Academics – Page 22 – Butterbees and Bumbleflies

Vinegar Science

What better way to start off our STEAM Thursday series than with some good ole vinegar science? Vinegar science posts are a dime a dozen, but hopefully some of what we did will inspire new ideas of how you can take your basic activity to extend it further.

A couple of basic supplies that we’ll be using in many of our STEAM activities are a set of plastic beakers, and plastic pipettes. I ordered them off of Amazon – here are your affiliate links to help you set up your science supply shelf!

Plastic Beaker Set – 5 Sizes – 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000ml

Plastic Transfer Pipettes 3ml, Gradulated, Pack of 100

Some other items I recommend you picking up are some plastic trays (they are fabulous for any craft activities) – I got these cute heart shaped ones we’re using for this activity over at Dollar Tree. We also have some fabulous activity trays that I got from Lakeshore, and I’ve heard that some Walmart stores carry similar trays. If you’re looking for a quick order off of Amazon, here’s a great set.

ECR4Kids Flat Activity Trays Set of 5 (Non-Slip)

For this activity, you’ll also need vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring. We also used paper towels. The lab coat is of course optional – I used to sell Pampered Chef cooking products, so my chef’s coat is now her lab coat / painter’s smock. 🙂

You can make this as basic or as complex as you want. Here she’s doing the first steps – I put vinegar in two beakers, and she decided she wanted to make green, so we did blue and yellow. She stirred the coloring in with her pipette, and then squeezed some of each color over into the smaller one to make green. Talk about good hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill work! It took a bit of practice to get the colored vinegar to move, but she go the hang of it fairly quickly!

Then we took our tray, and made three baking soda mountains. She enjoyed squeezing the colored vinegar onto the baking soda and seeing the colored bubbles!

So that was where my intentions for the project ended. The rest is all Becca. And that’s the beautiful thing about having an open science experiment time with your kiddos. LET THEM LEAD. They’ll take you amazing places.

First, she decided that she wanted to dump ALL the vinegar into the tray. Talk about big bubbles and lots of giggles!!! The whole heart turned green, and she was super excited. Then, she drew in the remaining baking soda with a pipette. So suddenly we were doing art in our science experiment.

Then, she discovered that the pipettes float! But, if you fill them up and then put them in, they sink. And, when I used a paper towel to clean up a spill, she thought it was awesome that part of the paper towel was yellow, part was blue, and then where they touched, they were green. And then, the paper towel fell into the tray. And thus began the TRUE experiment portion of our science time. She loved watching the water soak into the towel, so we folded paper towels with different amounts of folds to see which would take the longest to soak up the water. And then we stood up a paper towel in the water and she learned the words “capillary action” in regards to how trees take water in through their roots and the water spreads upward through the tree like the water spread upward through the paper towel. I never expected my 2 1/2 year old to be able to repeat “capillary action” to her Daddy and explain it’s “like the trees getting water from the ground”… but ya know, I never expected lots of things when it comes to Becca. She’s definitely my little science expert. I’m so curious to see what career path she will choose some day. Whatever she does, she’s gonna be amazing.

I hope that this, the first of many STEAM activities for the year, will inspire you to get into the kitchen (or dining room as the case may be) and start experimenting with your kiddos. And don’t be afraid to let them lead you to a place you didn’t plan to go. Because they might just be ready to learn about capillary action, too. Or not. Let them lead… and be prepared to follow. (But don’t worry, if they lead you to a place where you don’t know all the answers… that’s what the internet is for!) 🙂

Learning Ideas for your Baby Bees

Up until this point, my blog has mainly focused on Becca (my butterfly), and preschool learning activities – because that’s what I’ve been in the “thick of” around here. But, that’s beginning to change as Grayson gets older! I started sensory bins and learning activities with Becca at 8 months, and Grayson will be 8 months later this month. Physically, however, he’s much more ready for some of the activities than she was. So, we’ll be starting slow, but you can look forward to some Baby Bees posts every other Monday for the next few months.

The goal behind these posts is to give moms of babies UNDER 18 months some ideas of what you can do at home other than stare at the four walls! We’ll also take a look at a couple various learning methods (Montessori and Reggio specifically) and how you can apply these learning methods in your home with your Baby Bee.

I’d also love to get some feedback from you – what ideas do you need? Are there certain times of the day that are harder to fill than others? Are you nervous about getting your baby out in nature? When is the right time to start outdoor play, etc? Or maybe you want ideas about getting older siblings involved in activities with your Baby Bee? So many directions I can take this series – and I’d love for you to guide my posts! Shoot me an email any time at butterbeesandbumbleflies@gmail.com!

The first post will go live next Monday the 19th! Be sure to check back here then! (If you’re not already following via email, you can set that up easily by clicking on the link to the right – and be sure to click “like” to follow my Facebook page as well!)

Farm Habitat

In our continuing series on various habitat sensory boxes (visit the Arctic/Antarctic here / visit my dino habitat here), this week I’m sharing our Farm Habitat with you!

We love the Safari Ltd Toob animals – and have a great little set called the “Petting Zoo” which includes two kids dressed in overalls (one holding a bottle) and several animals – most of which are farm animals. So, I pulled out the farm animals and I’m using them for this habitat. Then, I dumped the stuffing mix (from my sensory cooking post last year) into the box as their farm yard and added the animals and kids! Easy peasy, and super fun!! She loves making the animals “eat” the “hay” as she calls it. 🙂

Looking for additional farm fun for your kids? We love this little set of Melissa & Doug puzzles, as well as our farm train set that Santa brought to our two this Christmas!
Melissa & Doug Deluxe Farm in a Box Jigsaw Puzzles
KidKraft Farm Train Set

Valentine Tshirt Painting

There are a bazillion (literally) different ideas out there for decorating t-shirts. Lately I’ve had very little time (and very little patience) to search for the best idea of what would work for my child and my patience level… So when I came up with this idea it was after being inspired by a really awesome elaborate idea from The Artful Parent (if you’ve been following me long, you know I have Jean somewhere on a pedestal in my mind, and someday, I’d love to be that artful of a parent)…

But I think this one, while super simple, is one that even Jean would be proud of! Here’s my idea that turned into Becca’s beautiful shirt.

It’s simple – just pre-wash your shirt. Squirt some fabric paint onto some paper plates. Find your favorite cookie cutters. Yes, cookie cutters. Rub them around in the paint. Stamp them on the shirt. So easy a 2 1/2 year old can do it! Literally. 🙂

And didn’t it turn out adorable?!?! So proud of my little painter!

Here’s the one I made for lil Brother:

What is STEAM?

The next several Thursdays, I’ll be sharing a variety of STEAM activities that we’re doing in our home, but before I do that, I thought I would probably be remiss if I didn’t explain first what STEAM stands for, and some resources that I’ll be referencing for our projects.

So, what is STEAM? STEAM stands for

Science
Technology
Engineering
Art
Mathematics

You may have heard of STEM, which is simply STEAM, without the A. But experts in the world of education know that the Art component is important – “recognizing that to be successful in technical fields, individuals must also be creative and use critical thinking skills which are best developed through exposure to the arts.” (The Palm Beach County Prime Time after school community website has some great info about what they are doing in their community to promote STEAM!) And this art component is especially important in YOUNG minds – fostering a love for creativity the younger, the better.

This is the book that I’ll be using for most of my inspiration for activities, though some of them do come from my own brain and teaching experience. STEAM: Preschool Activities for STEM Enrichment (aff link, thank you!)