Science Week

Last week we focused on science. The boys share their dad's love for experiments. Or maybe it's just explosions. They were pretty pumped when we planned science week, but sadly, not all of our experiments worked, and the week just wasn't as big of a hit as dinosaur week was. They really really had their hearts set on me making bubbles that don't pop, but I couldn't find the key ingredient so it didn't happen. We still had fun, though!

We made soap clouds. Celo broke his apart before I could grab the camera. Diego held his long enough for the picture and then wanted to be as far away from it as possible. He said he didn't like the smell.

The activity below was probably the one that held their interest for the longest. I gave them each a container with baking soda on one side and vinegar tinted with food coloring on the other side. They had fun using droppers to make it fizz. With some friends we made sidewalk chalk paint out of cornstarch, water, and baking soda, and the kids used spray bottles filled with vinegar to make it fizz. 

Always posing for pictures:

 Eliana is pointing and saying, "WOOK!" as it starts to fizz.

I didn't take any pictures of the "volcano" we made (just more baking soda and vinegar), or of the tornado in a jar (just water and dish soap), but they really liked both of those. While at a friend's house, they made exploding sandwich bags. Marcelo put some kind of magnetic liquid inside a balloon and let them run a magnet along the outside of the balloon to "draw" on it. Hard to explain, but they thought it was cool. They said their favorite thing they did with their daddy was making a snake out of this pliable magnetic material. He molded it into a snake and put it on a table, then used another magnet under the table to make it move around. They also did a couple of science worksheets, and played a couple science games on the pbskids website.   Our field trip was to the Science Center one last time. Our passes expire this month.

This doesn't have anything to do with science but I have to post it. My mom had just come back from Colombia the night before with soccer jerseys for the boys. She got Diego an Argentina one, and Celo a Colombia one. I knew right away that this was completely backwards, as my dancer and bocadillo eater Diego is definitely the more Colombian one, and my little mate drinker Celo is the Argentine one. She knew this, too, but bought the jerseys based on the sizes available. Turns out that despite being a 10 and a 6, they were about the same size anyway and the kids traded. They just HAD to wear them the very next day, so here they are, proudly wearing their colors at the Science Center. 

                                               

Racecar simulation. Diego thought it was too hard.

Always fun to build stuff with daddy.

My two musical kids playing and dancing on the big floor piano.

They loved these giant balls.

This was really cool. You talk into the speaker and it turns your voice into a robot's voice. They loved it.

Eliana wanted to do it over and over. It's pretty funny to hear a robot say, "A birthday to you."

They had these giant dominos. Celo knocked them down...

while Diego waited to be squished.

Then they built "dog houses" out of them.

They always love the racecars.

Making a tornado.

Grandma let us borrow one of these this week, which Diego ended up using as a "dancing light". Ohhhh that boy. Here's his newest pose for pictures.

Eliana shaking an hour glass that was almost as big as her.

Eliana thought the hurricane simulation was absolutely hilarious. She was laughing so loud that other people came to see what was so funny. 

My weather boys:

And finally their favorite: the water area. Eliana decided to stick her head in one of the waterfalls. We save this area for last for a reason. :)

Dinosaur Week in Pictures

The boys chose all the themes they wanted to do this summer and first up was Dino Week. Here are some of the fun things we did. I didn't edit these pictures or try very hard when I took them, so the quality is pretty bad, but you get the idea!

Dinosaur eggs. I didn't let them sit overnight like you're supposed to, so the results were so-so. But the kids thought it was awesome.

 

 

We went to a Memorial Day get together and Diego got an American flag and some speakers on his arm. He wanted me to take a picture, so here it is. Celo got a blue puppy on his face and a triceratops on his arm. Diego's face got really red and a little swollen after, so add face paint to the list of things his skin can't handle.

 

We had our friends over and the kids did an excavating activity and dug dinos out of some ice. They all got a kick out of this.

Eliana just wanted to eat the melted ice.

The reason we started our summer with Dino Week is because the local zoo had a dino exhibit that was almost over and we wanted to go there as our "field trip". I didn't know anything about the exhibit and I have to say, it completely exceeded my expectations.

Dino Foot Print:

These dinos moved and one even spit water. Diego loved the whole thing, but Celo steered clear of all the meat eaters. :)

 

 

 Watch out, he spits!

 

You can't really see them, but there were little baby dinosaurs here. Celo liked those.

Both boys love Triceratops. They said this was a baby one.

T-Rex! I love Diego's pose.

 And this was the "last living dinosaur". A chicken.

We did several more things throughout the week like make a dino skeleton out of pasta, dig for plastic dinos in a bin full of dried beans, made a "cerealosaurus" (glued fruit loops onto a dino), watched the Land Before Time, Dinosaur Train, and read dino books. We also ate lots of dino fruit snacks. :)