Blue Bonkers Coloring Pages

I found an excellent coloring page site.  Blue Bonkers.  Excellent = A site where you can print out free authentic-looking Lone Ranger coloring pages.  We are still searching for Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

There are many more themes than the Lone Ranger, though.  The ones I have seen are good quality for free printables.  

The kids like them because they look like book illustrations.  I like them because my kids are not normally "colorers," but they get excited about these.  It is like they are imagining a story as they color the picture.

First Day of School: History

On our first school day, we read about historians and archaeologists.

After we had read some books about archaeology, especially Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke, the boys were so enthralled that I suggested they play like archaeologists during the afternoon. (Actually it was suggested in Story of the World, but I had planned on skipping it...of course.)

It has been one week since then, and I am pretty sure they have played archaeologist every day. I know I have wiped sand from the bathroom sink and tub every day. They keep trowels, paint brushes, an old toothbrush, a watering can, and lots of other tools in a plastic pail hanging on a peg in their room.  When they go outside, so does the pail.

The opportunity to sit and write a comprehensive "first day" post continues to elude me.

I Get Distracted.

This is why I never get any housework done.

I make noble plans to have my house clean and give the boys a choice after daily chores are done:  "You may either stay inside and earn money by helping me or you may go outside and play."

Of course, they choose to play.  But soon, one of them comes in with a question like, "May I put some water in this bottle?  It already has sand in it, and I want to see what happens when I put water in it too." (They have to ask before they play in water.  It's frustrating when all the tennis shoes are soaking wet when we set out to go somewhere.)

I not only comply with the water request, but, to his delight, I add an almost-empty bottle of food coloring.  Now, if I were diligent with my household duties, I would send him on his way and get some serious work done.  But I just can't.  I have to watch him experiment and witness his joy of discovery.  Then I have to go to the computer and journal it so I don't ever forget.  I learn more than he does when I watch him.

And the housework remains undone.

Eggshells

I recently had a little sensory play spurt that was a lot of fun while it lasted.  We played with spaghetti, cloud dough, Ivory soap, beans, and rice.  But the most unusual thing we tried was eggshells.  The idea was from Play Create Explore where you can find all sorts of fun sensory play.

It only took a few days of saving and washing the eggshells (with soap and hot water) to come up with a nice bowl full.  We eat a lot of eggs.

An unplanned and interesting dimension to this experiment was that some of the eggs were home-grown (brown) and some were store-bought (white).  We found that the store-bought eggshells were thinner and easier to crush than the thicker home-grown ones.

We also found that the edges are sharp.  This is probably not appropriate work for very small people.

 It ended up being a great palm exfoliation treatment!

Triangles

Saturday morning. I'm still in pajamas. I'm too lazy to go to the computer, so I'm posting from my phone. The boys think we're taking the day off.
We're building triangles.
The idea came from a book at the library. You're supposed to play a game with the finished triangles. But with these boys, the thrill is in the "building" rather than the game.
1. Cut the bendy end off three straws.  (Thing2's favorite part.)
2. Use a pipe cleaner with a loop on the end as a needle to thread yarn through the straws. (Thing1's favorite part.)
3. Tie the ends of the yarn together to make a triangle.
4. Toss the triangles like horseshoes and try to ring an overturned cup. OR get carried away with threading yarn through straws until the Living Room looks like one huge booby trap.

Expense of Experience

Sometimes I walk into a room (usually the school room) and recoil at the sight of one of the boys using copious amounts of some household item on work that does not look important to me, and I wonder why I never laid down the law about using these things without my permission.


Recently, I found a pyramid-shaped stack of skinny markers bound together with layers of Scotch tape attached to Thing1's desk.  He informed me it was a cannon.  He had to use scissors to cut it apart when he needed the markers.  There is still tape on some of our markers.

Thing2 likes to wrap gifts.  The more tape, the better.

A favorite "work" is to staple all the way around a stack of scrap paper and then take all the staples back out again. 

They used $0.50 worth of toothpicks the day they made marshmallow sculptures.  Dressed up like cowboys.

While helping his dad build a shed, Thing1 used a drill motor to screw these four boards together...With about 30 screws.  The Husband plans to have Thing1 use the drill to take out the screws so he can reuse them next time he wants to build something.  Those screws are not cheap.

I try to dwell on the benefits of their work rather than the cost so as not to dampen their industry.  Then I explain to them that getting the job done is important, but using more than you need is wasteful.

After the initial shock, I remind myself (or The Husband reminds me) of all they are learning by experiencing real life, and I write off the expense as "curriculum." 

Cloud Dough

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Here's some fun stuff introduced to us by Flights of Whimsy via Pinterest.

It is Cloud Dough.  Simple enough for even me to make.  Interesting enough to keep Thing2 busy while I worked with Thing1.

I mixed 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of baby oil.  It made a silky substance that formed when packed but also crumbled easily.

Don't let the mess worry you.  It's as easy as sweeping up dry flour.  After we played, we bagged it up to use again later.  To us it was definitely worth the time, effort, expense, and mess.

A Play Date and a Bowling Tip

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Bowling tip:  Stick pieces of masking tape to the floor to mark where the pins should be set up so that the kids can set them up in the proper pyramid shape by themselves.  This has made bowling a fun and easy rainy day activity for us.

Since I just leave my tape out so that the boys can bowl anytime they want, I have had several people ask me what was wrong with my floor or why in the world I had a pattern of masking tape on it.  Oh, well.  It won't last forever.


We had a cousin over yesterday.  Because it was raining, we began a game of indoor bowling that quickly evolved into an entertaining and imaginative ping pong/golf/hockey-type game.

Later while they were playing on their own, I overheard a waiter taking orders.  One 3-year-old very politely ordered chicken with Cheetos, fresh meat with syrup, and roasted chips with salt.  (I shudder at the thought of being served meat that is not fresh, especially with syrup.)


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Today is our sixth day of sickness. This Diego scene was created by me and Thing1 on Day 3. On the far right, you will notice the tallest tree in the rainforest occupied by a macaw. On the left, you see the house where Diego's family works from which Diego has traveled on his Rescue Pack-turned-skateboard past Jaguar mountain toward the peacock in distress. The peacock is stuck in the mud. Two big macaws and two baby macaws are flying in to assist in the rescue operation. Thanks to GG for leaving us the butcher paper and inspiring this burst of imaginative creativity.