superheroes!

My house has taken on a while new life. The boys have recently become completely infatuated with superheroes--x-men, avengers, batman, spiderman, teenage mutant ninja turtles. It doesn't matter as long as they have a super power. I decided to put this new interest to work and developed my lessons around superheroes. We did some super science lessons, super math, super reading and super fun activities. Lucky for me, there are people who have already created some great printables that we were able to use. Look here and here for those.

The kids love science experiments. I'm really focusing on 3 parts of the scientific method- problem, hypothesis and conclusion. I just want my kids to start thinking scientifically and developing ideas. I like inquiry based learning so it's really great to watch them experiment to make discoveries.  One of the activities was really simple. We simply cut a bar of ivory soap into 4 pieces. We stuck one piece on a plate and placed in the microwave. The kids stood perched watching it. It was really neat. They were jumping up and down hollering. We did it four times and then they played with it. The crumbly mess was everywhere but Ollie asked an interesting question, "What happens when we put it back into the microwave?" So we did and it did the same thing again even though it started in a different form.

We also made a sparkly explosion. This experiment is all over the internet. It was just a vase, some food coloring, some glitter, baking soda and vinegar. The kids made their predictions and we took turns adding different components. Even Nora was fascinated.

I also made a discovery box about magnets. Each boy received a magnet (just a strong one off the fridge) and they shared a box of items to test. I included plastic, wood, paper, fabric, a coin and metal. Dawson was especially fascinated. Finding out magnets had super powers was pretty awesome.

One of the things the kids enjoyed the most was was capes. I kept thinking, "I really must go to hobby lobby and buy some fabric to make capes but I really hate to drag everyone there and I really don't want to spend money." So I took an old sheet and cut them out. I also debated staying up late and sewing and whatnot but in the end sleep won and I decided to let them have just plain-old-unfinished-capes. Oh the horror! haha. I gave the boys paint and they went to town painting there very own cape. SO.MUCH. FUN!!

 We did telling time, counting, sorting, patterns, measurement. We read superhero books. We played games. We learned a lot. We even had a superhero night. I'll blog about that in another post. Homeschooling is the best!