Marshmallows and Toothpicks

I don't think I stole this idea from anywhere in particular, but I didn't come up with it on my own, either. It's a pretty common project.

And all you need is toothpicks and mini marshmallows. How's that for cheap?

{Had a little too much fun with the photo editing. Heh.}

Anyway, the gist is that you stick the toothpicks into the marshmallows. If your kid is pretty little, you can just leave it at that. As your kids get older, you can have them make shapes and little sculptures.

Little Boy loved it, but he insisted on copying whatever I made. He's really into this building stuff, but creativity isn't one of his strengths right now. Oh, well. I finally stopped building and made him think up some shapes on his own.

I don't have a photo of all the stuff we made, but we used up a whole lotta toothpicks and marshmallows. Not ALL the marshmallows, though. We had to save some for snacking on afterward.

The Storybook Shelf

So...I made a third blog.

Y'know, because I do such a good job of keeping up my other two blogs. (Heh.)

It's like...a children's book review blog. I love to read, and I love all kinds of books. And I love recommending books to other people.

So I started The Storybook Shelf to help me remember children's books my family has liked, and to maybe help my friends find books that their kids might like. Children's books are fun, and let's be honest...both children and adults can enjoy a good children's book.

It doesn't quite work the same with grown-up books.

So, if that sounds like something you might want to look at, click on through. I don't update it very often yet, but I hope to pick up the pace soon.

Science: Colored Celery

Here's a pretty common science experiment. Cut one end off a stalk of celery, and stick the cut end in colored water.

We used A LOT blue food coloring. I wanted to make sure the color would show up.



Leave the celery alone for 24 hours. And then check out what happens!



Ta-da! Blue celery!

I checked the celery after a couple hours, and I could already see a blue tinge. The blue was much darker by the next day.

I have to admit, I have a hard time explaining science experiments to a four-year-old. But this one's good for showing how a plant sucks water up through the stem and leaves.

Our Education Must Never Stop

“Our education must never stop. If it ends at the door of the classroom on graduation day, we will fail. And we will need the help of heaven to know which of the myriad things we could study we would most wisely learn. We cannot waste time entertaining ourselves when we have the chance to read or to listen to whatever will help us learn what is true and useful. Insatiable curiosity will be our hallmark.”

-Henry B. Eyring

Math: Stripey Scarf Patterns

Aaaand...yet another super-easy idea that I got from The Mailbox. [Seriously, they should hire me or something.]

I spread a solid-colored scarf on the floor, then made a pattern across it with colored popsicle sticks that I got from the dollar store.



See? It's supposed to be like stripes on the scarf, but my scarf was a little wide.

Little Boy had to figure out how to continue the pattern. This was pretty easy for him, so I think we'll try it again with some more creative striping.