Seed-egg

Mix water into the pulp according to the instructions on the package. 6-8 eggs need 6 dl mass / 2 dl water.
Pour the seeds onto a paper plate. You can use any seeds.
Pour some soil (or sand) into the bottom of the egg carton and place the finished seed balls in it.
Take a small mass mix in your hands and shape it into an egg. Gently swirl the egg into the seed mixture. Put the egg in the box.
Lightly spray the seeds with water.
Place the cell in a sunny place and water the seeds gently daily. Soon the eggs will be delicious, edible greens!

Galaxy Painting

A galaxy is a huge collection of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems, all held together by gravity. The planet we live on, Earth is part of a solar system in the Milky Way galaxy. When you look up into the night sky, the stars you are looking at are all part of our galaxy.

Beyond our galaxy, there are many more galaxies that we cannot see with the naked eye. According to NASA, some scientists think there could be as many as one hundred billion galaxies in the universe.

Use your imagination and a few simple supplies to make a painting of the galaxy. Download our free printable art project and template below to get started!

SUPPLIES:

  • White acrylic paint
  • Watercolors
  • Paintbrush
  • Coarse salt
  • Watercolor paper

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1: Drip several colors of watercolor paint onto watercolor art paper.

STEP 2: Spread the paint around with a large paintbrush. Repeat with more drips.

STEP 3: After the last set of drips, add a handful of course salt to the paint puddles and let dry.

STEP 4: Now splatter a few drips of white paint on top of your
‘galaxy’ to add stars.

Patterns and pattern recognition with LEGO

Part of mathematics is patterns and pattern recognition.

An easy way to do that is to use LEGO.

  1.  In the simplest variant, show the model, or a photo of a model and let the children build the same.
    The simplest variant here is to just look at the shape, the next step is to have the right colors with.
    (Also mention the colors and shapes to enhance the vision and hearing combination.)
  2. It will be a little more difficult if you only tell what the model looks like. First you take a yellow piece and then…
    The variant can be made for a child to tell as well. Or that the children sit back to back, one tells, the other builds and then they change.
  3. If you then want to add another level, you can tell / show a basic structure and then say how many times it should be repeated.
    This is where the programming idea of loops comes in.

Make a Horse that Walks

We made our horses out of construction paper. You can cut 2 or 3 out of one piece of paper.

Use a metric ruler to draw the shape below. Start with a rectangle that is 15 cm by 4.5 cm. Then divide it up as shown. Cut around the perimeter of the rectangle. Then cut the DOTTED LINES inside the rectangle.

Cut out your horse as shown.

Curl the tail (I know horses tails aren’t curled like that, but it seems to make it balance better) and fold the head.

Now it’s time to make your horse walk!

Here’s how it works:

The paper horse walks by rocking back and forth on its curved feet. As the horse rocks from one foot to the other, gravity pulls the feet down the incline.

So it rocks to the right, and the left foot (which is no longer touching the board) moves forward. It rocks to the left, and the right foot moves forward. It’s pretty cool to watch!

Here’s a photo that shows the shape of the feet:

The surface that the horse walks on is important! It needs to have enough friction, but not too much.

So if it is not working try a slope with more friction, or less.

You can see our setup below. Your ramp doesn’t need to be this long!

Troubleshooting:

  • If you can’t get your horse to walk, make sure that the legs are nice and straight.
  • Try adjusting the height of the head. For whatever reason, our horse walked the best when his head was up high.
  • Adjust the height of your slope. If the horse won’t walk, make it higher. If the horse tips forward, make it lower.
  • If your horse is not rocking back and forth smoothly, try trimming the feet to make them rounded. They should work like rocking chair runners! The outside edge should be the highest point.

Post-It Number Match

Materials:

  • Post-it Notes
  • Sharpie Marker
  • Painter’s Tape
  • White butcher paper – I couldn’t live without this!

Preparation:

Take a big paper and put “dot quantities” all over it.

Then, take the Post-Its and write the numeral for each “dot quantity”.

Activity

Hide the Post-Its in the room and let the children match the numeral on the Post-It with the dots on the paper.

Versions

You can vary the activity to train different aspects:

  • Matching shapes
  • Matching numeral to numeral
  • Matching letters
  • Matching math facts
  • Matching colors

Thanks to Busy Toddler for the idea!

Christmas Tree Tessellation

Math and art come together. A tessellation is a shape that can be repeated over and over in a pattern with no space in between.

Start with print out the template.

It’s easier to color the trees before you cut them out. I glued on all our trees on poster board in the tessellating pattern. (Kids can totally do this themselves – it just may not line up quite as nicely as mine!)

When you glue them down, let the black lines overlap between trees.

It’s easier to glue down your trees if you draw a straight line as a guide.

If you feel for a collaborative project, make a big Christmas tree out of all the small ones. My Christmas tree below is made out of 64 small ones. That will make a tree of approximately 80 cm height.

Template for the Christmas Trees

I say thanks to FrugalFun4Boys.com for the idea

Sky Science Experiment

Why The Sky Changes Color

Material

  • Smooth sided glass container or cup
  • Water
  • Milk
  • Flashlight
  • A dark room

Start by filling your glass container with water, leave some room at the top. Add some milk and mix it in. We did a few different mixes to see how adding more or less milk affected the results. Play with the ratios, that’s the great thing about this experiment, seeing how it changes the results when we change the ratios.

Note: Whole milk works the best.

Now go into your dark room and hold the flashlight under the bottom of the glass.

Sky Colors

You will notice that close to the flashlight beam the liquid takes on a blue hue, but the farther you move through the liquid the more orange it appears. The orange should be especially evident if you look down into the glass while someone holds a flashlight on the bottom.

Play around with the position of the flashlight and how much milk you add to see how it changes the results. We had lots of subtle changes.

Holding the flashlight on the side brings the blues up the side of the glass with the orange on the other side.

Holding the flashlight at an angle at the bottom front creates another pattern, but always blue closest to the light and orange farther away.

This simple experiment demonstrates how particles in the air scatter light resulting in the beautiful colors we see in the sky.

Math-memory

The math memory works like a regular memory. Players take turns flipping two optional mugs. You should try to find a number that matches the number of pearls. If the mugs you have turned over do not form a pair, you turn the mugs upside down again. If the mugs are turned upside down in a pair, the player may take the mugs and count them as a pair.

What is the purpose of the game?
The purpose of math memory is to help children connect number (that which is abstract) with number of objects (that which is concrete). The game should help the children learn to recognize numbers and connect it with a concrete amount. Doverborg and Emanuelsson and Björklund  write about the concept of subitizing, which means that you can perceive numbers without counting. They believe that subitization is about an automated relationship between arithmetic words and some type of speech image. ”Subitisation is generally assumed to be the basis for arithmetic, because it presupposes an idea of ​​the relative size of quantities, that is, a sense of whether one quantity is greater or less than another.” 

The math memory helps the children to practice their ability to estimate numbers and it helps them to become better at number perception. The math memory consists of mugs that you have to turn over and it is important to pair the right number with the right number of beads. I have placed the beads as the dots are placed on a dice. The purpose is to make it easier for children to perceive the amount of pearls because the dots of the dice are placed in patterns that are easy to perceive.

How to make the game?
You can use disposable mugs where you stick beads or a piece of paper at the bottom of each mug. You can replace the beads with other objects, but it is important to remember to have the same type of object (for example buttons) so that the children are not confused. are different objects. When choosing mugs, keep in mind that it is important that the child has room to stick their fingers down and touch the beads. This is because many children want to touch the objects they are counting.

LEGO Chair for Bear

Materials needed:

  • LEGO bricks
  • A stuffed bear or toy that can sit on it’s bum
  • Ruler to measure bear/toy (optional)
  • Paper and pencil/markers/crayons

Have the children look around the room and point to all of the chairs in the room. What do they notice is the same about all of the chairs? What is the difference?

Ask them to design a chair for their favorite stuffed bear/toy that is able to plop down in a sitting position. Ask them to think about their bear as they design a chair. What does the bear need to sit up right? What does the bear need to feel comfortable? How do you make sure the bear will fit in the seat of the chair?

  • Optional: First ask them to draw out their chair design on a piece of paper.
  • Optional: Have your child measure the bears legs, hips, and back so they know how big their chair should be.

Then have your child start to build a chair out of LEGO. If you do not have LEGO at home, you can use craft materials found around the house! Make sure to tell your child the chair needs to be sturdy and not break easily.

When they think that they are done with the chair, have them sit their bear in it. They can test the chair as many times as they want with the bear.

Have your child reflect on the success of the chair:

  • Did the bear fit in the chair?
  • Did the bear stay upright or flop over?
  • Did the bear look relaxed or straight?
  • Did the bears legs dangle or was there support for the legs?

Then there is the most fun part, the drop test.

**Take photos and videos of the chair before the drop test**

Have an adult take the chair and hold it at hip length, then let go of the chair and see what happens to it. If pieces flew off the chair, ask your child what they could do to make the chair sturdier!

Then repeat all steps as many times as necessary or make a chair for every stuffed friend in the house!

Go fish

Materials: Deck of subitizing cards with quantities 0-10

How to Play:
• Deal each player 5 cards. The rest of the deck is then spread out
facedown to create a “fishpond” between the players.
• Before starting the game, all of the players put any pairs they
happen to have in their hand down and earn a point for each
pair.
• Each player gets a turn to ask another player if they have a
particular card. For example, on you turn, if you have a card with
five dots, you would ask your opponent if they also have a five
card. If they have a five, they give you the card. If they don’t have
a five, they say, “Go fish!” If you get a five from the pond, you put
the pair out in front of you. If you don’t get a five, you keep the
drawn card in your hand. Play continues until all the cards are
paired.
• Players get one point for each pair of cards. The player with the
most points wins the game.
• You can use chips or a ten frame to keep track of points. One chip
for each pair.

 

Variation:

  • One More Than– play with a deck of cards 0-9. Players ask for a
    card that is one more than a card in their hand. For example, if
    you have a three card in your hand, then you ask your opponent
    for a card with four.
  • Tens Go Fish – This game is just like regular Go Fish, but with a twist. Instead of matching pairs with the same numbers, match pairs whose sum is ten.