Science: Colour Changing Chrysanthemum

As you guys already know, we are doing garden/nature/flowers this week.

Mama needs a break from the haze, hence the whole bringing nature indoors thing.

 Isn't it gorgeous?

I can do this theme for one whole year.

That's a replica of Water Lilies by Monet in the background

 

 Tiger decided on the experiment after we read this book together.

What Makes A Flower Grow? by Usborne

I make him read out the things needed for the experiment as I wrote/drew a plan.

He listed out sun, worm and ice as well, haha, cause they were illustrated in the page.

 All that is missing is a lab coat!

Pouring water from beaker into test tubes carefully.

He spilled quite a bit intially (use tray!)

but by test tube number 4, he was a pro!

 I coloured the tubes with liberal amount of food coloring.

We had yellow, purple, red, blue, green and a control.

Our pretty flowers in a row!

And test tubes put to good use :)

While we waited, Dragon entertained us...

I bought an extra stalk just for her.

 Only RM 1.30 per stalk from a lady by the roadside. 

The overly excited boy

We labelled our test subjects as any good scientist would.

He waited....

....and waited

She danced...

He went back to the book to check how long he had to wait :)

In 30 minutes, we got this!

Conclusion: plants drink water.

Success!

Did you notice our new 'curtain'?

It's Vitaminer from IKEA...such a cheery addition, don't you think

 

Tiger's 3.5 years old, so I didn't want to bore him with details

like capillary reaction and such. 

For older kids, you may want to provide a better explanation.

I love Steve Spangler Science for reference.

Who said science is boring?  

Science: Mixing Colours

 Since the Halloween potion lab was painfully ignored by a brat named Tiger,

I created this for him instead.

Less imaginary and more hands-on.

I used the free gifts from Enfagrow as a guide.

Got free stuff means we must use, right?
^.^

Of all the activities offered, he chose mixing colours...again

We have done this activity so many, many times.

In the bathroom, outdoors, etc
Most of the time he just mixes every colour to create the 'lovely' preschool poop mix.
By adding the test tubes, he 'pretended' that they were glass and he was very,very careful.

So, should preschool children follow instructions?
You know, with the US parents gasping over introducing school earlier and earlier.
It really depends.
I know many adults still don't or cannot follow rules.
Even then, it isn't always a bad thing. Think, Steve Jobs.

Personally, I always believe in moderation.
You should allow the child to go crazy with the paint at most time to promote creativity.
But at the same time, there must be limits.
Don't throw paint at the walls. Don't eat the paint.
Sometimes, activities such as a prepared 'pretend play'
like this still foster imagination but at the same time sets some regulation.

He was thrilled with the set up.
(relieved mama)

The chart consist of mostly primary colours --> secondary ones

Stirring the mixtures

Checking the chart

Making gray which is something new for him

 

 

Anything to do with water/colours is always a hit.

I just sit aside and observe.

 My busy scientist.

He looks more and more like me everyday.

He certainly talks like me :)

 

The sweet princess who is a natural scientist and explorer.

I suspect she may thrive with a Waldorf environment and frankly,

that scares the crap out of me.

Messy Play: Moon Sand

Tiger prefers sand to water

Given the choice, he would pick sand play, hands down.

We always use sand from ELC.

Why not sand from the beach?

God knows who has peed or spat in that particular batch...

Construction site sand is even worse...dogs and cats love doing their business there,

have you not notice?

Moon sand is more moldable compared to regular play sand

We took the DIY recipe from Imagination Tree, a wonderful play blog

The recipe called for:

• 4 cups play sand
• 2 cups corn flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp coloured powder paint

White container: Antonius from IKEA

Giant shovel: Melissa and Doug (ELC)

Sand: ELC (rm 29.90 for 10 kg. Buy during sales la)

 We didn't have powder paint on hand.

The sibuk went and took food coloring himself and made the whole thing blue.

A reminder that I have to adjust the height limit again and 

move the forbidden drawer higher.

Oh well, since we are messy already anyways...

ADD GLITTER!

Lots and lots of it.

Glitter from Fun and Cheer: Less than RM 5 for 4 bottles

I shared this picture on our FB page last week.

Seemed like such a waste to play alone.

We invited Lil Jay to join us and they turned blue from the coloring.

In order to get him to shower, I have to exchange sand for paint 

=.="

He also like to ask, "Red mix with yellow become what colour?"

He will help himself to the paint while I do a facial mask or wash my hair

and end up with something like this.

Drip art?

He prefers syringes to water gun :)

Sometimes, it can get really, really messy....

Reminds me of a CSI scene.

Luckily bathroom art = easy clean-up

Oh we got rid of the blue coloring in a jiffy, in case you were wondering.

I gave him a Scotch Brite scour pad and made him wash the bathroom.

He used his shower gel laaa, not toilet cleaner.

As a result,

I get a relatively clean bathroom and he gets clean hands.

Win-win.

^.^

Messy Play: Coloured Cloud Dough

 I absolutely love it when I am free on Saturday mornings.

Both of us will be outdoors the moment we are half awake...

I will have my Nescafe Gusto and he will be in jammies...

Clean teeth and hair not required  :)

I prepared the materials on Friday night and stupidly wanted to try it out immediately.

Luckily, Lil Dragon joined us and I evaded a major catastrophe.

NOT FOR INDOORS, my friends...

Ingredients

Multipurpose Flour ---> 8 CUPS

Baby oil --->  1 CUP

He is a big boy now, so he got measure out 8 cups by himself.

Baby oil has a ton of usage besides making cloud dough.

I wanted to keep some for Hub's golf clubs but the munchkin used the whole bottle!

I was weeding (OCD)

For 45 uses of baby oil, read here

See the face and pose?

Cannot tahan him....

I suggested, "Try with one finger?"

Dirrrrrty and oily it seems.....

Pffttt

Had to let him stir with a bubble wand first

After a while.....

Guess who decided to join us?

And ended up in a urine specimen bottle (clean one la)?

After one minute, we let it go.

When Tiger couldn't find it anymore,

 he declared the grasshopper dead because mama stepped on it.

 

I love our outdoor classes...always something extra will turn up....

Like self service in the art drawer :)

We ended up with coloured dough and

 played Cupcake Shop

Cupcakes, anyone?

He insisted on bathing outdoors.

This is his version of swimming where the water does not come into contact with his face.

I usually do some gardening while he plays unless

he calls for me to join him.

Otherwise, I find myself annoyingly interruptive.

Everything was oily after play.

Some amount of cleaning up and washing is required

I stored the container for play in the evening but ours became too mushy

(because of all the paint he added)

Cost of flour and baby oil is much cheaper than buying PlayDoh :)

 But keep it outdoor, ya?

Pretend play: Ice cream shop

I was thinking of creating some simple trays for Lil Dragon 

and this recycled can was one of them.

I used it with Tiger loooong ago for inserting pom-poms and you know what?

He saw the can and asked for the same activity.

Sometimes, when people say things like, 

"Ai yah...the kid is only 2. He won't remember laaa."

 I usually respond with a polite but fake smile.

We have too many pom-poms to fit into the can, 

so I asked if he wanted to do anything else.

"Ice Cream Shop"

Okie Dokie  :)

In a flash, I gathered:

A box

Some bowls

Spoons

Real money

He asked for a "kapi-ruler"

"A what????"

"KA-PI-RU-LER"

"????"

"I count and press press one"

"Calculator?"

"YES!"

"OMG, what do you call a caterpillar then?"

"Ummm, ka-ti-ruler"  He ROFL

His ice cream, regardless of flavour or size; are all

RM 55,555,555

"Mama, five ringgit"

"Four ringgit can?"

"Can. Discount 1%"

"Actually, 1% discount would be 4.95"

I demonstrated on the 'kapiruler' and his eyes went, "WOW!"

I love being super mom.

Instead of 'study', we played ice cream shop for 3 consecutive days.

He offered to sort the colours.

Then, we debated over a dull green pom-pom. He insisted it was grey.

We decided on the flavors and created a menu together.

When we mix all the flavors together, the concoction is called L.O.V. E.

So corny, kan? But I like, I really do....

Art & craft: Painting Week Ideas

Like I mentioned on our Facebook page, Tiger's been bitten by the art bug recently.

Here are some of the activities we did:

Painting with Glow-In-the-Dark paint.

 Because normal paint is sooo boring

Just kidding.

I wanted to help him overcome his fear of the dark, so this was a fun way to do it.

Yes, this ELC paint worked and we painted in the dark for 30 minutes.

Paint: Sponsored by Ashleyprettimommy

Plastic bib: free with Pebeo hand paint set

ELC: First brushes and stampers set

Art easel: Fun & Cheer



Stamp a giraffe

If you are not so creative, like me, just get an art idea book and let the child choose.

Yes, there are tons of idea on the internet but we got a nice thick one from the Big Bad Wolf sale.

It is in the background for Tiger's referral since he wanted to make a giraffe.

 He tried, but it ended up looking like a squashed yellow Furby.

Cue: Meltdown, Mama do, Mama do

Okay, okay

So, I painted the giraffe for him (looks like an elongated Furby)

A small cube sponge for stamping and voila!

A giraffe, I think.... 

Times like this, it is the thought that counts, so we gushed over his painting.

Bathroom art

Nowadays, Tiger awaits my arrival home from work eagerly.

So that he gets to 'play art' in the shower.

Can't share the pictures here cause of nudity issues and mama's still not so hot.

Gimme another 3 months....phew-weet....i can dream right?

We have tried painting with texture brushes, toothbrushes (papa's),

stamping with bath toys/ducks, water gun BUT his fav is this:

WATER SPRAY CAN

Water spray can: Daiso
Paint: Crayola Finger paint- diluted



Outdoor

Sidewalk chalk is fun on walls too.

Especially when you don't have lots of space.

Washes off easily with a spray of water. (very important)

He made: Raining, Thunder, Rainbow, the finally it was Fireworks.

Fickle-minded, this one.

Then, he helped with WEEDING

According to him that was fun too...hoohoo...we will see in another 5 years time.

Shirt: Pasar malam Oppa Gangnam
Chalk: Crayola
Potted plant: in need of fertiliser.

   

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