Grandmum Arrives

This weekend, Tobias joined the 4 others in his soccer class, playing with squishy balls, cones, bubbles and parachutes.  Genevieve had fun in her soccer class, then created an owl out of a clay pot in art class.  We stopped at the rock and mineral store to have a good look around.  At home, we did laundry, decorated some presents for friends, blew bubbles and created our own Halloween village collage with pictures from Michael's.  We also played a great game of "what does that spell," where she arranges letters and I attempt to pronounce the word she created.

Tobias went back to gymnastics, and is so happy to be back to trampolines and balance beams.  We then enjoyed some time at the park.  Genevieve was inspired by some pictures from Beauty and the Beast, so used some Model Magic and markers to create her own versions of the stained glass windows.  We enjoyed some storytime, then enjoyed watching baggage claim at the airport while picking up Grandma.

We let Grandma settle in by playing lots of games, art and puzzles and including her in bath and outside play.  We all went to Music Makers in the park this week, which was great fun but a little challenging since it was a little chilly for the California kids.

Off and Running

With it being Labor Day weekend, there was no soccer but Genevieve made a windsock in art class and we stopped by the rock store.  She found some citrine, peacock ore, blue agate and some fun Magic School Bus books.

We spent Sunday with grandparents.  She had made a treasure map of their back yard, so they followed that.  Then we headed to the Bay Discovery Museum.  Tobias appreciated the Daniel Tiger exhibit, but Genevieve was more excited about other things.  She made a trolley, played with glitter sand and took a nature walk.  He played in the construction pit and they both enjoyed the room with trains and boats.

On Labor Day, we read some stories and built with some unconventional blocks like bottles.  We played with water, and Genevieve asked if she could make a fountain.  I found some instructions from Australia, which involved making a small hole in a plastic bottle, where you should insert a straw.  We sealed it with some tape.  We filled the bottle with water and blew up a balloon, placing it over the opening.  The air pressure then creates a fountain.

We went to storytime, then all worked on some cleaning.  They both helped with dishes.  Then Genevieve helped with one of her favorite activities - baking.  We made some blueberry muffins.

We had some friends over for science activities.  We experimented with trying to float fruit, cut them open to see the seeds and used them as stamps.  We also tried to explore what might help keep an apple from turning brown, but actually just had fun with baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice.

We went to music class, where we sang about animals.  Tobias was happy to be back for marching and Genevieve had a great time throughout.  After music, we came home and she started working on invitations for her birthday.

We ended the week with building the tallest towers we could and painting a Day of the Dead skull.

Week off

This was the last week before most of our activities start up again, so we had lots of fun at home.

Outside the house, Tobias had his first week of soccer.  He was a little confused about being allowed to play on the field, but had great fun building with cones and playing with the parachute.  Genevieve made a neon name plate in art class, so she got to practice her letters.  Then she painted another rock; this one was in the shape of a heart.  She decorated a jar and mixed some glitter in some slime.  Tobias also spent some time in the UC Davis Language Learning Lab, where he helped in a study about recognizing objects with multiple names and a few longer term studies.

We did a few science experiments this week.  We've been practicing eye-hand coordination and demonstrating density in pouring water in different containers.  We experimented with surface tension with bubbles and watching pepper on the surface of the water.  Salt was used to help stick ice cubes together and to attach ice to a string.  We used chromatography to see the colors inside black markers and used vinegar to remove the shell from an egg.  We just keep the cards that came with our Magic School Bus kit out, so when we feel like an experiment we just draw one.

We did some foam painting, making marble patterns and playing with color.  We also had a great time using our Melissa and Doug magnet shape set to create pictures.

We also played quite a few games.  There were a few rounds of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Game.  We played a few matching games, including Tobias a little.  We also enjoyed some Hi Ho Cherry-o.

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.