Flower Unit -- Hammering Flowers! Flower Window Decorations

When we were in Canberra we went to Floriade, a yearly
flower festival. DD decided that she wanted to do a flower
unit when we got home. Today was our first day of activities.
We collected flowers from our yard and from our neighbor's
beautiful garden (with permission, of course!) We used the
flowers to hammer them into cards. They turned out really
pretty and you could use this for a symmetry activity as well.
We also put flowers onto contact paper to make window decorations.

We also used some of the flowers to press them in books,
but we're waiting for those to dry before we do anything with them.

Cornstarch Clay

Yesterday we made our own cornstarch clay (idea from
http://scrumdillydo.blogspot.com/2009/06/clay-prints-in-two-parts.html)
I really like the consistancy of the dough (though it's salty
so I had the kids wash their hands with sorbolene after
they were done). LD made jets and DD made necklace
ornaments. We poked holes in the cutouts with the end of
a paintbrush. Of course, ED enjoyed working with us and
poked holes in her clay!

1 cup cornstarch
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup table salt
1 cup water

Cook on medium in a saucepan until it thickens. This happens
quickly.

You can also make beads out of this clay.

Other general activities

I haven't had a chance to reload our workboxes yet, but
they were still full from before our trip. What was terrific
yesterday was that the kids selected activities from the workboxes
all afternoon (these pictured below AND the basics like math,
piano, writing,  reading, etc.)  The kids have "fallen back to old
habits" which in this case is just wonderful! I love workboxes!

Math -- Place Value

Here are a couple of our math activities. It's been about
six weeks since we last worked with place value, so we're
doing some review. We used purple dots from Montessori
Materials (see side bar); you can print them out for free.
For 1000, I put ten 100s together with a brad.

In the second picture, we are using an activity from
Peggy Kaye's Games for Learning. This is a wonderful
book, probably one of THE best books in my homeschool
library (that and her other books!!). After tossing the
paper clips onto the target, LD and I had to write down
the number we got __ __ __ __. What was interesting
was that although LD can do the first activity with no
trouble, he wanted to write 2000, 400, 80, 2 -- instead
of 2482. I had to remind him that each number stacks
on top of the other and the zeros "disappear." (You
can't really see that in the first picture, but the numbers
3000 200 80 stack on top of each other.) We'll repeat
this one for sure!

Writing Journal

LD has a writing journal. Activities really vary. For
example, I've asked him questions like
"What did you do over the school holidays?"
"What is your favorite type of junk food?"
"What is your phone number?" and
"Look at your fingers. Your finger tips are
all different. Draw two of your finger prints
below. Label them."

This idea below I got from Peggy Kaye's Games for
Writing. What a great resource! (Sorry if I'm sounding
a bit like an advertisement. Can you tell what my
pleasure reading has been lately?)

"Create a menu for the Monster
Cafe." LD told me his suggestions, I wrote them down
for him, and he recopied them onto his own menu. So
far he has

*ant fried brains
*cooked frog brains with eyeballs
*brain ice cream
*frog toes with slug juice

A New Felt Board

Yesterday (well, late last night, actually!) I made a new felt
board. DD got up and played with it right away. It's great
when something relatively easy is such a big hit. I give more
details about how I made it in the following posts.

Making a Felt Board

We just got home from Sydney and Canberra (I posted a
few pictures below and will post more later this week), but
I had a bee in my bonnet and made a new felt board
late last night!

I scoured the internet for felt boards made by other people.
This is what I decided upon. I bought a large piece of felt
from a fabric store and two canvas panels for painting. I
put three holes across the top of the canvases and then
put a pipe cleaner through the holes to hold them together.
I taped the ends of the pipe cleaner down. Then I taped
the felt into place (to keep it firm while I sewed it all
together). I sewed the two pieces together on the back
and then sewed the sides together as shown.

I liked the way the stitch looked on the finished project
so I took a picture of how I did it. I'm sure there's a name
for that stitch, but I don't know it! Each stitch I poked
the needle down through the fabric, then brought the needle
through the loop before pulling taunt.

The last picture just shows how the felt board folds up
for easy storage. I'll keep the larger pieces of felt in the
middle of the felt board so they don't get crinkled. I'll
store the smaller bits in ziploc bags so that ED doesn't
get into them at fling them around the room.

Felt Board Play

Here are some ways the felt board can be used. You can
use it for free play (shapes), dress up play (like the bear
in the last picture below, laminated pictures like the
fairies you see below (just tape a piece of sandpaper on the
back) and patches. I happened to have lots of patches
around that I never used. They're pretty and work well
on the felt board.  Someone else suggested using felt boards
for letters and numbers (though I have lots of magnets and
will probably not spend the time making felt ones).

I also plan to use felt pieces as literacy props to tell (and
have the kids retell stories).  There are lots of websites out
there that have free story props such as (littlegiraffes.com, dltk-kids.com and http://www.ourschoolfamily.com/Literacy%20Props.htm)
I'd like to make an effort to sit down with everyone
to retell stories such as the Billy Goats Gruff and
Little Red Riding Hood.

My version of the felt board can be used flat, vertical
and horizontal (on an angle).

Water Gun Filler

I saw this craft (I think on the Crafty Crow, but
I'll add the link later) and happened to mention this
to LD yesterday. First things this morning he wanted to
make it. Everyone got into the action.

Water Gun Filler in Action

While we don't really need it today with highs
around 25C/80F it'll come in handy on Wednesday
if the temperature climbs to 35C/96F as predicted!

Sydney

We had a two week holiday in Sydney and Canberra. On
Sunday (Sept 13) we all went to Luna Park, but the next
week Daddy had a class in Sydney so the kids and I did
things on our own.

Our trip to Sydney

The kids looking out at the Sydney Opera House and
Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Sydney Fun for Kids

Some of the things we did in Sydney included
Luna Park, the Power House Museum and the
Sydney Aquarium.

Luna Park is a theme park; just look at that front
gate!

Here are some of the things the kids and I did on
our own while Dad was in a class all week:

The Power House Museum is a children's museum.
DD especially liked the area where you built a house
(pictured 2nd below). The kids hauled bricks around,
moved them on carts, up conveyor belts and
used them to fit into the frame of the house. (It is
located on the monorail a stop or two beyond Darling
Harbor.)

Of course we had to go the the Sydney Aquarium
at Darling Harbor.