Rainbow Heart Crayons

If you are like me, you probably have a lot of broken crayons in your house.  Instead of throwing them away, turn them into a fun Valentine's (or any day of the year) activitiy!

First, remove all the paper from crayons and separate into colors.  I just did the basics, if there were two different greens, it didn't matter.

Heat about 1/2-1 inch of water to boiling.  Place a liquid measuring cup in the boiling water.

Now put a group of crayons in the measuring cup and watch them melt.  If you don't stir the melted crayons you get more of a swirl effect than a new color effect.  So experiment and have fun!

Pour the melted crayon into a rubber ice cube or candy mold.  I just happened to have a heart one on hand, but you can find all sorts of fun shapes and molds, especially around a holiday.

Wipe out your measuring cup with an old cloth and repeat the process with a new color.  Pour each new color over the last to create a layered, rainbow crayon.

 Let the crayons set.  This doesn't take long, but it goes even faster in the freezer.  Pop out the crayons and color away!

Bread in a Bag

 Make yummy homemade bread with your kids and no mess!  Mix up the bread and knead it all in a freezer bag!  I got this idea from "The Waldorf Book of Breads".  I used the recipe in the book, which I will share below, but I don't see why you couldn't do it with any favorite bread recipe.

 Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 package yeast
3 TBS sugar
3 TBS dry milk
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
3 TBS oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour

Put the 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar, milk and salt in a gallon freezer bag.  Zip close and let your kids shake up the ingredients to mix.  Add water and oil.  Close again and have children squish bags to mix.  Now add last two cups of flour.  Have children mix and knead.  Bread should pull away from sides of bag.  I needed to add a little bit of extra flour to our dough.  Knead 2-4 minutes.  You will have to help younger children a little at this point to work the flour all through the dough.  Let rest 10 minutes.  Remove dough from bag, shape into loaf and put in greased bread pan.  Cover and let rise until double in size.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.  Makes 1 loaf.

Here is a little snapshot video of this fun activity.  The kids love squishing and shaking, and they especially feel proud of helping make dinner.  The bread was tasty too!

Paper Cup Phones

Paper cup phones are a classic kids activity.
You will need

2 paper cups
two paperclips
inelastic string, thread, or fishing line
a pencil or sewing needle

Punch a hole into the bottom of each paper cup using the pencil or needle, thread your inelstic string through the hole in each cup (one cup on each end of the string) and secure to a paperclip inside the cup. This keeps the string from falling out of the cup. To use draw the string taut. One person speaks into the cup the other person put their ear to the cup and listens. Instant fun!

Do you have older kids who want to understand the science behind this?

Sound travels as a wave. Though technically not the same kind of waves, you can illustrate the idea of waves travelling through a medium with water ripples or by taking a jump rope and having one person hold still at the end while you make a wave travel from one end to the other by jiggling the handle. ***Technically, a sound wave is a compression wave (water ripples are circular waves, and jump rope waves are longitudinal waves). A compression wave can be illustrated using a slinky stretched out across the floor, shove one end back and forth and watch the compression move from one end to the other.***

A sound wave has to travel through something because sound is a vibration and has to pass from particle to particle. This is why there is no sound in space (contrary to sci-fi shows) Sound can not travel in outer space because there is no air, there is nothing but empty space, so the sound doesn't go anywhere.

Sound can travel well enough through air, but it travels even better along a solid. This is why you can whisper into a cup phone and the sound will be heard at a greater distance away than possible without the phones. When you speak into the cup, the bottom of the cup vibrates with the sound, these vibrations (or sound waves if you like) are then passed on to the string which vibrates (if held taut) all the way to the other cup. The string passes the vibration off to the bottom of the cup which then vibrates the same way the first cup did, thus transmitting the sound from one person to another.

Once again, in order for this to work the string must be pulled tight and really shouldn't be touching anything other than the cups.

See, science can be fun!

Want to turn it into an experiment? Try different kinds of thread or string, some elastic, some inelastic. Which transmit the sound the best? Hold the string limp and then tight, which works best? Try tying another cup phone onto the string, does it work?

Colored Ice Cubes

Colored ice cubes are a great way to spice up water play in the tub or in the kitchen (I like to pull out bowls and spoons with some water for the kids while I cook). I think Miss J actually thought she was cooking. As soon as her ice cube melted, she would ask for another one to stir around in the water. This can also be a great way to teach mixing colors. For cleaner play, put two different colored ice cubes in a ziploc bag and let your child swish them around and melt the colors together.

These are also fun to throw in the wading pool! See who can find the most blue ice cubes, etc.

I don't think I need to give directions but just in case...

Mix water and food coloring together. Pour into an ice cube tray, being careful not to mix different colors. Freeze. Enjoy!