Soap Clouds

The girls and I had SO much fun making soap clouds last week!  We put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave, turned it on, and watched.



I don't know how long we microwaved the soap because we kept stopping the microwave to check it.  The cloud deflated a bit every time we opened the microwave door, so then we'd turn it on for a little longer.  At one point, we pulled the cloud off the soap and there was a little bar of soap left.  O(5) and I made the mistake of touching it, so we had HOT sticky soap on our fingers and it hurt!  We put the bar back in the microwave and made a 2nd cloud.   We let it cool before touching it this time!





We took the soap clouds down to the slip n slide to make it slippery...it didn't help much.  We just aren't that good at slipping and sliding :)




The girls had fun using the soap clouds to scrub the pedal boat.



This was so simple and so much fun.  Next time they are planning to use their soap clouds to clean their play house!

The idea for making soap clouds came from this blog via Pinterest.

Tales 2 Go on Homeschool Buyer's Coop!!!

Tales 2 Go is our favorite ipad app, and it's for sale on Homeschool Buyer's Coop!!!!  It's a little pricey, but I was able to buy a couple of years subscription before the price went up last year.  My girls listen to audio books every day via Tales 2 Go.  They especially love listening to the American Girls books.  Check out this deal at Homeschool Buyer's Coop.
It's free to join and if you put "cheerios" as your referral code, I'll earn a nominal fee when you make your first purchase.  Thanks!

"I" Week

During "I" week, E(2) had fun tracing a sandpaper "i."  She matched a tiny igloo to the sandpaper letter.




We had fun reading the "I" story about "itchy insects" in our Amazing Action Alphabet book.   E had fun scratching her knees while saying "i, i, i."





We read an "i" book (that I bought from the thrift store for 25 cents).





E enjoyed a few iguana printables from 1+1+1=1.  She liked coloring the iguanas with her dot painters.







She also had fun painting the "I" with her dot painters.





She found an insect and kept putting him on top of the dot painter tops that she had stacked.  When she put him on the top, she said "King of the world!"





She liked cutting out the iguanas and gluing them to her "I."










She fed insects to the frog.





We looked at the "I" from our Alphabet Stomp Game and talked about the pictures.

All links to Amazon are affiliate links.  Thank you for supporting Chasing Cheerios. 

O as Teacher

O(5) had fun pretending to be the teacher on our 2nd day of homeschooling.  She said that she was an "old time teacher" so the students didn't get to choose their activities...they had to do what she said!  She was a very strict teacher!  (she's checking my paper in this picture)



I love that we can wear our pjs all day if we want to, and O loves to wear her mob cap during homeschool. 

Quick and Easy Letter ID Game

One morning during our Lakeside Homeschool, I needed to think of something quickly to keep E(2) happy while O(5) finished her work.  I quickly wrote several rows of letters on a wipe-off board and gave E the eraser.  She erased the letters as I called out the letter name or sound.  She enjoyed this activity until she had erased about half of the letters, and then she was done!

Water Transfer Contest

On our first day of homeschooling, I went to the laundry room to put a load of clothes in the wash and when I came back upstairs, the girls were having a contest...they were using several different kinds of droppers to see which one was the best/fastest at transferring water.  What fun!

LIfesaver Pacifier Favors

My mom and niece had so much fun making lifesaver pacifier favors for the baby shower that we hosted.  They glued the lifesavers together with royal icing.  Then they glued the jelly bean to the top with royal icing.  Simple, cute, and a fun baby shower favor!

Rubber Ducky Baby Shower Punch

My mom made this super cute blue punch for the baby shower that we hosted recently.  Since we didn't know if the baby was a girl or boy, she made both blue and pink punch.  The blue punch was especially cute, but everyone seemed to like the pink punch better.

To make the blue punch, she combined 1 packet of blue kool-aid (unsweetened), 1 cup of Stevia (or sugar),  1 2-liter bottle of lemon lime carbonated drink, 1 64-fluid ounce bottle of white cranberry juice,  and 8 scoops of vanilla ice-cream.  She found the recipe here via Pinterest.

Here's a picture of both punches.  So cute!

Magical Duct Tape Mirror

On our first day of official homeschooling, O(5) got VERY involved in making a "magical duct tape mirror."  She was very engrossed in this activity.  She had so much fun and was so proud of herself.   She covered both sides of a piece of paper with silver duct tape.





She proudly gave this magical mirror to her daddy for an early Father's Day gift :)




After she finished making her mirror, she told me the steps involved in making the mirror and we took turns writing the steps down.



I LOVE this type of spontaneous activity, and it's one of the things I think we'll love most about homeschooling.

Math Manipulatives Exploration

We started our first morning of homeschooling with free exploration of math manipulatives!  Fun!  We all LOVED playing with our new balance.  Both girls have always loved the geoboard, and they really enjoyed working on it on our 1st morning of homeschool, too.  I had fun playing with the plastic square manipulatives, and both girls liked the cuisenaire rods.  I can tell that we are going to have LOTS of math fun this school year!

Popsicle Paint

Last summer I saw popsicle paint on a friend's facebook page, and I really wanted to try it with my girls (since they loved painting with ice-cubes so much).  I finally found the perfect popsicle trays this spring, and the girls and I had fun making popsicle paint!

First, they filled the tray with water.




Then we added in a little bit of liquid watercolor into each container.




We put the popsicle trays in the freezer for about a day or so, and then we had popsicle paint!




The popsicles kept falling off the sticks which was a little annoying.




We still had fun with it, but I think we'll use wooden popsicle sticks next time in the hope that they'll stay together a little better.



I think this will be a perfect activity for our "Art on the Beach" days!