Paper Plate Magnet Maze

 What you need

 Instructions here

 Lost in maze

"Happy to Be Back on Earth" by Iris, in acknowledging a return of Scott Kelly. (We did watch a video on their return, haven't you? 

 "My proboscis needs sweet sugary flower." This is made by Iyra. We used words we learnt from our butterfly life cycle craft. "Butterflies taste with feet, drink with proboscis."

"Rabbit-y Rabit" by Iesha.

Hot Air Balloon Craft

"Mummy, jom kita pi New Mexico nak? Kita naik hot air balloons?" Iesha suggested this nice vacation, inspired by a video she watched in the YouTube.  She'd love to fly high in the air in the basket with the help of a pilot who navigates the balloon.  "To the right! To the left! We are high, up in the air!" 

Now we know how to float a hot air balloon.

"The burner uses propane gas to heat up the air in the envelope to move the balloon off the ground and into the air.  The pilot must keep firing the burner at regular intervals throughout the flight to ensure that the balloon continues to be stable.  Naturally, the hot air will not escape from the hole at the very bottom of the envelope as firstly, hoe air rises and secondly, the buoyancy keeps it moving up." (Source: here)

It is extremely interesting to see how this big fat balloons fly up high in the air.  Here are a few great videos to watch: here and here. 

Till then, float up!

Parts of a hot air balloon

 Thing we used

 Float all the way girls!! To the stars!!

 Dream big little one!

 She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes.

 A great adventure is about to begin!

A book on hot air balloon adventure.

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft

I think it's a good time to start talking about animal life cycles with Iesha (6y)  and Iyra (5y).  We started with a butterfly. They found it interesting to know that the butterfly was first a caterpillar. They also wondered why the caterpillar is in extreme hunger and eat its own egg shell and almost everything near them.  So we watched a few videos and read some articles on butterflies.  I also decided to make this craft to show them the life cycle of a butterfly.

Fun facts about butterflies: (thanks to here and here and here.)

• Butterflies are insects.
• A butterfly's life cycle is made up four parts, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult.
• Butterflies attach their eggs to leaves with a special glue.
• Most caterpillars are herbivores.
• Fully grown caterpillars attach themselves to a suitable twig or leaf before shedding their outside layer of skin to reveal a hard skin underneath known as chrysalis.
• An adult butterfly will eventually emerge from the chrysalis where it will wait a few hours for its wings to fill with blood and dry, before flying for the first time.
• Butterflies can live in the adult stage from anywhere between a week and a year, depending on the species.
• Butterflies have four wings.
• Butterflies taste with their feet (they laughed on this).
• Butterflies often have bright colored wings with unique patterns made up of tiny scales.
• The fastest butterflies are the skippers, which can fly at 37 miles per hour, but most butterflies travel at 5 to 12 miles per hour.
• Their eyes are made of 6000 lenses and can see ultraviolet light.
• Many adult butterflies never excrete waste - they use up all they eat for energy.
• In some areas, the number of feeding caterpillars on plants is so great that you can actually hear them munching.  Thus, manners are not important in butterfly society.

Watch videos on butterflies: here, here, here and here.

What we used.

How to make a chrysalis?

1. Cut out 2 inches x 4 inches of tissue paper.

2. Twist one end of the tissue paper.

3. Crumple another tissue paper and insert it into the unfinished chrysalis.

4. Twist the other end of the chrysalis and glue it to the twig.

How to make a caterpillar?
1. Cut a nylon string of about 5 inches long.
2. Knot one end of the string.
3. String some beads to the nylon string.
4. Secure the end with tight knot.

How to make a butterfly?
1. Stack the pieces of tissue paper together.
2. Scrunch up the center of both pieces of tissue paper and twist a pipe cleaner around it.