Creating His Own Mini Pond in a Container

The above picture is L's own "pond" he created the other day. We were at the lake and I always bring various cups and containers, and he started bringing water, muck, wood, and rocks to his plastic container to create his own "pond" as he was calling it.

 I loved the idea and loved it even more that it was thought up all on his own!

 

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Quick Outdoor Cooking Setup

On a gorgeous early morning L wanted to cook outside so I threw some noodles, beans, and rice together, along with some pots and pans, cups, spoons, an empty milk and egg carton, and his little metal table, for a quick and easy outdoor kitchen setup. I used the hose to fill up a bucket of water to cook with. We were literally set up in 5 minutes for hours of engaging outdoor fun.
Take that cartoons!

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Giant Bullfrog Tadpoles

Have you ever seen such an enormous tadpole?! It's a bullfrog tadpole and I just adore them! I've been really wanting to find some and when my friend told me she knew where some were, well, not many days later I was thigh high in the muckiest, slimiest, snake and alligator snapping turtle infested pond ever, with a tiny net catching these things for me and 5 other friends who came with us to the pond hoping to find some for their kiddos.
 The problem being that no one wanted to get in to get them...except me and another mama! We came accross 3 snakes (less than a foot away from our own feet!) but we just couldn't disappoint the kiddos! After an hour or so we managed to catch one for each family! 

Yes, thats me in the pond...in a skirt, being pulled out of thigh high mud after catching one!

The things we do for our kids! haha

After just a few days, our tadpole developed it's front legs! Aren't he just adorable?!

I think we'll only keep him a few days longer and then release him in the lake nearby. I'm not a huge fan of keeping animals in captivity very long. If we find frogs, turtles, bugs, etc. we usually only do "sleepovers" and keep them for one night, but I really couldn't resist this amazing observational opportunity for L.  I love watching him too!

 

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Colored Vinegar and Baking Soda Eruptions

Vinegar + Baking Soda

When combined, vinegar and baking soda cause a fun fizzing and foaming reaction.

We added food coloring to ours for "pretty" eruptions. :)

You can actually do this a few ways. (here's another)

But here's what we did

I filled 4 plastic cups with vinegar (not the jars you see above),  and added different food coloring to each one. I then set 4 different jars on a cookie sheet (you REALLY want a cookie sheet under your jar because everything will erupt up and over). I scooped lots of baking soda into each jar. Then to make eruptions we simply poured our cups of colored vinegar into the jars of baking soda. We did one jar at a time until the ooos and aaahs were over, then moved on to the next jar. The faster and the more vinegar you pour into the jar, the bigger the eruption! You may want a few jars of vinegar, because it's really fun but over quickly!

Sorry for the lack of pics, this is actually something

we did this past winter, but I just found a picture of. 

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Aluminum Foil River and Waterfall

After seeing Filth Wizardy's tin foil river, It's been on my "to-do with L" list. We used heavy duty aluminum foil to make "rivers, waterfalls, and pools." He absolutely loved it! We floated flowers, small sticks, and even a bug accidentally floated down our river. What he liked most though, was making his own. It didn't matter that his didn't quite hold water as well as mine, he just loved constructing it and testing it out.

 

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Large Scale Fingerpainting

I taped a huge line of craft paper to the driveway for some large scale fingerpainting.

Which of course turned into body painting...and basically a paint slip-n-slide!

 

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Blue Glitter Goop with Flowers

We've made Goop LOTS of times (HERE, HERE, and HERE), but it never seems to get old! In case your new to goop, it's a marvelous concoction of simply cornstarch and water. I don't know the exact amounts, because we just dump a whole bunch of cornstarch in a bowl or bucket and add water until we get it to the conistency we like, but i'd say it's 1 part water to about 2 parts cornstarch.

When mixed, you get a goopy substance that you can squeeze as a solid, but when you release your hand, it will slip through your fingers as a liquid. You can actually pound your fist on this stuff and not break the surface. However, if you let your hand settle on it, it would sink into the goo. It's something you just HAVE to feel. It's pretty awesome for a kid, or an adult. I always end up playing with it myself and L can play with this stuff to no end. Bonus...it also washes off extremely easily!

We made goop outside again and added some glitter and food coloring, and L put some daisies from our yard in there as well. It was really pretty actually!

and like most things we do....it quickly became a full body experience.

 

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