it has been v windy here today. from the weather forecast, i hadn’t thought we would be included, but we were! particularly in the morning. no trees down [cross fingers!]
so, what have we done? well, when i got up, BB was engrossed in a castle game – she really has got a lovely imagination for playing games and gets totally sucked into them. SB was doing animal crossing on her ds. luckilly she has spelled all letters correctly this time! so i went on ‘puter to be shocked by the news that a good friend lost her sister last night. many hugs Jax. i don’t have any wise words of comfort, but i am thinking of you, and if you can think of anyway i can help…
girls were both desperate to do one of the experiments out of the horrible science explosion kit. BB wanted the volcano, and SB the snot!! so both were duly done. the volcano is – of course – our vinegar and bicarb type approach, but bB v satisfied. the snot was prob polymer science [i do wish these kits would include some ‘real’ science explanation – equations, what we actually made – if only for me! so, google being our friend, i think we are talking non-newtonian fluids again! here are some possible instructions for prob similar [unfortunately the glue in the pack just said glue!! so not sure what kind it actually was] . on googling, think we would enjoy having a go at the bouncing balls next!
[ooh, on a different note – it was the instructions that reminded me – look here Michelle for stalactite experiment]
where were we, oh yes, we were making snot. we enjoyed it greatly. not entirely sure exaclty what we made! SB gave it a squidge about for a bit, and then declared herself done. so we read a bit about polymers from here, and reminded ourselves on what atoms where, so what molecules were, and got to poymers. we thought a bit about polymers we have about.
Both girls joined me for a bit of french, and we did la maison [again!]. some lunch, and an interminable time to get dressed and clean teeth possibly because i was outside hoeing the veg bed and planting the last of the cucurbits in that time! then i rousted them all outside saying it was a nice day, so we should be out. we failed to fly kites in the garden – too much turbulence from trees i guess. Sb settled on doing a stamping craft. bb raced about on her like-a-bike, paddled and played in the sandpit. we topped up the birdfeeders [they get through SO MUCH!]
girls played nicely for a bit, so i pruned the bay tree, and we made some herb bundles to hang in the utility room [where no doubt the spiders will make huge webs!] we harvested and ate strawberries, i rousted BB around a lot, and SB felt hot, so went inside to do webkinz, education city and webland. we got a tp swing cheaply from ebay and cannibalised it so that ours can be pegged into the ground and not wobble around as much. hung a swing off the climbing frame at a v low height so bb ecstatic. sb pleased that she can swing wildly on new set up!
i made curry whilst sb ds-ed and bb watched pingu and 64 zoo lane. think thats about it.
Couldn’t understand why our bird feeders were emptying so fast. Then realised that since they were moved recently, the pigeons can sit on the edge of the compost box and wolf all the food down!
yeah, we do have pigeons, but it is the starlings that are really greedy here! we keep varying what we put where to see if we can alter the starling feeding:other birds ratio!! mind you, starlings are supposed to be in a decline and threatened, so maybe i should rejoice they eat so much!
We have to be careful of gulls here, they eat anything (including ripping open black bin bags if you’re daft enough to leave them out!!!
You’re not alone in wishing they would put proper scientific explanations in the boxes – it drives me mad that they dont specially when its supposed to be educational!!!
It’s probably pva in the snot kit. When you look at the price of borax and pva you realise the markup for the box etc!
My mum has to chase squirrels off her feeders. They can get into anything. The ‘squirrel proof’ ones are a particularly enjoyable challenge, apparently!
luckilly it was bought as part of a pack of 4 from ebay! [for 1.99!] but yes, i think at new price it is vastly overpriced. but certainly my girls do find them fun, so i keep my eye out for cheap ebay ones, and then we tend to redo them lots, so add in ‘own’ supplies!
it’s def pva as clo made what I think you’ve just made at a mad science party.