Afternoon Science Experiment!!

As I was weeding the other day, I came across this...

AN OWL PELLET!!!!

I used to dissect owl pellets with my 4th graders, so I knew exactly what it was. I had no idea we had owls in the area though. I was so excited...I couldn't wait to share it with Little Miss A and Mr. D. After explaining what it was, the kids were in awe! Definitely a mouse after looking at the bones inside. Wishing so badly there had been a full skull for the kids to see (wishful thinking, I know) at least we found some pretty cool teeth, mandibles and a femur. :)

I'm hoping the kids love science as much as I do!!!!

A Starry Night

Ever since we left Florida at Thanksgiving with a telescope from Grandpa, the kids have been in LOVE with the moon, stars and planets. They were studying space in school, my second graders are actually studying it as well, so we took a field trip Saturday night with my students and their families to the UT planetarium. Okay, so it's not so much a planetarium as it is just a giant telescope to view the stars. The kids LOVED it!!! We saw Venus, Orion's nebula and even Saturn and it's rings...so cool! What a fun evening!!!

Stalactites, Stalagmites and Caves, Oh My!

We went to our local Inner Space Caverns for some cave exploring fun with J's Mom and sister. Before we even got started, we immediately began selecting our cave exploring treasures from the gift shop. Mr D wanted a very appropriate cave exploring helmet. Little Miss A, on the other hand, selected a pair a magic handcuffs. (Pronounced handcuffis.) They both proudly wore their individual treasures through the entire cave exploration. As you can imagine, we got a few sideways glances at A.

Well, D was ALL excited about the possibility of finding bats in the "bat cave" whereas A was petrified of even coming close to a bat in the cave. What you play up with with one, you down play with the other in an attempt to make everyone happy. Parenting games are so much fun!!! :)

We did see some bats...and holy crow, they were small enough that Little Miss A even thought they were cute. Just hanging there with their toes clung to the cave ceiling. However, when we entered a room with some flying friends, they suddenly weren't as cute. (That's my girl!) D and I got so close to a sleeping little guy, we could have reached out and touched it. (I'm kind of surprised Mr D didn't...very glad, but still surprised!) The cave itself was far more fun this trip than in the past. The kids learned all the formations and could even point them out. (You probably already know that the teacher in me LOVED that!) They loved using their imaginations to see all the images in the calcite and were even making up their own.

One of the rooms in the cave is a fairy tale. Complete with a king and queen, a princess and knight, a giant castle and a dragon protecting an enormous tower. It was awesome, Little Miss A was completely entranced. However, when asked if she wanted a picture taken in front of the scene, she immediately without hesitation said "NO!" As we walked by it on the way out, I asked her again only to get the same response. :( Well, guess what, we woke up this morning and seriously the FIRST thing A said was "Mommy, can we go back to the cave and take my picture with the princess?" I guess we need to go back. Obviously not today, but definitely sooner rather than later. :)

Super Silly Science Slime!

What do you do when you have a science play date scheduled the day before Halloween? You make slime of course!! :)

We met our playgroup at the park this afternoon and hosted our friends with a scientific slime time! After reading The Slimy Book, one of D's favorite books that we borrowed from Miss J special for this experiment, we got our hands super slimy for some silly fun! A & D loved the experiment. Little Miss A combined red and yellow food coloring to make orange slime. Mr D also combined red with "just a little yellow" so his came out more pink. They both hypothesized that their slime would turn purple. A predicted first, then D followed her lead. I guess we need to work more on combining primary colors to make secondary colors. :) We finished up our play date with some much needed park time. The weather has been gorgeous...it was so nice to get out and enjoy it!!!!