Category Archives: DIY/Crafts

5 Weeks on 1 Week off

We started year round school this year so we have been doing school all summer.

5 weeks of school, 1 week off.

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Last week was our week off so I planned some experiments for the week.

We don’t have a lot of time for fun things like this during our regular school week so I like to do them on our week off.

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This is fluffy slime.

-Shaving Cream

-Craft Glue

-Food Coloring

-Liquid Starch

I got the idea from this post but did not have some of the ingredients so I winged it.

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The next day we did an oil and water experiment from this site.

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I still had some Alka Setlzer tablets from our lava lamp experiment we had done.

So when they were done adding the colorful drops of water to their oil they made lava lamps.

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I used coconut oil since I had a lot on hand and it is nice and clear.

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I like anything that extends a craft or experiment so I am glad we could add on to it!

We usually do field trips, games, experiments, or vacation on our weeks off.

I would prefer to do nothing but that goes downhill quickly with 5 kids.

Do you plan things for your downtime?

10 Days in Europe game and how to make your own.

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My youngest got 10 Days in Europe for his birthday last month and we really like it!

I am so excited to work on my geography!

I am really bad at remembering where places are…

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In the game you have to plan a trip through Europe and you need it to connect via land, water, or by air.

Such a fun game!

After playing this game and then seeing the Race Across the States game over at Deceptively Educational, I decided to try to make my own game.

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First up was “5 days in the Middle East”

I got the map, here.

You can get the free printable cards I made, here.

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We all drew 5 cards, laid them out in front of us, and tried to travel to countries next to each for 5 days.

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For your turn, you could choose from the discard pile or the deck and switch out the cards you did not need.

Just like “10 Days in Europe.”

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This game was easy, fun, and a great way to figure out where countries are located!

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We have been reading G.A. Henty’s book “The Young Carthaginian A Story of The Times of Hannibal

It is a really good book to learn about Hannibal Barca!

The boys groan everytime I stop reading!

I wanted them to get a better idea of the route he had to take to get to Rome so I printed this map from the Wikipedia page.

This is to attribute the author.

“Hannibal route of invasion” by Frank Martini. Cartographer, Department of History, United States Military Academy – The Department of History, United States Military Academy [1]. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannibal_route_of_invasion.gif#mediaviewer/File:Hannibal_route_of_invasion.gif

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I then made these cards of the places he went, free printable here.

I printed them all on card stock.

The goal of the game was to follow Hannibal’s route to Rome and then cross the Mediterranean to Carthage first.

We each started with one card and placed it in the correct spot in front of us for our journey.

To win you need, Spain, Gaul, Alps, Rome, Mediterranean, Carthage, in that order.

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You draw one card from the discard pile or the deck each turn until someone gets all 6 cards in the right order.

The possibilities are endless!

I am excited to have some fun with geography!