Dandelion Cookies

We had so much fun harvesting dandelions and baking them into cookies.  (Here's one recipe, though we love the one from learningherbs.com.)  Dandelions are so delicious, and so healthy.  They help with many skin issues, digestive challenges, sore muscles (as a topical oil), and there are so many tasty ways to eat them!  Sauté the greens, fritters, fruit shakes, and cookies.  When we sautéed the greens in our herb class, every student devoured them completely.  Our friends raved about the cookies.  Simple, healthy, fun.  What a treat!



Appreciations du Jour

I will write anyway.  I love to write and will make time in my life to write.  I so appreciate this time to write during the day.  What a rare and treasured gift.  What gift do you treasure today?

Bananagram Scrabble

It's such a simple activity, yet we get such joy out of Scrabble.  My daughter has been fortifying her spelling with Bananagrams, a game played with Scrabble pieces.  We played it with Scrabble pieces before someone gifted us the game.  In this game, each player has a pile of tiles to make their own word grid.  Thanks to our enthusiasm for this game, my preschool son is now totally into spelling too.  We take these tiles with us on trips and pull them out for fun family time. 

What games does your family love?  How do your children love learning language?

Bananagram Camping

Homemade Chalk

It is amazing all the fun we have with homemade chalk.  We use what we have at home for this craft, along with a box of Plaster of Paris (recipe on the box).  We gather an old plastic mixing bowl and wooden spoon, water, yogurt tubs, and a friend's unwanted powdered tempera paint.  My children add the colors for our concoctions.  We have yet to save a bounty for gifts, as we use everything we make.  One downside to this activity is that the used chalk (paint and plaster) are simply washed down into the storm drains with rain water.  We use the chalk in dryer seasons, meaning the water is sent to a treatment plant instead of backing up with heavy rains into local streams.  

My children and I recently noticed when bubble blowing solution is spilled on the grass, it drowns and kills the worms and other creatures living there.  Since then we have been paying more attention to how our choices effect living creatures.  We now only use our bubbles and chalk on the concrete driveway so as not to harm any of our creatures.  We really enjoy mixing up colors, talking about plaster's chemical reactions, and experimenting with its density and water plaster ratio.

What are some of your favorite outdoor crafts?

variety of chalk containers

creating a colorful labyrinth center

Hannah's chalk mountain

Liam's quick trick chalk stack

Daily Appreciations

Today I appreciate many things.  I appreciate the sunshine, the white wispy clouds, the gentle breeze.  I appreciate buying a family-size popcorn and then my sweat-dripping son sleeps on my shoulder.  I am entertained by walking and carrying my hot son and the buttery treat.  I appreciate my daughter dropping upside down onto the car floor in rush hour traffic.  (Less snack, more space for dinner, right?)  And the potty issues that occurred simultaneously (unrelated to popcorn).  I appreciate the big laughter that followed.  I enjoyed the sound of popping popcorn the vacuum cleaner made as it sucked up the mess.  I appreciate retelling these adventures and laughing again. 

I appreciate knowing that after one more busy day, my children and I look forward to a couple easier days near home.  I am thankful for the friends we've made and the trains we've ridden during this busy week.  I love watching children run through the sprinkler.  I appreciate my small financial conundrum has worked itself out.  I appreciate that my financial conundrums are usually small.  I appreciate talking to a loving friend on the telephone.  I appreciate my children's spaghetti-splattered cheeks. 

I appreciate this time alone to sit quietly and reflect upon my life of abundance and the gratitude that surrounds me.  I appreciate that one reader read this and shared their own appreciations in the comments.  What a beautiful day in all its details.  Thank you for sharing it with me.



my growing children

 

Science Time

Science is important in our lives.  It helps us learn about plants, animals, our bodies, baking, and chemical reactions.  Here are some photos of experiments we found in workbooks, library books, and our own imaginations.  One of our favorites (so fun we didn't photograph it) is to play with a cornstarch water mixture for hours!  How do you enjoy learning science with your children?

Hannah is rolling a cylinder with one paper, holding it in place with a rubber band, and stacking on heavy books...

until it collapses.

What fun!

Building an igloo with a mold and sugar water

Vinegar and baking soda in a jar with a balloon on top

Exploring air pressure

Dancing raisins bathing in carbonated soda

We love cake chemistry!

Dying celery pink and creating crackly string with baking soda water, cotton string, and two cups

Herb Fairy Homes

We treasure our free time at home.  Thankfully the fairies treasure there time here also.  We do what we can to help them be happy here, though we are also beautifully flawed in our attentions and dimensions and give them plenty of free space.  Our fairies have so many cute little homes inside and outside.  They also live in the apples at the tops of our apple trees.  We have so much fun creating these homes and then traveling together in our dreams to hang out in the fairy herb garden (inspired by HerbFairies.com).  Every night we choose which herb fairy we wish to spend time with in our dreams and the deal seal it with a goodnight kiss.  Where are the herbs in our garden?  They are around the bend and filling our flower and vegetable gardens to the brim.  What peace it brings to imagine and dream and rest here at home with our little friends.