My blog on The Little Sewing Shop: the space where I sew, and homeschool my little guy!
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Bouncy Ball Making
Do you remember the kits where you make your own bouncy ball? I had one as a kid, and I found a kit for Levi, and gave it to him for his birthday.
Its a quick project that he can do almost entirely on his own, and it gives a fun result! I got this kit from Fat Brain Toys.
Here is what you get:
Put the mold together, and pour in layers of powder (like sand art). Make sure you tap it gently after each layer, this ensures that you won't have a gap at the top when you set the mold.
Then put the whole thing in water for 1min, let it sit for a little bit, and un-mold. The kit I had as a kid required hot water, but this one is nice because you can use cool water, so the kid can do it himself.
Ta da!!
He loved the bright colors and the rainbow/tye dye effect.
Its a quick project that he can do almost entirely on his own, and it gives a fun result! I got this kit from Fat Brain Toys.
Here is what you get:
Put the mold together, and pour in layers of powder (like sand art). Make sure you tap it gently after each layer, this ensures that you won't have a gap at the top when you set the mold.
Then put the whole thing in water for 1min, let it sit for a little bit, and un-mold. The kit I had as a kid required hot water, but this one is nice because you can use cool water, so the kid can do it himself.
Ta da!!
He loved the bright colors and the rainbow/tye dye effect.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Space Unit Study and lapbook
I guess I never posted about our Space lapbook/unit study!
My space board on pintrest
We used lapbook elements from:
Ye Shall Know Magic School Bus Space Explorer Lapbook
Homeschool share
Squidoo
Buddy's antique rocket toy is really cool. You put a coin on it, push a button and the coin "disappears" (its shoots up into a hidden slot in the top portion of the rocket, ending up inside)
Here is the finished lapbook. This one is in a 3 ring binder with the elements glued to cardstock. We have used this method before for other large lapbooks, ts a nice way to incorporate full page worksheets and artwork into lapbooks.
The rocket photo is from the Kennedy Space Center
This book, Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back, is a Native American story that we read. After we colored a turtle to represent each of the "moons". Here is a template for the turtle.
Copywork
Planet Roll Call poem is from Scholastic
Family of the Sun song is from here.
Robot book printables are from here
Thats it! Space wasn't Levi's favorite unit study, but living in the Space Coast, it was nice to learn a little about it. There was a lot more we could have done, but, as ever, when homeschooling we try and go with what he is interested in, kids learn a lot more when they love whatever it is they are studying.
My space board on pintrest
We used lapbook elements from:
Ye Shall Know Magic School Bus Space Explorer Lapbook
Homeschool share
Squidoo
Buddy's antique rocket toy is really cool. You put a coin on it, push a button and the coin "disappears" (its shoots up into a hidden slot in the top portion of the rocket, ending up inside)
Here is the finished lapbook. This one is in a 3 ring binder with the elements glued to cardstock. We have used this method before for other large lapbooks, ts a nice way to incorporate full page worksheets and artwork into lapbooks.
The rocket photo is from the Kennedy Space Center
This book, Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back, is a Native American story that we read. After we colored a turtle to represent each of the "moons". Here is a template for the turtle.
Copywork
Planet Roll Call poem is from Scholastic
Robot book printables are from here
We also used the "Space toob" to make a sensory bin. I filled a box with black beans ("space"), glitter, glow in the dark stars, the "toob" elements, marbles/bouncy balls for planets, and laminated print outs of each planet and its name (so he could match them up, put them in order, etc). You can see a similar one on Counting Coconuts
Book List:
There is no Place Like Space (cat in the hat)
Our Solar System
The search for the Mystery Planet (space math)
Is there Life in Outer Space? (Read and find out book)
Thats it! Space wasn't Levi's favorite unit study, but living in the Space Coast, it was nice to learn a little about it. There was a lot more we could have done, but, as ever, when homeschooling we try and go with what he is interested in, kids learn a lot more when they love whatever it is they are studying.