Art Fraud Detective Review

We just finished the Art Fraud Detective by Anna Nilsen.  It is a superb book that helps kids look at painting in detail from The Museum of Art while solving  a crime.  It helps build problem solving skills while learning about famous artists and their paintings. 

The premise of the book is that the museum had an informant call in and let them know that 30 of their paintings have been stolen and replaced with forgeries. There are four gangs. each with four forgers, that are behind the crime.  Each gang leaves behind a symbol on their forgeries and each forger leaves behind a certain number of changes to each painting as their calling card. It is up to the reader to figure out who is behind each forgery, which paintings are  real, and the identity of the mystery caller.

We would highly recommend this book! (Check your local library.)

Hydrogen Powered Car

 

 

 

 

                           

 

Building a hydrogen powered car that can run for 10 minutes using water as fuel.  It’s a family affair :0)

Osmosis Jones?

Joshua and Brian learned about osmosis through an experiment with raisins and water.  They both put a few raisins in a cup of water and let them sit for a day.  Today they looked at them and found them to be a lot larger and more plump.  They found that through the process of osmosis, the water had crossed through the raisins’ cell membranes and entered into the raisin, because water travels from greater concentration to an area of lesser concentration.  We found this experiment in Janice VanCleave’s Biology for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments that Really Work.   

                        Before                                                          After

What can $.90, plus tax, buy 3 boys?

An hour of fun!

Thank you, Michaels clearance rack!

Laptop Deconstruction and Bristle Blocks Construction

What can you make with spaghetti and marshmallows?

Joshua and Brian read a wonderful Usborne book entitled, 100 Science Experiments. They decided do one of the experiments that involved making stuctures out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. Joshua made several different stuctures and even tried to build a tower strong enough to hold a toy car. Brian was able to help build one tower, but it was a little challenging for him. Lucas was wanting to be right there in the middle of the action.

This is the structure with a piece of paper on it on which he was going to place the car. Will the building stand?

It could not withstand the weight of the car. So sad. We will try another day....

If You Build It, They Will ...Eat It

 

 

Here is Joshua starting with the icing.  He was the project supervisor.

 

 

 

  Brian was in charge of the candy and where it should go. 

 

 

    

 

 

                               The finished product! 

  Lucas was not happy until it was time to EAT the gingerbread house. 

Science Center Trip

We were in St. Louis for an eye appointment, so we took the opportunity to go to the the St. Louis Science Center for the day. We hadn't been there for a while. It was a beautiful day and we were able to play and learn outside as well as inside. We got to see two science shows. The first was the Science of "Peeps" (the marshmallow candy). They did a lot of different things to the peeps and compared the end result to the control peep. The boys were amazed at what the liquid nitrogen did to the peep and then they got to feel the floor after the instructor poured some on the floor. Dry and cold...very unexpected.

Joshua got to volunteer in the second science demonstration about Carbon Monoxide. He turned the crank to make electricity for light bulbs. They compared different types of light bulbs. Joshua did such a great job ;) that they gave him a compact florescent bulb to take home. He is currently using it in his room. He was disappointed that we had "the wrong kind of light bulb" in his closet. He is going to help us be Green one light at a time! :)

The St. Louis Science Center is free and if you are ever in the area, I would highly recommend it.   Find out what is in your area and have an adventure!

A Couple of Big Turkeys

Joshua and Brian made these beautiful turkeys to decorate our Thanksgiving table out of a Pringles can. Their dad said he made a Pilgrim and Native American out of cans as a child. I looked for a template online and could not find one, but I found this site that offered a cute turkey template. They had a blast doing this!

St. Louis Zoo...Free, Hands-On Education!

The boys and I went to the zoo this afternoon and had a terrific time, as always.  I cannot speak high enough praise for the St. Louis Zoo.  We focused on insects, primates, apes, and reptiles on this trip.  The boys on a sculpture outside of the Insectarium.

Resting for a bit outside:)

  The "begged" me to take their picture with this statue.  They loved the snakes, especially the Burmese Python. 

On the gorilla statue before the real thing.

Ahh...brotherly love...with sun in your eyes.

Ready to go home????

When I Grow Up, I'd Like to be a Fire Fighter

A local fire station had an open house this past weekend that the boys absolutely loved!Joshua and Brian exiting the "smoke house."

They got to put out a "fire" with a real fire hose! 

We also rode on the back of a fire truck...totally awesome!