Lemon Battery

Holly has been enjoying her science curriculum, Real Science for Kids, with Daddy this year! I love watching them spend some learning time together and she adores having this one on one time with him doing something she really enjoys!

This week they worked on a fun experiment regarding chemical energy. They have worked through all different sorts of energy with experiments, but I'd have to say this has been Holly's favorite by far, a lemon battery. And, I have to admit... it was pretty cool!

She pretty much did the entire assembly as she worked through her directions. The only two places that Bryan helped out was stripping the wires and then slicing a small slice into each lemon for the pennies to be inserted. Other than that, Holly built the whole thing working through her directions and the lab. Fortunately, the experiment worked... always a good thing!! She hooked a little LED up and it lit up -- success!!!

Leaf Man

One of our favorite books for fall is Leaf Man by Lois Elhert. This is one we started when Holly was very little and is a tradition to read each fall and then create our own leaf creations. This was Hudson's first year creating with leaves.

We start by collecting leaves in the yard and drying them out as the weather has been damp. Then they enjoy sorting and inspecting for awhile. After reading the story together and really taking a fine look at all of the leaf creations we sort through our collected leaves and play with them to see what kinds of creations we can make. Then to finish up they glue some down and create a leaf masterpiece.

Simple but fun!

Lattin's Cider Mill

Last week we visited one of my favorite fall farms, Lattin's Cider Mill. We started a tour in the market house to learn about the apple cider they make and sample both cider and an apple cider donut... good stuff! Then we headed outdoors to take in the farm, feed and pet animals, enjoy some fun with friends and finish up with a little animal train tractor ride! It was a wonderful day and a perfect ending to the week - a week packed with several field trips, outdoor adventures and fall fun.

How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin?

We met up with friends from our Nature Club and did a fun project based on the book 'How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin?' by Margaret McNamara. This a fun book that walks a class through an experiment to see how many seeds are in pumpkins and why that might be.

For our group we started with pumpkin observations, estimations of how many seeds might be in our various pumpkins, then the seeded them and counted, graphed their results and we compared our results. This is a fun project to do this time of year with a small group because it makes the collective data more interesting versus just one or two pumpkins.

A great fall activity!!



Fish Hatchery & Salmon Walk

We are very fortunate to live within a mile of a small fish hatchery and a stream salmon spawn in. We visit the fish hatchery several times a year to see fish for fun, but this time of year is a bit more special as we walk through the hatchery to the stream in hopes of finding salmon.

Last night we took a small walk when Dad came home and enjoyed a small adventure through the fish hatchery. They had many more holding tanks open with fish in them then previous visits, making it much more exciting. As well, we enjoyed many birds in the area including Blue Heron, Kill Deer and a Kingfisher.

We made it back to the stream and didn't find too many salmon, kind of disappointing. We did find a few that have already turned, but nothing like years past. We will visit once again in about a week to see if there are any changes. While the salmon were a bit thin, we did enjoy some gorgeous fall foliage, tossing pebbles in the stream and the simple sounds a stream offers. A wonderful evening!!