Weekly Wrap Up

Our week started out with waking up to news that Papa could not get to work, it had rained so hard Sunday and through Sunday night that there was so much flooding and mudslides. Our home and small town are OK but nearby Aberdeen and Hoquiam got hit pretty hard.

 

Have I mentioned how much we are loving our Green Craft Kits that we receive monthly? We pay 19.95 a month and receive a kit that has at least 3 themed activities and suggested further ideas for STEM activities. Selena loves when they arrive and can’t wait to open them to see what lays inside. I love the fact that they come with everything needed and I don’t have to go hunt down supplies. Sure some supplies, I end up replacing with items I feel will be more suitable but most of these items I have in my home and the supplies I don’t use can neatly be restored in a craft box for future use. January’s box arrived and the theme was rainforest.

We did a recap on rainforests, and of course Selena amazed me with how much information she remembered from our unit study when she was only 4. In the kit were the supplies to make a Rainforest Terrarium, a Rain Stick, and Drum to go with it, and Rainforest Rubber Ball. We chose to make our Rainforest Terrarium first.

The kit was complete with dirt, moss, sticks, bark, rocks, and clay to make creatures for her rainforest. Once placed in the sun she could see the mist on the lid and watch it rain. She also observed that on our cloudy days that it didn’t rain so much in her rainforest.

 

The next day’s kit had the materials to make a Rain Stick and drum. Selena had so much fun making and designing her Rain Stick. I did have to help with the drum since it called for stretching a balloon over a plastic cup. We discovered quickly that the cup that came in the kit was not strong enough to hold a balloon tightly without breaking so we quickly found something else to use. Selena enjoyed making music after her projects were completed.

The third and final kit was everything we needed to make a Rainforest Rubber Ball. Selena was having a little off day but insisted on trying anyway. She was not following the directions as closely as she should have and couldn’t keep her hands out of the ingredients, so though her rubber ball seemed to firm up and feel like rubber it quickly got sticky again. We will retry this experiment down the road and hopefully it will turn out better.

Selena has also been having a lot of fun with her Circuit set, learning all about electricity.

 

We have had a very fun week coming back from Christmas Break. We do have some changes coming along in our school area and organization of the area. I look forward to sharing those ideas with you soon.