Getting Ready for A Science Fair
The boys were content to watch some more Magic School bus episodes and Evan even convinced me that Treasure Buddies is educational because it teaches him about Egypt. In case you all haven't noticed, it's pretty much anything goes around here this week.
I knew we really needed to work on our science fair projects some more and get all three boys pretty close to ready.
I called Evan over and we read the book Soap Bubble Magic together and I had him stop me and tell me facts about soap bubbles to add to our list. We had a list two pages long by the time we finished and then we printed it out.
I find there were a few key things we did to help us prepare for this science fair:
1. I let the kids pick topics they were interested in! That way they are excited to read and watch movies about their topics.
2. I let them lead as much as possible. We bought our display boards and I asked them what they planned on putting on them; where they wanted to put pictures and where they would put facts.
3. We started nice and early! We've been immersed in these topics for at least a couple of week so they really know a lot of facts that they are proud to share with other students.
4. We do a little bit as we go! Each time they watched a movie or read a book I asked them to tell me a few facts they'd learned and asked if they thought that was something we should share. I wrote a random list of facts in our Word program and then we sorted them when we were done and added headings to group the random facts together.
5. We kept it fun! Since we need hands on projects for the fair we went searching on Pinterest for hands on ideas about their topics. We tried out those we could, settled on those we wanted to bring with us, and ignored any projects that didn't appeal to the boys.
Evan then went through our homeschooling pictures and picked out pictures of himself making bubbles to add to his display board. We added pictures of our snake bubbles, of our frozen bubbles, of Evan standing in the giant bubble at the Ecotarium, of our large glycerin bubbles, and giant bubbles made using our homemade bubble blowers.
We did a search for bubble solution recipes and ended up printing out a list of possible recipes to try. Once we affixed everything to his science fair board we cut out a title using the Cricut and glued that on too. I was amazed when we stood back and I realized we had another science fair project done!
We will have to make up some bubble solution next week for his hands on/ craft project. We decided to bring bubble solution and lots of bubble wands and let the kids blow bubbles. Evan has his board all done, books to display and lots of various wands all packed and ready to go.
While we were on a roll I also had Alec make up a prototype of his hands on craft to bring the science fair. We found these adorable paper plate Panda bear masks that we adapted.
Using a large circle punch we cut out two ears and glued them onto the plate. We cut out eyes and Alec used a crayon to add the black circles around the eyes as well as to make the panda's nose and mouth. I then used my hole punch to make a small hole on either side and threaded some yarn through.
I figure one day next week Alec and I can punch out a bunch of black ears, punch the little holes and add yarn to the plates and then the kids can each cut out their own eyes, affix the ears, color the circles around the eyes, and draw a mouth and nose.
Once we do that Alec is completely finished. His board is done, we have a huge stack of books to put on display as well as his two stuffed animals to bring with us. He has his snacks all purchased so the only thing left is to finish prepping his craft. Yippee! 2 down, and only 1 more to go!
Our reading about bubbles got the boys all excited, and since I really wanted one last picture for Evan's board, we pulled out glasses, water, Joy dish soap and some straws. The boys started blowing bubbles in the glass and watching them blow over the sides onto the table.
They decided to break out trays and toys and practiced blowing multiple bubbles, enclosing toys inside a bubble, blowing a bubble inside another bubble, and so much more.
We observed all the colors found on the bubbles, we noticed what shapes they took when multiple bubbles were blown at once and on and on it went.
They played for an hour-- with soap bubbles! I never in a million years would have thought they'd be so entertained but they really were. They were having a ball and learning all sorts of wonderful scientific facts. It was wonderful!
I just love days like this where a simple activity turns into a whole lot of learning!
I knew we really needed to work on our science fair projects some more and get all three boys pretty close to ready.
I called Evan over and we read the book Soap Bubble Magic together and I had him stop me and tell me facts about soap bubbles to add to our list. We had a list two pages long by the time we finished and then we printed it out.
I find there were a few key things we did to help us prepare for this science fair:
1. I let the kids pick topics they were interested in! That way they are excited to read and watch movies about their topics.
2. I let them lead as much as possible. We bought our display boards and I asked them what they planned on putting on them; where they wanted to put pictures and where they would put facts.
3. We started nice and early! We've been immersed in these topics for at least a couple of week so they really know a lot of facts that they are proud to share with other students.
4. We do a little bit as we go! Each time they watched a movie or read a book I asked them to tell me a few facts they'd learned and asked if they thought that was something we should share. I wrote a random list of facts in our Word program and then we sorted them when we were done and added headings to group the random facts together.
5. We kept it fun! Since we need hands on projects for the fair we went searching on Pinterest for hands on ideas about their topics. We tried out those we could, settled on those we wanted to bring with us, and ignored any projects that didn't appeal to the boys.
Evan then went through our homeschooling pictures and picked out pictures of himself making bubbles to add to his display board. We added pictures of our snake bubbles, of our frozen bubbles, of Evan standing in the giant bubble at the Ecotarium, of our large glycerin bubbles, and giant bubbles made using our homemade bubble blowers.
We did a search for bubble solution recipes and ended up printing out a list of possible recipes to try. Once we affixed everything to his science fair board we cut out a title using the Cricut and glued that on too. I was amazed when we stood back and I realized we had another science fair project done!
We will have to make up some bubble solution next week for his hands on/ craft project. We decided to bring bubble solution and lots of bubble wands and let the kids blow bubbles. Evan has his board all done, books to display and lots of various wands all packed and ready to go.
While we were on a roll I also had Alec make up a prototype of his hands on craft to bring the science fair. We found these adorable paper plate Panda bear masks that we adapted.
Using a large circle punch we cut out two ears and glued them onto the plate. We cut out eyes and Alec used a crayon to add the black circles around the eyes as well as to make the panda's nose and mouth. I then used my hole punch to make a small hole on either side and threaded some yarn through.
I figure one day next week Alec and I can punch out a bunch of black ears, punch the little holes and add yarn to the plates and then the kids can each cut out their own eyes, affix the ears, color the circles around the eyes, and draw a mouth and nose.
Once we do that Alec is completely finished. His board is done, we have a huge stack of books to put on display as well as his two stuffed animals to bring with us. He has his snacks all purchased so the only thing left is to finish prepping his craft. Yippee! 2 down, and only 1 more to go!
Our reading about bubbles got the boys all excited, and since I really wanted one last picture for Evan's board, we pulled out glasses, water, Joy dish soap and some straws. The boys started blowing bubbles in the glass and watching them blow over the sides onto the table.
 |
| all the boys participate |
We observed all the colors found on the bubbles, we noticed what shapes they took when multiple bubbles were blown at once and on and on it went.
They played for an hour-- with soap bubbles! I never in a million years would have thought they'd be so entertained but they really were. They were having a ball and learning all sorts of wonderful scientific facts. It was wonderful!
 |
I just love days like this where a simple activity turns into a whole lot of learning!
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