Educational Entertainment

Pour water into a bowl, sprinkle pepper on top. Dip a bar of soap, or put a drop of liquid soap into the water. Watch the pepper scatter.

Make some slime (this stuff is really cool) – mix in a bowl: 4oz. of Elmers glue, ½ cup of warm water, and several drops of food coloring, in another bowl mix 1-2 teaspoons of Borax and 1 cup of warm water. Mix the 2 in one bowl and let it sit for 1 minute, then lift your slime out and store in a ziplock.

Weird Science

My kids are so opposite: one excels with little effort and the other would rather be electronically entertained. From the time she was able by daughter dove head first into science projects – and has placed every year, even going to the county competition. The first year she participated in the fair we went to an informative night at the school, my son always went. I paid attention and took notes so we would put it all together correctly. We then went into classrooms to conduct experiments and check our results. I was surprised that my son, who not only joined in, also guessed each right. I encouraged him to do a science project and by the time we left the school he already had an idea. Each year (kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd) we jointly picked a project that he could do with his class so he would completely understand it, and he did. At the fair each participant is asked questions from the judges. Although he was nervous, he knew what he was talking about. He received a ribbon every year that he did it. Now that he will be expected to turn one in next year he will be ready and even said he is looking forward to it. Suggestion for a child who might not want to get to involved – find something that will give quick results. My daughter conducted one over a course of 2 -3 months. She was patient but my son probably would have been bored at the end of the 1st week.

Elementary

Elementary days – every kids accumulates art work, awards, great papers and other things that take up room as they get older. I would try to weed something out but always felt guilty. Because I scrapbook I thought of a great way to look back on all of these things, I just lay them out and take a picture. I use the photos on a page in my scrapbook and feel a whole lot less guilty when throwing things away. Of course I still keep some in a big folder….just because.
When both of my kids started school I did the same thing: introduce them to kids in their class at open house. I felt a little strange and was usually the only one but at least they started Kindergarten knowing some faces / names. A few years ago I did it with my son to a girl who was with her family in the corner of the class room. They had just moved from California. Not only did my son meet the girl but we found out my daughter was in her sister’s class. We ended up becoming great family friends.