Weekend at the Cabin

 You might remember this post about my parents' cabin in West Virginia.  We do try to get out there a couple times a year, but it can be hard to get all our schedules free enough to do it.  Luckily, this spring break we went for broke and spent a few days in practically-unplugged peace and fresh air.

 I wouldn't immediately say, "There's so much to do at the Cabin!"  but my girls would.  Even though it's been at least half a year since our last visit, they rattled off a surprisingly long list of all the must-do's.
Go to "the beach"
Play in the treehouse
Fill the bird feeders
Make s'mores
Swing on the hammock
Color
Hike down "Bottles & Bones", a trail my Mom named
Ride the golf cart
Ride "Grandpa's motorcycle" (ATV)
Pick flowers
Play with the toys downstairs (a collection of mismatched toys saved from our 80's childhood, with a few thrift store additions)

Could you die?  When I heard their list, my perspective shifted like a gear, and I saw the natural playground my parents always intended it to be for their grandchildren.  And it is. 

The treehouse at dusk

Those hills to the east are called the Seven Sisters

 So much running.  So much laughing.  So much for creative minds to enjoy.

On the treehouse steps

The redbuds were in bloom, and my amateur inner photographer went wild

Last year at Christmas Ginger said she wanted a toy tractor "just like Grandpa's."  So my Dad hunted down an exact toy replica, same color, same brand, on ebay, and gave it to her.  She cherishes it.

Ginger has had terrible allergies this spring, so I worried about taking her out where there would be nothing but nature, and no air conditioning for relief, but in fact they didn't bother her one bit all weekend, her watery eyes only returning when we got back home.  

 Not to say she didn't cry; she wouldn't be Ginger if she didn't.  It just wasn't because of allergies.

Fire pit

Building sand castles at "the beach", a just-the-right-size sandy spot.  My Mom keeps a stash of buckets and shovels for year-round sandy fun.

As usual, we hated to leave, and everyone wants to know when we can go back again.  We love the cabin!

The Girls' Easter Baskets

 When it came time to start thinking Easter baskets this year, I was so glad for this post I wrote last year.  First, it told me whose basket is whose!  This is the first time I've used the same baskets as the last year, and I guess it matters.  It also helped me remember how much it takes to fill them, and what they got last year so I can do some things the same and some different. 

The girls are on spring break this week, which means I didn't know when I could get it all out and take pictures and everything, but the older two are on a Grandma sleepover today so as soon as Poppy went down, the Easter baskets - and camera - came out.

The baskets are not so equal this year, and therefore not so easy to write out.  But here we go anyway.

• All three girls are getting a DVD.  Max & Ruby for Poppy (a steal on the Easter shelf at UNIQUE), Princess Sing-Alongs for the other two.  We borrowed volume 1 from a friend for our Vermont trip, and they loooved it, so we will indulge them.  Truth be told, I kinda like the songs myself, or at least most of them, and I like listening to them in the car better than dialog when I can't see the video.  So we kinda all win.

• All three will also get an Elephant & Piggie book.  Ginger's preschool class has been reading these, so we got some from the library and our family became instant fans.  We love Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny series, though the pigeon books aren't our thing.  But Gerald & Piggie are the BEST, with hilarious illustrations and truly early reader text, the simple but clever situations these friends get themselves in - and out of - are a delight over and over.

• Got Milk? Flavoring straws - these used to be hard to find but now they're at both Whole Foods and Target - yay for fun straws and drinking more milk!

Now things break down a bit.

• Hazel and Ginger are both getting a Calef Brown poetry book - silly, kinda nonsensical poetry, stories and art.  Our very cultured cousins recommend them highly.

• The older girls are also both getting an eeBoo activity book, while Poppy Maude is getting my new favorite board book, "What's Wrong, Little Pookie?" by Sandra Boynton.  We have a lot of Boynton books; I don't know how this one escaped my awareness before, but it is so adorable and so perfect for a 2-to-4-year old, at least in our family.  Pookie is crying, and Mom asks, "What's wrong?"  Pookie won't answer.  So Mom guesses a variety of things that could be wrong - silly things that distract and amuse Pookie, until at the end Mom asks again, "If it's none of those things, then what's wrong?"  And Pookie just hugs her and whispers, "I forget."  Love it.

• The older girls each get a necklace, taken off the card and placed in a plastic egg.

• Ring Pops, tic tacs, and 4-color pens for Hazel and Ginger

• Ginger and Poppy both get new thermos funtainer water bottles - they are our favorite for summer and lunch boxes, but Ginger's is old and falling apart; Poppy is old enough to have her own.

•  Poppy loves Strawberry Shortcake.  We have a few DVD's, and she has two figurines like these from McDonald's a year or two ago.  She treasures them, so I went on ebay and got her a complete set from 2010 happy meals.  Clever seller; I never would have thought of keeping happy meal toys, but you never know what suckers like me will buy.

 And of course, a little candy.  I ordered my Easter chocolate from See's this year, and probably will every year from now on.  See's is just so good, why get anything else?  I put a couple of these filled eggs in plastic eggs in their baskets. 

 Also everyone got a Scotchmallow Egg, my personal favorite. 

 And one last plastic egg filled with each girl's other favorite candy - jelly beans for Poppy, Skittles for Ginger, pretzel M&M's for Hazel. 

And that's it, there's the baskets for 2012!  I just didn't want more junk around the house, so with the exception of Poppy's dolls, stuck with useful media, some treats, and just a few extras.  Happy Easter to us all!

*Wondering about Ed's basket?  Well, I waffle, but this year he's not getting one, and he won't care one bit.  I'll make a good Easter dinner, and maybe fold his laundry or schedule his dentist appointment, something thoughtful and useful that means more to him than candy that just sits around.  After 10 1/2 years, I'm learning.

How to Throw a Science Party

 Hazel's turning seven tomorrow and last Saturday we had her party.  She knew for a long time she wanted a science party.  So I called my science teacher friend and she pointed me in a few good directions.  I found a few good ideas on the internet, spent about a month planning and gathering what was needed, and it turned out a smashing success.  Here's what we did.

INVITATION: see above.  I put one of Ed's white shirts on her backwards, messed up her hair, and told her to look crazy for about 30 shots.  Then I picked a good one, off-centered it, and added text with Picasa.  Had prints done at Target and mailed them out to the invitees.  We were going to add googly eyes to her face, but I liked it the way it was.

RESOURCES: I got all the experiment ideas from Steve Spangler's science website, which is awesome.  I also bought a few supplies from him - some"baby soda bottles" (test tubes with racks), Insta-snow, safety goggles, and green slime kit.  Everything else we needed I either had at home or could pick up at Target, like Alka-seltzer, plastic bottles, Q-tips, etc.

 We also went to a thrift store and got everyone a white or gray men's shirt for their "lab coat", which they also got to keep and wear home if they wanted.

DECORATIONS:...are not my forté, so we keep it simple.  Hazel chose red, gray and white for her colors, so we did streamers, balloons, and a Happy Birthday sign from Target.  Red plastic tablecloth for the experiments, pink for the eating.  Plain clear plastic cups and plates for the treats. 

THE PARTY:  When everyone arrived, they put on a lab coat and came to the table.  We had an opening activity as guests arrived, five experiments, cake & ice cream, then one final experiment.  The party was 2 hours long.  We would have opened gifts if there was time, but we ran out so Hazel opened them later.

We had eight guests including Hazel and Ginger, and three adults - my brother came and we were grateful for an extra pair of helping hands.  And one of the moms stayed and took most of these pictures - thank you so much for that!

Opening Activity:

The opening activity was scratch art - I got this pack from Amazon.  The pack only came with one scratch tool, but luckily I had some sharpened sticks in the back of a cupboard that had come in a bag of caramels to make caramel apples.  You could also use a pencil or maybe a toothpick.  We cut them into strips so the kids could make bookmarks to take home, which also went with the books they received in their favor bags.

Experiments
Next came the experiments.  The most important thing here was to have everything measured and ready to go so you don't lose the kids' attention.  Each one took roughly 15 minutes.  Ed and I had to talk through the party game plan several times Friday and Saturday so we would be a well-oiled team for the party, and miraculously, it worked!  We also made sure we had a 2-sentence simple explanation to explain each experiment and how it worked.

And before we started the experiments we laid out the most important rule: DON'T PUT ANYTHING IN YOUR MOUTH.  Just to be safe.  But all the experiments were pretty tame and safe anyway.

#1 Instant Snow

 We gave everyone a plastic bowl and stirring stick, then I poured 1 tsp of snow powder into their bowls.  We asked them to guess what would happen when we poured water in it.  Some thought the powder would dissolve - smart 1st graders!  We gave each a test tube of water (2 oz.) and told them to pour in the water all at once and watch it carefully.  It expanded immediately into "snow"!

The kids were amazed and we explained that the powder is like millions of tiny sponges.  Then we poured their white snow into Ziploc bags and refilled the test tubes.  I gave everyone another teaspoon of powder and a test tube of water and this time they put a few drops of food coloring in, then poured water on to make colored snow.

 

 

 They played with it a bit and we discussed how it was similar and different from real snow.  Then we poured it in their bags with their white snow, sealed it up, and they put them in their favor bags which were on a table nearby, labeled with their names.

#2 Bubbling Lava Lamps

 For this one, we gave everyone a 16-oz. bottle filled 2/3 with vegetable oil.  Then we gave them a Dixie cup of water and a funnel and asked what they thought would happen when they poured it in.  Most knew water and oil don't mix.  But it was fun to watch it sort of bubble as the water went to the bottom.

 Then I had them guess what would happen when we added food coloring.  They weren't sure.  So we added some and gently swirled the bottles.  It only colored the water.

 Next we gave them all a small piece of an Alka-Seltzer tablet and watched what happened when they dropped it in - it sank to the bottom and caused bubbles of colored water to float through the oil to the top, where they "popped", releasing carbon dioxide, and then sank back to the bottom.  Just like a lava lamp!  We put the lids on tight and put them in their favor bags.

#3 Slime

You cannot have a mad science party without green slime!

 Ed and I tried all the experiments ourselves at night the week leading up to the party.  And this one was his favorite - he was like a little kid playing with it.  Slime is pretty cool.

We used Steve Spangler's slime kit for this - gave each child a bowl, stirrer, Dixie cup of green stuff, and Dixie cup of clear stuff.  We talked about solids and liquids and they all agreed both solutions were liquids.  So we figured if we poured them together we would also get a liquid.

But after a minute or so of stirring, it gelled up and became slime.  The kids were amazed and thrilled.

 Ed demonstrated how slime has properties of both liquid and solid, so it is both, or neither.

 The kids played with the slime for a long, long time, discovered all kinds of things you can do with it - stretch it, flatten it, roll it, bounce it, etc.  We let them play as long as they wanted.  Then we put them in baggies and put them in their favor bags to take home.

How do you like Hazel's mad scientist wig?  I had to dig around in the dress-ups packed away at my Mom's house for this classic.

#4 Color-Changing Milk

 For this, we gave everyone a paper plate with a rim and poured in some whole milk.  Then the adults came around and dropped four different colors of food coloring close together in the center.  The kids dipped a dry Q-tip into the center and pulled it out.  Not much happened.

 Then they dipped another Q-tip into Dawn soap and placed it back into the center of the milk.  The colors swirled out and around like crazy!

 They could place the soapy tip wherever there was concentrated food coloring and it would go crazy.  Everyone was amazed.

#5 Sink or Float

After the milk, everyone left the table and joined me in the living room for our next activity, where I had a clear bin of water and a variety of objects on the table.  I gave everyone a worksheet with three columns: "Object", "Prediction", "Result".  In the "Prediction" and "Result" columns, each row contained the words "Sink" and "Float".

One at a time, a child came up and chose an item off the table.  Everyone wrote down what it was, and circled whether they thought it would sink or float.  Then that child put it in and we circled our results.  It was fun because some were easy to predict and some results were surprising.  

 

Can you guess what each would do?

 

 I'll tell you in case you're wondering.
SINK: metal spoon, lime (sometimes), cotton ball, penny, regular soda, plastic fork (if dropped in vertically)
FLOAT: straw, lemon, lime (sometimes), sponge, bag of dried beans, diet soda, rubber duck, plastic fork (if placed horizontally)

 

Treat Break

While we were doing "Sink or Float", Ed and Dave cleared the table, including the table cloth which was pretty goopy from all the experiments.  They put on a clean disposable table cloth, and set it with plates, cups and napkins.  For dessert we had confetti cupcakes (from a mix) with strawberry buttercream (homemade, our favorite!) and gummy brains on top.  Also banana split ice cream and Hawaiian punch with dry ice in it.

 

 

 While they were eating, I had one child at a time come over by the door, where they put on safety glasses, the wig if they wanted, and held a test tube, and I took their picture with Hazel.  We are going to have them printed and send each child this picture with our thank-you note.  I told them all to look like mad scientists.  Some just smiled, but some got very into character.  Here's Ginger with Hazel:

#6 "Elephant Toothpaste"

This was our BIG FINALE experiment, very dramatic and mad-science-y.  Every child got a metal pan, a plastic bottle with 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide in it, and a Dixie cup with 1 tsp of dry active yeast.  I went around and added a drop of Dawn dish soap to each bottle, then told the kids to add any color food coloring they wanted.  Then I came around and added 2 T warm water to their yeast and had them stir it until dissolved.  Some of the kids (including Hazel, thanks to some baking lessons at home) knew that yeast eats sugar and expands.  But we didn't have sugar in this solution so it just mixed.

I gave everyone the following instructions:
When I say "GO", put your funnel in your bottle, pour your yeast mixture in, pull your funnel out, and put your hand on the side of the bottle.  Watch what happens and notice how it feels.  GO!

In the back center pan (brown-haired girl), she is just pouring her yeast in but it hasn't hit yet.  In the far left, his yeast has just hit and is just starting to foam.  Front center went before the other two and it is foaming and rising.

 And this is why it's called elephant toothpaste - because it foams up and overflows and looks like big thick toothpaste being squeezed from a tube.

 The kids were dazed and amazed.  The reason I told them to touch the bottle is because it would be very warm.  Something about heat being released in an exothermic reaction.  Thank you, high school science and Steve Spangler.  It was an awesome dramatic finale.

 

FAVOR BAGS:  To take home, each child received - 

• the scratch art bookmarks they made at the beginning
• the bag of instant snow from experiment #1
• their lava lamp from experiment #2 and a packet of 2 Alka-Seltzer tablets
• the bag of slime from experiment #3
• their sink-or-float worksheet from #5
• a booklet I made describing all six experiments so they can repeat them at home or at least tell their parents about it
• a fortune cookie (because I like them...and I ordered more sour gummy brains for their bags but they didn't arrive in time, oh well...)
• Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist #1 Lunch Walks Among Us* 

(Besides the fortune cookie and the would-be gummy brains, no other edibles.  I hate it when my kids bring home bags of crappy candy.  Almost as much as when my kids bring home bags of crappy toys or other crappy favor bag fillers.  This is a party aspect I try to be thoughtful about.  Meaningful favor bags.  Never mind that one child's mom texted me later in the day that he had come home and put the slime in his hair.  Not my fault.)

So that's it, guys.  Hazel's amazing Mad Science Party!  It was so fun to see eight kids of both genders age 5 to 7 ooh-ing, ahh-ing, smiling, laughing, and completely engaged for a whole birthday party.  Yay for Mad Science!!!

*Franny K. Stein is a little girl mad scientist.  Her book series is silly, spunky and a little irreverent without being gross.  She has just enough "normal" qualities to be relatable but is also just crazy enough to be surprising and intriguing.  We read the first two from the library so I gave my girls #3 and #4 in their bags; everyone else got #1.  Each book is about 100 pages, 15 to 20 chapters.  Age 7 to 10 reading and interest level.  My girls love Franny.