for any changes when objects are added to the glass, watching the water vibrate.

This is Loo's pet paper bug... A paper towel with twisted corners placed over a lemon. The shape of the lemon means it skitters about in a similar way to a real bug. And I know in a few months I'm going to find a squashy, mouldy lemon in some dark corner of his room!