I Can!

Can't is a word I'm trying to eliminate from, not only my vocabulary, but also my children's. I want my darlings to know that they CAN do anything with determination, love, and faith. So Zoe and I created "I Can" books yesterday. We started with a little survey revealing some things that Zoe can do. This helped get her and I thinking about what we might include in our books. Then we drew pictures on each page of things we can do. When either of us begins to feel a little negativity about our abilities this is something we can refer to in helping us bring back some positive energy.

I cut computer paper in half and stapled three sheets together down the fold.

You could easily create your own.

"I can hold chickens."

"I can go to school."

"I can write."

"I can love my children."

"I can hike."

The Incredible Shrinking Bottle

What do you get when you fill a plastic 2 liter bottle with hot water? A really neat science experiment!

All you need is an empty 2 liter bottle and some hot water. You fill the bottle halfway, shake the bottle, and watch it shrink over the next 5 minutes.

We started with a two liter bottle and heated enough water to fill the bottle halfway.

The moment the hot water touched the bottle it started to shrink! The kids thought this was really neat.

All in all, the bottle shrunk to nearly the size of an individual soda bottle.

Channel Jim Henson!

My ultimate fantasy career was working as a puppeteer with the Jim Henson Workshop. Whether it was creating puppets behind the scenes or bringing them to life with movement and voice, nothing seemed more thrilling than being a part of some of my most favorite stories and creatures.

Mama's most favorite movie ever, The Dark Crystal.

And Mama's most favorite television show ever, Fraggle Rock.

So the kids and I decided to put together a little puppet production. Zoe wanted to do a city backdrop. We used our table on its side as the theater and pulled out some of our puppets.

Someday we'll post a project about making puppets. Like Jim Henson, himself, teaches here:

 

*gush*

 

Constellations

I love this project because of its freeing simplicity and how creative children can get. And mama.

Random dots.

Connect them in whatever way you like.

Turn it into whatever you see! Like a chicken!

Or a puppy!

 

Or another chicken!

Or an angry frogman!

Create a Maze

Defy Physics!

My husband, Erich, and I went nuts over this when we discovered it years ago when Zoe was a baby. This stuff is from another planet. It's a simple little concoction that is sure to create great results with your kids. I call it Moon Goo. What's so incredible about this stuff is that it's not quite a solid and it's not quite a liquid. I won't ruin the surprise for you. You'll just have to see for yourself when you make it. Or you can scroll down and watch the video my husband and I made when we first came across it. ;)

You don't need much. Just cornstarch (a 16 oz. box), water, and food coloring.

Dump in the whole box of cornstarch. You can also halve like we did and dump in one cup.

Add 1 1/2 cups water or 3/4 if you're halving it.

Pick yer colors.

And swirl and squish.