Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - My Bright Idea

Cameron and I both love maps.  We love looking at maps.  We love collecting maps. Cameron has them all hanging on his wall.  Mostly state road maps that you can get for free at welcome centers.  People know this about us and are very helpful in helping us in this pursuit.  Cameron even bought of a map of the United States with his own money. 

Someone recently bought us another US map to hang on the wall and that is when I got my bright idea.  I cut the map out into individual states.  I hope to get them laminated for extra durability.

I took my map/puzzle with me to Babymakers house because I was child minding.  Here are Savannah and Jacob working together to put the map together.

The finished project.

Cameron actually knows more states than I thought.  He found and put together TX, OK, LA,  PA, OH, WV, and FL and CA in their general spots.

I also sat with Babymaker's 5-year-old Rebekah.  This was something she really liked.  She loves puzzles and she and I worked on the puzzle for at least 20 minutes before we were interrupted.

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Friday, February 9, 2007 - Papier Mache

We finally finished up our papier mache project this week.

Instructions:

1. Combine 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup cold water until smooth. (Ours was NOT smooth)
2. Pour in 1 cup boiling water.  Stir until whole mixture takes on a transparent look.
3. Thin the mixture until it has the consistency of heavy cream
4. Tear newspaper into strips 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide.
5. Hold strips by ends and drag through the paste until they are well covered.
6. Place on object you are covering and repeat. (we used balloons
7. Use enough paper strips that the layers of papier mache will be 1/8 to 1.4 inch thick.
8. Allow to dry completely
9. Paint

My 12-year-old BIL's school was cancelled and he spent the day with us.  He was more than glad to paint my balloon for me.

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Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - What a Messy Mess

Yesterday we made papier mache and covered two balloons.  I thought this would be a fun and exciting project.  Cameron enjoyed the making the mixture and ripping the paper.  But the actual getting in there and getting messy was a whole other story.

I forgot about my son's aversion to having messy hands.  He hated his first birthday cake and ended up stabbing the thing to death rather than dig in like some kids are prone to do.  Once, someone made a hotdog for him that was just dripping with toppings.  My son had a melt down about the mess on his hands.  He finger paints for about 2 minutes and then calls it quit and asks to go wash his hands.

I wish I had gotten his picture doing this project but my hands were very goopy too because I was doing my own balloon.  His face would get all scrunched up and he would quietly exclaim, "Yuck."  This happened several times before it hit me that he was not enjoying the feel of the mixture.  But my little trooper did persevere, although he couldn't wait to wash his hands.

Our balloons are still drying and we will paint them later.  I will post pictures of our final project. 

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 - Raisin Water Ballet

One of the coolest presents Cameron got for Christmas was Pop Bottle Science.  A special pop bottle came with measuring cups and other accessories as well as a book, Pop Bottle Science by Lynn Brunelle.  It has "79 amazing experiments and science projects."

Our first experiment from our, I mean Cameron's new toy was the Raisin Water Ballet.  This was a very easy and fun experiment.  It had an easy concept that Cameron was able to grasp as well.

The ingredients:

Cameron filled the pop bottle, without the top, half way with water.  That was our very first fraction and he caught on to it quickly.  This would work also in a large mason jar. 

He added 4 tablespoons of white vinegar, 3 tablespoons of baking soda and about 10 raisins.

The vinegar and baking soda have a chemical reaction and produce carbon dioxide bubbles that lift the raisins up.  When the raisin reaches the surface of the water, the bubbles break, releasing CO2 into the air and dropping the raisin back to the bottom.

Cameron was able to tell me what was happening and the ballet was fun to watch.  You could see the huge bubbles attached to the raisins.

It also made the sink nice and shinny when I poured the solution down the drain.

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Tuesday, November 7, 2006 - Portraits

Today's project was to make a life size Cameron.  We made two.

One for fun

And one that he modeled for and helped me to color.  (This one has startled me at least 6 times this evening.  And that isn't an exaggeration. LOL)

He did a great job of coloring.  Especially the eyes.

And then he did a self-portrait of himself that had us both laughing.  Notice the  missing teeth.

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Monday, November 6, 2006 - Bubble Bomb

First we talked about what a chemical reaction was; when two elements do not get along with each other something happens.  We poured just a little vinegar in a cup and added a little baking soda. It instantly fizzes and bubbles up.  Those bubbles are gases trying to escape.  The gasses were released into the air.  They had somewhere to go.

I asked Cameron what he thought would happen if the gas didn't have anywhere to go.  He was able to make a good prediction of what would happen.

Our ingredients:

First we took a cut piece of paper towel in a 5x5 square and added 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of Baking Soda.  This makes our time-release packet.

Then we put 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/4 cup of warm water in a zip locking sandwich bag.  After this, we headed outside.  You could do this in a sink or the tub if the weather isn't good.

Next it is time to put in the time-release packet and quickly close the bag.  Here I am holding the packet away from the vinegar while Cameron zips the bag closed.

Now, you let your time-release packet drop into the vinegar and give it a violent shake. The bag expands as the gasses try to escape and you end up with a pop and an exploded bag.

We had so much fun doing this experiment.  We did it again and we have plans to do it yet again with a stronger, heavy-duty freezer Ziploc bag and see if we can't get a louder pop.

We found this experiment on Science Explorer  They have a bunch of experiments that we are going to try out.

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Thursday, November 2, 2006 - Money Pouch

First I got a strong piece of material and used a plate to trace a circle on the material.

After I cut it out we cut slits along the outer edge

Then I strung some yarn in a blunt tip needle and Cameron did the sowing.

And then we just pulled it taunt.  Instant money pouch...or a pouch for dominoes, later golf balls.

And yes, my little hockey player lost another tooth! (he doesn't play hockey but I think he looks like one with that tooth gone)

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Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - Contest

Here is Cameron learning about Monarch butterflies.  In the jar is a chrysalis that he is studying so that he can make a copy of it on paper.

Then a few days later, she hatched.

Check out this link to join in the contest.

And check out the rest of my blog to see more pictures of our adventures with butterflies.

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Saturday, May 6, 2006 - My Name Is...

We have been working on writing his name.  This was about the second or third time that he has written his name all by himself with out tracing lines or following a model.  I was very proud at the result.  And I told him to decorate the paper and walked away instead of jogging his creative mind by giving him suggestions.

This is the last page in the All About Me Book. Our next step is constructing the cover and putting it all together.  I have a few more ideas of pages that I want to work on first.

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Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time...There were two boys named Cameron and Adrian.  They went to the store to buy tomatoes and fruit.  They bought their food and go back home.  On the way home they found a playground.  They played.  First they played hide and seek.  Cameron found Adrian.  He looked up in the trees and one tree had Adrian on it.  They went back home.  They got their food out and put it where it belonged.  Then they went back to the playground.  They looked around the playground and saw a big slide.  It was HUGE.  Big, like Pa.  They went down the slide.  THE END!

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Thursday, April 27, 2006 - To the Moon

This was a harder one for Cameron.  But after letting him think for a while, he decided that when he grows up he want to go to the moon! This was quite a surprise to me.  We didn't discuss all the things involved in going to the moon, not to mention that we haven't been there in over 30 years .  But I did find some books about astronauts and the moon at the library today.

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Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - My Favorite Song

When I asked Cameron what his favorite song was, without hesitation he said "Awesome God."  He has recently fallen in love this song.  It is a different rendition from the orginal Rich Mullins one.  It is based on the story of Joseph and his brothers when he tells them that they meant it for evil but God meant it for good.

His picture really gave me a smile.  He thought about what to draw for a while and then drew 2 people. One is afraid and the other is happy because he has Jesus.

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Monday, April 24, 2006 - Blue and Orange

We titled it "I Like Blue and Orange” We found pictures in magazines that were blue and orange.  Instead of labeling each picture we made a collage and covered the entire page.  The pants and shirt in the center do not belong together; they are two different pictures.  Cameron put them together on his own and thought that it was a funny idea. 

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Thursday, April 20, 2006 - I Like To...

You have to love digital cameras.  We put our own spin on this one.  We made a list of all the things that he likes to do.  Then I let him take photos of each of the things on the list.  He saw a few things to add to the list while we were out and about.  Then I loaded them on to the computer and printed them out as contact sheet (prints up to 32 pictures per page).  He helped me to pick the order and arrange them on the paper and we gave each picture a caption of what he likes o do.

I Like to...

• Ride my bike
• Paint
• Get the mail
• Play with cars
• Pick flowers for Mama
• Play outside
• Be silly with Mama
• Play with my smiley ball
• Build with my Lincoln Logs
• Read books with Mama
• Ride my roller coaster
• Pretend to drive the car
• Look at my Alphabet poster
• And USA map on my bedroom wall
• Spray the hose to wet my garden and make a rainbow
• Play in the creek
• Play with my truck
• And sandbox outside
• Play the piano
• Eat food like: rice, grapes, carrots, peanut butter

Some of his pictures turned our really well.  He could not have been more excited to get to use my camera. Although, I will admit that I was a little nervous about him dropping it. Tomorrow, if we have time I will let him paint a picture or ask him to draw a picture.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - My House

I asked Cameron what kind of shapes we would need to make our house.  After putting it together he told me that he needed a few rectangles for steps.  Each window is a room in our house.

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