Science 1o1

Mommy, can we do a craft?

Mommy, can we play in rice?

Mommy, we want to make a mess!

Okay so maybe they don't say that last one but that is what I hear when they ask for those other things. A mess. But here is the thing with me...I really don't mind the mess. I am the mom who stands back and watches her child smash three different colors of playdoh together. Yes, I really did say that! It doesn't bother me. It used to but after watching my boys learn and explore while doing these things it really does not bother me. Mommy, can we paint? Sure, why not? Just take off your shirts first!  So where am I going with this? Exploration, I feel, is something that is so important for my boys to be doing. I try and try to get them to sit down and work on letters or counting but they honestly could care less. So I figure if i can get them intrigued with a little exploration why not use it to my benifit and teach them with that. 

Our experiement for todays post was something I remember doing in my elementary school days. Liquids have different densities which can keep them from mixing together. 

Here is what you will need for this experiement:

5 clear containers (I used empty baby food jars size 2 and 3)

Water

Dish Soap

Baby Wash

Oil

(You can use different liquids, these are just what I had on hand. The baby wash and dish soap didn't seperate very well because they are pretty similar to each other)

orange-water (we added food coloring)

green-dish soap

blue - baby wash (with blue food coloring)

clear/yellow - oil

Pour equal amounts of each liquid into the jars. Keep one empty so you can combine them all together in it.

Slowly add, one at a time, the liquids into the jars. Eli and Zeke loved doing this part.

And then watch! We sat and watched the jar for about 20 minutes. 

watching....

watching...

The blue food coloring was probably a bad idea as it tinted the other liquids. I would recommend trying to find different liquids that are all ready a different color and you don't have to add food coloring to.

a view from the top

We decided to shine a flash light behind the jar to see if we could see the two middle layers better. Yup, it worked! You can see the different layers pretty good with the help of a little light. 

They thought this was so much fun to do. 

Then Daddy had a fun idea...add some milk! 

The milk is made of mostly fat and so it balled up in the liquid making little round clumps. The boys thought this was pretty awesome!

Ohhh thats pretty cool!

It was pretty fun exploring what happened when we mixed these all together and it was a great 'hands on' experiment for the boys to do. One tip to remember when doing these kinds of activities is to have every thing prepped and ready to go ahead of time so that when actual exploring is happening everything is ready and the boys can do it all on their own (with some cues from mommy of course).

Bartholomew and the Oobleck

Today is March 1st so we are kicking off  Reading month with non other than Dr. Seuss. Eli picked out a great book: Bartholomew and the Oobleck from our library so I decided to do some fun stuff with the boys based along the book. After breakfast I rounded up the boys and we read "Bartholomew and the Oobleck." Its a really fun book and the boys loved it.

 After we finished reading our book I gave the boys a coloring picture of the King from the book covered in Oobleck. This gave me some time to get all the stuff together for our next project.

 Nice shades of green for the Oobleck!

 Zeke coloring his king. Its the same picture as what is in the book.

 Eli working on his picture.

 Our first Oobleck recipe:

         -2 cups corn starch

         -1 cup water

        -food coloring

 The boys were finishing up their King pictures.

 We put 2 cups of corn starch in a large bowl. Then I let the boys touch and explore it...be warned...this is messy!

 I then filled a measuring cup with 1 cup of water and let the boys squirt food coloring into it. Make sure you add the food coloring to the water otherwise it will be next to impossible to mix it in once it hits the corn starch.

 The boys then mixed the coloring into the water

 We then poured the green water over top of the corn starch using TEAM WORK!

 It looks runny but it is very hard. It took a little work but with a strong wooden spoon I was finally able to get it mixed together fairly well.

 I then worked really hard and was able to get fairly equal parts of the Oobleck out onto cookie sheets for the boys so that they could play and explore the strange substance.

 Eli made some really cool hand prints in his. We had a lot of fun with this and talked about how the Oobleck looked and felt. They thought it would be squishy but it turns out it was really hard!

The second Ooblick recipe that we used was:

        -8oz of Elmers Glue

        -water

        -1 teaspoon of Borax

        -food coloring

 First step is to pour all the glue into a big bowl. After the bottle is empty fill it with warm water and shake it. Then pour the water into the bowl and mix it with the glue. Then add in your food coloring. The more you add the brighter your Oobleck will be. Mix in the food coloring and then set the bowl to the side. Next you take 1/2 a cup of warm-hot water and put 1 teaspoon of Borax into the water. Mix until the borax is dissolved. Then pour into the glue mixture and with a wooden spoon start stirring.

 Stirring will be pretty easy at first but then it gets a little tricky so I took over and helped out. Make sure you use a strong wooden spoon.

 It will gradually get clumpier and stickier. If it gets to hard to mix with the spoon then use your hands to mix it up. When there is no runny water or blue goo stuck to the sides of the bowl then your Oobleck is ready to play with. I was getting tired arms from mixing so I let it set a couple minutes while I put the ingredients away and then it finished mixing up well. Note that the food coloring will turn your hands colors! My boys hands are nice and blue now!

 Once the Oobleck was ready I pulled it out of the bowl and put it on a cookie sheet. The boys loved exploring this. It was kind of slimy and stretchy, rubbery and bouncy.

 So much fun!

 If you let it rest it will spread out like a puddle.

 stretchy!

 Here are the two ooblecks that we made this morning. The blue one I like way more. It is less messy and stays pretty contained. The green is fun to play with because it looks like a liquid but is hard. It does dry up and get crumbly but vacuums up nice enough. We decided that the blue recipe was more like the Oobleck from the book. If we make this again I will probably use yellow food coloring. Just because now the boys hands are so blue from playing with this and yellow might not look as bad. You can probably do the no food coloring route as well but how fun would that be? I might try some washable paint next time and see if that works at all. You can also use glow in the dark paint too!

 The boys playing away with their Oobleck

 And we had to get some trucks out too!

 Zeke

We Love Bartholomew and the Oobleck!

38 weeks

Here we are at 38 weeks...almost done! I noticed I forgot to do week 37! But I have a hard time remember most of anything at this point so we won't worry about that and just work on 38 weeks. I am so tired and exhaused and trying to figure out how in the world to get my 2 little dudes to sleep/stay in their own beds at night. For some reason all they want to do is snuggle with mommy which is really not good at all.

Here we go wtih the details now:

Today's date: JUNE 5th

How far along: 38 weeks

Total weight gain: 18 pounds

Heart Rate: steady at 140

Size and growth of the baby:. Baby isn't kicking and jabbing as much as before because there is so little room left! Instead he squirms and wriggles as if, like you, he's just trying to stretch and get comfortable. By now he is probably floating in a head-down position, and if he has dropped you can feel him bearing down your pubic bones. Even though it could be four more weeks before he's born, he's ready to go: he probably weighs almost seven pounds now and he's almost 20 inches long. This growth is truly a feat: the baby is seven times longer and almost 200 times heavier than he was at the end of the 1st trimester.

Gender: Unknown

Maternity clothes: Its all to short

Sleep: I so need more of it. I am at four pillows total right now to try and help me get comfortable yet I feel like a need a fork lift to get me out of bed in the morning. I am so sore and stiff after laying in bed.

Best moment(s) of the week: Went and got some new items for the baby and ordered a new carseat after finding that the styrofoam in our had cracked and broken and (I consider) no longer safe.

Movement:I call my stomach movements 'shape shifting' so crazy to see!

Food cravings/aversions: Nothing is satisfying.

Morning sickness: yeah still lingering in the mornings

Labor signs:none

What I miss: sleep and I don't expect to get any anytime soon either. And feeling good. I got hit with major sinus pressure and runny/stuff nose last night and my head feels like its going to explode!

What I'm looking forward to: meeting this baby!

36 weeks

Today's date: May 22, 2012

How far along: 36 weeks

Total weight gain: 16 pounds

Heart Rate: at 34 weeks baby was 140, this week it is 160

Size and growth of the baby:. Baby's brain is continuing last week's growth spurt. This week her touch-sensing nerves start growing their myelin sheath--the envelope that surrounds the nerves and helps them transmit impulses. Though touch will be one of the most mature senses at birth, the insulation process isn't complete until she is about 12 months old and her sense of touch will actually continue developing through age six! Once she is born you will luxuriate in cuddling her, stroking her skin, and kissing her tiny face. A newborn needs and loves this kind of attention. Holding and cuddling her actually stimulates the production of growth hormone (in you and Baby) and helps her grow healthy and strong.

Gender: Unknown

Maternity clothes: Limited selection left at this point.

Sleep: hard to accomplish. hard to get in and out of bed.

Best moment(s) of the week: hum...watching the party going on in my stomach at the end of the day as I'm reading before bed.

Movement:Lots!

Food cravings/aversions: not much this week...could still use some deep fried mozz sticks though!

Morning sickness: yup

Labor signs: non at this point and doctor says not likely going to either. Was kind of cramping while sitting in our hard church pews though on Sunday.

What I miss: Breathing with out running out of breath.

What I'm looking forward to: Getting the rest of the stuff ready for the baby.

35 weeks

Today's date: May 15, 2012

How far along: 35 weeks

Total weight gain: 15 pounds

Heart Rate: Last Week's heart rate was 140!

Size and growth of the baby:Baby weighs more than five pounds this week. He's huge! You're huge! (But neither of you is quite there yet.) Although his lungs are not completely ready for life outside the womb, his kidneys have had lots of practice excreting urine; his liver is producing bile; his heartbeat is strong and regular. His brain, which weighs about two-thirds of what it will at birth, is growing furiously as he also (you guessed it) continues to put weight on the rest of his body.

Gender: Unknown

Maternity clothes: I only have one pair of shorts that fit comfortably. And all my shirts are getting to short!

Sleep: uncomfortable. My hips were really stiff and sore this morning  when I tried to get up out of bed. Took me some time. And I have to get up to pee a lot

Best moment(s) of the week: Switched rooms with the boys finally. Eli is excited to have the baby sleep in his room (even though it will be a while before that happens)

Movement:Lots!

Food cravings/aversions: Deep Fried Mozzarella sticks...all the time!

Morning sickness: still hits me in the morning then im good to go.

Labor signs: never

What I miss: Bending over to pick things up with out loosing breath. Oh and my toes...they are getting pretty swollen

What I'm looking forward to: We are getting close! So that is exciting. I am going to start washing up the neutral clothing and hospital outfits for the baby. And I have to get all the diapers washed and ready to go!

34 weeks

 

Today's date: May 8, 2012

How far along: 34 weeks

Total weight gain: 14 pounds

Heart Rate: Today's heart rate was 140!

Size and growth of the baby:This week Baby's skin is smoothing out and she continues to plump up (sound familiar? She has a lot of plumping up to do!). By now all of her internal and external structures are functioning. Though she has six more weeks to bake, your baby is a whole person now who acts very similarly to a newborn. She hears well enough to react to loud noises outside the womb (notice any kicking when you turn up the music?); her brain developed enough that she can respond to the sound of your voice. Her tastebuds distinguish flavors and her eyes, though still quite myopic, can differentiate between light and dark. If you could peer into the womb you might see her touching a hand to her face, gripping the umbilical cord, or touching one foot to the other leg.

Gender: Unknown

Maternity clothes: With the weather changing I am really getting low on maternity shirts. Most of my short sleeve shirts are way to tight/short to wear!

Sleep: Not fun! I am really sore in the hips when I wake up, I try to sleep on my back to help my hips from getting sore but that is really hard to do. I also have to get up to pee all the time!

Best moment(s) of the week: Sunday the baby had crazy hicups! They lasted for such a long time. Bought a dresser (used) for the baby. Now I can start washing up clothes and diapers and have somewhere to put them!

Movement: There's a dance party going on in there!

Food cravings/aversions: Fruity drinks and deep fried mozzarella sticks

Morning sickness: morning visits

Labor signs: nope

What I miss: shaving my legs with out loosing breath, walking normal (my hips hurt so bad!)

What I'm looking forward to: Getting the bedrooms switched around and getting things ready for the baby!

33 weeks

Today's date: May 3, 2012

How far along: 33 weeks

Total weight gain: 12 pounds

Heart Rate: 145 ;last week, I go back in to the doc next week.

Size and growth of the baby:Baby's movements are slowing down this week. As the your uterus gets more and more cramped, he's curled up, chin resting on his chest and arms and legs cocked. He continues to practice breathing, to open and close his eyes, and to swallow amniotic fluid. In fact, during this last trimester he will be swallowing about 4 cups of amniotic fluid a day! His taste buds have matured now and experts believe that Baby can already distinguish some of the tastes in your amniotic fluid--like onions, garlic, and certain strong spices, like cumin. Some scientists believe this pre-taste is a way to prepare a baby for the different flavors of breast milk, which also changes based on a mom's daily diet.

Gender: we don't know

Maternity clothes: Getting a limited supply of shirts that are long enough and are comfortable to wear, and I'm roasting in everything.

Sleep: Not great, my hips are always stiff and sore when I wake up. Which is a few times a night

Best moment(s) of the week: We finally have nice weather!

Movement: All the time everywhere!

Food cravings/aversions: strawberry banana smoothies, furit in general and fried mozzarella sticks....

Morning sickness: back to everymorning

Labor signs: nope

What I miss: bending over and just feeling good in general

What I'm looking forward to: less than 7 weeks to go!Time to start getting stuff ready.