What is a Winogradsky column, where did it get its name, what are microbial communities, why would you want to make a Winogradsky column, and how do you create your own?
Reaching this level of cosplay perfection is hard enough for adults. I'm jealous of this Batgirl's outfit, but her scooter is too perfect. Now if I could just go back in time and be this cool as a kid. (via MattGoldey) Previously in Batgirl
It's the third of April so it's time for my favorite monthly linky for ideas and inspiration. Many thanks to Lisa from Pawsitively Teaching, Marissa from Inspired Owl's Corner, and Ashley from Just Reed for hosting this fantastic linky on the 3rd day of every month. Here are my top 3 Pinterest Picks for April.... Click on the picture to go to the original pin. I love this idea from In Fifth Grade with Teacher Julia. This would be a great way to start the morning. Students could choose an egg as a writing prompt for morning work. A basket of plastic eggs could also be added to the writing center and used as writing prompts. Click on the picture to go to the original pin. Do you use Responsive Classroom? Second Grade Stories has great group activities for morning meeting. My students LOVE playing four corners and we are going to try "Mumball" next week. Click on the picture to go to the original pin. These are adorable and a great way for students to write about ways they can help protect our earth. I'd love to have you follow me on Pinterest. Just click on the Pinterest board below and click "Follow." An InLinkz Link-up
It's that time of year again when now that the grass is green the dandelions are popping up too. I have to admit, even though I know they ar...
Here's what our week looked like for Letter I: Read, Read, Read . I love reading to my kids on a daily basis. I ...
Oooohlala, what do we have here? Is it a collaboration between @galexina and @frecklewonder? Why YES it is! We (Alix and Jenny) have known each other for over ten years—yet we’ve never lived in the same state. Along the way, our fabulous friendship has spanned 2786 miles, three different blog platforms (hello LiveJournal!), the birth […]
Skip the weird artificial ingredients and flavorless nubs of dehydrated vegetables and make your own instant noodle cups.
Summer is just around the corner, and that means camping season is in full swing! Use these clever camping hacks to make your trip even better.
Make your own tape resist bubble art with only a few supplies! Kids will love customizing this art with their own initials too.
It did not take us long to see how much toy rotation benefited our daughters. Here are the few positive changes we saw once we implemented the process: More i
Mark Frieser, doorman “In 1985, I manned the door of the VIP room, where all the stars and rich people would have sex, get wired, and hang out. I was 18. I walked in on Grace Jones and Dolph Lundgren having sex once. She threw a shoe at me. [...]
Keep the kids busy and entertained with Campfire Toffee Apples, this fun family camping activity can be educational and provide dessert too.
**Be sure to enter the Giveaway for a fabric key chain here!Need to keep the troops busy a bit longer before school starts? Have them design their own three dimensional buildings and designs using only mini marshmallow and toothpicks. My boys were entertained for over two hours seeing how many different designs they could come
These cast iron pans will take your campfire cooking game to the next level.
Keep the kids busy and entertained with Campfire Toffee Apples, this fun family camping activity can be educational and provide dessert too.
This glue and chalk pastel technique creates graphic outlines with glue and fills in the spaces with vibrant color from chalk pastels.
Here's simple and engaging ways to teach shapes for preschool and kindergarten. Includes shape activities and printable shape worksheets.
Check out one of my favorite cardboard ideas! This DIY nature display is perfect for showcasing all of your beautiful nature finds. Children will love
As Big Brother is getting older it's really interesting to see both his interests and skills develop into more specific skill sets. Lately he's been really interested in the building of things (mostly stemming from a love of Legos, Magnatiles, and our wooden railroad track.) As he leans that way I'm finding myself looking for other creative ways to develop those interests and skills. A few weeks ago he had the chance to observe a beaver dam up close with my husband on one of their nature walks. This lead to some great questions. A few days later I followed up with a drive to a local man made dam which he was able to inspect from a distance. When we came home I set up this building investigation in the yard. It was inspired by a great tinfoil river activity we did last year from the amazing book 101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest, Funnest Ever by the team over at Kids Activities Blog. Similar to that experience, we used tinfoil to create a river (this time on our lawn.) This time we set it up on slight slope. The boys and I also collected natural materials from around the yard that might be useful in building the dam. We collected sticks, acorns, rocks, and old reeds from lilies. I added in a few non-natural materials I also thought Big Brother might want to use: modeling clay, popsicle sticks, and lumber scraps. Big Brother's goal was to be able to get his dam to hold enough water so that these three acorn boats could float. It was so interesting to watch his process, which mostly involved trial and error. First he started with just a pile of the wooden natural materials. When he observed the water move through those, he decided to try using more rocks. With each trial he would tweak his design a little, before trying again. In the end I encouraged him (although I was really trying to let it be his process to try using a little clay. I led him to the idea that he had seen mud on the beaver dams.) He started to get into the idea of building a space for the water to collect. He never quite got to the place where all the boats could continuously float, although his last design definitely best slowed down the water. He continued to tinker on his dam a few more days, and even brainstorm other materials he would like to add in. (Including trying to find some clay like mud on our property.) We'll definitely be looking for other ways to invite building experiences. What do your children like to build? This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties.
Looking for some fun and unique summer crafts to do with the kiddos? Me too! School is almost over and I've got summer crafts on my mind! Today I'm sharing this fun twist on a God's Eye weaving craft. (Remember collecting sticks and making those in summer camp?) But, instead of making the traditional 2 stick version, we recently made a fun 3 stick version.... that also happens to look like a tiny baby turtle! (Aww, aren't they cute? My preschooler was in looove with these.) Weaving Cute Baby Turtles Using God's Eye Weaving Pattern This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here. Usually I have a ton of related picture books to share.... but apparently we don't read very many turtle-themed books! (Know of any good ones?) The only ones that I can remember us reading (and liking) are the Franklin books. But, if you're looking for some great inspirational art books to get the creative juices flowing, here are Our current 20+ favorite art books: Colorful Dreamer The Iridescence of Birds Modern Art Adventures Mix it Up Press Here Any Ed Emberley Book The Day the Crayons Quit Beautiful Oops Dog's Colorful Day Too Much Glue Harold and the Purple Crayon Day with No Crayons Artist to Artist Artist Ted The House Baba Built A Blue Butterfly: A Story of Claude Monet Sandy's Circus A is for Art The Artful Parent This Bridge Will Not Be Grey Art Workshops for Children Ok. Let's get to weaving some baby turtles! Let's Weave Some Baby Turtles! First we painted 3 mini popsicle sticks with quick dry solid tempera paint. (I LOOOVE these paints because we can paint quickly and if the baby starts crying and we have to stop crafting... it's not a big deal. There's not much cleanup or setup needed!) Once our paint dried (ours dried in a couple of minutes) we drew on a face and some toes. Then, we hot glued the turtle together. Now we grabbed our colorful yarn and got weaving. First I tied on a piece of long yarn. (I made sure to leave a bit of excess yarn so that I could tie my last piece of yarn with my first piece of yarn at the end.) Then, we wrapped the yarn around our turtle (across the center), making sure to cover the middle portion. (I think I wrapped it around 2-3 times each time.) Ok. Then, we began weaving just like you would with a normal two stick God's eye pattern. We placed our yarn over a popsicle stick, wrapped it around once, and then placed our yarn over the next popsicle stick, and wrapped it around... and kept repeating that over and around process. And to change colors, we simply tied on another piece of yarn. Once we finished, we tied our last piece of yarn to our first piece of yarn. And that's it! I really hope you try this activity with your kiddos too. It's such a fun and easy craft that's sure to please kids of all ages. (When my 4 year old saw me making these, he immediately wanted to make some too. I got the first steps started for him, but he quickly caught onto the "over and around" weaving pattern!) And if you liked this activity, you can find more weaving crafts and more popsicle stick crafts on the blog! Let's Keep in Contact! Check out my Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram accounts for more creative ideas! Happy making, friends!
