Art with Bubbles and Paint!

   Mixing two of kids favorite things, Bubbles and Paint! This art project is very fun, but also very messy, so I would recommend doing it outside if possible. For each bubble paint mixture you will need 1 TBS liquid dish detergent, 2 TBS washable liquid paint, 3 TBS of warm water, a small shallow bowl (like a cereal bowl), drinking straw, and some white paper.

    First mix the detergent, paint, and water into the bowl until it is well blended. Place one end of the straw into the soap-paint mixture and gently blow until bubbles start to overflow the bowl. After that lower the paper onto the bubbles very gently and remove when you get close to the top of the bowl. At first the print will look light, but after a few minutes the colors will get brighter. You can prepare as many soap-paint solutions as you want to make multicolored prints (my boys just wanted one color each). We also tried taking spoonfuls of the bubbles & splattering them onto the paper and blowing them off to create different designs. We made 6 different prints in all and every one was completely different than the other. It had the boys very fascinated as they tried to control the outcome of their designs.

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Making Marshmallow Shooters

 

My kids grandparents went to a Fall Festival last weekend and came back with two marshmallow shooter kits for the boys. The marshmallow shooters were very easy to put together and all the supplies can be bought at a small hardware store. For one shooter you will need a total of 31 inches of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, two 1/2 inch PVC elbows, two 1/2 inch PVC tees, two nickels (yes as in money), and one 1/2 inch PVC coupling. You will need to cut the 31 inch PVC pipe into six 4 inch long pieces and one 7 inch long piece. After that I have attached a diagram showing you how the pieces fit together. Nickels are used to block off passages to give the shooter more air power.The mini marshmallows fit into the shooters perfectly without getting stuck. Also do not glue the pieces together, you will need to be able to take the shooter apart to clean it. My boys had tons of fun with this project, and since it was chilly outside, I let them play with it inside (luckily we have tile floors, I would imagine the marshmallows would stick to carpet) and they did not want to stop.

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Using plastic bottles & socks to make Bubble Foam

  

    What kid doesn't like playing with bubbles? My kids play with bubbles on an almost daily basis and enjoy every minute of it. In this project we will be using an empty plastic bottle, a sock, scissors, and of course bubble solution. First you need to use the scissors to cut the bottom off of the plastic bottle. Then simply place the sock over the hole you just created on the bottom of the bottle. After that just dip the bottom of the bottle into the bubble solution and blow on the mouth of the bottle to create foam. The kids will love it. You can use any size bottles or socks, I just found the smaller ones to be easier for my young boys. If you don't have any socks you want to use, an old t-shirt or blanket will work as well. You would just have to cut a piece out of the fabric big enough to fit around the bottle and cover the hole and secure it in place with a rubber band.

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~A Random Thought~

Going through some pictures on the computer, I run across some older photos of the boys. Nothing big like their births or anything like that, just some photos from about a year or so ago. Anyways, I'm sitting here looking at these photos and I just cant believe how fast time flies, and how much kids can grow and learn in just a years time. Since this time last year my oldest has stared reading, adding, subtracting, and more. My youngest has learned his alphabet, colors, shapes, and speaks in perfect sentences (well perfect to me). Last year was when we moved 700 miles away from the place where our boys were born and more than half our family lives. It was also the year we started discussing our options with schooling and what we thought would be best for our family. Homeschooling can be tough at times, there are days when I just want to give up, send them to public or private school and never think about it again. But if I were to do that, I would miss all of this. Being able to watch them grow every day, learning how opposite they are in almost every way. Seeing their little faces light up when they discover something that interests them. The way my oldest loves to write and do puzzles, and how my youngest hates to even pick up a pencil or crayon and would rather use flash cards or point at things with a yard stick. I know this post is completely out in left field compared to any of my other post, but I just thought it would be nice to share this moment of reminiscing will you all.

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Do-It-Yourself Bath Crayons & Paint

   My kids absolutely love bath time! But during bath time they usually like to splash and get water all over the place. To try and keep this from happening too much, we decided to give them something else to do that is way more fun and lets them be creative.

   We'll start out with the bath crayons, since they take more time. All you need is a bar of soap, a cheese grinder, medium sized bowl, warm water, ice cube tray, and food coloring. Grind down the soap bar with the cheese grinder into the bowl. Then add about a 1/4 cup of warm water to the soap flakes and stir till it gets to a consistency were you can mold it with your hands. After that you scoop out an amount big enough to fill an ice cube tray, add food coloring to it and start kneading it till the color is well mixed (you might prefer to wear gloves if you're worried about getting food coloring on your hands). Place the well colored soap mold into an empty slot on the ice tray and repeat till all the soap is gone (We filled 10 slots on the tray). Now just wait for the soap crayons to dry (about 2 day) and pop them out just like you would ice cubes.

   Now we will make some bath paints, which is extremely easy, cheap, and fast to do! All you need is shaving cream, a muffin pan, food coloring, and a spoon. First fill each slot in your pan with shaving cream (all I had was the gel kind and it worked fine). After that add different color food coloring to each slot and mix them well with your spoon. The kids can use paint brushes, their fingers, or anything they please to make amazing designs all over the bathtub walls that can be rinsed off when bath time is all done.

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~Making Flubber/Flarp/Gak~

   Who doesn't love Flubber? You can stretch it, bounce it, mold it, make fart noises with it, and if you keep it in a container with a lid, it will last forever! This recipe is very simple and quick so make sure to have all your ingredients set out before you start.

What you Need:

8 oz of glue

Water

Borax

Food color

Teaspoon

Measuring cup

Bowl

 First you pour all the glue into a large bowl. After that you fill the empty glue bottles with water and shake to help get out the rest of the glue and pour that into the bowl as well. Add food coloring to the glue and water mixture and mix well. In the measuring cup add 1 teaspoon of borax to 1/2 cup of warm water and mix. Slowly pour your borax mixture into your glue mixture while stirring. It will form quickly so once it gets hard to stir with a spoon, reach in and start mixing it with your hands, adding water as needed to reach your desired consistency. Now all that's left to do is enjoy and have fun!

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Beautiful Color Designs

   The boys and I had a lot of fun with this very simple art project. All you need is aluminum foil, white paper towels, food coloring, and water. Take about a 14-inch sheet of aluminum foil and lay in down on your work space (I also used a baking sheet under the foil just in case), then lay your paper towel on top of it. After that the fun begins! Let your child decide which colors to use and where to put the drops. When he has about 10 to 15 drops, ask the child to pour about 1/2 a teaspoon of water over each spot of color (we used a syringe). Watch as the colors expand and blend together. After all the colors have blended, set the foil and paper aside to dry (I left it out overnight).

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Yummy Pumpkin Seeds

 
    One of my favorite things about this time of year is being able to have pumpkin seeds! Yesterday after the boys gutted and carved their pumpkins, we took out all the seeds and rinsed them off in a large bowl. After the rinsing we placed them on a baking sheet and spread them out evenly. We then seasoned them with sea salt (you can use any seasoning you prefer or none at all) and placed them in the oven for 15 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. They make a very nutritious snack and the boys and I love them!

 Nutrients in
Pumpkin Seeds
0.25 cup (32.25 grams)

Nutrient%Daily Value

manganese73.5%

tryptophan53.1%

magnesium47.7%

phosphorus39.7%

copper21.5%

protein19.5%

zinc16.8%

iron15.7%

Calories (180) 10%

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Floating vs. Sinking Experiment

   While discussing the differences between saltwater and freshwater with my boys, I thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce to them the floating vs. sinking egg experiment! We started out with two clear cups and filled them both with warm water. In one of the cups we put around 10 tablespoons of salt. After that we placed one raw egg into each of the cups and observed. Since saltwater is denser (heavier) than freshwater the egg floated instead of sinking like it did in the freshwater.

   This experiment will also work on a number of other things! We tried baby carrots and grape tomatoes and received the same results.

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~Inflating a balloon with vinegar & baking soda~

   This was one of the boys most favorite experiments we've done yet! They wanted to do it over and over again. Next time we will definitely buy the bigger balloons, since the smaller ones didn't take much time at all to blow up.

     All you need is one 16oz plastic bottle, a funnel, half a cup of vinegar, one tablespoon of baking soda, and a balloon.

   First we took the plastic bottle and used the funnel to help pour in the baking soda. Then we used the funnel again to add the vinegar. After that we very quickly placed the balloon around the top of the bottle and voila, the balloon starts to inflate immediately.

   If you have the bigger balloons it would be easier to pour the baking soda into the balloon, then place the balloon on top of the water bottle. After you've done that just lift the balloon upright to add the baking soda and the reaction will begin.

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~Outdoor Fun~

   Nothing like taking a break from homeschooling to enjoy the great outdoors and have some fun! Perfect weather for flying a kite. And we lasted a whole 30 minutes before we got the kite stuck on the roof this time!

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Groovy Lava Lamp Project

   We combined some ingredients we found around the house to make a very mesmerizing and reusable lava lamp. All you need is an empty water bottle with the label removed, vegetable oil, water, food coloring (one color), and an Alka-Seltzer tablet.

   Just fill the bottle a little over halfway with the oil, then add water, stopping about an inch from the top. Add around ten drops of food coloring. Cut or break the antacid tablet into quarters and drop one quarter into the bottle. The lava lamp will then come to life! When the bubbling slows, add another quarter-tablet to get it started again. You can keep doing this as long as you'd like!

  You can also store this project by letting it sit until all the bubbles have completely dispersed. Then you simply cap it and store it in a safe place until the next time you would like to use it. My boys had so much fun with this project that they did not want to stop.

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Early morning fun!

    Getting prepared for another wonderful, but of course busy, day in the life of homeschooling!

                                                            Wake up time!

                                                                     
       My oldest just loves the Puzzle Buzz magazines, especially the crossword puzzles!

 

For my youngest I mostly get dry erase (wipe-on wipe-off) products. He loves to be able to write on every page and then go back to clean it all off.

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~Pencil Eraser Pointillism~

  French Post-Impressionist painter and draftsman Georges Pierre Seurat used a technique of applying pure color dots instead of brushstrokes on a canvas. The style is called pointillism. With some pencil erasers, we created a similar effect.



All you will need is some pencils with unused erasers (one for each color), heavy paper or cardboard and paints. We used a pencil to sketch a simple design on the paper. To apply each color, lightly dip the eraser into the paint, then dab it onto the paper. Our pointillists might not look like Seurats', but the boys had fun making their own masterpieces.

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