Cultural Exchange...Scotland!

The girls and I studied Scotland in May.  We received a fabulous cultural exchange package from Scotland, and I want to share it with all of you.  It may help those of you compiling packages know what kinds of things to send....

Scottish coins




a cd of children's songs and rhymes




Several different Scottish snacks




a small Scottish flag




 a fun craft




stickers and an adorable little book...we LOVE the book!




Lots of great postcards




An amazing Scottish coloring book




Pictures of Scottish bank notes




Pictures of Scottish stamps




They put together an AMAZING letter that was actually a book!  SO much work went into preparing this package!








A Scottish magazine




and lots of other fun things!  What fun it has been to learn about Scotland!  Thanks to our Scottish friends!!!

Tie-Dyes for Baby

Our girls were SO excited to tie-dye onesies for the new baby in our family (my bff's new baby).  O(5) is worried that baby boy won't like her onesie because the red faded to pink, but I assured her that he'll love it!



Tie-dye is a great way to make older onesies seem new again!  Here are the tie dyes we made for Sweet E before her birth. 

Excavating Dinosaur Bones

Since we are studying archaeology in our history program, I thought it might be fun to let the girls do their own excavation.  When I saw these dinosaur bones, I knew they would be perfect for my plan!



We walked over to our clay pile and filled a bucket with clay.



The girls had a wonderful time burying their dinosaur skeletons in bowls of clay mixed with water.








They were covered in orange clay by the time they finished!








We put the containers of clay in the sun to dry for a couple of days. We saved the excavation activity for a day that Elliott was home early from work, so that he could participate in this fun activity.



He gathered together a couple of hammers, flat head screwdrivers to use as chisels, and brushes to brush away the clay and dust.











They squealed in excitement when they finally saw their dinosaur bones!








After they finally freed their dinosaur bones, they had lots of fun making clay soup!




They requested that I read to them while they played, so we read LOTS of books about fossils and archaeology while they played.  Fun times at Lakeside Homeschool!

Edible Artwork...Painting Their Breakfast

When I saw this fun painting activity on Pinterest, I knew I was going to have to break my "no artificial colors" rule for the girls.  (and I'm SO glad I did...we all had fun with this one!)

I filled 4 small glasses with milk and food coloring, gave the girls a few paintbrushes, and whole wheat bread, and they got to work!




I was afraid that the colors wouldn't show up that well on the whole wheat bread, but I think they look great.




O(5) painted a rainbow and a landscape (her words), and E(2)'s bread was a little more abstract.  She used so much milk that she had a hole in her bread, so she said it was a puppet...love her!




Since we don't waste expensive, organic milk, the girls had a color mixing lesson and poured the colored milk into their breakfast milk to drink.  E(2) poured the green and yellow milk into her milk to get a slightly lighter shade of green...surprisingly, she drank it all!  O(5) poured the red and blue colored milk into her glass, so she had purple milk...she eventually drank most of it.




After they were satisfied with their artwork, I toasted the bread.  Yummy and beautiful!

Appliques for Baby

I love to make special appliqued clothes for the sweet babies that we love.  So, for our most recent addition (the sweet baby boy that my bff recently gave birth to), my mom and I made several appliques.

His mom had a special quilt made for him, so I ordered fabric that matched the quilt for the appliques.  My girls chose the pieces for the applique, and I cut the fabric, applied the steam a seam, and ironed the fabric pieces onto the clothing.  My mom sewed around the edges (which started out quick and easy and ended up being a huge hassle when the sewing machine went wacky on her).   We appliqued 4 different outfits (onesies, gown, and a romper) and hung them up from a clothes line to decorate for the baby shower.