NIKKI'S PLANNER

Ruther and I got this planner for Nikki. We think it's a great and fun way for him to be aware of the days of the week and the dates as they progress. Not only that, it will also teach him about the weather and the seasons as well as his feelings everyday. It's really a neat planner and I hope he never tires of it. =D

AT SM SCIENCE DISCOVERY CENTER

This is a wonderful place for kids. Nikki and Ethan had a blast although Ethan wasn't too keen on the burping figure of a guy. =D

GRASSHOPPER

We found a grasshopper the other day! I caught it and put it in a jar so the boys could study it up close. Ethan loved the lesson because he is fascinated with bugs!! Here are some photos:

PARTS OF THE BODY

I got the boys this puzzle a few months ago. It's an introduction to the different parts of the body (inside and outside). I figured, since the boys love puzzles, the will learn the parts of the body the fun way. Already, Nikki knows most of the parts and so I am looking forward to the time when we get into more detail. But of course, it will depend on his readiness. =D

MAKING A RAINBOW

We're on to another experiment and this time, on how to make a rainbow. We actually had to wait for the sun to come out because it was mostly cloudy for the past week. But when it did get sunny, we decided to do the experiment.

Here are some photos:

Here's Nikki with the materials: a glass of water, a piece of cardboard with a slot, and of course, sunlight.

And here's the rainbow! =D

STUDYING THE WATER CYCLE

Nikki and I did this simple experiment the other day while waiting for their bath water to heat. I figured, we could always do something while waiting. =D

BUGS

Ethan loves bugs. Since we have been having rains for the past few days, many millipedes have come out of the ground. This delights Ethan to no end.

EGG EXPERIMENT

We did this experiment one night. It was easy enough and Nikki had fun. Here are some photos:








Here are the instructions.












Materials: 2 eggs, 2 glasses filled 3/4s with water, lots of salt and a spoon.






Nikki first stirs the salt in one of the glasses.














Then, he carefully drops one of the eggs into the glass with tap water.




Mommy: "What happened, Nikki?"
Nikki: "It sank!"














"Wow! The other egg floated in the salt water!"

Nikki draws his findings. =D

CRATERS

We did this little experiment the other week. I thought that it would be interesting for the boys and pretty soon, they were having fun making caters in the flour. After a few minutes, Ethan decided to make his own "craters" and used all sorts of things like their playdoh cutters which irked Nikki a bit. Then they were funny because after a while Nikki was wiping all the flour on the floor! He really hates making a mess. =D We all had a lot of fun, I forgot to take photos of the boys. Oh well...

WORKSHEETS

Here are some of Nikki's worksheets.

Introduction to living and non-living things.

Occupations.

Number sequence.

Picture sequence.

Counting.

PLANET MOBILE

We found this project in Nikki's book, The Reader's Digest Children's Atlas to the Universe. Since it looked like an easy and fun activity (big plus for me), I thought it would be nice to do that one rainy afternoon. Fortunately we did not have to make the planets from scratch. I bought him a glow-in-the-dark set months before and I thought it would be a good idea to use them for this activity. Nikki really had a lot of fun even if I did the tying. He was so proud of his work, he showed it to his dad and let me hang it by the window. I'm so glad.

Some photos:

Instructions on how to make the mobile.

The materials.

Nikki lines up the planets to make tying easier for Mommy.

The finished mobile. "It looks great, Mommy!"

The mobile's current home.

SINK-FLOAT EXPERIMENT

The other day, Nikki and I did a sink-float experiment. I could tell that Nikki could easily answer the questions in his workbook, but I wanted him to experience first-hand whether the objects would sink or float and not simply guess. So that's what we did. =D

The materials: a rock, a sponge, a leaf, a piece of paper, a ball, a coin and a ruler. And of course, a tin full of water.

Nikki was pointing to the feather in his workbook because we could not find a feather so I told him, we'll do that some other time. =D

First, the rock. Yup, it sank! =D

Nikki shows me the leaf before putting it in the tin of water. =D

Even if this experiment lasted only a short while, I could tell that Nikki had fun. Next week, we'll do the egg experiment. =D

METAMORPHOSIS

Another fun activity for the boys!

http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/butterfly/index.html

WHERE DO BUTTERFLIES COME FROM?

Ever wonder where a butterfly comes from? It comes from a chrysalis (KRIS-uh-liss) which is also called a pupa. A chrysalis looks like a tiny leathery pouch. You can find one underneath some leaves in the summer.

Some animals don't change much as they grow up. Think about it: someone your age looks a lot like a grown-up. Grown-ups have more wrinkles and gray hair. But they still have two arms, two legs and one head—just like you.

We're going to meet an animal that's very different—the butterfly. Butterflies go through four life stages, and they look very different at each stage.

Here's what you need:

Toilet-paper tube
Tongue depressor or ice-cream pop stick
Heavy paper
6" (150 mm) piece of pipe cleaner, folded in half
Markers or crayons
Scissors and glue

Here's what you do:

1. Cut out and color a butterfly from the heavy paper. Use any colors, but make both halves look the same. Put a small hole at the top of the butterfly's head.
2. Color the toilet paper tube to look like a chrysalis. (A monarch butterfly's chrysalis is green, but you can use any color.)
3. Take a piece of pipe cleaner and shape it like the letter "V". Put one point through the little hole in the butterfly's head and then twist it to look like antennae. Butterflies use these "feelers" to learn about their environment.
4. Glue the butterfly to one end of the tongue depressor or ice-cream pop stick. Let the glue dry.

5. Curl the butterfly's wings and slide it into the chrysalis.
6. Pull the stick to make the beautiful butterfly come out of the chrysalis.
Fly your butterfly like a real one!

The butterfly's life cycle

Butterflies go four stages of life, but they only look like butterflies in the final stage. Birds, frogs, snakes and insects also change as they grow.

1. An adult butterfly lays an egg.
2. The egg hatches into a caterpillar or larva.
3. The caterpillar forms the chrysalis or pupa.
4. The chrysalis matures into a butterfly.

PLANETS AGAIN!

Since my boys really love the solar system, I thought of letting Nikki practice coloring because he's not too fond of that. Still, I think it's an essential skill that he needed to appreciate so what I did was to print the planets on a sheet of paper from funschool and let him color it. Using the previous project we did as reference (remember the ones we made from recycled paper?) he carefully colored the planets correctly. After that, we reviewed the planets again and we added more information this time, saying the number and names of the moons of each planet, some features (like clouds on Neptune and volcanoes on Venus). Again, I reinforced that Pluto is a dwarf planet and he seems to get that one down pat so I am glad. Ethan wanted to be part of the lesson too so I printed one for him too and he joyously colored away.

Nikki carefully colors the planets and checks the chart that we made weeks ago.

View of the chart we made. Nikki was very happy with the HUGE sun. I just wanted him to undestand that the sun was waaaay bigger than all the planets put together. I think the planets on the chart look great with the recycled paper colors...

Note how Nikki holds the crayon. He still finds it difficult to hold pens and crayons the right way but I remind him often.



Ethan does what Kuya does. So cute.
























All done! Really great work and he had loads of fun! At least this time he tried coloring for a change.




















Nikki's work at left. Really great improvement. He even got the colors of Jupiter right and swirled them around. =D

Ethan's work on right. In true artist fashion, he refused to color within the lines. A real artist huh? =D





Nikki had a lot of fun and wanted to do another one so I got him this bonus page: Things you can use in space. New words for Nikki: tongs, thermometer, oxygen tank. I think he had loads of fun!



















Of course, Ethan gets a bonus page too. He practically colored everything orange! Hahaha!

LIFE CYCLE OF A PLANT

This was Nikki's lesson the other day. He managed to answer the page quite well but I wanted him to understand the lesson in a more hands-on way. Coincidentally, we had marang that day and I kept some of the seeds to show Nikki. When I showed him the seeds and reviewed the book with him as well, he understood now how a plant could grow from a seed. I think it's wonderful that he learns not merely through pictures but through the real thing. When he is a bit bigger, I will give him a little plant to take care of so he could appreciate the lesson more.

Marang seeds. =D