Dinosaour Sensory Activity

Posted on Categories STEM fun2 Comments on Dinosaour Sensory Activity

The older boys have been having a lot of fun with a Science subscription box that they received last Christmas. In one of them, they have a lot of water beads that are larger than usual but they are also clear, so they went ahead and colored them. But I will have to share that later. this post is more about what happened next. Water beads are a great sensory activity for all ages!

If you follow our blog, you will soon realize that some of the best adventures that we have, always happen by accident.
The beads were so enticing to the little boys, they are soft and cool to touch and the pretty colors were just amazing! So their regular homeschool lesson turned into a fun sensory activity!
learning early childhood history Montessori sensory dinosaur education elementary years traveling family mommy blogger dad blog traveling with kids exploring with kids Washington DC 2017 2018 world schooling homeschooling for mommy's dragons wellness healthy mom blog Woodbridge Virginia boy mom mom of boys travel the world traveling mom travel bloggerBy the way, you have to check out this amazing dinosaur learning set from my beautiful friend’s learning shop!  homeschooling has been so fun with all of her easy to use and super fun activities! You can see it here.

If you love this set, you can use code:Dragons20 to save on your entire purchase! How fun is that?

Anyway, back to our sensory adventure! So what you have to do, is order some already colored water beads. They have them available at different craft stores and also online. you can put them on one big container or in a few smaller containers, then add water and watch them grow! This will take a few hours. Make sure that you leave room for them to grow in the container! Or you might come back to a crazy sea of very bouncy water beads all over your floor. Not saying that this happened to us, 😉 but I am saying that it could happen… to anyone. Ok let’s move on!

learning early childhood history Montessori education sensory elementary years traveling family mommy blogger dad blog traveling with kids exploring with kids Washington DC 2017 2018 world schooling homeschooling for mommy's dragons wellness healthy mom blog Woodbridge Virginia boy mom mom of boys travel the world traveling mom travel bloggerThis is a super close up of what the water beads look like, half way through the process of filling up with water. eventually, the lines disappear and they become a smooth bouncy ball.

I separated them by color but you don’t have to do that. I put them in different clear cups and put the little dinosaurs inside. Then I gave them a dino matching sheet from Legacy Learning Academy and the rest was really up to them! they played match the dinosaur, they told me all about herbivores and carnivores and they squished the water beads and just had fun!

learning early childhood sensory history Montessori education elementary years traveling family mommy blogger dad blog traveling with kids exploring with kids Washington DC 2017 2018 world schooling homeschooling for mommy's dragons wellness healthy mom blog Woodbridge Virginia boy mom mom of boys travel the world traveling mom travel bloggerOne of the things I love the most about this activity is that you can use anything that spikes the child’s interest! And that you can let them take the lead. They can add objects or take off, they can dump the beads from one container to the other, and they might even try to experiment with the mixes of colors! It is amazing all the things that their little minds will think of.

A sensory activity is about the child using as many senses as possible. So  really there’s no structured way for them to do it, just hours of fun!  If your child is younger, and still puts things in their mouth, be sure to use larger objects that wont represent a danger to them, also please be sure to get non toxic water beads. The most important thing is to keep our littles safe. Then to let them be engaged, have fun and be really messy! have fun making memories!

Here is a video of my little monkeys having fun with their impromptu dinosaur sensory activity. Enjoy! And tell me how it goes on your side!

learning early childhood history Montessori sensory education elementary years traveling family mommy blogger dad blog traveling with kids exploring with kids Washington DC 2017 2018 world schooling homeschooling for mommy's dragons wellness healthy mom blog Woodbridge Virginia boy mom mom of boys travel the world traveling mom travel blogger

Last minute summer tacos

Posted on Categories Food17 Comments on Last minute summer tacos

Some summer days, we have way too much fun! And suddenly I realize that it is almost dinner time and I am not prepared… again.

Yesterday was one of those days. And to make things worse, I was also supposed to make dinner for one other family! Yes, I know, get it together Maria. here is what I did, I ran out to the grocery store, and bought two rotisserie chickens, came home and prepared to use anything in my way to make a wonderful dinner. Don’t tell me that you haven’t done the same!

I grabbed a bag of slaw veggies, some fresh cilantro, a few tomatoes,  and some beautiful limes. the first thing that came to my mind was Tacos! does it not make total sense? Don’t shut me out just yet, I thought slaw is summer and tacos… well tacos are the best! So I grabbed some creamy cilantro lime dressing, cooked some bacon slices and mixed both of them with the slaw veggies and some loosely chopped cilantro, to make an amazing limey slaw that I planned on using under the chicken in my tacos.

Since I wanted to take the flavor to the next level, I added some smoked chipotle and fresh lime juice which made it just perfect to my taste.

Now that my base was ready, all I had to do was shred the chicken and add some chipotle seasoning and lime juice to it, warm up some tortillas and prepare a few garnishes like chopped tomatoes, cheese, fresh cilantro,  some extra cilantro lime dressing and lime slices.

To complete the meal, I made some awesome quinoa and brown rice with some special seasonings that I will have to share on another post.

And there you have it, now dinner was ready, and I had time to snap a few quick photos for you all! You can use this time to get all pretty for dinner, make yourself a margarita, or simply take a deep breath and get yourself in the mindset for a wonderful relaxing evening.

Summer dinners are always so fun. You have stories to tell and very hungry tummies to feed. I hope you try these and tell me how you liked them!

The incredible folding egg

Posted on Categories Learning, STEM fun9 Comments on The incredible folding egg

Who is ready for some fun with science?

All of my boys are different and they each enjoy different things. But one thing I have found that pulls us all together to spend some fun times is STEM activities! the entire family seems to get involved somehow and they talk about it for weeks. So I thought it would be fun to share some of our activities and experiments with you all.

This first experiment is super fun! Your kids will be able to preform a magic trick for family and friends! Imagine the faces, when your child pulls a folded egg out of their pocket and proceeds to make it look normal, then fold it again and walk away!

The Folding Egg Experiment

The first thing that we did was put a small hole on each end of the egg. This could be a challenge for littles but also bring a lot of laughs, so make sure that you have extra eggs handy. we used a small skewer and started the hole on each side, before putting it through the entire egg.

After you’ve made the skewer go through, have the child blow on one end with all their might. This will make the egg insides go out the other end. My boys thought this was hilarious and they were all able to do it without help.

Once we had our 4 empty eggs, we poured white vinegar into mason jars and dropped our empty eggs in them. Since they are filled with air, they will try to float, you can have a talk with them about floating objects here if you want, and then we used spoons to carefully push the empty eggs down until they were covered.

Now for the fun part! Ok not really. Waiting is never fun! But we had to leave our empty eggs in the vinegar for a few days. We have a little one, so I put them on a high place that was still visible to everyone. That way they would see it every morning and the baby would not be able to have too much fun with it.

 

During this time we were able to observe and talk about what was happening, and what changes they could see, they were able to speculate why things were happening and then find out if they were right or not. We learned that the acid from the vinegar starts a chemical reaction with the calcium from the egg’s shell as soon as it touches it, and it can keep going for days. Each egg is unique, so there is no rule for how many days it will take, but it should not be longer than 12 days. Depending on the age of your children, you could always go deeper into this chemical reaction! One of my favorite things about STEM is that it can be for everyone, and each child can go as deep as they can or want into the knowledge and experiences that come with each activity.

On the next photo you can see how each day, the vinegar eats away more of the egg shell, until it will eventually leave only the inner membrane of it, which will be our folding egg.

After about 5 very long days, it was finally time to take what was let of our empty eggs, out of the vinegar! Imagine the eggcitement!…. See what I did there? 😉 We stole the baby powder from the baby’s room and took those babies out of the vinegar. Insert happy dance and super anxious laughs here.

 

Look at that concentration face! Remember, you have to be very gentle and careful, because if you go too crazy it will break 🙁 And then you will have to start all over again! One of ours actually broke, so I was very grateful that we had used more than one egg. After having the egg out, we rinsed with water.

Ok so we put baby powder on our hands and put our eggs on our hands. Then very carefully bounced it from one hand to the other, and blew softly on one end so that it would fill up with air, which made it look like a real egg. And there you have it! the kids had so much fun folding it, by pushing the air out of it softly with one finger and then folding if in half and then again. Their friends were super interested in trying it too.

You are now part of our amazing egg club. The boys are super into finding so many ways of experimenting with eggs that we have to buy extra eggs every week! we will make sure to share more of the fun experiments! Will you try the folding egg trick?  I think you should! And then come back and tell me about it! Did you discover something new? I think you will be happy with how STEM brings the entire family to the table and nobody will be missing the screen for a long time.

Dear mom of boys, you are not alone.

Posted on Categories Featured, Life18 Comments on Dear mom of boys, you are not alone.

Dear mom of boys,

I’ve seen your face when someone asks you if you are trying for a girl. I’ve seen you at the park, laughing nervously as you cover your boy and at the same time try to explain to others why he just dropped his pants and started to go potty. I’ve seen you wiping muddy tears and kissing boo boos, struggling not to cry even as they run away to play, because you wish you could just protect them from their clumsy selves.

I know about the books you read. I know about the questions you have. I know about the long nights when your mind just keeps going, trying to come up with the perfect things to do. I know about the long summer days when you are out of ideas and they are looking at you for more. I know about the doubts. Sleep training, cloth diapers, baby sign language, discipline, teething, and the list goes on. You’ve read about all of them but you still don’t quite know.

I know some times you think that if you had girls you would know what to do. But I know that you know that we would still wonder. Because that’s how we think.

I’ve seen you when you lose patience and react too soon. I’ve seen you wiping kids faces with your sleeve and then wiping your sleeve on your pants. I’ve seen you yelling, begging, negotiating, bribing and threatening. I’ve see you feeling stupid afterwards. I’ve seen you realizing that you wore that shirt for the last three days and you definitely need a shower.

I’ve seen you praying and crying as you drive to the emergency room. I’ve seen you up all night rocking bouncing wishing he would just be alright.

Maybe you always wanted boys. Maybe you never did. maybe you always wanted a girl. Or a girl and a boy. Maybe you kept trying for a girl. But maybe you just wanted more boys. it doesn’t matter how it came to be, I still know you, the moment I see you, and I see the look in your eyes, the love and adoration for those little boys. I see how you hold on so tight, and you don’t want to let go. I know because I do it too. Because that’s what we do.

The fact is, as soon as I saw you, I knew you right away! It didn’t matter if I met you at the store, the park, online, the airport, the library, or if I just saw you passing by. I recognized the power, the resilience, the heart muscle, the nonchalant reactions when your child is about to throw a giant rock up in the air, with his eyes closed. Because you’ve already seen so much more! baseballs through windows, broken bones, intense wrestling matches right in your living room floor, shattered lights that end that friendly football game indoors, smashed up bugs and 600 critters that they bring along. Because that’s how we react!

But most importantly, I know about the kisses, and the smiles. I know about the flowers and the weeds that you carefully place in water. I know about the snuggles. I know about those long hugs that comfort you when your heart is broken. I know about the built in comedy shows. I know about the pride when they draw you for the first time. I know that we know how to kill all the monsters. And I bet you can tell me what a Dilophosaurus is and how many teeth they have.

I know about that moment when he was finally in your arms. I know your heart exploded. I know you swore to never let him be harmed. I know how that first night you only wanted to turn the world off and stare at that tiny bundle of joy. I know that all the pain was nothing. I know you fell in love.

I know you when I see you, because I see myself in you.

And I want to tell you that you are doing a good job! Listen to your heart. Don’t give up. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

Have fun. Get dirty. Cry a little. Or a lot. Laugh at yourself. Enjoy these boys. Teach them, learn from them. And know that you are not alone. I’m here with you.

This amazing shirt and other favorites for moms of boys, can be found on this link