Activities for Kids: Understanding Plants & Colours

Every once in a while we like to do a learning activity that is somewhat outside the box. This week, one class was working on understanding colours and understanding how primary colours made secondary colours.

The second class was biology understanding how plants processed water.

So, to make it fun to learn both, this is what we did:

We took a bouquet of white carnations, some small vases, food colouring and some water.

We put blue and red in two different vases for primary colours. Then mixed blue and red to make purple and the last one was yellow and red mixed to make orange. By putting the food colouring in the water it show how plants “drink” and the colour moves up the stem to the petals, eventually changing the petals to the colour of the water.

Then we watched the process evolve over the next 24 hours.

The above photos were taken in 6 hour increments.

And 24 hours later I get a nice and colourful bouquet for me :

Heather Burke is a very involved Aunt of 6, who loves to make learning fun while being educational and can also be found at smartspaceorganizing.ca.

Painting with water

by Lara Sometimes I forget how simple fun can be for kids.  Now that it's getting warm out more often a great way to keep the kids busy outside for, potentially, a really long time is to let them paint with water.

A few paint brushes, a few spray bottles and a bucket of water = cheap fun, and they'll probably be distracted enough to let you get a little yard work done too!

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and two and a half year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette. Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.

Birthday Party Planning

by Josee Celebrating the birth of our daughter is a grand occasion in our home, but not in the traditional gifts and cake sort of way.

For her 1st birthday, we decided to ask for donations to the Ottawa Food Bank. Although some guests did bring gifts (mostly second-hand—as requested) we were able to make a decent donation of non-perishable food items.

The idea was born out of a need to keep excessive amounts of “stuff” out of our little house and to teach our little one that giving is just as much fun as getting. So, we’ve decided to make this an annual event and we’ve upped the ante. Our goal this year is to “donate her weight” and, at 30 pounds, that’s no small feat! Guests will be asked to bring a donation in lieu of gifts.

Our evite reads:

Jacqueline-Eva LOVES to eat. When she learned there are people in her community who can’t afford to eat as well (or as much!) as she does, she decided to take action!

This year, in lieu of gifts, Miss Jeva is requesting guests bring non-perishable food items to be donated to the Ottawa Food Bank. Her goal is to “donate her weight”…so about 30lbs of food!

We’re hopeful that she will look back with fondness as she recalls memories of rallying together for a good cause and we look forward to making this a family tradition for years to come. Josée is a first-time mom and she is still getting a handle on finding balance with her roles as wife/mom/daughter/friend/employee… not to mention trying to keep up with the appetite of her soon-to-be two year old Jacqueline-Eva.

Imagination

by Lara A video went viral last week about a little boy in L.A. who built an arcade out of cardboard - have you seen it?

Caine, a 9-year-old boy, built an arcade out of cardboard in his father's auto parts shop. This kid is amazing - he replicated games he had played in a real arcade with cardboard... what an imagination, what a future engineer.

What I love about this video is seeing Caine create, and then seeing the celebration of what he created.  We need to celebrate these kinds of creations, to celebrate when our kids come up with the cleverest of ideas.

If you haven't seen the video - here it is.  Caine is amazing, @nirvan is fabulous from bringing Caine to light, and the best part of this is that Caine now has a college fund surpassing 100K.

Have your kids built anything amazing lately?

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and two and a half year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette. Between the kids and her social media consulting business , she spends most of her time running frazzled.

I spy

by Alanna It all started out with a surprise birthday invitation. Three pages all stamped with offical CSIS letter head and stamps. Very intriguing. My boy was invited to a birthday party at "The Diefenbunker" For those of you who aren't familiar with the place, it was built during the "Cold War" by John Deifenbaker, the Prime Minister at the time. It was a top secret building that would house all the important government officials in the event of a nuclear attack. The building is now used as a museum that chronicals an important time period in Canadian history. Also, a fabulous venue for a Spy birthday party for a bunch of 6-9 year olds. I was very curious how this would play out (and had never been to the Deifenbunker) so I tagged along.

We were met at the main entrance by our guide who promtly ran the kids through Basic Training exercises, and then we were ushered into the building that where our mission would take place. The children were suited up, picked "secret agent" names and were told about how to be stelth like and super quiet. We were on the lookout for Agent X. We were guided through rooms which were still set-up as they would have been. The children were able to get hands on with the equipment, looking in drawers and touch things they have never seen before (you know, like a typewritter).

The children took their mission very seriously. Ducking and dodging to keep out of sight from the secret agent. The guide played it up too. A party is 12 children for $140.00. You will need to supply the cake and you can bring food. There is also a pizza delivery option that was not mentioned to the birthday mom, but you may want to ask. Also, two things you should know is that for the younger children it can be a little scary, especially when they first walk in

2. there is a lot of walking. 4 floors up and down. Be prepared in comfortable shoes. Finally, there is no pre-party set-up. You may want to leave the loot bags in the car and give them out when you leave. You will have to carry things around for a while.

Definately a fun event for, those spy loving kids who are up for a little adventure. Have a great time.

The two and a half hour event was well received by the children. They all were talking about having their next party there and who they would invite. It was fabulous for children who have great imagination.

Alanna is a mother of two beauties, Nora age 3 (aka coconut) and Avery 5 (aka polka dot). Former ECE turned mother, party planner and blogger.  Never a dull moment around this house.