Inspiring Intelligence
Explorations
Bubbles
Oct 12th
I knew making bubbles was simple,
but when I went to look up the “recipe”
most of them required glycerin.
I did not have any
nor did I want to go get some.
(I could just go to the store to get bubbles, right?)
We used:
1/2 cup dishwashing detergent (nothing special)
1 1/2 cup water
3 T. sugar
That was all.
I have read that corn syrup will make the bubbles stronger,
and I usually have that around the house,
but did not have any today.
The sugar worked fine.
And, it even made some cool bubbles.
(After a trip to the store,
we will try a solution with corn syrup
and a solution with sugar
and compare!)
and we had fun watching them blow in the wind
Next, we will explore why sugar, detergent and water make bubbles.
Now
Off to find more WHYs to explore!
Fun with Glue
Oct 4th
If you were able to catch any of the great sales on glue, we recently did a glue themed art unit with some fun glue crafts. (If you missed the sales, you can make your own glue by mixing flour and water. Yep, that is it. Just add water to flour until you have a smooth paste.)
I am going to share some of the projects we did with glue, but I would like to encourage you to be creative and not feel like you must adhere to what we did.
that being said, some of the projects we did included:
Glue Animals
Materials
- Glue
- Wax Paper
- Eye balls or other decorations
Directions
- Pour out glue to make shapes on wax paper
- Decorate animal/shapes.
- Once glue is dry, peel off (May take all day).
Instead of Glitter…
Explore different textures when gluing
Materials
- Glue
- Paper
- Froot Loops
- For other projects, they can explore with beans, rice, cereal, dry pasta noodles, etc.
Directions
- Optional: If using Froot Loops, pour into a bag and bang/smash cereal until it resembles glitter. (A favorite activity of ours!)
- Optional: If using rice, it can be colored by adding alcohol and food coloring. Mix and spread to dry.)
- Make designs with the glue
- Sprinkle materials (smashed or whole cereal, beans, rice, etc.) all over paper
- Shake off excess and let dry.
3D Art
Great way to incorporate dimension into art.
Materials
- Paper
- Paper towels or other colored paper (such as tissue paper)
- Glue
Directions
- Twist paper towels (this works well if you color with markers on the paper towels, then let the colors bleed by painting with water on top of the markers for a tie dye effect.) Then twist paper towels and manipulate into shapes
- Shred tissue paper into scraps and crumble up
- Glue it to the paper to create shapes
Salty Watercolors
Materials
- Glue
- Paper
- Salt
- Paint and paintbrushes
Directions
- Make designs with glue
- Sprinkle page with salt and shake off excess
- Paint and watch the colors spread!
Have fun with glue.
We would love to hear where your projects lead you….
And, what other projects do you use with glue?
Our learning adventure
Sep 28th
Our most recent interest has been airplanes.
(Not the project I would have selected, but it is not my project.)
We started this adventure with a trip to the library to check out books about airplanes.
Next, we went to the airport to watch the airplanes take off, watch the baggage terminal, and learn about the security process.
Then, we had a discussion about airplanes and airports. (Excuse the quality)
And, we turned the playroom into an airplane.
The ticket counter
First, we set up a ticket counter.
Then, we put the chairs in the airplane.
Airplane seats
The guests came to buy the tickets.
The first passenger
Then, the playroom was transformed to a plane.
We flew to Indiana and Florida.
The flight attendant served me some great food.
We spent the majority of the day flying around the country!
When Daddy came home, he was given a ticket to fly to Indiana, too.
(I’m not sure why Indiana. We do not know anyone in Indiana.)
And, as luck would have it,
our adventure did not end there.
A neighboring city was holding an Airfest this past weekend.
So, we attended.
We had a blast!
Their interests led us to explore the real world.
They learned a ton and I walked away confident that creativity and interest were not sacrificed in the process.
And, an event like the Airfest was so much more meaningful.
This is the type of learning Kid WHYs hopes to encourage.
Neighborhood Walk Investigation
Sep 11th
We have been talking about maps and addresses lately.
I have suspected that our discussions have been missing something.
So today, after the horrible flooding has finally stopped,
we took a walk around the neighborhood.
My goal was to help the children better understand where our address comes from.
We took our notebooks and started to walk around the block.
I pointed to the numbers on our house.
Then we walked next door and pointed to those numbers.
And, without prompting, the notebook was opened.
This is from the girl who does not want to try writing numbers because she cannot do it perfectly.
As we walked on, we continued writing numbers, until a cat approached us.
I, for one, was surprised to meet the cat.
My dog was walking with us and was at my side.
The cat was very friendly and was crying.
I wondered if it was hungry and we began discussing the possibility of it being hungry.
And, since it was obvious
I was going to have trouble returning to my original goal of learning about house numbers and streets;
I thought of a new side project.
I asked if we should guess what the cat would like to eat.
The suggestions included goldfish crackers, raisins, dog food (since we do not have cat food)
and I threw in the suggestion of chicken.
Each of us predicted what the cat would do as we walked back to the house to gather our supplies.
And we walked back over to the house where we met the cat.
We each took the food we believed the cat would most enjoy
and we tried to force it on the poor cat.
While the cat ate up the attention
it did not show any interest in any of the food.
Not even the chicken.
I am not sure if it was the spices from the leftover chicken I made
or if it was really not hungry,
but even my prediction was wrong.
The kids did not mind,
because they were happy to eat the food that the cat did not want.
(Funny how each child wanted the food they predicted the cat would like.)
And, for a minute, I thought our lesson on addresses and streets was going to end,
but the notebooks were pulled back out as soon as we saw the numbers on the house.
We had a fun and easy walk around the block and we practiced writing numbers.
We learned about the street name signs.
We learned how to address letters to each of our neighbors.
And we had fun doing it!
What did you explore today?
Educating without Teaching
Jun 27th
With us being in the middle of summer, what I am always trying to find are ways to keep [the kids] learning without them knowing they are learning. When we travel we try to play car games that challenge them and cause them to be more observant, and when we are in town we try to do things that offer information even if only on a small scale…but how can you keep them engaged and keep them learning without making them feel like they are still in school?
- comment from a parent of 4 girls (ages 7 to 16)
I can provide a lot of information about learning ideas, and I will, but first, I would like to mention motivation.
Motivation is very powerful and if you can find things that motivate your child, it becomes much simpler to “sneak” in other educational avenues.
Teachers struggle with motivating students because they have to motivate 10 – 30 students with different interests to enjoy the subject at hand.
As parents, it is much simpler to motivate your own children.
Granted, it is still not easy, but it is simpler.
As a parent, you know what interests your child.
My son loves trains, so I can throw him all kinds of challenges using trains.
Recently, we turned playing with trains into a science lesson about magnets.
We found some trains that had a positive and negative end and we started by looking at what happens when opposite charges are placed next to each other.
It quickly led us to other magnets and we began playing with magnets instead of trains.
We have also used trains for math problems. (word problems, addition and subtraction, patterns, etc.)
The trick in being able to turn natural interests into fun, educational opportunities, is that I have to slow down and watch what they are doing. (I am a do-er and stopping to watch is hard for me!)
When I watch him play, I catch the teachable moments and when I do catch them, they do tend to lead to some really interesting impromptu education projects.
My daughter has a recent fascination with animals. She has been driving me crazy because she has been pulling all of the decorative pillows off every bed, chair, and couch. She throws them on the floor to make “a nest” for her baby birds, zebras, bats, or whatever other animal of choice.
It took a week of fighting her on this before I realized she really wants to learn about animals.
So, we took a trip to the library, and I grabbed a bunch of non-fiction kid’s books about animal homes and babies.
The books were the kind that I did not ever like to read as a child.
There was no cartoon drawings and the information was really boring, in my opinion.
But, my daughter LOVES those books.
She enjoys them so much that I can use them as bargaining tools.
“We are only going to read the animal books after you eat the rest of your peas.”
I do not push them on her, and I treat them as any other book or toy.
Of course, every child is different, and as the kids get older, it might become harder to be sneaky about education.
You also have to be comfortable exploring subjects that you may not be well-educated, too.
I try to remember that it is okay for us to learn together.
Even some board games are great educational tools.
A favorite of mine is Scattegories.
Scattegories may not have a definite end goal, but it does challenge the brain, and helps develop language skills.
A lot of research is showing that challenging the brain improves memory.
Even things like Sudoko can help.
Do you have any other ideas I should include?
Intentional Learning
Jun 16th
I am always asking “Why?” So are my children.
Everyone wants their children to be brilliant. I am no exception to this hope.
But, I try to be intentional in my instruction.
I am not always successful, but I do try.
I TRY to think about what I would learn from a lesson if it was being taught to me.
Let me explain.
I found this craft idea on another blog. I think it is a cute craft and it would be fun. But, I started wondering if I were the child doing the craft, would I understand that I was making a rabbit in the shape of an R because the word rabbit starts with an R? Probably not. Please do not misunderstand me here, because I think it would be a fun activity. I also know, though, that as the mother who would spend a lot of time getting this project ready, I would end up feeling like it was a lot of effort for a little return. Please do not think I am judging the parents out there who do spend the time on this activity. Kudos to those of you who want to spend your time helping your children. But, to those other parents who are overwhelmed and trying to figure out how on earth you are going to find the time to go to the store to get supplies, get the supplies ready, then after the mess has been created, clean up yet another mess in your house: there is another option.
If I were a child learning about the sounds letters make, I would need to hear the sounds. Yes, seeing the letters helps. But, I do not need to add to my list of daily chores. In fact, I am a big fan of incorporating activities into daily life. For example, when we are at the grocery store, we play games. We pick a letter, talk about the sound, and look for it around the store. For “R” we could look for rice, raisins, etc. We repeat the words over and over. We sing songs and manipulate the words in the song. If we are singing Row Your Boat, we could switch the beginning sound to R for many of the words. (We sing “Row, Row your Roat, gently down the Ream…” and the kids love it.) But, these are things that we can do anytime and while I am finishing other tasks.
I could go on all day about intentional learning. For now, I think the best summary in my approach to parenting is to consider how I am preparing my children to be adults. I am not only preparing my children for elementary school. I am not only preparing them to learn to read. I am preparing them for life.
I want my children to be prepared for the future. I want to think about why I am spending time doing the things I am doing.
I am a huge fan of motivation. If my children are not interested, they will not learn. There is a lot of research to support that statement.
I will probably talk about intentional learning a lot. I hope I can do a better job of clarifying eventually.
For now, I will leave you with this:
Involve your children in the things you are doing. Discuss colors, shapes, sizes and sorting when doing laundry. Let your children help. Listen to the questions about why and see if you can explore it together. You will be amazed at how much your child can learn!
Enjoy the explorations!
