Ticklish Orangutans {E's First Diorama}

If you had told me that I'd be dealing with large projects and grading rubrics as early as first grade, I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are with the THIRD major project of the year.

Fun with Science! "Painting" with Vinegar.

I'm back! Between home improvement projects and some personal crafts - not to mention work - I had to take a brief blogging break. But I'm back with this great activity I found on Growing a Jeweled Rose via Pinterest. 

Snow Fun!

The day after Christmas we got over a foot of snow! I know my northern friends are laughing at me, but this is almost unheard of in our corner of the country. When the snow and wind died down, we headed outside to revel in all the fluffy white goodness! Making snow angels...

 Building (or trying to climb over) snow forts...

 And making the coolest snow-kid ever! She was our very own "Snowmen at Night."

 Here she is the next day (recognize the scarf?)...

 And here she is today...

I only wish I had seen her go!

The Secret Life of a Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht

E was given this beautiful science book for Christmas. (Perfect timing, Cousin Fern!) We both enjoyed looking through it's full-color photographs of individual snowflakes and reading about the science of snow. The pages are well laid-out, the photographs are stunning, and the science is easily explained. I highly recommend it for your next snowy day!

Fun Fungi

There's a colorful crop of mushrooms in our yard! I recently found out about the SPORE project and thought it was too fun not to participate. Artist Doug Rhodehamel has posted instructions on how to make these easy paper bag mushrooms. He's asking people around the world to plant the mushrooms and then email him the picture. Starting May 1st, he'll map the 'shrooms around the world and feature the pictures he receives.

He's posted very detailed instructions on how to make the mushrooms, so I won't duplicate them here. The craft is simple and you probably already have the materials necessary: lunch bags, rubber bands, hot glue, and wooden bamboo skewers. All you need to do is shape the bag into a mushroom, glue in a bamboo skewer, secure with rubber bands, and decorate!

I love the flexibility of this craft. E decided to glue puffs to the top of hers, and even A could get in on the action with some markers.

We set the ones we painted in cups to dry. I waited to add the bamboo skewers until after we had decorated the tops, for obvious safety reasons.

Now the neighbors have yet another reason to think we're a little odd!

To go along with the craft, I picked up a book about fungi from the library. (Speaking of libraries, don't forget to mark your calendars for the Love My Library link-up on May 12! Grab a button to the right -> )  

A Kid's Guide to the Classification of Living Things: Fungi 
by Elaine Pascoe

This book was perfect for introducing fungi and mushrooms to E (5). It contained full-color, large pictures of the various fungi it was explaining, and used appropriate vocabulary for children just discovering the science of the natural world. I also appreciated that the back contained a glossary. I did skip a couple pages, but overall felt that the length was just right to cover the topic and hold my daughter's attention.

This was my first introduction to this series, but so far I'm pleased. It's too bad I couldn't find it on Amazon.

Do you have any good suggestions for other kids' non-fiction series on nature?

I'm linking up with:
- stART @ A Mommy's Adventures
- SOYS @ Fireflies & Jellybeans