glue sky » Science and Nature

Nature Trick or Treat

This morning Lou started getting Ero dressed. They were holding their Halloween pumpkins. She told me we were all going trick or treating in nature. We got dressed and began “trick or treating.” Nature had many treats. Then we found the motherload. A beautiful spruce tree. The leaves got dumped to make more room for spruce [...]

Taking Apart Flowers

We have a couple planters on the deck. They have edible stuff that the kids can pick, play with, and destroy if they choose to. Flowers don’t last more than a week out there. Their petals become snow, raining down on all of our heads, or mashed up in some mixture for pretend doll food. [...]

Grass Clippings

I don’t know the allure of grass clippings, but my children gravitate to them. They must sense they are back there because they come running. They make stew, little lawns, and who knows what else. The little corner where the compost bin turned into a compost heap is one of their favorite places in the [...]

Milk Clouds

It’s a pretty cool special effect they used to use in old movies. We did this type of stuff when I was doing a claymation video game. High tech. Pour or drip, either way it’s great looking. I’m sure teaches some kind of science, though I am not sure what. Do tell if you know. [...]

Gardening With Toddlers

It’s that time again. Gardening! The kids enjoyed mixing the dirt. They stirred it up in a bucket and then they scooped it into the pots. We put the seeds in and marked what they were. Then Ero took a big handful out right where the seeds were. Then we put it back. Then Ero [...]

Dirt, Grass, Mess

We had our first day of decent weather this week. And by decent I mean it was 50 degrees. In Southern California we didn’t go outside in 50 degree weather. I am not even sure if it gets to be 50 degrees there. With all of us ecstatic over spring coming (is this why they call [...]

Disassembling a Bouquet

Just in time for Valentine’s day. Peter got me a bouquet for my birthday and it was starting to look a little old. Add to that Lou was pleading to have one of the flowers. We let her have at it. It was full of learning. And ripping. And crushing. Lou split many of the [...]

Shelling Last Seasons Beans

I’m not sure if this is the right way to dry out beans, but it works for us. We just leave our beans up on their trellis, or in this case a fence, over winter. They looked dry enough so we grabbed us some beans. And these aren’t just any beans. They are Red Runner [...]

16 Months – Pouring All The Time

At 16 months Ero wants to pour all the time. If you put two glasses, bowls, containers in front of him with a little bit of liquid he can’t help himself. Above he found some left over glasses on the coffee table and went to town. He then moved them to the window for some [...]

Science/Waldorf Nature Table

Science meets Waldorf! Sci-dorf? Waldorf families have little nature tables where they set up felt creatures and fabrics for each season. They then place things found in nature on it throughout the season. After reading this at Parenting Science: To make science lessons more meaningful, Rochel Gelman and her colleagues recommend that you choose one [...]

Smelling Spices

The little jars of spices entice my children whenever I have the cabinet open. When Lou was little I would take each one down for her to smell (not the spicey stuff…) and she loved that. Now that she’s 3 she wants to sprinkle a bit into a cup and pretend to cook. I was helping Ero [...]

Flour and Water

Good morning water. Good morning flour. Let’s make a disaster. I read somewhere that to start your child cooking you can give them some flour and water to mix up. I thought “why would I ever do that, we make our own bread!” Well I tried it anyways. Lou loved it. We did it two [...]