Exploding Bags...Maybe Not

After our fun experimenting with vinegar and baking soda, I decided to let the girls try another vinegar and baking soda experiment (also found via Pinterest at this blog).

First, the girls each put 1 tablespoon of baking soda on a small piece of paper towel and folded it up.

Then we put a half cup of white vinegar and a fourth cup of warm water in the bag (the water wasn't that warm by the time it finally made it to the bag). We sealed the bag, backed up, and waited.

The bags got really big, but they never actually popped...until E(2) stepped on them! The baking soda was old and the water wasn't very warm, which probably made the reaction less strong than it should have been. That was ok though, we still had fun!

Puffy Paint

Making puffy paint with the girls has been on my to-do list for years (probably at least 3!). I was inspired by Pinterest and "P" week to go ahead and do it!

E(2) and I made the paint one morning while O(5) was at school. We mixed together 1 cup of white flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water. We stirred the ingredients and then divided the mixture and added paint.

After stirring the paint to mix it really well, I put it into squeeze bottles.


The girls had fun painting after O got home from school. O said she was doing an "Action Jackson" (Jackson Pollock) style painting.


Puffy painting eventually turned into finger (hand) painting!




I also learned a valuable lesson...always check the weather before leaving paintings outside on the porch to dry overnight. They got soak and several blew away :(

(I'm not linking to one particular blog, since I've seen this recipe on countless websites and blogs and in several craft books)

Science Thursday...Fun with Baking Soda and Vinegar

Both girls LOVE doing science experiments, so I'm trying to make sure we do AT LEAST one science experiment per week. We started out with something simple and FUN! (this idea came from Pinterest...surprise, surprise!)

I filled a baking pan with baking soda and gave the girls 3 glasses with colored vinegar. I also gave them a spray bottle with colored vinegar, a couple of glasses, and a couple of pippettes. Then the fun began!



They pretended to make make baking soda and vinegar milkshakes...yum!







They loved this activity so much, and they would have played with it for hours if we hadn't run out of baking soda. This is definitely one of those "why didn't I think of that???" activities (since making baking soda and vinegar volcanoes is one of our regular activities!).

Pouring Pigs

O(5) loves to help me think of activities for E(2) to do during our Alphabet weeks, and she came up with the idea for E to "pour pigs!" Great idea, big sister!


E(2) LOVES pouring the 2 tiny pigs from one glass to the other and back again and again and again...




Then she cuddles them and carries them for a while. She said she needed to put them in their pig pen :)

Reading Power Tower

My mom and I made a Reading Power Tower when we made the math one. O(5) LOVES this one, too, and she's getting lots of fun practice reading sight words!


We took turns reading all of the words to make a huge tower!


She loved knocking it down!

"P" Collage

E(2) and I had so much fun making a collage with "P" items...pom poms, pipe cleaners, and paper!

I taped a piece of contact paper (sticky side out) onto one of our sliding glass doors. I gave E a basket full of goodies, and we got to work.

We've done many, many contact paper collages, but evidently they were too long ago, because this seemed like a new experience for E. She loved exploring the stickiness of the contact paper, and then testing out the glass to see if things would stick to it as well.

Coloring Mandalas

O(5) and I have really enjoyed coloring mandalas during our "Mama and O Craft Time" lately. It is calming to color a repeating geometric pattern, and it's fun! We use fine tip markers and have great conversations while we color.

Pop Paper Dance Party

Since it's "P" week, we had a Pop Paper Dance Party before supper this week! I spread out the pop paper (saved from various packages) and taped it to the floor. I turned the music up loud, and we started dancing. The girls LOVED this! SO much fun!

Simple Addition Power Tower

Here's another idea from Pinterest! O(5) LOVES math, so I was thrilled to see these Power Towers for simple addition on Pinterest.

The Power Towers were so easy and inexpensive to put together, and O LOVES them! I printed the Power Tower label on photo paper and glued it to a Pringles container using scrapbook glue. While I was doing that, my mom was writing simple addition problems on the bottoms of Dixie cups. She wrote the answers inside the cup, so that O can check her work.

We took turns solving the addition problems and stacking the dixie cups. The best part (according to O!) was knocking the tower down.

I love the smile on her face in this one! This girl loves to learn!

Tonight during supper, I reminded the girls that tomorrow is Saturday, and I asked "Do you know what that means?" (I was trying to get them excited about sleeping late!) O says with a smile "No school for me, and no homeschool for E(2)...but I'll probably do some schoolwork anyway!"