NON-Mentos Diet Coke Rocket (serious, crazy family fun!)

(Don't miss the video link at the end!!)

Okay, I should start at the beginning. Our son Landon is banned from white clothing. If we are eating in a restaraunt, and I am wearing white...he sits on the other side of the table.  If there is a cup of colored liquid, Landon will spill it. If there is sauce of any color, it will end up on Landon's clothing. He is a delightful 11 year old, but the kid is accident prone. 

So then, last night we were grilling with my good daycare buddy Jenn's family and my co-author Jeff Johnson and his wife Tasha.  In true Jeff fashion, he had a ton of fun stuff in his "adventure van" for the kids to play with.  One of them being the traditional mentos and 2 liter bottles of diet coke.  After doing that one time, my Landon had the brilliant idea of shaking one of the unopened bottles of diet coke, just to shake it.  As he is vigorously doing the shakey shake, the bottle slips out of his hand, hits the ground and takes off like a torpedo narrowly missing Jenn's hubby's feet.  It was stinkin' hilarious!! From that moment, the evening's entertainment was set.

By the end of the night, we blasted off about 20 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke.

PLEASE NOTE:  I am not necessarily recommending this as an activity to do with your early childhood crew -- more something to do with people that will not sue you if they are injured by the sparatic movements of a diet coke missile!

Click on the following link and enjoy the video!!!    I should mention that the awesome editing job was done by Jeff.    Diet Coke Rocket Video Link

Smashing Take 2

Today we added some goop to the smashing of the chalk -- the results were AMAZINGLY fun!!  Photos speak louder then words -- so enjoy!

 

Smashing and Wet....Great Ways to Learn Outside!!

Ahhh summer!  We are literally outside from the moment everyone is here (or sooner) until lunch time...then repeat after naptime. The last two weeks have been incredibly hot and humid, so water play is a necessity in order to stay comfortable in such otherwise near miserable conditions. I refuse to complain because winter will be here before we know it, but let's be honest...there is only so much butt sweat a person can tolerate. (oh I know you know what I'm talking about...and if you don't you must be putting deodorant in places I haven't thought of yet).

Ready, Aim......WRITE?

Any eye-hand coordination activity is preparation for writing.  My recent favorite is shooting bubbles!

First of all, just chasing and popping bubbles is a grand eye-hand coordination activity -- but taking it to the next level by adding spray bottles is all the more fun!!  Bonus...it's a great way to stay cool on hot summer days plus, squeezing that bottle is lots of hard work!

Ah....play counts!!

Experience is the Best Way to Know

Young children learn through experiences. It is hard for them to learn through pictures and being "told about it". That's why we are still celebrating the Fourth of July this week. The week prior to the Fourth we can talk about it, we can make silly hats to wear on the Fourth, but to truly understand, the children needed to experience the Fourth of July.

Tuesday morning (the 5th of July) I was greeted with stories of Fourth of July thrills.  The excitment spilled into their play as they were lighting firecrackers (aka:  bark) and running away and setting up parades.  There were stories of horses and boat rides. They now had concrete experiences to reference.  I heard about the loud sounds and smells of firecrackers, the sight and sounds of parades and other fun associated with the Fourth of July. 

Feeding off of their excitment, I used an idea I learned from "my Jenn". She is near the end of sorting out her "stuff"; saving the quality play ideas, and throwing out the teacher led, carbon copy mumble jumble. Somewhere in that process she came upon this process art activity. I like to call it "firecracker painting" -- it could easily be called many other names and used for many other moments besides the Fourth of July.