Sink Vs. Float

Sink vs. Float bottle
Don't let my ridiculous picture fool you. These bottles are easy to make and are great in teaching sink and float.

Supplies:
2-liter clear bottle
water-fill it 3/4 way full
small objects that sink and float. We used: paper clip, screw, small wood block, shell, clothes pin, pick-up stick, foam letters, coins, key, pom-pom.

There are so many great ideas of toys/educational toys to make with bottles. Here is one that would be great for halloween.

Polishing Pennies

Helping Out Around the House

"obviously, children do not know how to do everything that we can do, and it often seems easier simply to do things yourself. But by taking the time to prepare the environment and to teach children patiently how to do things step by step, you continue the process of teaching skills as well as attitudes about work." (Tim Seldin, "How to Raise a Child the Montessori Way")

I love the montessori approach to order in the home. Everything should have its place. And children have a sensitive period of learning where they want to learn how to help. I have seen this with you kids and have had fun teaching you how to mop with your child-sized mops, sweep, clean windows, empty the dishwasher, wipe up spills, vacuum, etc.

I saw this polishing activity on The Wonder Years blog and wanted to try it with you girls. This is one step in lerning how to polish and clean other detailed items and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from keeping things clean.

Supplies: pennies (we used other coins just for fun)

Bowl of Vinegar and a little salt

Old Tooth Brushes

Bowl of water

Towel to dry the coins

Dip toothbrush in vinegar solution, and begin scrubbing penny. It will magically change and become very shiny.

Next dip it in water and make sure all solution is off. Place in towel and dry.

Magnets

Supplies: Jar, paper clips or anything with metal that sinks, strong magnet

We use food coloring in jars almost weekly for lots of simple projects...so we added it just for fun this time.

place some paper clips (or in my case push pins) in the jar and then demonstrate how to get them out using a magnet. My 2 year old loved this.

She had to put her hand in to get some of them but once she got the hang of it she could get them out without her hand. She was proud.

Dinosaur Island

Supplies:

playdough-we used homeade

tinfoil

pizza box (you can use anything to "build" it up though..books would work)

funnel (for the volcano)

baking soda

vinegar

Inspired by Filth Wizadry's dinosaur Island

Butter and Whip Cream

Science experiment:

We started with 2 pints of heavy whipping cream. We put one in the kitchen aid and mixed air into it. It got HUGE, fluffy and after we added a bit of sugar and vanilla it tasted delish!

We put one pint in a jar. We put the lid on tight so that air could not get in. We shook it for a good 30 min. or so. We took turns, but mom did most of the shakin'. And all that shakin' made us want to shake our booties and dance too. Fun stuff. And of course all that shakin' made us some yummy butter too. We added a little salt and shook it some more.

I told you both about the "air" difference. I think it was neat for us to all see the difference but most of all it was yummy.

Then we got to enjoy some cake with whip cream and some toast with butter.

Magnetic vs. non-magnetic

The idea would be to sort non-magnetic and magnetic items using the magnet wand. M didn't want to sort because she was too excited to use the wand :)