Bug Me

Well, you know we love the library. And OMSI. And we've got a self-procalimed etymologist (though I like "tymolotist", the way she says it) living among us. So, when we happened  to be at the library the day they started registering for an OMSI bug class...well, Miss Amarra was just in heaven. When it was time to talk about the parts of the insect, the instructor asked for volunteers that liked to wear costumes. Elora's hand shot up as she shouted, "I so TOTALLY do!", which made everyone laugh. So she got to go to the class as he dressed her in an abdomen, thorax, wings, legs, and head. Pretty funny stuff! Then the class got to "meet" a few insects from OMSI and learn about their habits, diet, life spans...all that good stuff. Then the class split up to examine specimens through microscopes and do some buggy crafts (yes, I have marshmallow insects living on top of my refrigerator right now). Those who wanted a closer look at the insects gathered, just a few at a time, at the other end of the class.  First in line?  Oh yeah, Amarra. Another mom and I grossed out together a bit as she leaned her face about an inch away from a hissing cockroach, and she petted the Rosie the rose haired tarantula more than once. Her favorites, though, were the walking sticks. (I just know it wont belong before this house is full of even more bugs than the currently captures spiders and grasshoppers.  *shudder*) She looooves those walking sticks. The big surprise, though, was that when Seleia and Elora joined a later group to get up close and personal with the bugs they both petted those hissing cockroaches.  Ewww! (For those not in the know: cockroaches and I?  Not friends.) I love the look on the little boy's face in the background when Seleia pets it...I think I was making the same face. These girls get an A+ in my book, though, between the bugs and the squids. Tough little chickies. And  we came home with another hundred or so bug books from the library that day. That's my tymolotist!

DNA Demystified

Did you know that strawberries have DNA? But, as the girls learned today, every living thing has DNA. They took the DNA from strawberries, mixed it with salt water and alcohol and watched the DNA strands attach themselves to bubbles in a test tube. Next? Why they mixed their own saliva, of course. These teeny tiny bubbles in a test tube had even teeny tinier little white strands attached to them, and DNA is so amazing and compact that what looked lite millimeters of the stuff would have stretched to over 6 feet in length is laid out straight! Seleia loved doing the chemistry of it all, mixing everything in a tube and volunteering to mix up even more at the front of the class. Elora just plain loved looking at the DNA strands appear in the tube! These OMSI labs have been such a great experience and the girls get so excited for them each week. Hooray for science!

Dash Discovers Play Dough

Today at OMSI, Dashiell met the wonder that is play dough. After his big sis Amarra showed him the ropes he had so much fun squeezing it, mushing it, molding it, rolling it with pins, cutting it with a spatula, mushing it with a little potato masher, and using cookie cutters on it. (And he only tried to eat it once!) He played with the dough for over a half hour until I pulled it away from the table.  I think Mikey likes it.

Fun With Scissors

Seleia and Elora have been looking forward to today's OMSI lab for months. Squid dissection! Seleia, my science girl, loves to dissect and for Elora Kay this was a first. Seleia was proud to already know that a squid could grow to 40 feet and that their eye and it's muscles are very similar to that of a human (Thanks, Jonathan Park!) but both girls were interested to learn that the two longest tentacles work like the squid's "feet" and help them get around, while the smaller tentacles work like hands and grab it's food, putting it into the squid's mouth. They learned to tell the male from the female (don't ask me, I don't know) and removed the "pen" which is basically the squid's spine (in Elora's hand), and got to draw in the squid's ink with it. Twisted, but cool. The class got to see up close through a high power microscope.  They removed the ink sac, the brain, three hearts (Says Seleia, "It has more hearts than Doctor Who!), two gills and the eyeballs. I wasn't there for the bulk of the class, just the last 10 minutes (I got to draw in squid ink, too!) but everyone was smiling and attentive when I arrived and they could not stop raving about the class. I doubt I could have handled this ate age 7 (or 9, for that matter) without totally grossing out, so I have total respect for these girls. They so rock.

Science Playground

While Seleia and Elora take their science classes at OMSI, Amarra, Dash and I usually head upstairs to play at the Science Playground, a space packed with sensory, motor skill and educational goodness specifically geared for kids aged 0-6. Amarra has a particular fondness for the pulley system and Dashiell, well, he loooves those bean bags! I'm just going to have to break down and make him some to play with at home. Simple pleasures, I find, are often the best, and in this case that definitely holds true! He will laugh, laugh, laugh while retrieving bean bags and placing them through slots of various shapes and sizes. Amarra, generally encouraging him from the other side of said slots, will then gather up the bean bag bounty, take them to the pulley, and deliver them back up to her brother.  Again.  And again. And them a few more times. I just get to sit back, make sure nobody (Dash) topples down the stairs, and enjoy the show. Everybody wins!

The Physics of Bridges

I found these pictures from a while back on my camcorder...forgot my camera that day! (The camcorder takes great video.  Not so great still photos.) Seleia had so much fun at the OMSI Physics of bridges lab! The gentleman that runs they Physics lab and teaches the classes is wonderful, as he is genuinely excited about what he is teaching and loves to share his love with the students. (He knows Seleia to be a Thomas Edison fan, and was sure to show her when he got his hands on a new (okay, very old) invention of his. He has a few now.) Seleia's team of girls engineered a bridge unlike one any students had ever built before, and it held up quite well to it's Hot Wheel commuters. He asked their permission to take a picture of it, and they were beaming. (The boys in the next group were not thrilled that he did not want a picture of theirs. Ah well.)
OMSI labs are one of our favorite ways to explore Science! This year we've built bridges, gone in a submarine to study sonar, learned about Lego Robotics (which apparently we will be doing more of!), colors in space, the "Art of Science" and how 3D works with the human eye, studied constellations in the planetarium and learned about charting stars, and a few more I can't remember at the moment. Next week Seleia and Elora are dissecting a squid ~Seleia loves dissecting!~ and the following week is "DNA demystified. OMSI is an invaluable resource to our home schooling, and is so much fun!  Look at my little scientist smile!

Lego Robotics

We ♥ OMSI labs. Seriously. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is hands down one of the best places to learn about....you guessed it: science and industry. We regularly take about four science lab classes at OMSI per school year, but this year we upped the ante and are doing 13 different labs. Lab number one was Lego Robotics. Joel took Seleia ans Elora and they all came home telling me ALL of the reasons that we needed to set aside $300 to purchase out very own Lego robot. (Joel found one a day or two ago on sale for the bargain price of $289. Not that he wants one or anything.)

First the girls got to "know" their robots. Elora's name was Orangie Peanut Butter, Seleia's was Blackout. They learned about how they worked, did a few simple tasks, and then came the computer programming. They learned to program the robots to respond to their physical commands and move from one place to another, with some turns along the way. Surprisingly, Seleia's favorite part was the programming. She added in sensors so that it would stop and turn when she clapped, etc. Way too cool!

The only disappointment?
"I thought we were going to get to take the robots home!"

If only!