Fun with light: ice

Wow! What could be more awesome than ice and light. 

  In my last post, we played with water and food coloring and decided to freeze the tray. 

We put tiny objects in colored ice cubes: like alphabet letters and tiny toys. Then we froze it and after a few hours pulled out the colored ice cubes. 

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These were super slippery and cold! It felt like Jell-O. 

This would be perfect for a hot summer day.

They looked really cool, and the treasures inside turned out really great. I wanted to make blocks that they could stack, and we got some five high, but we didn't freeze the cubes on a flat surface so they were pretty wobbly. I'd like to try this again and see if we can build a little igloo. Today they were more interested in breaking open the cubes and collecting the treasures inside. I have five boys and they'll take advantage of any opportunity they can get to smash something!

This activity was a big hit, literally. And you don't need a light table or projector for this to work, but the light makes it look really cool!

Fun with Light: Water and Colors

This was such a big hit! Water, color, and light? How could it not be awesome!

Again, you need a light table or projector – I prefer a projector because it has so many uses (and you can usually pick them up for under $20). Then I found a plastic container with compartments. Any plastic container will work fine, as long as it's see through!

We started out with basic colors and gave the boys droppers, medicine syringes and no other instruction. The boys started moving colors and mixing water.  Eventually, they added more water and more color.

This was a really fun open ended activity. The boys could do whatever they wanted with the colors. Eventually they filled up the entire container and we had so much fun we decided to freeze the container and make colored ice cubes for a fun afternoon activity!

Before we froze the water, we put little toys and letters in the trays so we could break up the cubes and find treasures. This was a great boredom buster for a cold or rainy day. Be sure to check out my next post when we dabble with light and ice!

Fun with Light: shapes

  Light is so awesome! It makes even the simplest toys pop out. I've been wanting to make a light table for years, but just bought a projector for $10 and found it works great. I like it better than a light table, actually, because it shows up on the wall too!

Today we got out the projector and my toddler and preschooler tried outlining the shapes with a marker.

Here, they are sorting the shapes into colors. Then by shape and size.

Jonathan's favorite was definitely trying to color the shapes! 

This is a great way to teach shapes, fractions, colors, and so many other things! Adding a little light makes all the difference!

Silhouettes

Do you remember making these back in grade school? They are so fun and easy. And kids love seeing what their shadow looks like. All you need is a light source (I use a projector) And a child that is old enough to sit very still.

We hung the paper on the wall, and outlined his face, then cut out the sillhouette and mounted it on construction paper. Voila! A great keepsake or gift! 

What do you do with a blizzard?

 Yesterday we got two feet of snow. Living up the canyon, you would think we would have the sense to have a four wheeler or tractor, or maybe a snowplow! But no. 

So here I was after a 2 foot blizzard. Snowplowless.  So I did the only thing I could do in such a circumstance. I complained. 

I put it off.  I looked at my neighbors driveways: they all had tractors and four wheelers and their driveways were all perfectly clear. They may even have a snowplow or two hiding in their garage. Couldn't they see me out here -a mom with five kids and a two month old baby?

 I started my snowblower, but the snow was too heavy for our puny blower. 

I started shoveling. I shoveled. And shovel. And shoveled.  I figured my neighbors were all in their cozy warm houses watching me use my puny shovel to tackle 2 feet of snow. I could see them in my mind's eye watching me while they sipped their cup of cocoa by a crackling fire. Probably laughing.

But snowplow or not, the snow was here, and my only option was to shovel. And shovel. And shovel. 

But while I was shoveling, I noticed the silence and the beauty of the frozen world around me. After a while, my kids came outside to play. We shoveled together. And then they built a cave from the large snow piles I had shoveled. They built two caves and joined them through a tunnel in the middle. And while I was shoveling I watched them and I knew that they were able to build their snow caves because of my efforts. 

Shoveling wasn't my favorite thing to do, but in doing so I made it so we weren't trapped at home, and my kids were able to make something beautiful from my efforts. 

After I finished, I jumped off the roof just for fun and landed in snow waist high! And then I went in to sit by the fire and sip my own hot chocolate while snuggling with my beautiful children. 

A snowplow or snowblower would be nice, but sometimes we need to rely on our own efforts. We don't need to blame the neighbors, we don't need to look for a way out. We need to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. In everything, we should do our best. 

Worth the Journey

My husband's out of town a lot, but sometimes we get to go with him. A.k.a: he drops us off for a few hours and we look around until he picks us up. And did I mention I have six kids under nine? Talk about excitement!

Yeah, the kids get tired, there are poopy diapers, and now and then someone gets lost - sometimes it's me that's lost.

It's challenging, crazy, and stressful, but so worth it. My older kids learn to help the younger kids and we get to see new places, create memories, and find out what we're really made of. 

Sure it's difficult. But would I change it? Not for a second! Sometimes in life we want to take the easy route, or get the most we can for minimal effort. But I've come to realize that anything worth doing takes effort. Nothing is easy. At least nothing worthwhile.

And sometimes that's what makes it worth our time: the challenge, the hard work, the struggle. That's what creates the memories, the love. That's what makes our journey worth it.