A Little Creativity

I have been a little busy and forgot to update my blog!  So, here are some of the creative adventures we have been on.  

This is a foam dough.  It was fun to make and play with, but it took a while for the kids to get use to the texture and stickiness.  When they did, they giggled... a lot!

Then we built buildings with toothpicks and marshmallows.  That was fun! 

We built crystals!  These ones are baking soda crystals, which turned out to be extremely brittle!  Don't breath on them, or they will crumble.  Well, perhaps they weren't that brittle, but close.

Oliver decided he wanted to make a monster... so we made a oozing monster.

I taught Noelle a gravity magic trick. She was excited to share it with her brothers and dad.

Then, when dad was ready, we did a little science with milk and dish soap.  Preston really enjoyed that one.  It's really fun to repeat the things I have done with the older kids with the younger ones and see their eyes light up as well.

Grow Something - Experiment

I love seeing their eyes light up when they are learning!  This gem of an experiment will never grow old.  We used white beans this time and watched as they sprouted into plants!  It took about a week, and then they were ready to plant outback.

By day 3, the kids really liked seeing the seeds and their roots.

Even Preston could tell something cool was happening in that jar!

By day 7, we had some really nice sprouts!  Time to plant!

I'd like to tell you those plants are growing into something big and strong, but about 3 days later, something happened to them.  We plan to do this again with some flower seeds soon!

Talent Show

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls!

I'm about to wow you with this amazing science magic trick.
What closely as I turn this purple to hot pink by adding this vinegar."

(She pours the vinegar and the children in the audience "wow" as it turns pink)

"Now I'm going to change this purple to blue by adding this baking soda to it"

(She dumps in the baking soda and the children in the audience really "wow" as it turns blue)

"I wish I could say the magic came from me, but the truth is, it came from this special cabbage (she shows the cabbage).

I used this special cabbage to make my purple cabbage water.  And It can tell the difference between acids or a base.  Thank you, Thank you!"

(She takes a big bow)

A few weeks ago, Melanie came home with a permission slip for the 2014 Falcon Hill Talent Show.  She was really excited and told me that she really wanted to be in it.  Though Melanie is a very sweet, charismatic girl, she doesn't have any share-able talents yet.  She can sing, but isn't always a strong singer by herself.  She can play the bells, but still, not enough to put her in front of the whole school to preform.  Melanie does, however, have an amazing memory.  I think that is a wonderful talent.  And, she has been on the stage to speak in front of people before (thanks to church) and is always really good at delivering lines.  So, I told her my idea of a science experiment.  She was INSTANTLY on board!

We decided on a color changing experiment because those are always so much fun.  Cabbage water was my first choice because it not only reacts to both acid and bases in different ways, giving us the "wow" effect twice, but it is clearly not a hazardous chemical.  I asked Melanie if she wanted it to be like a magic trick, or a science experiment... explaining to her that a magician never reveals the trick, but a scientist would.  She wanted it to be a science experiment and explain it at the end.

Then we wrote the lines.  We wanted to be dramatic.  Melanie was extra dramatic with her "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls!" at the house, but by the day of, had toned it down a little.  However she did it, it just looked so cute.  As for the science explanation, I decided against having her use large words.  It would have been really cute to see my Kindergartner explain that the red cabbage is a natural pH Indicator... but we decided that, when nervous, it's best to keep it simple.  

Leading up to the big event, Melanie was feeling great and was so excited.  The day before the talent show, however, she came home from school as hot as a tamale, and complaining of a headache and sore throat.  I got her into the doctor as fast as possible to learn what I had fear... STREP THROAT!  Oh NO!  The doctor sympathized with Melanie, and gave her permission to preform the day time show with strict  directions to NOT touch anyone else's props or person.  

So, day of, I brought Melanie late to school, just in time for the show.  Her Kindergarten class did the cutest gummy bear dance in the show.  They were all dressed up as gummy bears!  I loved it! Then, a few acts later, she was up.  

The act before her was finishing up, when a teacher runs over and says "She says she has a costume to cover her?"  I told her that I had left the costume on her chair.  They found it and ran it backstage.  At this point, they were announcing her.  They must have got the costume to her just in time, because she was putting it on while they were opening the curtains.  I knew this was going to frazzle her.  Then she went to start, but the microphone was on a stand, and it wasn't holding the mic to her mouth.  It had fallen.  She tried to fix it, and it wouldn't stay up.  My heart dropped.  I was so scared she was going to have a break down.  She stood there, staring out.  Then the teacher working as a stage hand came out.  Melanie showed her the mic, the teacher tried to fix it, then whispered in her ear.  Melanie took a breath, pushed up the mic, and went for it.  I was a very proud mom.  I could hear the anxiety in her voice, but even scared, she was brave.  After she poured the vinegar into the first jar the entire audience went "wow!"  Then Melanie's voice became stronger.  Then she added the baking soda to the second jar.  The "wow" for the second jar was even louder, including clapping.  Melanie started giggling.  Her smile was priceless.  She tried to quiet the audience by putting her finger to her mouth.  She finished with explaining the trick.  It was hard for her to hold the cabbage while pushing the mic up, but she did it.  Then she stepped aside and did a big bow.  It was perfect.

There was also a nigh time performance (for the first time in Falcon Hill Elementary History).  The show started at 6.  Grandma Smithson, Grandma Traci, and Papa Terry were all able to join our family in watching the show.  Once again, Melanie's class was just too adorable with their dance.  Melanie did a great job with her act as well.  The adults weren't as responsive as the kids, so Melanie didn't giggle during her performance, but she will smiled wide.

All the children did a wonderful job during the talent show.  There are a lot of talented kids at Melanie's school.  The show ended at 8 pm, and by then, we were all exhausted.  Typically bed time is 7 pm and by time we got home, the kids were begging to go to bed.  It made our job easy. 

When Melanie got home from school today, she informed me that a lot of random people that she has never seen before were coming up to her and telling her she did a good job.  I think the talent show was a huge confidence builder.  I'm so glad she did it!  She was one brave girl!

Here are a few pictures I took today of her costumes from yesterday.

My Gummy Bear:

 My Scientist.

Melanie,

You are an amazing person.  Thank you so much for being my daughter.  You make me so happy.  I think you are so brave, and I love you!

Love,

Mom

Building Snowmen in the Desert

School is out and it's time for some fun and family memories.  This is one that poor Oliver missed out on because he was miserable and needed to nap, so I will be doing a repeat soon.  Yesterday, we made SNOWMEN.  In our BACKYARD!  Can you believe that?  And it was in the 70's when we did it.  In fact, the girls didn't have gloves on, and were wearing skirts.  How is this possible?  Well, I made the "snow" from 2 basic ingredients that you can find in most houses:  baking soda and shaving cream.  Mixed together, you get a nice cold powder ready to play with.  It's probably a sad thing that this is how my girls first experienced building a snowman... but ironically, it's about the same size as the first snow man I ever built, and I was in my 20's and married when I did it.  It's an Arizona thing, I think.

Here is Melanie and her first snowman.

 Here is Noelle with her first snowman in the background.

 When the girls were done making snowmen and playing in the "snow", we decided to add some vinegar to add a little excitement to our afternoon.

 Tell me...  do other snowmen do this:

This is definitely a repeat activity!  We loved our "snowday".

Fun with Science... and Oliver

Oliver has been the baby of the family for a while now...  (almost 2 years, actually), and sometimes I forget he hasn't experienced some of the same fun things that I have done for the girls.  So, I decided it was time to do some of those things again.

 Like science experiments!  Oliver got to help me put the stuff in the containers, but for picture purposes, it was safer to pull the tray away from him for a minute.  Can you see the look of concern on his face as the volcano bubbled over?

 The balloon was definitely his favorite! 

 And, of course, I had to repeat the lava lamp, because it's just too cool to pass up.

We had a good time pulling out some of our old favorites!  Can't wait to introduce my little Man to more favorites.

Mad Science

The Mad Scientist at the Smithson House decided to do a crazy experiment today. The experiment involved red cabbage juice. A little factual background: Red Cabbage is a natural pH indicator. It will change colors when it come into contact with acid or a base. Don't believe me... then check it out!

Above is one of my mad scientist waiting for the action. Below are 6 cups of red cabbage, also waiting for action. Here they are checking it out while we decide what to put into the cups first.

Naturally, we decided on vinegar and baking soda. We use them in all our other experiments, why not this one? We started with the vinegar. What happens when you pour a clear liquid into a purple one? It turns hot pink! of course!

Noelle says she wants one to turn blue. Well... add the baking soda to a fresh cup of the indicator juice, and guess what you get... Blue!

Now let's get creative... how about adding other things? Like soda?

Or laundry detergent?

We all got in on the action.

From left to right you have: Vinegar, Juice from a fresh orange, Sprite, Laundry Detergent, Baking Soda, and a cup of Red Cabbage Juice with nothing added. If you can tell, if the pH is acidic, the indicator will turn a shade of pink (the shade depends on the acidity). If it is basic, the indicator will turn blue/green (the shade depends on the pH). Cool, right?

Then we got really crazy and decided to see if we could get the pH back to neutral (or in Laman's terms, we wanted the solution to be purple again.) We added vinegar (an acid) to the basic solutions. Instant volcanic action! The detergent never returned to purple, but the baking soda did.

Then we added ant-acids to the acidic mixtures (starting with the vinegar)

Cool, right?

I did a similar experiment with my Grandma George when I was a little girl. I always remembered it. We didn't try to get the solutions purple again, but we did check out the color changes that occur with acids and bases. Anyhow, we had fun. If anyone wants to know how to make the red cabbage juice, just email me. :)