Ocean in a Bottle

Today we made oceans in a bottle. Here are some pictures!
First we poured in sand although there's no pictures because I had to help :-P, then the kids put in some ocean plants...


then we added silver sequins (to represent fish)...

(I call this the 'why are you taking my picture instead of giving me my sequins' look).

Then we added water and food coloring.

Finally, we added stickers of fish to the outside of the bottles (thank you to Highlights magazine for sending them to me in the mail last week for free!) The kids were very pleased with their results. But then I couldn't find my hot glue gun to glue the tops shut so they are now dangerous objects just waiting to be opened so they can spill food coloring all over my furniture. Today I'm going to look for duct tape.

Gavin insisted he needed the bigger bottle and he can barely lift it!

Here are some pictures of Austin playing today (actually it was yesterday, Friday, I'm behind getting them posted)!

Austin Crawling!

Ocean currents

Today we listened to whale songs and watched a couple short videos on YouTube about scientists trying to figure out what the sounds mean. We also learned that some whales are endangered because people are killing them. Then we used a tape measure to try and measure the length of a whale. However, our longest tape measure is only 25 feet long and humpback whales are 50 feet long and blue whales are 80 feet long, but we tried to imagine how big that would be.

This week we have also been talking about oceans. Gavin knows that there are four oceans and he can find them our on world map. We have been looking at our map when we read about where different whales live. We have also been reading about things like why are oceans salty, and what does the bottom of the ocean look like. We have also read about ocean currents, so today we did an experiment with ocean currents. We learned that cold water stays under the warm water until the warm water heats it and then it rises. So, we tried it. We filled an aquarium with hot water. Then Gavin mixed cold water with salt and blue food coloring (so we could see it) and I poured it into the hot water.

Finally, I poured it into the hot water to see what would happen. It worked! Actually, the first time it did not work, so we reread our directions and noticed it said ice water (from the Arctic Ocean) not cold water so we tried it again with ice water and then it worked! The blue water sunk down to the bottom and then we watched as it started drifting up and mixing with the warm water.

Well then, of course, Gavin had to play with his bath toys in the water. First a boat was looking for whales.

And then the whale and the fish were chasing each other.

To end the day Gavin did a little painting. He used blue and green paint and mixed them together to experiment with the different colors they made and to make an ocean. Then I drew a humpback whale, an orca (killer) whale a dolphin (yes, we know it's not a whale) and a few fish and a stingray because Gavin wanted one. (I must add that I think I did a great job drawing ocean animals because I am fairly certain I have never drawn one before!) Then he added his ocean animals to the wet paint so they would stick to the painting as the paint dried. Then we hung it in a window so the sun could shine through the paint. It looks great!

And...Austin is crawling. I took some video but it isn't uploading...maybe Steven can get the videos up tonight.

Icebergs!

Today Gavin and I read a book about icebergs. We learned that only 1/8 of the iceberg is visible above the water and 7/8 of the iceberg is still under the water. Luckily, yesterday we had made our own iceberg, so we did an experiment to see if that was correct...it was!

Then Gavin stirred the water to make waves and see what the iceberg would do.
Then he decided he wanted to make it salt water and see if the salt would hold the ice up a little more...it didn't! Then he colored a picture of a humpback whale using bubbles to catch fish. We have been reading about whales and today we watched a video on YouTube of humpback whales blowing bubbles underwater to 'trap' fish (they won't swim through them) and then they swim straight up with their mouths open. It was a really cool video and neat to see since we've been reading about 'bubble nets' this week.


Finally, I got out some of the seashells I picked up from my trips to the ocean. We talked about them and then Gavin put them in order from the biggest to the smallest. And now, the tale of Beka and Scarlet. Yesterday Gavin and I planted two plants, whom he named Beka and Scarlet. I told him that we were going to start an experiment and water one with fresh water and one with salt water and see what would happen. Last night after he went to bed I was lamenting the fate of poor Beka or Scarlet, it just seems so wrong to intentionally kill a plant, even in the name of science. Well today we were going to get started and Gavin said that the salt water would kill the plant and he didn't want to put salt water on one and "kill my friends". And so, both Beka and Scarlet have been rescued from the cruel hands of science and are free to grow another day!
On a side note, today when I went in to wake Austin up from his nap so we could take Gavin to soccer practice, he was sitting up in his bed! Still not crawling though, he's army crawling so he gets around fairly well, but no hands and knees crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees but isn't going anywhere yet.

More Whales!

We had a busy day today! This morning while Austin was eating breakfast, Kaitlynn was reading a chapter book, apparently it was about bears because she kept saying 'bear'.

Then we went downstairs to play. Kaitlynn worked on putting together a puzzle...

while Austin played with a paddleball.
They both read a book. Kaitlynn's book was about animals and Austin's book was about trucks.




Kaitlynn worked on her hammering skills...

and then she practiced putting coins in the piggy bank. We worked on our colors and putting a certain color in the bank at a time.
When Gavin got home from preschool, the babies were sleeping so we read more books about whales and the ocean. We watched lots of short videos of whales on YouTube and learned that when they jump out of the water and spin it's called 'breaching' and their tales fins are called 'flukes'

Then we did a science experiment with eggs to discover that salt water is more dense than regular water. We filled two cups with water and put salt in one of the cups (Gavin took a drink but immediately spit it out and told me he didn't like salt water!). We talked about density and then Gavin made his predictions about what would happen. He stuck a hard boiled egg in the regular water and it sunk (which was his prediction) and then he put an egg in the salt water and it floated (which was his prediction). Then we tried it with raw eggs to see what would happen and got the same results. We talked about how it is easier to float in the salt water and that probably helps the whales swim when they are so huge! Gavin did an excellent job and really enjoyed this activity! I have been wanting to do more science related activities but we seem to have been learning more about people lately.

Finally, we did a Jonah craft. Gavin drew Jonah in the whales belly and you can open the top whale to show Jonah in his belly!
Since I figured Kaitlynn wouldn't be drawing Jonah today, she colored the same whale template Gavin used and we turned hers into a little puppet! She colored her whale and then stuck it onto a popsicle stick.

Friday and Today

Friday we finished our President's Day activities. Gavin made his toilet paper roll Abe Lincoln to go with his George Washington. Gavin has really seemed to enjoy learning about these two. Although, we also read about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War and I think that is what really held his attention!

We also played CandyLand on Friday...

Gavin is getting really good at waiting his turn and following directions.

Today we started learning about Whales and Oceans. Gavin told me everything he knows about whales and I wrote it down for him (he really likes it when I write down what he is saying).

His story went like this, "I know they can swim. And I know they can jump just like me. But I know they jump higher than me cause they are big huge then me. And I know also that they are as big as knights and as a horse."

Then he drew a picture of a whale. Then we read books about whales and watched some whale videos on YouTube. We read the story of Jonah and Gavin did a Jonah sequencing activity.

We talked about what whales eat and then talked about what we eat...a perfect opportunity to learn about the food pyramid. He put together the food pyramid (it was basically a puzzle) and we talked about what was healthy for us to eat and what wasn't.

(He insisted that was his real smile!)

Finally, we read a book about the Pacific Ocean.