Water Gem Play

We were hit with a double whammy on Monday.  It was rainy outside and Buddy was sick.  So, we were stuck inside for the bulk of the day.  I'd seen a suggestion on another blog regarding water gems. I purchased a bottle of them and have had them waiting in a cupboard for quite some time.  Today seemed like the perfect day to get them out.

Water gems are really cool. They are little gel like balls that balloon up when they are left in water. I guess they are mostly used to make flower vases more decorative. You can purchase the water gems in dehydrated packets, or already hydrated in a bottle. I got mine at Michaels, but I imagine they are available at almost any craft store.  The hydrated version is a bit more expensive, but I decided to pay for the convenience of having them already ready and waiting for me. I'm not very good at planning.

I just poured some in clear tupperware and brought out spoons and cups. Then I added a tad more water. The kids loved them. We played with them for at least an hour. They enjoyed putting their hands in and feeling them, spooning them up and putting them in their cups and then pouring them out. They especially got a kick out of an occasional escapee. The gems, we discovered, are a bit bouncy.  I also brought out a flashlight and turned out the lights. It was fun shining the light through them.  I really wished that I had a light table. These would look awesome sitting over a light source. I'm going to rig one up for next time.  Maybe something like this. These would also be great in a sensory bin.  Clean up was a breeze. I just poured off some water and put them back in their bottle. I'd definitely suggest getting some water gems to keep around for indoor play.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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I Can Teach My Child

Fizzing Planet Art

Jellybean's complete planet with extra cheesy grin.

We had fun with a new rainy scorching day activity this last week.  This was inspired by an art project that I've seen several times floating around Pinterest.  The nice thing about this project is that all of the materials needed were already in my pantry.  

Buddy and Jellybean working on their creations.

The concept is simple: you fill a pie plate with baking soda.  Then you tint vinegar with food coloring.  We used some ramekins to hold our color. It's so fun to see the baking soda and vinegar fizz each time some color is added to the pan.  It's also fun because the color stays where you put it.

Adding more and more color. Jellybean started adding baking soda to her ramekins so that the entire thing would fizz.

Unfortunately, the one tool that would have made this more fun would have been an eye dropper.  Since I didn't have one available, I had the kids use straws to drip the vinegar into the baking soda. It works in theory, but in practice, this method is pretty frustrating for a 2 and 4 year old. So, I took away the straws and handed them each a spoon. That's when the art work took a serious turn.

Plates transforming into alien planets

Now they were adding a lot of color to the plate. The baking soda still provided some great fizz and added a base so that the color would somewhat stay where it was placed. Buddy started talking about his moster planet and the different monsters that live there. Jellybean was pleased with her pretty alien planet and enjoyed sampling the vinegar color (ick).

Buddy putting the final touches on his monster planet.

This is a great activity for a day when you can't be outside.  They spent a good 45 minutes to an hour on their fizzing planets.  Buddy is already excited to make another one. In fact, if I'd had more baking soda, we would have made more that day.


So, what are your favorite rainy/scorching hot day activities??  


Have a Happy Day!


~MJ

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Rainy Day

Today was a rainy day. Rain turning to snow to be exact. We spent the entire day indoors and I decided to get a little crafty.
I've been noticing a trend lately of using mixed media. I've seen stitching through wood and stitching through clay. I happened to have some clay on hand and thought I'd see what a simple cross stitching pattern looked like through it.

Here are the final results of my nap time labors. I like the way it turned out and I'm thinking of turning this into a brooch.

Hmmm. I wonder what crafty thing I'll try on the next rainy day?

Have a Happy Day!