Wordless Wednesday 5/29/13

Pantry Surprise 3/3/13

The baby has been practicing his fine motor skills. 

No, he hasn't been creating masterpieces with paints.
Or smooshing play dough into fantastic sculptures.
Or  sketching magnificent illustrations with pastels.
He hasn't even been drawing intricate designs with crayons.

(And it's a good thing, too, because he would eat the art supplies before he could finish his handiwork.)

So how has he been building up his muscles and strengthening his fine motor skills???


By filling holes, of course.  

Specifically, shoes.

He leaves little surprises for us all quite often.

Leighton tries to put his boots on for work? Surprise! A ball.
Alyssa tries to put her shoes on for church? Surprise! A block.
Jake tries to put his shoes on to play outside? Surprise! A plastic toy strawberry.

This time was a double surprise - a ball in a cup in a boot in the middle of the house. (Kinda makes you think of this song, huh?)


He's been practicing so much that he's just about mastered hole-filling. I think it's time to start working on another fine motor skill.


Maybe next week, he'll learn to write his name.




Want to see more Pantry Surprises? You can find the entire list here.
 

Theory Thursday: Rising Balls

It was an easy experiment this week. But a fun one.

My Little Hams, ready to start.

This is the face he made when I asked what he expected to happen.

Start with a ball in a jar.

Add rice.

Shake back and forth.

The ball will rise to the top.

As you shake the jar, the rice spreads out and becomes less dense. The rice fills in the empty spaces when the ball moves, pushing the ball up. They repeated the process about 5 times. It was fun dumping the rice through the funnel and watching it come out the other end. It was still surprising every time they saw the ball at the top again. Eventually, they resorted to bouncing the balls in the kitchen. They had a good time, and I had a few minutes to get some things done. We all were happy.

Make It Monday: Power Balls

Every day Jake asks, "What's today?" He wants to know if it's time for a craft, baking, or an experiment. I'm not sure which one is his favorite because he gets excited about all three. Actually, he gets excited about each day of the week for different reasons: Sundays and Wednesdays because we go to church, Fridays because we go to Grandma's house, and Saturdays because it's a special family day. It just so happened that Saturday evening he was begging to make "power balls." I always dread making these things. I'm not sure why. They're incredibly simple to make, but tend to be messy, especially with a 2 year old. Monday was the perfect day to make these. The kit (made by Rose Art) comes with two holders that snap together. You pour little, tiny beads (the size of salt granules) into the mold. Once it's full, you submerge it in water for one minute, take it out, and let it sit for three minutes. After that, you have one high-bouncing power ball!

Alyssa said, "Oh, my fingers got wet!" Jake told her, "That's ok. That happens sometimes."