ROCstar Moments in Child's Play

Testing out ideas pinned on Pinterest provides an excellent opportunity to teach kids an important lesson: IT IS OKAY TO FAIL.

Failure can even be fun!

The past few days have been full of "ROCstar Moments" for me. Have you seen those "Nailed It" photos on Pinterest, Facebook, et cetera? Yeah, kind of like those.

I pinned three ideas to try out with the kids. They looked like fun, and seemed to be simple enough:

1. Kool-Aid Rainbow Slime
2. Water Beads
3. Fizzy Ice Cubes

SLIMY ATTEMPTS

First up, we tried the slime. In an effort to save money, I bought the generic fiber supplement rather than Metamucil. That was a mistake. I mixed the ingredients, microwaved it as long as the instructions said, and was left with pink water. No trace of slime. Oh yeah; who's a ROCstar?!?

Lesson Learned: When trying out a new activity from the web, link back to the original source if possible. Occasionally, the original lists an important note that the second-hand blogger did not carry over. 

Example: When making Kool-Aid Rainbow Slime, it is important to either buy Metamucil or a generic fiber supplement with psyllium as the active ingredient. No psyllium? You're simply left with colored water. Colored water = not nearly as much fun as colored slime.

WATER BEADS

Second, we tried to make water beads. These looked so awesome, I couldn't wait to try making them! On Growing a Jeweled Rose, these looked like fabulous, colorful, squish-able marbles. Here's what our water beads looked like:

Colorful and squish-able? Yes. Fabulous and marble-sized? Not so much.

We still had fun with them. I had bought two packages of tapioca pearls because I wasn't sure how much we would need for this misadventure. While I cooked one package, my four-year-old had fun playing with the uncooked package.

                           

 
We scooped the cooked tapioca into bowls then added food coloring and different colors of Kool-Aid powder or sugar-free Jell-O. There wasn't a huge selection of Kool-Aid colors available, so I thought we'd give Jell-O a shot. (pun intended)

After they cooled off in the fridge for a bit, we started to play. TIP: Place a large drop cloth or plastic tablecloth in your play area, and keep a couple of old towels handy.

                                         
We added water so they were free-flowing, instead of gelatinous blobs.

You can store the Water Beads for up to three days in the fridge. However, once the colors are mixed together the beads look like a stand-in for brains in a zombie movie.

Lessons Learned: Follow the blog post and search for large, instant tapioca pearls. Small, non-instant ones take three times as long to boil. Plus they are miniscule.

NO-FIZZ CUBES

Lastly, we made a batch of Fizzy Ice Cubes. We mixed the water, baking soda, and spooned it into ice cube trays. Then we sprinkled different Jell-O powders on top and used a toothpick to mix in the colors.

The next day we popped the cubes out into a container of water and waited for the fizz…

There was no fizz.

I had lemons in the fridge and added a few slices to initiate a reaction. Nothing. So we added the water beads and just played until it looked like this:

Yes! Nailed it! I mean, doesn't that look like something you want your child sticking his or her little hand into, playing, and splashing?!? Definitely.

Determined, we tried once more. This time we poured the cubes right into a vinegar bath. We even spooned some extra vinegar on top of the cubes. Success!

TIP: Use a drop cloth or plastic tablecloth to protect your play area, and keep a few towels handy.

Lesson Learned: Fizzy Cubes (with baking soda) need vinegar in order to actually fizz. Duh! I knew that. After all, we only made a zillion volcanoes in the backyard last summer. Sheesh! Also, read directions carefully. Somehow I completely missed the "vinegar" part of the instructions. Oops.

I hope your adventures in Pinterest, crafts, and science experiments are much more successful. If not, Post a Comment and share your misadventures! As always, thanks for reading.

Backyard Summer Camp: Messy Stuff Week

Last summer I scoured Pinterest for ideas and created a Messy Backyard Fun Week for my boys. They had such a blast that they still ask to "do messy stuff" on a regular basis. I suppose that was the impetus to all the Backyard Summer Camp theme weeks this year.

When I was brainstorming theme-week ideas, I had to include a Messy Stuff Week once again. It was just too much fun. Most of these can be done outside to minimize the clean up. Trust me, the mess will be worth it for the smiles on your kids' faces!

By the way, in case you've missed them, be sure to check out Wacky Sports Week, Under the Sea Week, Outer Space Week, In Our Neighborhood Week, Dinosaur Week, and Game Week too. Have fun!

Messy Stuff Week

Active Play

·      Color volcanoes (food coloring, vinegar, baking soda, plastic cups)

·      Sock bubble-blower (cut off the bottom of an empty water bottle and secure a sock over the cut opening; dip the sock-end into bubble solution then blow through the other end)  

·      Make sponge balls; play sponge ball tag (cut three sponges into six strips each; pile the strips and tie in the middle with a piece of string; fluff pieces out into a ball) 

·      Jackson Pollock painting. Materials: drop cloth; poster board; washable tempera paint; old kitchen utensils, sticks, rulers, etc. for flinging paint. Instructions: Place poster board on the drop cloth and have kids dip the utensils/rulers/sticks into paint and then splatter to their hearts' content.

Color volcanoes

Jackson Pollock painting

Quiet Play

·      Make Jell-Doh Materials: 1 c. flour, 1/2 c. salt, 1 Tbsp. oil, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1 c. water, and 1 pkg. Jell-O mix. Instructions: Combine and cook all ingredients on medium heat, stirring until thickened. Cool, then knead until dry to touch.
·      Make Lava Lamps. Materials: empty plastic bottles, oil, water, food coloring, glitter, and salt. Instructions: Fill bottle 3/4 with water; add food coloring and glitter. Fill almost to top with oil; let separate. Pour salt into jar and watch the lava-lamp-like bubbles!

·      Bubble wrap print Materials: bubble wrap, paint, brushes, white paper. Instructions: Paint directly on the bubble wrap, then press clean paper on top to make a print.

·      Microwave Ivory soap Materials: paper towel, Ivory bar soap (no substitutes, or it won't work). Instructions: place bar of Ivory soap on paper towel in microwave; heat for a couple of minutes, until it "grows." Remove your soap blob and play!

·      Dissolving egg shells & bouncing eggs Materials: eggs, vinegar, water, clear jars. Instructions: Place eggs in vinegar and observe. Leave eggs in for 1 week, then observe; remove and bounce them. Bonus: put vinegar-eggs into corn syrup for a few days then observe.

·      Milk Art Materials: dish, whole milk, food coloring, dish soap. Instructions: Pour milk into a dish; drop in food coloring. Then add dish soap a few drops at a time and watch the colors dance!

·      Blow Up a Balloon with Yeast Materials: empty bottle, balloon, ½ cup warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 packet active dry yeast. Instructions: In the bottle, mix warm water and yeast; swirl around to dissolve then add sugar and swirl again. Stretch out the balloon then place over the top. Let sit in a warm place for about 20 minutes; observe.

·      Read science books

·      Write a story together about a crazy science experiment. Let kids illustrate.

Field Trips

·      Visit a science museum (Rochester Area: check out the Rochester Museum & Science Center)

·      Go to the library for science books: Science Experiments: Shiny, Slimy, Stinky, Shocking by Steve Parker; 60 Super Simple Science Experiments by Q. L. Pearce; A Moldy Mystery by Michelle Knudsen;  Crazy Concoctions: A Mad Scientist's Guide to Messy Mixtures by Jordan Brown.

Have fun getting messy! As always, thanks for reading.