Make Believe – Day 3

Our activities didnʻt exactly fit in the make believe theme, but I had to take a trip to Lā‘ie this week and thought the girls would enjoy seeing the Museum of Natural History at BYU Hawaii.   Poohʻs sisters came along with us today.

We started out at the Lā‘ie Hawaii Temple Visitors Center.  The chicks spent a few minutes watching the videos and playing the interactive games on the touch screens.  The Visitorʻs Center has become so technologically advanced. There are so many things to do that the chicks couldʻve spent a lot longer there.

On our way out, one of the missionaries asked if the girls would like to listen to the audio that goes along with the Christus statue.  They loved it.  They all sat still and listened.

Next it was on to Brigham Young University – Hawaii Campus.  The oldest of the 25 cousins just started school there this semester so we made plans to meet up with her. (Weʻll call her Hiapo-first born. I hope she doesnʻt mind.)  On the way over, I told the chicks that we were on our way to see Hiapo.  They couldnʻt get over the fact that Hiapo lives at school, and not with her mom.  She met the chicks out in front of her dorm so they could see where she lives.  Sheʻs such a good oldest cousin.  Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he sent her down first.

The Museum of Natural History was very small, but so fun.  The chicks loved it and could have stayed much longer.  Itʻs just one small room, but we still spent close to 45 minutes there.  They took a ton of pictures; all very cheesy.  Admission is free, but call ahead to make sure they donʻt have another tour scheduled.

We finished our day with a picnic lunch, provided by Aunty Corie, on the lawn in front of the dorm.  Then we got to take our college coed home for the weekend.  I think the chicks felt a little better about the living arrangements since she gets to come to visit her mom on the weekends.

Theme: Flowers Day 2

Who knew a simple theme like, “flowers” could be so much fun?! We sang, “In The Leafy Treetops” because the second verse talks about the flowers “nodding.”  It’s funny every time I hear kids say the flowers are “naughty.” We went outside to do Hapa printing.  It’s a japanese art (according to “the internet”) where you pound the flowers onto a piece of paper or fabric.  In the process, you extract the color from the plants and it makes a print. We spent some time looking for flowers. The chicks even used some petals from the flowers they received with Aunty Corie at Watnabe’s Florist. Everything I read about this process says to dampen the cloth.   When we did that, too much of the brown pigment came through. We tried again without the water and got a MUCH BETTER print.  I love it!

I think they came out so great. We read a few stories and then spent some time with this fun book, “What Shall I Grow” by Ray Gibson. It’s filled with so many great ideas for planting fun things. We read more stories, and then went outside to plant marigolds.  We talked about the process that flowers go through so that they can bloom.

It was a fun day with the chicks and I can’t wait to see what they do with Aunty Dani with flowers.

Occupations – Day 3

Of course we had to start with funny faces.

Next we talked about different careers.  We talked about the careers that their parents and family members have.  When I asked what Papaʻs occupations was, they said builder, fixer, and painter.  They made funny faces when I told them he was an engineer.

Today we focused on farmer and scientist.  We went outside and talked about what a farmer does.  We planted tomato and basil and discussed what a farmer does to care for his plants.  They promised to do the same.  Uniqua really enjoyed this. Pooh tolerated it.

Hal just smiled for the camera and tried to get me to do it for her.

We went back in to cool off and get a snack.  They grumbled about how hot it was and we decided that farming was hard work.  I showed them a video of a dairy farm so they could see how we get milk.

We shifted gears for a little bit and talked about being a scientist.  I showed them some of the tools that scientist use.  We talked about the process of having a question, observing with all our senses, and testing things out.  Itʻs all about exposure right.  Most of it went over their heads, but they liked the oobleck that we made.  We played with this stuff all the time when we were kids.  I didnʻt know it had a name until I went to my sonʻs 7th grade science class a few years ago.
Our next activity was not planned.  I was about to fix lunch for them and I had the bright idea to combine our farming and science and make butter from the heavy cream I had.  I didnʻt think this through very well.  I gave each of the chicks a jar with a little heavy cream and salt in it.  I capped it up and told them to shake as hard as they can.

That lasted about 15 seconds and then guess who got stuck shaking the jars. Plan B: We through some heavy cream into the kitchen with some sugar and made whipped cream.  That was a hit. I wanted them to see it go all the way to butter so I whipped up some more with some salt and took it all they way to this stage.  They tried it on some crackers with their lunch.  Another hit.

St. Patrick’s Day

Usually when I think I’m going to have a hard time finding things to do that fit our theme, I go a little overboard.  Today was one of those days.  We didn’t have much down time today.  I wanted to make Celtic knot pretzels, so we started the dough right away. ( I must not have taken pictures of this).  Then we talked a little about Ireland.  The globe has become a favorite of the chicks so they pulled it out and tried to find Ireland.  I was impressed that they found Japan from last week.  I showed them Ireland, and they all wanted to point again.

I found a cute leprechaun story on TumbleBooks called Fiona’s Luck.  It’s a story about a girl who outwits the leprechaun king and tricks him into releasing the luck back into the air in Ireland. They really like this website and it gives me a little time while I prep the next activity.

The story led to a discussion about leprechauns putting their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, so we made Skittles rainbows.  The chicks sorted their Skittles by color and put them in their jar one color at a time to create their rainbow. Then they shook up their jars.Without a break we moved to making green slushy.  I love science even if the chicks don’t get what it’s all about.  It’s all about exposure right?  The night before I froze salt water in a quart zip top bag.  Then we placed the salt water bag into a gallon zip top bag and closed it up.  The girls took turns shaking.  After about 5 minutes of shaking we had slushy, green apple juice.  I put it in the freezer to let it get a little firmer. By this time, our pretzel dough was ready to roll.  I gave them each a little piece of dough had them roll it into a snake. Then I helped them tie a Celtic knot and paint it with an egg wash.  They came out really pretty.  They had lunch while I dropped the pretzels in a boiling baking soda and water bath and baked them.  I gave them corned beef in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, but the only chick that would eat it was Pooh.  She’s our good eater.

These were so delicious.  I loved them so much I taught our Young Women at church how to make them later that night.  You can find this recipe here.
Right before they went home we went outside for our green slushy.