My Little Scientists

One thing I love about my children is how curious they are and are always wanting to learn new things. Mike and I have tried to encourage this by giving them gifts on Christmas or their birthdays that will foster this love of learning. When I buy the gifts, I fully expect to be a supportive parent who is helping their child gain knowledge through hands on activities. Unfortunately, these projects are also messy and time consuming, so even though my little scientists have asked several times, "Can we build that volcano you got me for Christmas today?" or , "Would today be good to start making the bricks to build the castle you got me on my birthday?" somehow the answer always seemed to be, "It's too messy." or, "We don't have enough time today." But persistence payed off, and finally this last Friday, when we had nothing else to do, we broke out the Volcano making kit and the Medieval Castle making kit. I was right, they were both messy and took a lot of time, but it was well worth it. My boys had a blast making them and they worked so well together on both projects. I was really proud of them.

This is the volcano exploding. Mix some colored vinegar and baking soda together and low and behold, you have lava coming right out of the volcano!

To build this castle, first the kids had to make the bricks. This required mixing some "cement" and pouring it into a mold that made about 25 small bricks. Then they had to wait about a half and hour for it to dry before they could take the bricks out of the mold and make some more. The castle requires over 500 bricks, so you can imagine how long this process took. In the above photo, Mitchel and Max were finally starting to glue the bricks together. They got the entire first tower made, only to find a few hours later that they didn't use enough glue and the whole thing fell apart. By then I was sick of the whole mess sitting on my counter, so I boxed it all up. The castle construction will have to wait for another day.

I do love though how much my children love to learn. They read everything they can get their hands on. They want to know the "why" and "how" of everything. They rarely complain about doing homework and actually seem to enjoy it. Mitchel's favorite is Science. He will come home from school and teach us everything he is learning in class. He seems to remember every detail. Max loves reading and writing. He has made several books of his own that are actually quite clever and funny. He is a great writer and speller. Mason is starting to get into it all too and is a whiz at Math and is great with sounds. I love how smart they all are! If there is one thing I have done right as a mom, it's reading to my kids and helping to foster a love of reading, books, and learning. It is totally paying off! Hopefully Miles will follow in his brother's footsteps.