Yep – June 1st is Flip a Coin Day. And we’re needing a little variety in our schooling, so we’ve decided to focus on random holidays this month…
To celebrate, we flipped a penny 10 times and discussed statistical probabilities… :) Actually, we spent more time discussing the concept of “heads” and “tails.” And deciding what color of ladybugs we wanted to put on our tally sheets.
Esmé decided to stop at 9 tosses, which is just as well since we didn’t want to end up with a tie between heads or tails or anything. Here’s her final tally sheet:
Today’s science experiment: Why does skin get puckered when it’s in the water a long time? Specifically, toes and fingers?
Materials:
New cellulose kitchen sponge
Bowl of water
Petroleum jelly
Something to spread the jelly with – if you’re not into using your fingers… :)
Mom’s prep:
Cut one-inch strip of sponge for use with experiment.
Cut a section from the one-inch strip so that about half of the sponge is half as thick.
Rinse sponge strip and squeeze out. Let it dry thoroughly.
Once the sponge is dry, we’re ready to begin! Press the dry sponge with your fingers, making it as flat as possible.
Thoroughly cover the surface of the thinner section of the sponge with petroleum jelly.
Use your finger to drop 2-3 water drops onto the petroleum jelly-covered section of the sponge. The drops will sit like a round ball on top of the sponge.
Drop 2-3 water drops onto the uncoated section of the sponge.
The sponge will pucker up where the water falls.
Now try dripping 2-3 water drops onto your arm or the back of your hand. Does it look like the petroleum jelly-coated area or the uncoated area of the sponge?
Your skin secretes oil (sebum), which makes your skin water-resistant. However, your toes and fingers have thicker skin without the oil layer, so that skin soaks up water and puckers up faster when you are in the water for a long time.
Now play! Esmé made water handprints on the paper towel, emptied the bowl of water, and then covered her arms with petroleum jelly…
Our science experiment today was about fingers: Why do fingertips have ridges?
Here’s our list of materials:
Dime
Transparent tape
Pencil
Paper
Magnifying Lens
First, we laid the dime on the table. Esmé demonstrated that she could pick it up with no problem.
Then, we put tape on her thumb and index finger. Now the fingers were smooth, and she was unable to pick up the dime. (She solved the problem by using her untaped middle finger to pick it up… :)
Fingertips have ridges to help grip and make it easier to pick things up…
Then we examined our fingerprints.
We scribbled an area of our paper with the pencil and then rubbed a fingertip across the pencil scribble.
We rolled the fingertip onto the sticky side of a piece of transparent tape to capture a fingerprint, then stuck the tape onto a clean section of the paper. The last part of our experiment was to examine the fingerprints with magnifying glass.
Fingerprints are unique. Basic fingerprint patterns include whorls, loops, and arches.
Thanks for joining us in our science experiment! We were motivated by a thrift store discovery: Janice VanCleave’s Play and Find Out about the Human Body: Easy Experiments for Young Children. It’s a bit basic in terms of vocabulary and principles, but it is hands-on and uses materials we already have – exactly what I need right now – something I can grab off the shelf and use at a moment’s notice. Definitely a fun way to incorporate science into our hectic schedule.
Here’s what ya gotta do if you want a gifted child:
Seriously, folks – while I admit there are some freaky resemblances to reality in this video, I WOULD use caution in following this approach! We are holding off on the Latin until Esmé's 5th birthday, for instance... :)
You can read more about what I have to say on giftedness over at The Homeschool Village.
If you are in the Portland, Oregon area – and are new to homeschooling your baby – er, preschooler – I’ve got a PSA for you… You can attend the Oregon Christian Home Education Conference in Portland (June 24 & 25) for free! We did it last year, and it is very much worth it. Here are the requirements:
To attend for free: you must pre-register by June 15, your oldest child must be under 6 years of age (his or her 6th birthday must be after June 25, 2011), and this must be your first OCEANetwork Conference. Register online at OregonHomeschoolConference.com. There is no child care available. If you choose to bring your children, the registration fee is $10 each for children ages 3-5. Babies & Toddlers (0-2) are free.
As I’ve mentioned, everything seems to be going by in a blur lately – I wasn’t sure we’d actually done any play in the last week! Even my trusty camera has very little recorded on it… Here’s the little I found…
A birthday party at the local Jungle Jump – a very cool place that inspires lots of active play!
Some outdoor fun with a BFF that included making a salad of flowers, leaves, and grass, as well as inspecting a yellowjacket up close:
And some petal counting at church…
There’s been more play – I know there has! But if it’s not on the camera, it’s probably not going to be remembered – at least until I catch up on sleep.
As I’ve mentioned, I recently took a trip up to Canada to visit with my parents following my mom’s surgery. She’s been in the hospital coming on three weeks now – hopefully going home soon! (You might recognize Winter the dolphin – he’s Esmé’s contribution to Grandma’s comfort… )
One corporate initiative I’ve admired recently is Pampers’ Miracles Missions in celebration of its 50th birthday. It’s a “pay-it-forward program designed to deliver acts of kindness to little miracles while challenging the public – like you – to support others within their very own communities."
If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to check out Pampers’ facebook page, where you can pledge to join a miracle mission yourself! If enough people pledge on Miracle Mission #2, Pampers will throw Father’s Day cook-outs for dads and babies across the country… (And a side note: You are entered to win a year’s supply of Pampers diapers and wipes when you pledge.)
Back to that trip up north. Pampers had sent me a $50 American Express gift card that arrived just in time to take with me for a pay-it-forward mission.
While “living” in the hospital much of the week, I realized there weren’t a whole lot of entertainment options. At the end of the hall on my mom’s floor was a sitting room of sorts – a bunch of scattered REALLY outdated magazines haphazardly spread around. So I decided to “pretty-fy” one of the tables with a silk plant and a basket with a few magazines (including a children’s mag), puzzle books, pencils, etc. A simple thing that hopefully made at least one person’s life a little more interesting and/or bearable during a stressful life period.
What would YOU do with $50?
Pampers wants to send YOU a $50 American Express gift card, too! For a chance to pay it forward:
Leave a comment below sharing how you’d use the $50 American Express gift card to pay-it-forward within your community.
You’ve got until May 23rd to comment. I’ll pick one winner of an idea. Be sure to leave an email address or some way to contact you.
I confess – I’m not doing so well on the stillness thing…
It feels more like my brain is a blender with thoughts whirring and life whizzing around me. Definitely not in my comfort zone – I like my ingredients all separate on my plate, thank you very much – or even better, in separate bowls. And some of these life ingredients seem really strange to me. But I do trust God has a good recipe up his sleeve.
Anyway – while we haven’t been on here to post for a while, there are a couple of posts of ours elsewhere that I thought I’d link up here while I get my thoughts in order:
Over at The Homeschool Village:
Preschool: Alphabet School. An overview of the alphabet school we debuted here on Mozi Esmé what seems like eons ago – a great starting point for parents of little ones.
Can I Do it All? My thoughts and goals as a payroll mom who is also a homeschooling mom.
More coming soon! I’m back home again – have been for a while – but still trying to figure out the balance thing. Thanks for your patience and your prayers for my family.
Sometimes He physically stops the donkey from moving, you know? So you’ve gotta just sit there and be still, no matter how much you keep whipping that donkey to move forward…
Over at The Homeschool Village today, I’ve got ideas on teaching your preschooler to be still (as well as my own recent experience with stillness – with a crashed laptop last week). I’d love to hear more tips on how you keep your kids still!
Some of my family had an unexpectedly-long 16-hour “be-still” experience in the hospital last week while my mom underwent surgery. I start my own travel up to my parents’ home today, and would love your prayers for my family. For healing, and for stillness…
. It’s a bit basic in terms of vocabulary and principles, but it is hands-on and uses materials we already have – exactly what I need right now – something I can grab off the shelf and use at a moment’s notice. Definitely a fun way to incorporate science into our hectic schedule.
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