beating the winter blahs

Because it's Friday and because it's been a long week with fevers and sniffles, today I'm going to diverge from the norm. After seeing how cute and comfy my mom and sister looked in their pjs on Christmas morning and seeing my own raggy, mis-matched Old Navy "lounge wear", I decided that I needed to buy myself some nicer sleepwear. I mean, in the winter, I get into my pjs soon after the sun goes down, which could be 6:00. So I went to this wonderful site, thinking maybe I could splurge and buy one nice pair for now. But they were having a huge sale, so I bought the adorable pair of mary jane slippers shown here and two pairs of beautiful pajamas. Something this simple goes a long way when you're feeling those after-Christmas, winter blahs. So go treat yourself - there are lots of wonderfully cozy things on sale right now - and curl up with a good book and a hot cup of tea. Spring is a long way off, so we might as well enjoy these cold days and night as much as possible!

motion ocean

Now that the holidays are coming to a close, it's time to get excited about science again! Back to school is just around the corner....

This activity is fast and easy, and best for kids 3 and up. Here's what you need:

clear jar with lid
water
blue food coloring
glitter (if you dare)
baby oil(or cooking oil)
floating toys

1. Fill the jar half-way with water.
2. Add food coloring until you like the color of the water. Add a little glitter. A little means a pinch!
3. Add the baby oil until the jar is about three quarters full
4. Place a floating toy on top of the oil and screw the lid on tightly.
5. Shake the jar gently and watch your ocean in motion!

What's happening? First of all, water is denser than oil, so it remains near the bottom of the jar. And think about salad dressing - water and oil never truly mix, so the water pushes the oil around making little "waves".

I got this activity from this National Geographic site. It's a great site filled with fantastic activities and ideas for kids. In fact, I'd love to write for them some day. Hey, one can dream, right? I never thought I'd write for Discovery Education, but I have. They are kind of in the same league, aren't they?

Happy New Year to all!!

bouncing raisins

This is the first time I've done this little "experiment" and it's so cool - even my 2 year-old was fascinated by the raisins.

Materials:
a tall clear glass
enough water to fill the glass about half-way
4 tablespoons of vinegar
3 tablespoons of baking soda
8 or more raisins

Fill the glass about half-way with water. Add the vinegar and baking soda. Make sure you use the given amounts - I just estimated and ended up with a major overflow when the mixture began to fizz. Drop the raisins into the glass, one at a time. They may sink at first, but they will eventually rise to the surface and then sink again. They will continue to "bounce" for about an hour.

What's happening? The combination of vinegar and baking soda creates bubbles of carbon dioxide. The bubbles collect on the raisins and lift them up. Then the bubbles escape at the surface and the raisins sink. The process repeats over and over. Pretty cool, huh?

the moon

Check out the moon phase sticker on the right side of my blog. Show it to your kids and then go outside (or, if you're like me, go to a window and stay warm and toasty)and look at the moon. Does it look the same? It should. You can click on the moon sticker to get more info about moon phases. It's pretty cool and you're kids might enjoy watching the moon for a week or even a month as it appears to change shape.

For those of you who are interested in this kind of thing like me I am still thinking about a body cleanse in January (I know, I've pushed it from "after Christmas" to "after New Years'). To get myself ready, I am weaning off caffeine - 2 days of only one small cup of half-caf and today just straight decaf. I would eventually like to completely replace coffee with tea, but let's not get carried away yet. I do love my coffee but will try to see it as an occasional treat. I am also weaning myself off processed foods and foods loaded with sugar. I'd like to only eat these things on rare occasions and not every day. I had a splitting headache last night, probably from withdraw (scary, isn't it??) but this morning I feel GREAT. I borrowed this book from my sister and I find it extremely helpful and enlightening.

The photo for this post was taken by Rick Leche.

bad decisions

I bought this really great bucket of geometric foam shapes at Michael's last week. My little one likes to wipe them on a glue stick and smash them onto a sheet of paper. It keeps him busy for at least half an hour. Usually I fill up a little cup with the shapes so he only has a relatively small amount of stuff to work with. Well, the other night, he wanted to take the entire bucket over to the coffee table. It had been a long day, so rather than listen to him whine and work himself into a frenzy, I let him do it. Big mistake as you can see.
At any rate, I highly recommend these foam shapes. They are supposed to be for ages 3 and up, but little B is barely 2 and is okay with them. Some of the shapes are kinda small though, so if you're toddler is still taste-testing everything, you should be careful.
If you're so inclined, you can use the shapes to teach your kids about colors and geometry. Talk about the shapes, how many sides they have, what color they are, etc. Have them group the shapes by one characteristic. Bring up the word polygon. While this is not an actual definition, the polygons in the bucket here are the shapes with straight edges - you know, squares, triangles, rectangles....
Have fun, and remember - less is more. :)

sleep

So I'm one of those people who loves to sleep. If I don't get 8 hours at night, I am not a happy person. But like most of us, I have trouble falling asleep sometimes. I lay there in bed thinking about all of the drama from the day. Or I think about all of the things I have to do tomorrow. This is especially true if I do work at night when little B and my hubby are asleep (hubby gets up at 2:40 am so he is usually in bed before me during the week - I know, what an insane hour to wake up!!) So I found this Yogi Bedtime tea and it usually does wonders. It helps me fall asleep and stay that way until morning. And I actually enjoy the taste, even without honey or sugar! I mean, it seems kind of counterintuitive to add sugar products to a drink just before bed, right? Speaking of sugar, I was reading this blog last night and I am thinking about doing a body cleanse. I did it a few years ago and it felt wonderful (once I got past the headaches from sugar and caffeine withdraw!) Or I may just start eating a little better. Or both. I'll keep you posted. Of course, this would be after I eat all kinds of fun stuff on Christmas.

cars on ramps

Let's face it. Most little ones like to play with cars. My guy must have a collection of at least 30. So why not take advantage of this obsession by teaching them a little bit about motion? Even at the young age of barely 2, my son enjoys this activity; although I'm sure he's not actually learning about the science part yet. But that's fine because he likes it and it introduces him to an activity that we can build on in the future. All you need are some books to build ramps, a toy car, and a stopwatch. You can also use a ruler or meter stick with older kids.

Build a ramp by stacking the books and using one as the actual "ramp". Place the car at the top of the ramp. Release the car, using the stopwatch to time how long the car is in motion - be sure not to push the car and definitely let the car stop on its own. Now ask your child what might happen if you add a book to make the ramp higher. Add the book and time the car again. Discuss what happened. You can also try doing this on different surfaces. For example, if you set the ramps up on carpet, try setting them up on a hardwood floor. Ask your child which surface might make the car go faster and why. For older kids, the meter stick can be used to measure the distance the car traveled each time. Simply leave the car where it stopped and measure the distance from the end of the ramp to the car.

So what's going on here? As you may have guessed, the car will be in motion longer when released from higher ramps. That's because it will have greater velocity (directional speed), so it will have greater momentum, meaning it's harder for air resistance to slow it down to a stop. The car will also be in motion longer when traveling across a smooth surface. This has to do with friction - the wheels encounter less friction on smooth surfaces, so the car moves at a greater velocity, has more momentum, blah, blah, blah (sometimes physics makes me nervous, like I'm going to say the wrong thing or use the wrong terminology - it all just sounds so fancy sometimes). That's why people spread sand...or cat litter...or gravel... on an icy sidewalk - the sand increases friction between the sidewalk and shoes so a person is less likely to slip and fall.