Taking Time To Smell The Playground

It sure has been quiet around here; on the blog I mean. It has not been quiet at my house AT.ALL. That is good though. Summer is for having fun and we sure are. We are getting wet, dirty, silly, exhausted, full of bug bites, laughing, crying from bumps and scraps, and just having good old fashion fun.

Playing with cousins on the beach.

I decided to take a break this summer from classes and posting weekly to enjoy time with my six year old and my three year old boys. It has been the best descion ever, well next to staying home with my boys. We have taken several trips up north, visited our local zoo and museums, splashed in the puddles after a long awaited rain storm and stayed up way too late. It has been so much fun for myself and my husband.

At the zoo.

I have read so many books that I have lost count. I cannot remember the last time I read this many books. Perhaps pre-kids 6 years ago. We go to the library every week and spend as much time as we want there, after all we are not in any rush. We have little to no agenda. It is like being a kid again.

Watching our favorite band The Verve Pipe at our local zoo.

Reality is creaping back in though. We still have over a month of summer left, however, I am working on my fall class schedule, and creating curriculum. I am taking quick reality breaks and then jumping right back into the fun. Ahh summer, you go by way too fast.

Are you having fun this summer? What are you doing?

Volcano; A Science Experiment

Today my boys returned after a four day visit at Grandma and Grandpa's in the country. It was so quiet around here, it was strange. I am happy to have them back, but my husband and I really needed the alone time. 

As soon as they got home, we got right to it! My oldest just turned six on Sunday. He got some great science gifts, which he really wanted. One was a kitchen science kit. We started right off with the volcano. We have done this before but not with a handy plastic volcano; we just made one out of baking soda. 

Ingredients: baking soda, vinegar, red food coloring, and dish soap. 

If you do not have a handy plastic volcano, make a large pile of baking soda into a volcano. Add a few drops of red food coloring and a drop or two of dish soap. Why dish soap? It slows down the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar, allowing you to have a couple minutes of fun rather than a quick 30 seconds. 

We did this over and over and over and over and over...and over. My boys loved it. We ran out of food coloring and that is what stopped us. 

Have you made a volcano with your kids?

Dinosaur Egg Fossils

This past week was my son's sixth birthday. We had a hard time deciding on a theme and after much deliberation we decided on dinosaurs. What sealed the deal was the idea for a dinosaur hunt from a book that he considers his favorite right now; a boys only book.

I had to scramble for ideas since this was all decided about a week prior to the party; isn't that always the way it happens? Thank you Internet! Also, thank you KBN (a group of kid blogger) for all the great ideas.

Dinosaur Egg Fossils which I found here.

What you will need is coffee grounds, flour, salt, sand, water and small plastic dinosaurs.Follow the recipe from attached link and combine in a bowl. I let my boys mix the ingredients, which turned out to be messy. I am warning you. They want to touch it and throw it at each other.

Once it has reached a bread dough consistency, you add the dinosaur. Then shape into an egg. Mine ended up more like an oval pancake.

You will bake them150° for 20 minutes per instructions, but mine took about an hour. Once dry, I hid them outside for the kids to find. Don't laugh because they look like cat poop! I was cracking up once I put them down. It didn't matter because the kids loved it. As a bonus it smells super yummy; coffee.

We then broke them open over our sand table and had some dino play.

Want more dinosaur ideas?

Check out Sense of Wonder's blog:
Dinosaur Fossils
D  is for Dino Dig

The Imagination Tree has a dinosaur land.

Dinosaur songs over at Carrots are Orange.

Lots of dino ideas at Make, Do & Friend.

Teach Preschool shape dinosaurs.