Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Sushi Experiment

We picked up this fancy sushi maker in the kids section of the thrift store (who knew?).  It took us a good hour to figure it out, with the instructions primarily in Japanese.  We did manage to make some and even more exciting, eat a few!  The kids were game to try although the nori does take some getting used to for these Canadians.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Habitats & Animals

We are re-visiting the Planet Earth dvd series this month to learn about both animals (Ella) and habitats (Ivy).

Overview of Planet Earth

Overview of biomes
Ivy has copy of the biomes sheet and matches the episode to the corresponding category.  We look it up on maps to see where in the world they are located.

Planet Earth animal guide
Here's a great animal guide to go with the series. Ella is specifically watching for the different animals in each episode and we discuss how it is adapted to that particular habitat.

Animal & Habitat Games


Deserts
More info on the desert biome


Jungles

Rainforest biome

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Solar Kit

Ella was inspired to want to build herself a remote control vehicle this last week! It's beyond my skill level but we were all interested in what kind of parts you might need and how it would work. We looked up a few ideas online and then decided to start with a kit. We also downgraded from a remote to a simple motor!

We picked up this kit and assembled it together. We got all the wires right and the wheels spin when the panel is exposed to sun and held off the ground but it's not powerful enough to actually drive, which is a bummer. We'll try some of the other variations and see if we have more luck!



Ivy has also shown an interest in electronics in the past so we'll revisit the kit parts we have and see if we can learn something new.


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