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!

Happy May Day 2008

This year the kids and I had the chance to experience the amazing May Day Parade that In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre puts on every year. They work on this parade literally all year round. And it shows! This year's theme was A New Bridge...

A New Bridge Infrastructure for the Future Beings On August 1, 2007, we witnessed the fall of the 35W bridge. During the profound Ecumenical Memorial Service for the 13 citizens who perished in the river, Hamdy El-Sawaf of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of Minnesota offered these words: “If a bridge made of iron, steel and concrete can fall down, then a human bridge of faith, trust, confidence and hope must be established.” These words challenge us to receive the tragedy of the fallen bridge as an opportunity to consider the infrastructure we are building for the present and future beings. Are we building toward depletion and collapse as consumers and conquerors, or are we building a path to sustainable, reciprocal harmony with the rest of the earth? Let us turn together with trust, faith, joy and ingenuity toward the work of building a bridge for safe passage through our transition to a glorious, sustainable, healthy life for all the future beings. Happy Mayday! Enjoy! In The Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre Creator and Producer of the MayDay Parade, Ceremony, and Festival

One of my favorite parts of going to the parade, though, is the people watching. This event brings out people from ALL walks of life and it is so fun to watch and experience them all. While we waited for the parade to arrive we saw a lady juggling beside us and a man across the street with a huge parrot on his shoulder. Not to mention the variety of hairstyles... and the varied tastes in clothing! It was amazing.

Then there's the parade itself. So full of color and happiness. People on stilts, people riding unusual bikes... masks and amazing costumes... music of all genres. People just having fun and spreading joy. Here are a few photos...

Note: You can see bigger, more detailed, photos in my Flickr Photostream.

Now you may wonder how in the world this craziness could be educational... but it actually was. There was the multi-cultural experience... including Native American dance and costumes. The wide variety of music and dance. There was the display showing butterfly cocoons. There was a group of people marching holding endangered animals made from paper mache. There were anti-war groups, which prompted some discussion. One group handed out flowers along the way... we got Baby's Breath, which we looked up and identified when we got home. It is now being pressed so that we can enjoy it for a long time to come. So we did learn. I am discovering that everything in life can be a learning experience! There was a lot to soak in here... I'm sure discussions will spark for a long time to come.

After the parade we walked the few blocks to a nearby park. This is where the parade ended and they had a May Day Festival going on. The Festival may have been fun... if you could actually make your way through the sea of people to see anything. We were disappointed in the crowd, which made it impossible to have fun. We did get to see the canoes they had decorated for May Day... I believe they were doing canoe rides on the little lake there in the park. We probably made it a few feet before we decided to leave. We did stand in line long enough to grab a hot dog and a pop. We enjoyed watching a couple of guys do tricks with a frisbee while we ate. Then we headed out to play at our usual neighborhood park. All in all a fun day!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #2 - Use your words

This was a really fun assignment that really got us thinking! Our assignment was to enjoy a nature walk and then use our words to describe some of the things we experienced. We used our nature walk on Wednesday for the assignment. Here are our words and journal entries...

Tyler:

One word to describe something I heard. Tweeting

Two words to describe something I saw. Brown worm

Three words to describe something I felt. Super soft petals


And here is Tyler's Nature Journal entry... he did some copywork and I let him have fun with the drawings.

Sherry:

One word to describe something I heard. Tweeting

Two words to describe something I saw. Purple flowers

Three words to describe something I felt. Slippery wet mud


And my Journal entry... I used it to teach us some of the parts of a flower. I added a little worm in the corner because this was Tyler's favorite part of the hike. He carried an earthworm around for quite a bit of our walk. I also added the date and location, and a list of the people who joined us for our walk.

Thanks, Barb (Harmony Art Mom) for hosting the Outdoor Hour Challenges! We are loving them! We can't wait to get started on number 3! Especially since I have new hiking boots now! After our 2 mile walk on Wednesday I thought my feet were going to fall off... actually I think it would have been a relief if they had!!! Obviously my cheapo hikers weren't going to cut it for our new Nature Study adventures. But I'm ready now!