Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Little Einsteins

Watch out Walt Disney: Baby Einstein aint got nuthin' on my Little Einsteins!

Today was a day of experiments and projects, or, as Grady Lee would tell you, "science expewments." Thankfully, the kitchen isn't a disaster and nothing is permanently ruined. 

We started off by washing pennies in vinegar and salt. I don't think the boys understood the whole chemical reaction thing, but they did get pretty excited when they dumped a dull, brown penny in the mixture and took it out a few minutes later as a shiny, copper penny!
 
Because vinegar smells so awful, I had no worries about my boys licking or tasting the ingredients, which is usually the case when they help me in the kitchen. Micah announced, more than once, "This soap for the pennies sure does stink, Mom!"
 
Can you tell which ones are washed and sparkly clean? They are now safely stored in piggy banks and waiting for an outing to the dollar store.
Next up was a balancing act to see how many books four egg shells could hold before collapsing. The boys each cracked two eggs and I then rinsed the shells. They ran back and forth from the book shelf to the kitchen counter gently stacking books to see how many they could pile up before the eggs gave way.
 
We had a sizable tower going, until Grady Lee, in his great excitement, leaned on top of the book pile with his elbow. Needless to say, the egg shells didn't last.
Micah was more tentative and took his time placing each book. I think Chicken Little is what finally put his tower over the edge.
After cleaning up egg shells and putting books away, it was time to see if we could flip cups of water over without them spilling. It took several tries, but Grady Lee finally got the hang of it. Poor Micah - his hands were too small and he could never get his to work.

In short, we filled a cup 3/4 full with water, placed an index card on top, gently pushed the card down while flipping the cup over... and yippee! The water didn't pour out and the card didn't give way.

"It's a miracle, Mom!" shouted Grady Lee. Not quite, little man, not quite. But that did lead to some good discussion about why only Jesus can do miracles...
By this time Annalyse woke up from her nap and was begging to eat. I got out paper, paint, and straws and told the boys to stay busy blowing the paint to make beautiful designs. 
They were on the kitchen floor while Annalyse and I were on the living room couch entertained by huffs and puffs from two blowing artists.
 
After a while, both boys announced they were thirsty and hungry (I wonder why?) and so they headed to the table for a snack. I introduced our next project, which wasn't really a science experiment so much as it was a creativity experiment.

The boys used toothpicks and mini-marshmallows to build... well, to build things. I heard them refer to "the monster" and "the fireman ladder" and "the army tank" but I'm not sure I could identify what was what.
 
And yes, there was, of course, lots of snacking, too. Maybe even more snacking than there was building. I didn't care though, because they were quiet and they were busy for a lot longer than I expected!
As for Annalyse, her big task was to reach and flap and roll until she could finally grab on to a toy! If you're a parent, you know how exciting this simple milestone is... my Baby Girl is no longer just a cute little person on a blanket, but she can actually reach for and play with toys.
A whole new world has opened up to her and it is oh-so-exciting! I think her brothers may have celebrated just as much - they clapped and shouted, "Good job!" over and over.
Our final "expewment" was making volcanoes. Grady Lee did this at a friend's birthday party not too long ago and was excited to do it again. 
 
Annalyse, however, was less than thrilled to see vinegar and baking soda foam out of a bottle. She dozed in and out as the boys hooted and hollered about "the pretend hot lava shooting out of the volcano."
 

4 comments:

  1. You did all that in ONE day? Wow! I'd be lucky if I thought of one or two of those things in a day. :) I bet Micah is so glad to have his 'fun mommy' back at all the creativity!

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  2. What a SUPER fantastic day! Sarah, you are such a creative, smart, fun mom! I love all the ideas I get reading your blog...now, I just have to carve out the time to do some of these fun things with my kiddoes!
    And way to go Annalyse, she looks SO cute playing with her lay-n-play!

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  3. Good grief...why do you need to go to Discovery Place? You've got it at home!!!

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