A Visit to the Adventure Science Museum

Last week we took a field trip to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville. The kids were pretty little the last time we were there and didn't remember it too well, so they were excited to check it out again.

Here are some highlights from our afternoon there:

Their Magic School Bus exhibit all about weather had just opened and there was TONS of hands-on fun to be had in this area.

They enjoyed pretending to be a weather forecaster. I wish I had actual video of what they were forecasting--too funny!

I forget the name of these fun little things, but when you pull the string on one end of them and let it pop back, it makes a "boom" and the wave carries the force several feet. In this photo The Princess was aiming the wave toward a grouping of tissue papers on the ceiling.

So can you say that you've lifted a car? My two kiddos lifted one together, using a lever system, of course:)

Here is Mr. B checking out the insides of "someone" obviously in an autopsy. Thank goodness it wasn't as realistic as all of those crime shows I watch.

The "Body Quest" section of the museum had a pretty cool collection of body parts in jars. Sort of strange, but hard to not look, too.

The massive climbing tower in the center of the museum contained lots of fun musical instruments--appropriate for Music City USA, right?

Mr. B is obviously my most dramatic child and he's recently entered the "let's make a strange face for every photo" stage.

We all really loved their to-scale model of the solar system! It was amazing to see the size differences in the planets.

After all was said and done, we ended up having a field trip or event that we attended every week in January. No wonder that month flew by so quickly!

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

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