So - Wax Repels Water

So, what do you get if you cross Connect the Dots, with Art?
Why you get our latest lesson in Maths and Science of course!
It wasn't an intentional lesson, but it was a fun one to stumble upon, so let me show you what we did!





First I printed some Connect the Dots off for Bear, choosing a theme I know he likes "airplanes".
Please also note the shotgun he built out of his wooden workbench (the one he was so desperate for here)...which is also helpful as a pointing device!
I will add I had no hand in creating the said shotgun, but admired it greatly when he brought it to show me :)









Then we spent some time connecting the dots, following the numbers, counting as we went.


Hello Maths!


I'm hoping doing more of these dot to dots will help with number recognitions, but if not that's ok too!
We just happened to use wax crayons, they were the closest thing to hand at the time!








Once we were finished with our pictures Bear enthusiastically suggested painting them, so I pulled out his new watercolour set from the other day, and away he went!


Hello Art!









Suddenly we noticed that the wax crayon reappears through the water colour paint.
It just pushes the water away, how cool is that!!!


Hello Science!












And while we were busy Evie took advantage of her occupied brother to rummage around in the duplo box and build.
He usually comandeers any pieces she tries to use and incorporates them into his creations, which she is not allowed to touch...so this was a treat indeed for my poor girl.
She sat building for ages!


Hello Contentment!

So - Father's Day

We did in fact do a father's day craft last week and I was planning to blog about it on/or as close to Father's Day as possible (just not before because the Dad reads the blog)...but then The Dad got his second gift of his special day - a nice projectile vomit - and that was the beginning of an affliction visited upon most of the family. Bleh!
I'd like to say it's been fun...but it really hasn't

Anyway, we appear to be on the mend and here's our father's day craft - which was a follow on from the waxy paper mobile we did a while back.

A Stained Glass Window Frame!

So - what do we need?
Firstly, don't panic, the list looks long but it's not too complicated!
- Newspaper - lots
- An iron
- Some old teatowels
- Wax paper
- Wax crayons
- Sharpener or vegetable peeler (to make wax shavings)
- Scissors
- Pictures & letters
- Glitter
- Lollipop sticks
- Glue
- String





So - How did we use them?
Part1: The Stained Glass

First generously layer newspaper EVERYWHERE!
The take a piece of wax paper & decorate it with your pictures & letters etc. We printed some photos onto normal paper and then cut them out, and I had some alphabet stickers lying around that we used too.
Add wax crayon shavings (this time we actually used a veggie peeler to shave our crayons, it worked quite nicely)









Then apply liberal amounts of glitter (this is the best part according to Bear, who applied glitter to the whole universe...so if you've been wondering why everything is extra sparkly lately now you know).














When you're happy with your picture put another layer of wax paper over the top.
The next step is for adults - the ironing.
Heat your iron.
Put down a towel, then a nice thick wad of newspaper, then your waxpaper (move very carefully so as not to ruin the carefully arranged picture).
Cover again with newspaper and lay a tea towel or something over the top.
And you're ready to iron!
Iron until you're happy your wax paper is stuck together.





Part 2 - The Window!

Use wood glue to stick your lollipop sticks together to create a frame.
Then decorate however you want!
We used glue and glitter - and why wouldn't we - they're the most fun 2 things ever!

















Then trim your stained glass/wax paper to fit the frame and glue it to the back.
Voila!














I was just going to put on a price of string when I remembered we had a couple of these sucker hook things lying around, so I took the hooks out and used them to make it easier for us to hang the frames up in a window!

Just cut your string & tie around the top 2 ends.















Then hang on a sunny window and step back to admire the finished effect!












So - What did we learn?
I'm going to keep it short and simple this time and just do a list, but if you have any questions just leave me a comment and I'll happily elaborate when I have a moment!

• Art
• Fine Motor Skills
• Science
• Family History
• Literacy

*disclaimer - this may or may not cover everything we learnt, it's just the stuff The Mom remembers*

So - We Made a Waxy Paper Mobile!

Bear wanted to make something so I decided to combine a little art & science.

I would love to post step by step pictures but unfortunately things often just happen too fast in our household, especially as waiting any longer than a split second is tantamount to torture for Bear :)
Perhaps I'll get lucky another day but for this post you'll just have to make do with photos of the final result!

So - what did we need?
Waxpaper - 2 sheets
Wax crayons
Scissors
Wire coathanger
Dishtowels
Iron
+ a Parental or adult willing to supervise or operate hot iron & scissors






< super stoked









So - how did we use them?
We turned on our iron on a low heat.
We lay out some dishtowels and put a large sheet of wax paper on top of them
Chose various colours of wax crayons and using our scissors shaved off bits on to our paper
When we were satisfied with the amount of wax shavings & their arrangement we lay our 2nd sheet of waxpaper on top of the first.
Covered this with some more dishtowels
Slowly & carefully ironed our wax paper
You can take a peek every now and again to make sure the wax shavings are melting and making gorgeous colours & patterns on your wax paper.
Voila - our 2 pieces of paper and wax shavings joined together and made a really pretty piece of paper!

So - What now?
Well you can use your finished paper for all sorts of crafts but as we are doing a lot with shapes these days Bear asked me to cut it into various shapes.
I then spied an old coat hanger lying about and got the idea of making a mobile, so Bear punched holes in each shape, I strung them on various lengths of string and we arranged them on the hanger.

So - That was fun, but what did we learn?
Well here's the fun part of homeschooling - you realise just how much your toddler can learn just by doing some fun activities!





< I learn stuff & have fun at the same time!










Some of the things we learnt from this activity:

• Colours - I let Bear choose all the colours for our project, we talked about other things with those colours e.g. Blue Sky, Mom's purple t-shirt etc. Bear decided his favourite colours are Blue & Purple...and Red...and Green...and Yellow....and so on lol. We also saw how some of the colours change when they melt together - blue & yellow goes green etc. We also talked about how our paper was translucent when we hung it up in the window - the light shines through it but we can't see through it!
• Shapes & sizes - Bear chose different shapes for me to cut out and specified sizing: A BIG square and a little square, a star >>>this<<< big and of course a HUGE airplane (I'm aware this is not a "traditional" shape ;P). We also talked about why a rectangle is different to a square
• Numeracy - we counted the sides of our shapes to help figure out if they were triangles, squares, rectangles etc. We counted our shapes and cut enough string for each shape.
• Science - we learnt that some stuff melts when it gets hot, and other stuff doesn't...like the dishcloths.
• Health & safety - We learnt about hot irons & being careful not to burn ourselves, and also that scissors are sharp so we must be careful not to cut ourselves, and also to behave sensibly when we are carrying or using them.
• Fine motor skills - I did the shape cutting but let Bear practise his cutting skills by letting him snip the cut off bits and try make his own shapes. He was more interested in shredding the bits into a million tiny pieces though.

And that's about all I can think of right now, although I know we talked about a lot of stuff because we've hit the WHY? stage big time in our household, so everything you do includes answering 101 questions.

Surprised such a simple activity can yield so many learning opportunities?
I know I was when I first started looking into this whole homeschooling thing!
I was skeptical and convinced learning couldn't be that easy - but of course it really is :)

So - What about our little Evie - well besides bubbling around, watching with an eagle eye and hanging onto every word her big bro' said, she learnt 2 valuable lessons

Sometimes you just can't touch your big brother's stuff....

...But he loves you anyway!

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