Eruptions
The Boy loved the brilliant coloured milk experiment so much, and it went right, that I've had the confidence to have a go at the Volcanic Eruptions experiment. MultipleMummy and MummyMummyMum are doing a marvellous job coming up with a way of sparking the interest of infants, and me, in scientific discovery, and I am keen to continue this with The Boy.
One of the reasons that I'd been hanging back from this one is because I didn't have any vinegar. Well I did, but it's balsamic and I'm not using that for a science experiment. I stopped procrastinating and bought some. Then I didn't have any playdough. So I finally found a recipe, worked out what the hell Cream of Tartar is and made some. Next time I'm doing the stuff that doesn't need cooking. My copper-bottom saucepan was not happy with me.
And so we have a volcanic eruption that The Boy thought was amazing. It went a bit wrong at first; I had poured the food colouring on top of the baking powder and the vinegar couldn't get through, so I had to stir it. The male voice in the background is my dad, affectionately called 'Grandma'. Don't ask, it's easier. But no it's not for any bizarre reasons other than pronounciation.
Is it here to stay?
Shhh! I might scare it off by saying this but, do you think summer might be on its way?
This morning, after dropping the car off for a quick service (pah!), we ventured out in the pushchair for a jaunt up town. Well, him in the pushchair, me 'jaunting'. The sky was azure blue and the sun was beating it down. Very quickly I regretted wearing black, but the rather scrummy frappucino from Starbucks soon made up for it (did you know you can have skimmed milk frappucinos now? Significantly less calories, surely? Means I can have a big one!). We went to the Under Fives playgroup for the first time. They put an apostrophe in the 'Fives' which really annoyed me but I refrained from rubbing it out. Just! The Boy had a fabulous time and I wondered why I had never been there before.
The day went a bit haywire from there on in, mainly because I had mild hysteria that the 'quick service' turned into a 'you need new brakes and a new pollen filter' situation. At the start of the month you can do without double + the amount that you first expected going out the bank.
Yesterday was a much better day. Yesterday saw us trotting off to Barry Island with Little Miss Cheeky and Oldest-Friend for fun in the sun. She brought along her older children, both boys; Curly-Mop and Football-Mad, who commandeered a decent section of the huge beach as their football pitch. Little Miss Cheeky and The Boy had great fun digging for water and building sandcastle, while Oldest-Friend and I had a good old chin-wag and avoided footballs and flying sand.
We were very comfortably ensconced in our cocoon of oblivion; stunning canvas windbreaker from EcoFriendlyBags and parasol, which was bought from Lyme Regis beach years ago. I must be a snob here and say how nice it was, not only to be shielded from the wind, but also to be shielded from some of the sights on the beach! Put it away woman, cover yourself up mister (who looked 11 months pregnant); I don't want to see it!
Anyone fancy winning one of those windbreakers from EcoFriendlyBags? You can over here.
Canvas Windbreaker
Knowing how much time we spend on the beach, the lovely people over at EcoFriendlyBag have recently sent me a stunning canvas windbreaker to review.
It really is quite gorgeous and far nicer than the other options that I've either seen on display on the beach or in the shops! All too often they are made of horrible nylon, more akin to an old woman's shopping bag on wheels. Not this one, it is bright, colourful, attractive and made from 100% environmentally friendly cotton material. When we'd toddled off to have a splash in the sea, it was also very distinctive on the beach. The material works just as well as the manmade fibres at blocking out the wind, and allows for the added bonus of being able to go in the washing machine!
I was able to press the poles in with minimal force. Possibly, I was a little too forceful at first as the whole thing fell over. In my defense, I'd like to add that I've never put a windbreak up before, let alone whilst watching an almost 2yr old not fall over in the sand. Having picked it up along with my dignity, the windbreaker was in the ground within a minute or two, and before The Boy had got his foot stuck in the bucket for the second time. At the top of each pole is a hook to loop the canvas onto it, and the whole thing rolls up into a nifty carrycase which has a decent-sized shoulder strap.
Friday 3rd June 2011 – 'Harvest' (154/365)
Thursday 2nd June 2011 – 'Splashing' (153/365)
Is that mealworm?
Yesterday, I posted my entry into The Gallery. The theme was I am Grateful For … and I had such difficulty choosing one thing that I did a collage of all the things in my life that, if I were religious, I would thank whichever God above for.
Only a few of them seem to have foxed one or two of you, so I thought I'd do a follow-up post.
Top:
iPod Touch & HTC Desire, Bailey's, Starbucks mug, The Boy when he was hospitalised at 3 weeks old (thank you NHS for acting so quickly to make my baby better)
Middle:
Foundation, running clean water (so many people in the world are lacking this basic right), The Boy's gorgous face, my car keys (how many times have I needed to get away from the confines of the house? Bung The Boy in the car and just go somewhere?)
Bottom:
Canon EOS 300D, chocolate vermicelli (it was the only chocolate in the house), sky+, my husband.
How many did you get right?
Wednesday 1st June 2011 – 'Squish' (152/365)
The Gallery: I'm Grateful For…
This week's theme is topical for the parental bloggers, especially in the United Kingdom. Three lovely ladies, including the inspirational Christine, have been chosen by Save The Children to go on a voyage of discovery to Mozambique, following vaccines from the 'cold store' in the city out to the rural communities, where they will be administered to children. Children who might otherwise die from diseases that really shouldn't be killing them. Diseases that our children get automatic immunisations against.
Therefore on a serious note, Tara has set our theme as:
I'm Grateful For . . .
I've chosen to do a collage of images that I am grateful for; some serious, some silly, all essential.
How many can you work out?
—
Now pop over and check out the other entries using this little widgetty doo-dah.
Swirly Science
Science and me? Nooo! I scraped a C grade in my GCSE and have always found it a challenging subject to teach. I'm not so bad with biology, chemistry I can just about cope with, but physics has me quaking in my boots. I've even been known to swap teaching a science topic to avoid it (I taught the other teacher's art lessons, she did my science for the remainder of the term). I've managed to find that by reading up and staying one step ahead of the children in my class that I managed to con them into thinking that I knew what I was talking about. In a way, the avent of child-led learning means that I don't have to panic so much because I can't turn it around and say "I don't know, let's find out together!"
How will I help The Boy with his scientific enquiry? Eeek! We already know that there is not enough interest in Science in schools; the curiosity needs to be started young. However, I'm as compatible with Science as oil and water. So when MultipleMummy and MummyMummyMum came up with the idea of Science Sparks I rejoiced!
I've been admiring their weekly experiments and saving the e-mail notifications in a little folder, but have still been too scared to do them. Until Monday when I had a go at Week Four's idea of Colourful Milk. Here's the video of our attempt. First of all please excuse the snips in the footage; he kept saying his name! And secondly, I know I keep correcting him with the colours, I felt stressed out about the Science!
Now you should pop over to Multiple Mummy's Science Sparks page and check out a master at work and the other link-ups.
- «Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 228
- 229
- 230
- 231
- 232
- …
- 266
- Next Page»
