Welcome to the Love Lab

We celebrated this past Valentine's Day

with our Lemonhead Homeschooling group

by going...

...to the Love Lab.

I set up some several simple scientific activities

for us to do on a card table,

using test tubes and heart containers,

to get the kiddos in a "experimental" kind of mood.

Most of the experiments revolved around candy

in some way,

since V-Day often has us thinking about

chocolates and conversation hearts.

***

Activity 1: Death by Chocolate

OK,

it was really anywhere near death,

but I did torture the kiddos' taste buds

with THIS simple experiment

using Hershey Kisses and their mouths.

(Nice, huh?)

***

Activity 2: Floating M&M's

After placing some M&M's and Sixlets

into the bottom of a couple of cups...

...we poured water over them and waited.

Sixlets results

M&M's results

(I know it's hard to see, but we DID get a couple of floating

"M's" on top of the water.

You can read all about this experiment

and how it teaches water solubility

by clicking HERE. 

When the experiment was completed,

these two goof balls

dares each other to drink the

candy filled water...

Yum, yum.

;0)

***

Activity 3: Unsinkable Marshmallows 

Using mini-marshmallows...

...the kiddos tried to see if they could sink

them in a cup of water.

A couple of them achieved success,

after they did something to their marshmallows,

which you can read about HERE.

***

 Activity 4: Dancing Hearts

To make Conversation Hearts" dance,

all you need to do...

...is drop some into some Club Soda.

Here they are in action:

Read about why this works
by going HERE.

***

Activity 5:  Funny Putty 

I got these putty kits

from the leftovers of one of our Vacation Bible Schools

a couple of years ago.

The kiddos added a bit of water to the powder

and waited until they had putty.

***

Activity 6:  Awesome Apothecary Pouches

Using THIS tutorial,

the kiddos turned matchboxes

into little pouches they could carry

"medicinal treasures" in.

***

Activity 7: Mentos- the Fountain Maker

Using Diet Coke, Mentos, and

Steve Spangler's Geyser Tube,

we ended our

time in the Love Lab with a bang...

You can read why this experiment works the way it does
by going HERE.

***

I do believe we all developed a deeper affection

for science in the Love Lab!

***

Linking up with Science Sunday...

Olympic Group Games

When we met with our Lemonhead Homeschooling Group

this past Friday,

we took part in our own mini Olympics.

Here are the games we played...

***

Pom Pom Curling

I was inspired by our children's church curriculum

(252 Basics)

for this game.

Using a kiddie broom,

the kiddos tried to sweep a pom pom

into the center of the painter's tape floor board.

***

Paper Tube Bobsled Races

 I found this idea over at

Make and Takes.

 What I liked was that the kiddos

decided to each choose a different country

to be...

(But in the end,

the USA sled took the gold!)

***

Snowball Ring Toss

 This idea was also from

Make and Takes.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for this game

was keeping the kiddos from

EATING

all of the snowballs before the game was over!

;0)

***

Olympic Bingo

You can find this Olympic Bingo game at

Classroom Jr.

***

And what Olympic games would be complete...

...without some gold medals

(aka Milky Way Caramel bars and chocolate gold coins)

awarded at the end?

A sweet time was had

by one and all...

:0)

***

Linking up at the

Olympic Activities and Crafts Linky Party

Olympic Shrinky Dink Swag

This past week,

the kiddos and I

(and some friends)

have begun getting ourselves in the

Olympic-spirit.

I hope to share several of these activities

over the next week,

so you too can get in an

"Olympic-kind-of-mood"...

***

After using the Russia PowerPoint

found HERE,

I read the kiddos

The Littlest Matryoshka

by

Corinne Demas Bliss.

We discussed how Sochi is located in Russia,

and how their culture will be a big influence

on the 2014 Winter Olympics.

I then discussed the trading pins

(aka "swag")

that people acquire at events of this nature.

My challenge for the kiddos was to

create their own swag

based upon images that will be used

during this Olympics.

Personally,

I would have created a 

Matryoshka Doll

with an Olympic emblem on it...

...but the kiddos were drawn to the other images

I had found on  line and printed off

for them to look at.

(You can find several of these images,

such as the Sochi mascots and the pictograms

over on my Olympic Pinterest Board.)

The kiddos used colored pencils to trace

them onto Shinky Dink plastic sheets.

Then decorate their images using the colored pencils

and black permanent marker.

(Some of the kiddos created their own original images...)

 We baked the sheet saccording to the package directions.

When they cooled down,

we used E6000 to glue pin backs on the images.

After they dried a bit...

...they kiddos now have their own

swag to wear...

...while watching the Olympics!

***

Linking up

with

History and Geography

and the

Olympic Activities and Crafts Linky Party

We've Got Nerve! (Nervous System Activities)

During this semester,

the kiddos and I are beginning a journey

all about 

The Human Body

using mostly

AIMS From Head to Toe

book as our guide.

We will go through he entire human body

by examining the different systems,

starting with

the Nervous System...

***

The Brain

As the control center for the nervous system,

and the entire human body,

the brain is THE boss.

To understand our bodies' boss better,

we learned about its different parts and

its different lobes.

We created...

...THESE Brain Caps.

Our dear friends from our

Lemonhead Homeschooling Group

made...

...Brains in a Jar

(with Gluten-free midifications)

for us all to enjoy!

Yum!

***

After learning about the brain,

we discovered how the Nervous System

communicates with Neurons.

We watched THIS video as an intro
to the subject...

...while eating popcorn, of course!

Later...

...after donning our study glasses...

...we completed THIS

Straw Blown Painted Neuron page-

even if it gave us a headache!

:0)

When we got together

with our homeschooling buddies...

...we played a

nervous system communication game

called

"You've Got Some Nerve"

found in our AIMS book.

***

To cement all of the information we learned

about the nervous system,

we used...

...a brain puzzle...

...and a couple of file folder games,

all of which can be found

HERE.

The Nervous System IS really boss,

isn't it?

***

Linking up with Science Sunday...