Tag Archives: science

History~Stonehenge

Since I am teaching history via a timeline, we learned about Stonehenge right after the Sumerian Civilization.

buildersFor most of the study we just used “Decoding Stonehenge” on Netflix.

We had tried to watch this a couple years ago but this time the boys seemed to enjoy it better.

It has a lot of re-enactments of what they think took place at Stonehenge.

Whenever I think a movie might be a little bit too much for them I always make popcorn.

Popcorn always makes them sit still longer!

batmanThey made a model of Stonehenge with the Jenga blocks.

This really helped them remember what Stonehenge was!

We also found a good article on kidsdiscover.com.

It had a quiz at the end that the boys really liked doing.

I have just recently realized they love online quizzes!

stonehengeLego men of course needed to be added to our Stonehenge model…

solsticeSince the video we watched talked a lot about Solstice, I took the opportunity to study it.

These books, “The Shortest Day, The Longest Day, and Arctic Lights Arctic Nights” were really good!

I got all three at our local library!

I also found some really good information and videos about the Solstice at the Teacher Vision Website.

My only regret was not learning all of this during a Solstice!

Maybe we will have to look into it again in June when the Summer Solstice takes place.

The Ice Age and Glaciers

booksIt can be difficult to find any information on the Ice Age from a Christian perspective.

I ended up buying “Life in the Great Ice Age” by Michael and Beverly Oard.

insidebookIt follows a young boy growing up at the end of the Ice Age from a biblical point of view.

It was such an amazing resource!

We leaned heavily on the Answers in Genesis site also.

glacierI did some searches for “Glaciers for kids” and came up with some interesting projects.

I cannot find the source for this one but it was a great idea.

You take a piece of ice(you can make some with bits of rocks and sand in them also) and slowly press it down and over on playdough.

Mimicking a glaciers movement.

movingWe read about what makes a glacier a glacier first and then did this project.

trailAfter we had done this we looked at pictures of valleys made from glaciers.

It was so much easier for them to see how the glacier could have carved it out after doing it for themselves!

Since my husband and I just went to Glacier National Park in September, I used many of my own pictures to talk about glaciers.

materialsThe boys were really fascinated with the cave paintings in the book so after reading what materials they used to make their paint we decided to try it for ourselves.

crushingWe used, egg white, orange juice, and coals from our fire.

crushing2The boys took turns crushing the coals into a powder.

makingpaintThen we mixed it all together.

cavepaint caveartThey tried to use pieces of grass to draw with but had better luck with paint brushes.

airblownMy oldest was really fascinated with the hand prints on the cave walls so we tried to recreate air brushing.

We used just plain straws but the boys are not good at keeping suction so most of the paint would come out and I think the opening needed to be smaller for it to spray.

sprayThey still had fun though and got the idea.

sprayerWe broke out the big guns and used a sidewalk chalk sprayer someone had given us a while ago.

handSuccess!

We studied the effects of ash clouds from Volcanoes also.

“Life in the Great Ice Age” had given that as one of their theories as to why the earth would have been cooler then.

There is a lot of evidence of increased volcanic activity during that time.

There is a lot of information and videos out there about that since we just had that big ash cloud in 2010 from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull.

Just looking at the pictures of how dark it was and how bad visibility was really helped that time period come alive.

hotAnother theory they brought up was that the ocean temperatures would have risen due to the waters from the deep coming up during the flood.

That would have caused an increase in evaporation and more rain or snow.

The colder temps with the increased snowfall would have caused more glaciers to form.

After reading that I asked the boys if warmer water evaporates faster than cooler water.

Since they were not sure we did an experiment.

I put two cups of water in a pot on the stove to heat on low and another two cups of cold just sitting out at room temp.

We than checked the amount in each every hour.

It was really easy for them to see that the hot water was evaporating very quickly.

I really enjoyed this study and learned so much!

Creation Study ~Day 5 Sea & Flying Creatures

I am going to be honest with you guys.

The last week’s of our creation study will not be as project and experiment filled.

I got a little burned out of scouring the web every week looking for experiments.

So when we got to animals, I was really happy to take a little bit of a break!

day5booksWe are still using the Answers for Kids bible curriculum and really liking it.

I am doing it a little slower in places then they call for but it was meant for a Sunday school class so I knew I would be making changes.

These two animal guides are amazing.

sharksWith public places becoming more and more inundated with evolution it is nice to have a book that tells about the animal in a way that honors the creator.

I like that each animal has the day it was created on there.

We used these for reference during our study.

birdsI let the boys pick out a Wild Kratts(a kids show about animals) show to watch each day.

It had to be about an animal that was created on day 5.

They also picked out library books about day 5 animals.

My 5yr old picked out a bird guide.

Then he stated we did not need any other bird books because he had them all in his BIRD GUIDE.

Ha!

We also watched some videos on the answers in genesis site.

Both animal guides can be found in their store.

whitesealFor literature we read Kipling’s “The White Seal”.

Kipling did not write cute little animal stories.

In The White Seal they talk about the people coming and killing a lot of the seals for food.

It might terrify some children.

The boys were upset but I pointed out they eat cows…

I am mean.

Kipling was such a great story teller though.

I love his stories!

makingmemories

fromaboveYou could also read something by E.B. White, or if you have young ones the book “Owl at Home” would work.

I recommend reading the creation of narnia to your kids while learning about creation.

It takes place in the book “The Magician’s Nephew” at the end of chapter 8 all the way through chapter 9.

It is an absolutely beautiful description of creation.

I read the book to the boys without really realizing how much it tied into what we were learning about!

Here are my previous Creation Study post’s.

Day 1 Light, Day & Night

Day 2 Atmosphere

Day 3 Dry land & Plants

Day 4 Sun, Moon, & Stars