Everyday Life, Learning, and Fun at Home

First, the not-so-fun part. My iPhone is currently sitting in a bag of rice. I am hoping that it will dry out. Lucien decided to baptize it in the toilet. Afterwards, he was upset that it no longer played Raffi. Learning through natural consequences?

Now, on to the fun! We picked up a large cardboard box from Costco to help carry all of our groceries, and it has been a wealth of entertainment. We need to go back and get a box every week. This particular box is very sturdy, designed to hold many pounds of bok choy. It works equally well to hold about 35 pounds of toddler. Daddy and I have been picking Lucien up in it and spinning and rocking him while singing “Spin and Stop,” one of his favorite music class songs. When the box started to show signs of collapsing we halted the aerial play and Lucien repurposed the box as a fort/house. Then Daddy brought home some heavy-duty tape from work, Lucien helped to reinforce the box, and we were back to swinging. Lucien enjoyed working with the tape immensely, and soon he decided to tape over all of the holes in the box, “so no mosquitoes get in.” He worked very diligently for quite some time.

We have been unschooling a lot of science lately. We are feeding our caterpillars and watching them form cocoons and turn into butterflies. Also on the topic of metamorphoses, we have been observing the tadpoles at the nearby pond and talking about how they will grow into frogs. Lucien has told me that he wants to build a cocoon and grow wings so that he can “fly away, all the way up to the ceiling.” We have also been playing the “sink or float” game with random natural objects (sticks, seeds, rocks, feathers) when we visit the pond. Lucien can predict with pretty much 100% accuracy. Also within the realm of science, Lucien has been enjoying playing with our guinea pig, Percy, as well as our neighbor’s guinea pigs. (They have an outdoor area, complete with tunnels and cardboard box “houses” where they can all run together.) He also enjoys feeding Percy a variety of treats. So we get to talk a lot about animal care, health, and nutrition.

 

We have been to the library twice in the past week, and Lucien has shown a distinct interest in all things involving Thomas the Tank Engine. We have checked out several books and read through them all multiple times. Despite the longer length, these books are really holding his attention. We are planning to select a few more on our next visit.

And we made goop. This was ridiculously easy and ridiculously fun. Three parts cornstarch to one (or a little more) part water, add a little color if you wish (Lucien wished, for pink.) and voila. Lucien can be very particular about keeping his hands clean, but he gathered several cups of various sizes and a spoon, then spent a good block of time transferring the goop from one cup to another, exploring the viscosity, and marveling at how it sometimes seemed to be a liquid, sometimes a solid. He finally transferred all of the goop to one large cup, declared that he was done, and asked to wash hands at the sink. We then spent a lot of time happily occupied with bubbles and sponges and water.