Memorial Day

When we were deciding what to do this weekend, my husband made the comment that he wanted to start teaching the boys the reason for the season. He usually uses that phrase for every holiday. The reason for the season statement usually means that we research some festival or holiday celebration to venture to. This Memorial Day we are venturing out to the cemetery with the kids.

In honor of Memorial Day we made Popsicle stick flags to put on our grandfather's graves. Both of our grandfathers served in WWII. My grandpa was in the Air Force, and my husband's grandpa was in the Navy. I want our sons to learn about their great grandpas. 

My older son painted the red on the Popsicle sticks, while my younger son painted the blue. I didn't have white paint, so we just went with the wood coloring. After the paint dried we hot glued them together. The boys stuck on some gold star stickers, and voila, an American flag. 

In this activity the boys learned about the American flag, Memorial Day, and their great grandpas. Aside from all of that discussing, they also painted along some pretty small lines. After the Popsicle sticks were painted they had some more fun just painting.

So here's to all the fallen military men and women, and those that are currently serving.

Chicken or Egg?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? My answer has always been the egg. Two chicken like creatures mated, laid an egg, and a hybrid was formed: the chicken. This has always been my reasoning for explaining things to my students. It's a little different explaining it to my sons.

This week we took a field trip to my in-laws to start 25 broilers, which are meat chickens. We got up early and drove an hour and a half to pick up day old chicks from the hatchery. The little yellow fluff sticking out of the holes in the box is more than little fingers and big fingers can resist touching. We went back to my in-laws and made a little home for them. Their new home is an old, plastic sandbox turtle. We put bedding in the bottom with a heat lamp hung about 2 feet above them. Chick starter feed was put into an egg carton and electrolyte water was added to a mason jar waterer. The boys took turns handing me chicks to transport them to their new home. I dipped their beaks in the water to get them started. Some kept drinking, while others huddled together.

The boys wanted to play with the chicks. It was tough telling them no because all I wanted to do was hold them. My mother-in-law and I repeated gentle over and over again. My 4-year old got the hang of it, but my 3-year old was better just petting rather than holding. I was so afraid we were going to have a Lenny situation (Of Mice and Men reference). (My husband and I make the Lenny reference because our 3-year old is a big kid).

I really liked that the boys got to help with the chores and the making of the chick's new home. They were as gentle as they could be, and no chicks were harmed. I explained that the chicks hatched out of eggs, which led to a discussion about the eggs in our fridge. I explained this by saying the eggs in the fridge can't hatch babies because they don't have a daddy, only a mommy. The eggs the chicks pecked through have a mommy and a daddy, and now we are the new mommy and daddy for them. This explanation came with a lot of whys, but in the hour and a half drive home I think I got them answered.

FYI: Eggs that you buy in the store are unfertilized. Eggs that you buy off of a farm can be fertilized if a rooster is present. The taste isn't different, and most people don't ask if they are fertilized or unfertilized.

Tool Time

My husband is a collector of cool, old garage things from engines to anvils to hammers. Our car collection is extensive and widespread. I can't say that I'm much better when I gave him a car (1959 Rambler Wagon) for our anniversary that we hauled from Colorado when I was nine months pregnant. All of the collections looked less cool when the boys were in the garage all over everything, and I kept worrying about Tetanus shots. Now that they are a bit older it's much better, and the collecting continues.

My husband has spent a lot of time making room in the garage for the boys. When we are all in the garage the boys get their hammers, hand saws, and scrap wood. We have low saw horses for the boys to have their wood clamped down. We put nails in part of the wood for them to practice hammering, and the other half they can saw. A lot of people think we are crazy to give our sons real hammers and saws, but I would much rather have them learn the safe way to handle things. I realized that the alternative was to have the boys watch us use them, and then try to imitate us with no instruction. Why not just keep the boys out of the garage you might ask. Well, what fun is that? Instead of making the garage toddler proof, teach your toddler to be safe. It's a life lesson. You can't toddler proof the world, so teach them to be safe in it. 

I like the hammering nails activity because it's great for dexterity and concentration. The sawing is more a determination test because if it doesn't work the first couple of times they really have to work at it. They also really have to follow instructions and listen carefully. If they don't follow directions then they can't be in the garage. 

My husband has taught me a lot about what a 4-year old and 3-year old can do. At first it was a lot of him telling me to trust him. I do completely, which is why garage time works. Thanks Jeff!!

FYI: No injuries have occurred. I also plan to teach my daughter about garage time too.

Magic Milk

It's magic milk, not Mike, I'm teaching toddlers here. My sons like food and painting, so I combined them today with some food coloring milk that they eventually painted with.

I have some garage sale food trays that we use for crafting time, which worked great for this. I poured some 2% milk in each of the tray compartments. The boys picked their food colors, and I had them add 3 drops to each of the corners of the milk pond. The food coloring does not blend with the milk. Q-tips were dipped in dish soap and then dipped in the milk food coloring, which is the magic milk. It blasts the color to the edges, and then as the Q-tip is moved around the color streaks through the milk. When the milk is completely blended with the color the magic is over. I gave the boys white sheets of paper and had them use the milk as paint. They used the Q-tips as brushes. This is also the same concept as milk paint that was popular in early 20th century homes, which our house still has remnants of.

The science behind the magic milk is that the soap goes after the fat in the milk, which causes the color trails. When it's all one color the chemical reaction is done, and the soap and fat have found each other. I explained this to the boys by simply saying they don't like each other, so the soap is trying to chase some parts of the milk. I don't expect them to remember that, so the real fun is in seeing them mix colors and find out what happens when more milk is added or when more soap is added. It's the simple wonder of what if when doing a science experiment. That's the real education. Well, that and having green hands all day from the Q-tip/finger painting.

Farm Living

This week we are visiting family, which means rubber boots, animals, tractors, and some funny smells. We live in town, so when I have a chance to expose my kids to some farm living it's an adventure. It's always a learning experience, so much so that I debated calling this post meet your meat.

I think it's really important for everyone to know where their food comes from. Early in my teaching career I assumed that most Iowans already knew where their food was coming from since Iowa produces a fair amount of it. However, this is not the case. Iowa Girl Eats has been trying to bridge the gap for a few years while I've been doing it in the classroom, now I have the chance with my own children.

Having a garden is an easy way to show that plants give food for us, but explaining how we get meat is a little more delicate. I explained that meat comes from animals, and that we take care of animals so they can grow up and give us their meat. I explained that we want to treat the animals well, so they will want to give us their meat. It's a crazy way to explain it, but it teaches the boys to take extra special care of the animals. I also like explaining this at an early age because then it will become second nature to them.

When I was in high school I had chores to do everyday. I had invested in feeder cattle that had to be taken care of morning and night. My senior year I had 12 steers. On Christmas Eve I was getting ready for our family Christmas party when my dad asked me if I had done the nightly chores. I looked at him like he was crazy because I thought he was going to do them. He was showered and dressed for the Christmas party just like I was, and he told me that I don't eat until they eat. That has stuck with me because I think that sums up meat production. If they don't eat then you don't eat. I named all my animals even though I knew we would be eating them. It was a respect relationship. I would treat them well and care for them as a way of thanking them for the meat that they would eventually give. It's a pretty personal thing, even in mass production; however, the majority of people try to be as far removed from it as possible. My own children will not be far removed from it even if we do live in town.

Turkeys

Dish Garden

My high school students used to make dish gardens when I taught Horticulture. It was usually one of the more popular activities. The high schoolers didn't have as much fun adding little dinosaurs like my boys though. It doesn't take a lot of resources, and it's pretty easy.

I found some shallow bowls that aren't used regularly, and the boys filled them about 3/4 of the way full with soil. I dug up some pieces of Hosta that was in our yard to plant in the bowls. The Hostas are just coming up and aren't very big, which makes them good for a dish garden. They are also very low maintenance, so when they are in the house they will survive. The boys found some rocks in our yard, and they painted them for their gardens. I peeled moss off some bricks in our yard, so it could be added to the garden. The boys planted the Hostas, which was only 1 or 2 plants to each bowl. Then they covered the soil with the moss. The rock and dinosaurs were added to compete the landscape. We watered everything, and put it in a south facing window for some sun.

The boys liked getting their hands dirty planting. They also like taking care of their plants everyday. It's like having chores to do. They have to check their little gardens everyday. Adding little dinosaurs helped them use their imaginations to create a little ecosystem. Sometimes they move their dinosaurs around in the dirt each day
, but I frown on this because I don't want a mess in the house.

Hint: Adding rocks to the bottom of the bowl will allow drainage. If you don't have rocks just limit the amount of water. You can trim up the Hosta leaves are roots to make them fit in the bowl.

Erupting Volcano

Why did the dinosaurs die? My 4-year old loves to ask that question. I tell him that a big rock might have hit the earth or the earth got too hot for them or a volcano might have erupted. His favorite answer is the volcano erupting because he likes to make a path in the lava and jump from rock to rock (pillow to pillow). We made an erupting volcano to help make it more real.

I gave my sons a cookie sheet and had them build a volcano with play doh. The play doh wasn't homemade, but if you don't want to waste the real stuff, you should consider doing this. The volcano should have a hollow middle, which I had to help the boys with. The boys put their play dinosaurs around it, along with some other creatures. I had them put approximately a teaspoon of baking soda in the middle of the volcano. Then I put some vinegar in 2 bowls, one for each of the boys. They added 10 drops of yellow food coloring to the vinegar to make it more lava like. I gave the boys spoons to put spoonfuls of vinegar in the volcano. After each spoonful they watched it fizz out. I didn't want a huge mess, so spoons worked really well. It also kept the volcano erupting. 

The boys played with this for a while. The dinosaurs got caught in the lava, and some got away on a rock, but some died. This activity helped them understand how the dinosaurs might have died. It also helped them understand how a volcano erupts. I didn't explain the significance of mixing an acid and a base, but if they were older I would explain it. The boys took it a step further and added some water to see what would happen. 

Hint: this is comparable to Coke and Mentos. The coke bottle would be the volcano and the eruption would be everywhere, which is why I didn't do this. Coke is the acid and Mentos is the base.