Sprouting Socks - Part 1

Today we decided to try out a fun experiment that I found in a book called 365 Nature Crafts & Activities. Basically, you put a pair of old socks on over your shoes and walk around in the tall grass and weeds. Then you bring your socks home and put them in a shallow pan and keep them moist. After a few days any seeds that got on your socks when you walked in the grass should begin to sprout. Sounds fun, huh? The book says the best time of year to do this experiment is in the early Fall, but we decided to try it anyway. I think we'll do it again in the Fall... in the same spot so that we can compare.

So here is Tyler walking in the tall grass and weeds in his socks...

I took a couple of pictures of some of the things growing there so we could compare them to our sprouts when they start popping up...

and

And lastly, here is our pan of grass stained, dirty, and wet socks. The things we'll do in the name of education....

I'll let you know when (and if) we see sprouts!

UPDATE 6/9/08: We are sorry to report that our socks did not sprout. :(
Discouraging, I know, but we will try again in the Fall!

Shared Fun - Handicrafts and Experiments

I love it when other homeschoolers share their handicrafts and experiments on their blogs. Here are a couple that we came across and had fun with recently...

Sprite over at Sprite's Craft Corner shared a fun handicraft on her blog last year... I just came across it last week and Tyler is loving it. He's been weaving little rugs. Sprite has step by step directions there to make these. They are the perfect size to use with toys and dollhouses. Of course his first one HAD to include red. Everything in his life has to be red.

Next he made one with pink for his sister...

Emily is really enjoying her new rug... and her brother's too!! :o)

Just tonight I came across this cool Tie-Dyed Milk experiment at In the Sparrow's Nest. Her daughter had done this one before so she made us a fun video to walk us through it. Check it out here. They also have some white Daisies in food coloring at their house that I can't wait to see turn colors!! Anyways, Tyler wanted to try this experiment right away and here is our result...

Evidently the fat in the milk reacts against the dish soap. The minute you touch the toothpick with soap on it to the milk the colors just explode.

Fun times! Now I'm off to see what else I can find out there in Blogland!