Supplies:

• Wide bowl or pie plate 
• About 1 inch of milk
• Food coloring 
• Dawn dish soap
• Q-tips

Steps: 

1. Pour about 1 inch of milk in the bottom of the bowl or pie plate.
2. Drop different colors of food coloring into the milk, spacing the food coloring drops so that the drops don’t touch.
3. Pour about ¼ cup of Dawn dish soap into a bowl. Dip the q-tip into the Dawn.
4. Next, touch the milk anywhere with the q-tip (only touch the milk with the q-tip, not the food coloring). You can keep touching the milk in all different spots.
5. Watch the food coloring react.

Why does this happen?

Activity by Cheryl Moy, Bates Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.livinglifeandlearning.com

Supplies:

• Lemons
• Baking soda
• Food coloring
• Dish soap
• Plate or bowl
• Fork

Steps:

1. Have an adult help cut some lemons in half. Place one half of a lemon onto a plate or bowl.
2. Take your fork and poke the top of the lemon in different sections. This will help create the volcano eruption.
3. Next, take your food coloring and place droplets around the top of the lemon. Use different colors in different sections if you want a colorful volcano or just use one color!
4. Add some dish soap across the top of the lemon. Then sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on top! Use your fork again to get the baking soda down into the rest of the lemon.
5. Now watch as your lemon volcano erupts! Want a bigger reaction? Take the other half of the lemon and squeeze the juice onto the volcano.

Activity by Kelly Moy, Schofield Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com

Veterinarians, which we often call “vets,” are animal doctors. Some vets work with large farm animals, some work with wild animals, and some work with household animals (pets!) Vets go to a lot of school to learn how to take care of animals. In school, they learn how to take care of all animals but usually choose their favorite to work with when they are done.

Have you ever been to the vet’s office before? I have! Pinto Bean does not like going. She meows in the car the whole time, and tried to run and hide when I let her out of her carrier in the office. They give her treats, though. Which makes her feel better. Do you like going to the doctor? Is there anything there that makes you feel better or helps you stay calm?

Here is a video about being a veterinarian!

Activity ideas!

• Play vet with your lovies or animal toys! If you have a play doctor kit, you can use that. If not, create your own kit out of things around the house! They use nail clippers, a thermometer, a stethoscope, and a scale a lot when I take Pinto. (attached a vet report)
• Journal idea: What kind of veterinarian would you want to be? Your options are care for pets, for wild animals, or for farm animals.
• Practice writing words about veterinarians! Some of them are long!

Resources

• Vet Report
• Vet Words

What you’ll need:

• 4 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of dish soap
• Winter gloves
• Bubble wands

How to make it:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a shallow dish or cookie sheet. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Now you’re ready to blow bubbles with your bubble wands! It’s that easy! Put the bubble wand in the solution, then take it out and gently blow to create bubbles!
3. To make the bubbles bounce you need to have gloves on. The gloves are necessary so the bubbles don’t come in contact with the oil on your hands which will make them pop. Blow the bubbles gently and let them softly bounce on your hand with gloves on.  It may be tricky if it’s windy outside but this is an activity you can do inside as well!

If you don’t have bubble wands, you can make your own!

What you’ll need:

• String
• 2 straws

How to make it:

1. Cut a piece of string about 3 feet long.
2. Thread 2 straws onto the string and tie the ends of the string together to make a loop.
3. Pull the straws to each side to make a rectangle.
4. Now you’re ready to blow bubbles with your new bubble wand!

Activity by Steph Finucane, Upham Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.alittlepinchofperfect.com and www.buggyandbuddy.com

Materials:

• Large mixing bowl
• Spoon/spatulas
• 1 box of baking soda (1 lb. box) 
• ½ cup of cornstarch
• Very warm water
• Several containers or an ice cube tray/muffin tin to hold your chalk paint mixture (think one container per color)
• Food coloring
• Paint brushes
• Spray bottle filled with vinegar (turkey baster and a container of vinegar works as well)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the baking soda and cornstarch 
2. With your spoon mix together 
3. Add water and stir
   1. Start with a small amount of water and add it until it resembles pancake batter
4. Add the mixture into several containers
5. Add a couple of drops of food coloring into their designated containers
6. Head outside with your colored mixtures, paintbrushes, spoon and spray bottle filled with vinegar
7. Start painting, drizzling and splattering
   1. You can use a paintbrush or a spoon to drizzle or splatter the paint
   2. If your paint dries out while you’re painting add some more water
8. Once you have completed your creation, get ready to FIZZZZZ!
   1. Spray your creation with vinegar and see science happen!

Activity by Erin Bigelow, Upham Site Coordinator

Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.simpleplayideas.com

Supplies:

• Paper towel tubes
• Cardstock/paper
• Scissors
• Tape (we recommend painter’s tape to keep painted walls intact!)
• Pom-poms

Instructions:

1. Start by taking some of your paper/cardstock and cut in half to make smaller sections. Gather your paper towel tubes as well.
2. Tape the pieces of paper onto the wall in the shape of a tunnel. It is now also the time to incorporate the paper towel tubes on the wall as well!  Make sure you are spreading them out and creating a course that pom-poms can follow!
3. Once all of your pieces of paper and tubes are taped on the wall in a course design, time to test it out! Take some pom-poms and start at the top. Have some fun!

Need inspiration?

• Have you ever seen George Rhoads’ audiokinetic ball machine sculptures at Logan Airport or the Museum of Science in Boston? Here’s a video of a similar Rube Goldberg-type ball machine at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
• You can also think about the cool marble run creations you’ve made in the past!

Tips: 

• Have bouncy balls or ping pong balls? Test those out instead of pom-poms!
• You can always un-tape the course and create a new design!

Activity by Kelly Moy, Schofield Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.toddlerapproved.com

Materials: 

• Tissue Paper or Plastic Bag
• Ruler
• Scissors 
• Tape 
• Hole Punch
• Twine 
• Small non-breakable action figure, small block, or piece of clay to attach to parachute
• Place to drop parachutes, staircase balcony, structure, etc.

Instructions:

1. Cut out tissue paper or plastic bags into 12” x 12” square.
2. Use your tape to cover the corners, adding an extra layer of protection to the tissue paper or plastic.  Then hole punch your four corners.
3. Cut your twine into four (4) 12 inch pieces, tie each one onto one of the four corners of the tissue paper or plastic bag, do not do anything with the loose ends yet.
4. Fold your tissue paper or plastic bag into fourths, so that all the hole punched corners are on top of each other.
5. Take the loose ends of twine and tie them altogether. Then attach your action figure or other item with tape or tying tightly with the twine.
6. Using your scissors (your parachute should still be folded in fourths), hold it by the corner with the hole punches and the corner opposite of that one. Cut the corner opposite the one with hole punches. This will create a hole in the center of your parachute
7. Go to your launch spot and release your parachute!

A time capsule or memory box is a container or special box that holds present day items, such as photos, newspapers, letters, pictures and more. It’s typically hidden away for your future. So in a few years you can open it back up and see what items you put in it. This is perfect as a gift to yourself for the future.

Would you like to make your own time capsule or memory box? Maybe you can share one with a sibling!

Here is a 5 minute video clip of Peppa Pig explaining the time capsule.

Many people will make a hole in their garden and place their time capsule or memory box deep in the hole and then cover it up. But there are many places you can store it – the basement, garage, shed, attic etc.

What is special about your own time capsule, is that you can make it however you like and put whatever items you want to. You probably wouldn’t want to put in a special toy, but you can always take photos of your favorite things and put those in the box.

The first thing that you need to do is to find a special container or box, it will need some kind of lid or cover. You can use stickers, markers, craft materials etc to decorate your box. Maybe you can write your name on the outside of the box.

Now it is time to think about items that you want to put in your box. I have attached a list of some time capsule ideas, but you can use whatever you feel is important and special to you.
You can take as much time as you need to find the items you want to put in.

Once you have decorated your container and put all of your items in, it is now time to think about where you want to put your time capsule. Maybe you can ask a family member to help you find a place to put it. Try and find a hidden place where it can stay for many years!

Finally a short book – all about yourself. I have attached a book outline with questions and answers, but you can make your own book and write about whatever you like.

• Memory Box/Time Capsule Ideas
• Words
• Containers
• “All About Me”

Today we are going to talk about measuring! We all have a tape measure that came with the grass and lima bean growing project we dropped off, so we thought it would be fun to use the tape measure in other ways!

First, listen to “Inch By Inch” by Leo Lioni

Second, let’s go on a measuring scavenger hunt!

Write down all your measurements to practice writing numbers!

1. Take your measuring tape outside and find a few sticks; all of different sizes. Measure each stick and look a the number- which is the smallest and biggest stick?
2. Find your shoe and the shoe of your mom and dad. Time to compare! Measure each shoe and find out how long each shoe is. I bet you can guess who shoe is going to be smaller! Try measuring your sibling’s shoes too!
3. Find a few books in your collection that are of different sizes. You can make some guesses as to how many inches each book is and then get to work measuring each book.
4. Find your favorite cereal box and measure it’s length. If you have different sized cereal boxes you can measure them too and compare how different the measurements are.

Third, you can use the measuring word cards to practice writing the items you measured. You can also use the printable number word cards if you want more practice writing numbers and number words.

Use your tape measure to measure anything else you can find outside or around your house!

Resources

• Measurement Word Cards, pt 1
• Measurement Word Cards, pt. 2
• Printable Number Flash Cards

Here are ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures of the onions Tiana is growing in her backyard!

Materials:

• Vegetable and fruit scraps
• Water
• Small cups/dishes
• Pots/planters
• Soil

Instructions:

Potatoes

Celery, lettuce, cabbage, and green onions

Onions

Tomatoes

Peppers