The Solar Eclipse

This week we invited friends over to celebrate the solar eclipse.  We served bagels because they are ring shaped and crescent-shaped croissants.  Everyone had some solar glasses and we talked about how it isn't safe to look at the sun without these glasses.  We made some pinhole cameras too, which worked pretty well at showing the eclipse  and also make fun shadow art.  We dropped balls into a tray of sand to recreate the surface of the moon.  We also had some shaving cream and liquid water color to paint the sky, making fluffy clouds.

Besides the eclipse, we had art class where we painted a canvas and used gems to create a shape.  It started as a heart, but Genevieve decided she wanted to make broccoli instead.  While waiting for it to dry, she also painted a rock and drew Pete the Cat holding broccoli.

We played some Peg + Cat games, and watched some Peg + Cat which led to her, unprompted, explain that zero means nothing.  We've done some cleaning, everyone taking turns sweeping and scrubbing.  She also made a treasure map for Grandma Stacey.  We've played a lot of trains and building as well.

Planes, Trains and Star Mobiles

This weekend, we finished our session of soccer and then went to Michael's for their Saturday morning craft.  Genevieve made a cupcake keychain and painted a happiness rock.  In the evening, we watched the stars come out, but the mosquitoes chased us inside before we could see the Perseids.

Sunday we enjoyed some time at the Crocker Art Museum which has some very colorful pieces both kids enjoyed and an installation called Plink which had several sparkly triangles and triangles for the kids to use for building.  They have art activities for kids, as well but Genevieve was having too much fun with everything else.  We then walked to the Railroad museum in Old Town Sacramento, which had large train engines and cars to explore and several train tables on the top floor.  On the way there, we stopped at the School House.  After our busy morning, we hung up Genevieve's solar system and created the constellations Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and the big Dipper with her glow stars.  These are great constellations for young astronomers as Cepheus is basically a house shape, with a triangle on top of a square and Cassiopeia is a W.

We went to a park with a train theme for a playdate.  We took some walks to the train station this week as well, and read some of our favorite Thomas stories.  We had a second park play date later in the week as well, trying out a new park.

We made some paper airplanes and compared how the different styles fly.  Then we launched some stomp rockets and noticed how they fly differently.  For a different look at propulsion, we blew up a balloon and then just let it fly.  We've been noticing airplanes that fly by as well.

We did a few more experiments from Nick Arnolds  DIY Science book.  Genevieve used a balloon, funnel and bottle to observe how a lung works and explored camouflage by hiding "bugs" she cut out on different colors of paper.

We took another trip to Rocking Jump, the trampoline place, where the kids had great fun bouncing, playing dodgeball, and balance beaming through the foam pit.  We then went right next door to Imagine That, where the kids had a blast exploring the exhibits.

We ended our week by making a solar system mobile.  Genevieve painted a Styrofoam ball to be the Sun and some paper stars and the Earth.  We tied them to some sticks, and are noticing balance in action.

Family Time

We started this week with a trip to see Grandparents and visiting family.  Genevieve got to finish the cookies she started with Grandma and hopped in and out of several board games like Alhambra and Takenoko.  She likes Alhambra because it is a castle building game, and we match colors while talking about more and less.  Takenoko is a fun game with a panda figure and pink bamboo so it's a big hit too.  When they weren't playing board games, the let Grandpa chase them around and play outside with them.  Genevieve also talked about crystals with her Grandpa since she's been digging for them lately.

She thought about skipping storytime to play with brother, but decided to finish the stories and then find Tobias.  She had fun playing zoo detective and feeding the giraffes during her class at the Sacramento Zoo.  They made little detective outfits to go with class.

When we weren't in classes, we spent a lot of time taking walks to the train station and the playground.  We've also been enjoying some time in the backyard, watching our other pumpkins grow and launching rockets.

Science Potpourri

Summer classes are wrapping up and we are getting ready to assemble our fall schedule for September, but that doesn't mean we have to stop experimenting at home.

We started our week by carving a pumpkin.  One of our pumpkins was orange, and Genevieve wants it to be Halloween already so we worked together to carve it.  And we've observed the changes in it over the past week.  Jack-o'-lanterns aren't meant for 100+° F weather.

Genevieve painted some treasure chests to get ready for her play date with her science friend Mary.  They played games and used magnifying glasses to examine crystals.  Then we used 2 kits from National Geographic to dig for fossils and rocks.  The rock kit worked well.  The "dirt" was easier to break up and the rocks were easy to identify.  The fossil kit may was more difficult to dig into, and I'm not sure if it's because more moisture had leeched from the dig site because it had been boxed for awhile or because it started out drier to accommodate the more intricate detail.  The fossil kit also has some more delicate fossils that may break if your little paleontologist isn't careful and is a little more difficult to match some of the fossils to the ones in the book.

Thursday was a Predator and Prey themed zoo class.  They concentrated on three main prey - insects, fish and small animals.  Then they tried to identify some predators that ate that kind of prey.  They met a lizard and a hawk, and we're able to watch the otters eat.  The teacher had prepared some textured frog pictures for them to paint with water colors.  She made another worksheet to fill out at the zoo.  This time we named some predators and prey, and observed the zebras, giraffes, and lions.

We borrowed a book from the library called DIY Science by Nick Arnold.  I know him from the Horrible Science series, and I really enjoyed this collection of experiments.  Genevieve picked a few of the water ones, like using a coin to test surface tension.

Finally, daddy went to the art store with Genevieve and they created a glow in the dark solar system.  We experimented with mixing colors to create secondary colors.  She used those colors to paint a picture of herself feeling sad because she had to go to her room and a spider for Halloween.