Here Comes Science Sampler: Dinosaurs!

I am a payyyyyy-leon-taaaaah-lo-giiiiist!
It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I aaaaaaam.
(Watch the video -- it's a jazzy song you just have to sing all day.  At least that's what we do.  It's Linus's favorite.  It's good, I promise.  Even if you don't love dinosaurs.)

We're back!!  The Here Comes Science Sampler is BACK!  Resurrecting a lot of things lately (no seasonal pun intended)!

We've read a lot of dinosaur books.  This is the best glossary we've unearthed -- hands down.  (Bonus: minimal number of pictures of bloody, fleshy predator-prey situations.  It is what it is, of course, but so many dinosaur fans are about 3 years old -- it's nice to have books that are enjoyable and less likely to cause this question to be asked at bedtime, "Mama, do predators come to our house?"  No, honey, they don't  <3 )

I could go on (and on and on and on) with good titles.  But, you can discover your favorites at the library.  The section is usually well marked.  Or, the carpet is worn in that patch, about the size of three-year-old feet.

If you like dinosaurs, why not:

put together little dinos? (Thank you, Michael's dollar section.)

 Or BIG dinos?

Or excavate dinos? (We ARE paleontologists.)

There's also Diggin' Dinos Monopoly Jr. and breadstick "bones."
We're starting some dioramas next.  Sela renamed them "dinoramas."  That cracked us up.

I'm actually really fascinated at this point, too.  How to hold the dinosaur phenomenon in one's head??  The geography of it, the climates, the concept of time, extinction.  The factoids.  For instance, the skull of the T. rex weighed... 750 pounds.  The brain of a stegasaurus... size of a walnut.  A creature that weighed 100 tons.  100. Tons.

It's good stuff!

The Hero in YOU

We're listening to a CD that we really enjoy. And we're listening to it a lot.
It's Ellis Paul's Hero in You -- it's got a fantastic title track (mama-approved message & a catchy beat) and the rest of the tracks highlight various heroes, from Rachel Carson to Augustus Jackson.

So, naturally, we stopped by the biography section at the library to gather an armload.  (Of course, we couldn't stick just to the CD's heroes.  I was more than a little pleased to see Sela delight in all the possibilities and ask to get extras! I love biographies, too.)

And, even better, Ellis Paul will be here this week!  Live!  Two shows!  If you're not sure where to get tickets, call me!

Homemade Mancala

I heard my niece ask for an egg carton.  I heard kid busy-ness.  I heard the rattle of beads.  I'd seen masking tape show up in a number of self-initiated activities all morning.  I peeked over the counter to find this:

My niece taught Sela how to make a homemade Mancala game!

Thanks to simple construction (although brilliantly designed) & all the requisite supplies having been left scattered around the game-play, here's how they did it:

Cut off the lid of the egg carton, and

cut off each end of the lid.

Tape each lid-end to the ends of the bottom of the carton.

(I noticed the game worked a little better when the lid-end was taped on at a slant, forming more of a "well" -- the beads didn't fall out as easily.)

And you know what goes well with games?  History and geography!  Have fun!

Eureka!

Look what I stumbled into -- a round-up of some pioneer crafts on one handy page!

quilt-to-be


You'll find these gems, or shall I say "nuggets" (ha!) here: homemade bread & butter, homemade taffy, whittling, carved soap, braided rug, cornhusk dolls, quill pens & berry ink, rag doll, stick horse, covered wagons, weaving, tin can lanterns, woven paper baskets, quilting, and dipped candles.

These are great for us -- as follow-up to our Gold Rush Day and gearing up to go back to our American Girls Group (Kirsten, 1854) -- but if you find yourself less inspired to do them, you really should make homemade butter and do this science experiment.  It's SUPER easy -- and you get to eat your results!  What could be better?  Remember to sing a silly butter-shaking song, too!  We love Sara Sponda.

Sara sponda sara sponda sara sponda ret set set

Sara sponda sara sponda sara sponda ret set set

Ador-ay-o. Ador-ay boom-day-o.

Ador-ay boom-day ret set set

ah-say pah-say oh.

(And for good measure, here's a little background to the Sara Sponda song and "Eureka!")