Cutey Croc Craft

We still used bubble wrap for this craft and other recycled things we found in the house. This time we made cutey crocodiles inspired by positivelysplendid. I also shared some fun facts on crocodiles and we watched few videos on this snappy long-tailed reptile. We browsed for differences between alligator and crocodile too. Iesha preferred to say alligator while Iris preferred crocodile. Never did I know that there are big differences between those two words. 

Fun facts on crocodiles (Source: sciencekids)

• Crocodiles are reptiles.

• Crocodiles are fast over short distance.

• Crocodiles have sharp teeth.

• Crocodiles have the strongest bite of any animal in the world.

• The muscles that open crocodiles jaws however are not so powerful, reasonably strong people could hold a crocodile's jaw closed with their bare hand. (The girls went ooh with this fact.)

• Like other reptiles, crocodiles are cold-blooded. ("So they need to sun-bathe", said Iris).

• Crocodiles release heat through their mouths rather than through sweat glands.

• Some crocodile species can weigh over 1200 kg!

• Like alligators, crocodiles are part of the order 'Crocodylia.'

Fun facts of alligators (Source: sciencekids)

• Are also reptiles.

• Alligators have been living on Earth for millions of years and are sometimes described as 'living fossils.

• Can be found in USA and China.

• Alligators eggs become male and female depending on the temperature, male in warmer temperatures and female in cooler temperatures. (Again they went ooh-ahh!)

Videos on crocodiles and alligators

• The differences between Mr Croc and Mr Ally here.

• More differences here.

• Amazing video for kids on alligator here.

 What we need:

Bubble wrap

Cardboard

Styrofoam balls (for the eyes)

Craft blade

Paints (green, yellow and red)

Sharpie (to draw the eyes)

Pipe cleaners (to make a sturdy tail)

Glue 

Tape 

1) Roll the bubble wrap. 2) Secure the end with the tape. 3) Insert the pipe cleaners into the rolled bubble wrap. 4) Paint it. 

 5) Draw the eyes. 6) Cut out the legs. 7) Paint the legs. 8) Cut out a spiky hair for the crocs. Finally, glue all legs, eyes and spiky hair onto the roll.

 Meet Miss Melina Crocky crafted by Iesha.

 Liza by Iyra

Mr Croc by Iris

Oh, look how adorable they are!

Smile on the croc-o-dile!

Our Beautiful Carrot Garden

Materials needed:

Rolling pin

Bubble wrap

Orange art paper

Brown acrylic paint

Yellow acrylic paint

Green/ yellow string

Glue and scissor

 Draw some carrots on orange art papers.

 Cut out the carrots and glue them on the paper.

 Roll the bubble wrap around the rolling pin. Secure the end of the bubble wrap with tape. 

 Dip the rolling pin onto the paint. Then roll it back and forth on the carrots. Roll harder till you heard the pop sounds.

 Cut the strings and glue them on top of the carrots.

 Let dry.

Hang them proudly on the wall.

"I keep pointing at the child, they keep staring at my finger."~ Maria Montessori

It's Time to Spa, Lego!

Inspired by mamapapabubba, we made our own mini spa for our Lego people. We gathered all the materials commonly found around the house. The girls splendidly spent four hours pampering the minifigures. Yes, four hours!!

I eavesdropped their making-up conversation with teeny-weeny Lego people.

Iyra: Oh my, so cute. Jangan takut, Mia tak lemas. (The bath tub was clearly too big for her Mia.)

Iesha: Cutey cutey little Melinda. Let me help you wash your wig. Whoops, I'm sorry. Iesha pasang kepala balik okay. (She accidentally pulled off Melinda's head.)

Iris: This spa opens for all. To people and animal. (I spotted a big grizzly bear joined the crowd too.)

 Materials needed: 

Bowls of foamy water

Squeeze bottles of water (I used travelling shampoo bottles)

Chunks of bar soap

Mini towels (I cut out fleece cloth)

Two small cases of shower cream and shampoo 

Lego minifigures

 Waiting to be pampered. Gosh, the girls charging for this?

 Wash my hair please. 

 The bear obviously can't wait.

 Too excited!

 Emma Peel wants some perfume.

What a great day for us Lego people! Thanks big people!

Lego Maze Activity

This activity is such a great and simple way to entertain the children. All you need is Lego and marble. I let the girls created their own maze. We used 64 x 64 bumps Lego base plate. It was a bit harder for Iyra to control the base plate because it's too big. So I'd suggest to use the smaller base plate which is 32 x 32 bumps. We added up Lego people to cheer the marble up "Go Mr Marble go!". To play, we need to hold the base plate and gently tilt it back and forth so that the marble rolls.

We also browsed through some interesting stories on real life mazes. So here are some ah-MAZE-ing facts on real mazes (thanks to mentalfloss). 

• First, people created labyrinths. Then after that came mazes. They created labyrinth not to confuse, but to send visitors on a spiritual journey.

• Mazes and labyrinths have slightly different definitions. Mazes have multiple entrances and exits, and dead ends. A labyrinth has only a single path which leads to the center then back out the same way, with only one entry/ exit point. 

• The first labyrinth was in Egypt built in the 5th century. It made up of thousands of rooms, many of which were underground and held the tombs of Egyptians kings.

• The earliest maze was built in Europe to entertain royalty around 16th century.

• The world's largest hedge maze contains almost 2.5 miles of paths. It is The Dole Plantation's giant Pineapple Garden Maze which is made up of 14, 000 tropical plants, and was declared the longest in the world in 2008. Photos here.

• The new largest maze was declared in 2014. It is Cool Patch Pumpkin in Dixon, California spread to 60 acres of maze. It was so big few visitors getting lost in it!

New words learnt while playing the Lego maze:

1. Exit
2. Entrance
3. Arch
4. Perimeter
5. Pathways

 I let my kids created the maze.

So much fun.

 So easy to make, so fun to play!

Iris said this is too easy. She planned of adding up some arched exit.

There is a big real corn maze somewhere in California. They searched for California on the map. 

They found Gila instead.

Which Paper Flower Blooms the Quickest?

Blooming paper flowers is one of my daughters' favorite activities (besides oobleck). This magic flowers would surely mesmerize both children and adults! We already did this activity twice. But this time, we furnished with a little bit of scientific approach. We would like to find out which paper flower blooms the quickest once we popped them into the water. I made five different flower designs, one with small petals with big center, another with long petals and small center, and other designs (you may refer to the template). I then asked my daughters their guesses on which flower will bloom the quickest. They came with different hypotheses and reasoning. When asking them their hypotheses, I also demand their justifications. I didn't simply stop at "Which?", I then continued with "Why?" and "How?".

Do this today. It surely put the widest grin into your children's face. 

Here are a few websites and YouTube videos that you can discuss while waiting for the flowers to bloom. Enjoy!

Read about flowers:

• What? We got male and female flowers? Yes, read here.
• Facts on plants here.
• More kids-friendly info about flowers here.

Videos on flowers:

• Starts with this simple explanation. (I bet your kids will love this video with "Up" soundtrack at the back. One of my favorite tunes.)
• Then explain each function of flower parts with the help of this video. 
• More video here.

Fun facts about flowers (credits to here and here):

• Broccoli is actually a flower.
• Several centuries ago in Holland, tulips were more valuable than gold.
• Some plants such as orchids do not need soil to grow-they get all of their nutrients from the air.
• Some plants produce toxic substances that kill other plants around them, for e.g., the sunflower.
• The Bird of Paradise is a beautiful, oddly shaped plant that resembles a colorful tropical bird.
• Some flowers smell like rotting flesh. The titan arum is also called the corpse flower because of its foul smell. The blossoms of Bradford Pear trees are equally offensive.
• During Victorian times, flowers were used to communicate feelings or thoughts. For example, a pink carnation meant, "I'll never forget you," while a stripped carnation sent the message, "No, I can't be with you.". A purple hyacinth meant, "I'm sorry," while a yellow one meant, "I'm jealous."
• Many orchids don't need soil to grow-they can get all the nutrition they need from the air instead!
• Moonflowers bloom only at night. Their cousins, morning glories, bloom in the morning.

 What you need:

Paper flower template

Saucer

Water 

Stopwatch

 1. Carefully cut the flowers template.

 2. Pour water into the saucer.

 3. Fold the petals over one by one. 

 4. Pop the paper flower onto the water and watch them open up, just like a real flower blossoming!

 5. Time the blossoming flowers once you put onto the water and stop the stopwatch when they petals fully untangled.

 6. Document your observation. 

 No, we didn't use any butterflies as our equipment. 

 Good hypothesis, Iesha.

 So we found out that flower with the smallest center blooms the quickest. 

 Learning about flowers.

 Cut and paste activity for Iyra.

 Simple fill in the blank worksheet for Iesha.

 A more challenging worksheet for Iris.

 Iris fervidly explain about flowers to her sisters. She started the class with "Did you know flowers also got male and female?". She successfully got Iesha jaw dropping, "Really?".

 Free template for you. E-mail me for free Word Version.

Free flowers template

The science behind this experiment (thank you so much to surfing scientist):

The paper flower is powered by a groovy scientific phenomenon called 'capillary action'. Thanks to capillary action, paper absorbs water very rapidly. When paper gets wet, it swells which causes the folded petals of your Magic Flower to open up.

When paper comes into contact with water, the amazing power of capillary action rapidly draws water into all these tiny spaces. It’s because the water is slightly more attracted to the wood fibres than to itself. This helps trees and plants to lift water from their roots up to their leaves. The Sun provides the extra bit of lift required by evaporating water from tiny holes in the leaves called stomata. This process is called transpiration and we wouldn’t be here without it.

But back to your paper flower. When the paper absorbs water (which it does so well thanks to capillary action) it swells. That’s why paper goes wrinkly when it gets wet but it also causes any folds to open back up again. If you folded each neighbouring petal over sequentially, your flower will open very differently than if you folded each opposite pair. Try experimenting with the order and you’ll see what I mean.

Writing Activities with Squishy Bag

Iyra was still struggling with the basic strokes needed to form numbers and letters. I came with this squishy bag ideas to help her mastering it. It is a fun way to teach young children to write without using pens or pencils. The children can also use the squishy bag to draw pictures and shapes or just to squeeze it.

 What you'll need (for one squishy bag):

A cup of flour

6 tablespoons of water

Food coloring

Zip-lock bag

Spoon

Bowl

Tape 

 Add flour, water and a drop of food coloring into a bowl. Mix until well blended.

 Scoop the mixture into the zip-lock bag.

 Place the bag onto a flat surface. Let out any excess air to avoid air bubbles. Trust me these air bubbles make the writing difficult. 

 Press the clip of the bag completely closed. Secure the opening with the tape. 

 The squish bags

I used different books for the writing activity. I used 'Building Spelling Skill' published by Evan Moor for Iris, 'I am a Book' for Iesha as she recently reading this book and 'Read Easy' obviously for Iyra.

 Iyra in action.

 She obviously seemed happy with her 'a'.

 But not for Iris. She was getting bored once she knew the purpose of the squishy bag. She stroked her Chinese pinyin instead. She practiced her new learnt strokes for 'Days in Chinese'.

Writing up her name over and over again.