It’s a fun, fast-paced game without too many rules to remember

What you need: 

A deck of playing cards (even if a couple are missing)

Playing the game: 

Pass out the entire deck, one card to each player at a time, facedown.  It is okay if some players start with one more card than others.

Players take turns adding the top card in their decks to a middle pile that all players can reach easily.  Players should flip the card quickly onto the deck so as not to gain an advantage in seeing the card.

Any time a player puts a Jack on the pile, all players should try to be the first to slap a hand onto the deck.

If there is a disagreement over who touched the pile first, these players should do rocks, paper, scissors as a tiebreaker.

The player who touches the cards first (or wins rocks, paper, scissors) wins the entire middle deck and adds it to his or her pile, mixing them in so no one knows where the Jack is.

Play continues in this manner until one player has collected all of the cards.

If more than two players are in the game and a player runs out of cards, he or she can continue to try to capture cards by slapping the deck.

Activity by Robbie Hartery, Sprague Site

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup uncooked grain porridge cereal (e.g. Red River Cereal)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 4 cups of buttermilk

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 1 bread pan and 1 muffin tin.
2. In a very large bowl: mix white flour, whole wheat flour, grain cereal, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.
3. Form a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour in buttermilk.
4. Mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated. (The batter is pretty wet. More like muffin batter.)
5. Fill the muffin tins with batter and a bread pan with the remaining batter.
6. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes and the loaf of bread for 55-60 minutes. 

Supplies Needed:

• English Muffins
• Cheese
• Tomato Sauce
• Oven (conventional or toaster)
• Baking tray
• Tinfoil or parchment paper

Optional Supplies:

• Spices and other toppings for your pizza

Hint: weight needs to be low to the ground and top must be balanced.

Supplies:

• Cardboard – corrugated cardboard from a box
• Marbles – 1 per top
• Bamboo skewers
• Glue gun
• Markers, colored pencils, or crayons
• Pennies or washers – 4 per top
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Plastic cup 

Instructions:

1. Trace a circle on the cardboard and cut out.
2. Make a hole in the center with scissors.
3. Decorate the top with markers, colored pencils, or crayons. Bright colors and bold patterns work the best.
4. Use hot glue to attach the marble to the underside of the top. The hole in the cardboard gives the marble a place to sit, but it won’t fit IN the hole.
5. Glue 4 pennies around the edge of the top on the underside. These give the top weight, which really does increase the spinning time!
6. Adult job: you may be able to cut the skewer with scissors, but if too thick, garden clippers will work.
7. Color the skewer with a Sharpie.
8. Glue the segment of the bamboo skewer to the top side where the hole is. Use a LOT of hot glue, and hold the skewer upright until it dries.
9. You are now ready to test out your spinning top! 

Follow along with Robbie as he demonstrates this fun and easy science experiment which uses everyday materials you likely have in your home!

Supplies Needed:

• A glass
• An index card or piece of cardstock
• Pennies

Activity by Robbie Hartery, Sprague Site

Supplies:

• 3 rubber bands: 1 wide, 2 small
• 2 popsicle sticks
• 2 pieces of sturdy paper ¾” wide by 2 ¼“ long
• Scotch tape

Instructions:

1. Lay one stick on top of the other with the paper strips spaced like in the photo below.
2. Fold over each piece of paper.
3. Secure paper with a little tape. Note: tape should not touch the sticks at all.
4. Carefully slip out the bottom stick.
5. Stretch the longer rubber band around the length of the top stick.
6. Place the bottom stick directly under it and secure them both with the two smaller rubber bands.
7. Done! Blow and make some music!

Materials:

• A plastic water bottle.
• big wood bead with a hole in the middle
• String or yarn
• Knife (to be use by an adult)
• Washi tape/markers/stickers

Instructions:

1. Pick a bottle, such as the one that has a wide bottom and a narrow opening.
2. Keep the narrow opening closed with a lid and cut the bottom to create a wide opening.
3. Tie one end of the yarn to the wood bead and the other end to the bottle. You can take the cap off the bottle, put the yarn in, and put the lid back to tie the yarn to the bottle.
4. Now you can decorate the bottle with washi tape/markers/stickers
5. Your cup-and-ball toy is ready to play!

Activity by Rose Mattozo, Sprague Site Coordinator

Photo Credit: www.shutterstock.com
Background Information about Game: www.pbs.org 

Materials:

• Plastic straws
• Tape

Instructions:

1. Join straws together using one of two techniques (choose whichever is easiest for you):
   • Pinch the end of a straw and push it into the end of another straw, or
   • Tape the straws together
2. Repeat until your structure is done.

Activity by Rose Mattozo, Sprague Site Coordinator

Photo Credits: www.ehow.com & www.agirlandagluegun.com 

Supplies:

• Craft/popsicle sticks or knife
• Toilet paper rolls
• Twine or string
• Scissors
• Peanut butter, Sun butter or Soy butter
• Bird seed or bird-friendly alternatives (below are some ideas)
  • Rolled or quick oats
  • Unsalted and raw, crushed peanuts, pecans, or walnuts
  • Both dry and wet food for cats and dogs is thought to be a healthy food source for birds

Activity:

1. Using a utensil or popsicle stick, cover the outside of the toilet paper roll with peanut butter, sun butter or soy butter.
2. Roll the butter covered toilet paper roll in the bird seed or one of the alternatives until covered.
3. Thread a piece of twine through the toilet paper roll and knot.
4. Hang where birds can enjoy.

Objective:

Create artwork with bubble mixture and a bubble wand. It is best to do this activity outside on a warm calm day.

Supplies:

• Bubble mix
• Bubble wand
• Food coloring
• Paper
• Newspaper or old tablecloth

Steps:

1. Pour ¼ cup of bubble mix into a small shallow bowl.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to the bubble mix and stir well.
3. Place bubble wand in colored bubble mix, remove and blow bubbles towards your paper. As the bubbles hit the paper and pop, they will create interesting patterns.
4. Repeat with other colors.

Caution: Food coloring will stain surfaces and clothing. Be sure to protect both.

Activity by Karen McVay, Sprague Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.broogly.com