Project 1: "Nothing Rhymes with Orange"
When I read the theme, I couldn't get the phrase out of my head...so we did a rhyming activity. E will be 3 in March, so I figured she was up for some rhyming flashcards. I downloaded a rhyme matching game from the web, and some pretty little flashcards. I printed them in color and laminated them with contact paper.
The game went over well, and she now knows that yes, parrot rhymes with carrot. But she calls the wizard a witch and the jeep a car, which leaves "lizard" and "sheep" without a place on the board. Oh well. We tried again a few days later and the cards all turned to money, and E was trying to buy chocolate from Daddy. Maybe she's not a poet yet, but she IS creative!Project 2: Balancing Butterflies
When we went out to visit cousins J and L, we did another orange project that was a little more hands-on. The first orange thing I could think of was a monarch butterfly, and I quickly found this awesome balancing butterfly project on the Minnesota Science museum website. I printed out some butterflies for the kids to color, and a few monarch pics in case they actually wanted to make their butterflies orange.
After they were colored, I cut them out and the kids taped pennies on the underside of the wing tips. The effect is really cool. Below, cousin L is showing off her creation, and my husband is demonstrating with E's finished product. As you can see, the "orange" part was marginal at best. Cousin J did a wonderful replica of a monarch, though!
It was really simple, but would work for a wide variety of ages. The other cool thing is that once you get the proportions, you could make lots of other things balance in the same way...a clown, maybe, or even a lobster with big claws. Incidentally, I actually tried a quick version of a lobster and it worked perfectly! I won't show you yet, though, because he may show up on another "Unplugged" posting! Thanks for another inspiring week.
After they were colored, I cut them out and the kids taped pennies on the underside of the wing tips. The effect is really cool. Below, cousin L is showing off her creation, and my husband is demonstrating with E's finished product. As you can see, the "orange" part was marginal at best. Cousin J did a wonderful replica of a monarch, though!
It was really simple, but would work for a wide variety of ages. The other cool thing is that once you get the proportions, you could make lots of other things balance in the same way...a clown, maybe, or even a lobster with big claws. Incidentally, I actually tried a quick version of a lobster and it worked perfectly! I won't show you yet, though, because he may show up on another "Unplugged" posting! Thanks for another inspiring week.
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7 comments:
I love your projects. I would love to try the balancing butterfly with my nieces when I see them next. Lovely.
I'm going to bookmark that butterfly activity so we can try it sometime. Thanks for the link!
My 4 year old rhymes all the time. I know he would love the matching activity. I'm definitely going to do that with him. Thanks for sharing.
fun butterfly craft i'll have to do that with my girls!
Huh, nothing does rhyme with "orange", does it?
Love the butterfly idea and will have to try this. Yours turned out so well!
Great projects! The balancing butterflies look fun, can't wait to see the lobster! Should we have a "marine life" theme?
The lobsters actually looked more impressive than the butterflies lol... I think it's the long tail sticking out behind! Thanks for the link to the instructions - I wonder what animal we will make? :P
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