G is for Gas, Liquid, Solid

So this week was sort of a transition week -- did H for Halloween & saving I for Indian & needed to cover G.  I came up with G is for gas, liquid, & solids to have a break from fall crafts & get creative with how to cover the subject.  With it also being election week, I educated the crazies on the candidates & talked about what it means to vote.  They decorated some "Future Voter" badges & apparently it all resignated with them because even over the weekend Kennedy was asking about "Ronnie".  We did lots of melting & freezing & cooking to demonstrate the 3 phases of matter.  I found some great worksheets on education.com that helped Deacon learn about it all.  It was a fun way to fit in election discussion as well as have a break between Halloween & Thanksgiving!

They both colored one Presidential Candidate information sheet & learned who was running

We made our own "Future Voter" badges & they sported them proudly -- D wanted to know how many more years he has until he is 18 : )

 The worksheets full of pictures of gas, solid, & liquid made it easier for D to learn it all

We made our own freeze pops to teach how liquid could turn into solid... & of course they were eager to eat them when they were frozen! 

We enjoyed them with some friends we had over for a playdate

K getting her fix!

Of course I used water to show the ice, water, & steam -- I love how into it K is!!

I took a tupperware container & froze it solid with some of Deacon's army things in it...

And he chiseled it all out... again, we did this while some friends were over.

And when they got one out, it was like finding gold each time!  This went on for about an hour!

And we made rice crispy treats to show the marshmallows going from solid to liquid.

It was a C for Critter Kinda Week

We just wrapped another week of learning here.  The crazies focused on "C" this week with critters being our theme.  We had alot of fun crafts to incorporate as well as some great ideas to help them learn.  We attracted ants by leaving 3 different kids of food out across the street at the park, we did some fun critter movements (roll like a roly-poly, etc.), & we made a caterpillar turn into a butterfly with the cocoon & all (that is a different post).  They had fun, D knows how to write Cs, & they are loving learning, which is the overall goal.  Below are some of our ideas!

C is for Critters!!!

We made ants out of toilet paper rolls.

K practiced some fine motor skills with stickers.

D did some critter subtraction.

 We learned more about patterns using bug pictures.

We made a bumblebee from a paper plate.

 For cooking day, we made lady bug pretzels.  They were super yummy!!

Hoover Dam Day

After wrapping up Southern California (aka: SoCal around here) we headed back towards Las Vegas where my sister lives.  My mom wanted to see the Hoover Dam while she was here so we saved some time to head in that direction.  Let me tell you, I know more about the Hoover Dam than I EVER cared to know.  It is an engineer's dream field trip, but mine, not so much.  My sister said we would stay "about an hour" & that turned into 5 with no sunscreen, no water, & no snacks.  We made the most of our time there & the crazies did good, but personally, I think it looks better from the arial view pictures because up close all you really see is bunches of concrete.  The visitor center was informative & nice & the crazies had fun "making" electricity with the displays & exploring the kid-friendly parts of the museum.  I was VERY impressed at how this structure was built & have NO idea how the men accomplished what they did without all of the equipment & tools available today.  Seriously, they completed their work 26 months ahead of schedule which is way more than most contractors can say about roadwork projects even in this day & age. So, doing what they did is remarkable & accomplishing the goals outlined was impressive, but that is one place that I have no desire to visit again, unless for a die-hard engineer.

Part of the structure

And more... I'm sure if I were an engineer I'd be better at this

The water that leads to Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in the U.S.

K & her Meme

 The new Memorial Walk that goes over the Hoover Dam

I had no idea it sat within 2 states -- Arizona & Nevada -- there are the two structures on either side of the dam

 Group Shot

 We took a dam tour, or went as far as we could with kids under 8 y.o.

Meme & the crazies toured the Visitor Center

D was spinning to make electricity

K was twisting to keep the power on

The crazies explored this model town for about 15 minutes -- they loved seeing all of the things that the electricity did

It's Sizzling Mom!!

The other morning I was trying to buy some time to get some things together in the kitchen for a cookout after I'd finished learning with the crazies but before we were headed to the pool.  I remembered a tiny experiment I'd seen on Pintrest & decided to pull the ingredients out & see if the crazies liked it.  That was a HUGE understatement.  They sat at the table for about an hour & I had to refill their ingredients TWICE!  All you need is a little baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, droppers, & a pan & you are set!  The bubbling chemical reaction thrills them.  The various color combinations entice them.  And the fine motor skills in using the droppers challenges them.  It was a fun morning AND I was able to finish up my prep work for entertaining later in the day!

Just 3 standard kitchen items: 

Pour enough baking soda in a pan to cover the bottom.  Combine vinegar & food coloring in bowls.  

After teaching them to use the dropper, they can go to town.  The vinegar & baking soda have some sort of chemical reaction creating a bubbling mess & the colors are of course entertaining.

Kennedy sort of did it opposite until she got the dropper technique down, but she loved seeing it bubble up the coloring bowl too.

Kennedy's red bowl bubbling.

They sat here doing this for about an hour.  AMAZING!

When we were done I just let them pour them remaining colored vinegar in for one sloppy, wet finale!