We recently had a project day where we did science and art all day; thanks to Memaw for taking the tyrant, uh, I mean toddler, out of the house for the day so we could have a hands-on day!

One of the things we did that day was make quicksand, otherwise known as goop. It’s very easy to make and yields hours of fun! All you need is cornstarch, water, a bowl, and a spoon. Once everything is mixed the mixture looks like a liquid but if you smack it with your spoon it acts like a solid. It was cool to play with. Parker only messed with it for a couple minutes, but Sophie played with it for a long time!

Tags: project, science

Last night we read the fable “The Crow and the Pitcher”

A crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.
Moral of the story: “LITTLE BY LITTLE DOES THE TRICK.”

The story in itself is a nice little lesson, but being the geek intellect that I am, I decided this was the perfect oppurtunity to teach the kids about displacement. Parker and Sophie thought it was very cool and wanted to repeat the experiment. So what all did we learn from this? Literature, a moral, history (Archimedes), science, and standard of error (repeating of experiments to see if we get the same results). Pretty good for an impromptu lesson!

Tags: fable, science