Springtime Again~ Chickens and Rubik's Cubes!

 

We recently got chickens for the first time! We are hoping to be collecting eggs within a few months :)

However, we realize the chickens are more "therapy pets" to us than anything else :) They really calm everyone down, and all the kids enjoy taking care of them. Chickens really make great pets!

When we first got them they were so tiny but within a couple days they grew out of their box! We got one Rhode Island Red, two Barred Rocks, and one California White. Their names are Ginger, Pepper, Licorice, and Lemon. Lemon is quite a character! Here is a pic of Rosie holding Lemon, who climbed right into her lap!

The boys (and Rosie too!) have recently gotten into Rubik's cubes and they are going cube crazy! I seriously never knew there were so many different kinds. They really enjoy these challenges every day and the cubes are both theraputic and inspiring to them- and math based- we use them as a big part of our schooling!

Here's just a bit of our cube collection, and Fynn solving an 11x11. He has gotten so good he has tutorials on his channel! https://www.youtube.com/@MrEFynn

And Rowan has designed his own puzzle based on a Rubik's cube.

More cubes! And Rowan holding one of the Barred Rocks

Rosie squealing with delight as chickens climb all over her!

Happy Learning!!

~b

Basket Weaving With Rowan

 

Both Rowan and Fynn have been very curious about ancient times and primitive crafts lately ~ everything from the mid to early 1900's, back to medieval times, all the way back to what they call "BCers" times.

Rowan especially has always loved domestic arts such as weaving, so basket making was next on his list. He has already woven several wool rugs and tapestries!

Here is a wool rug he is working on now, with yarn he hand spun! I will write another post on his wool weavings sometime in the future, hopefully ;)

We used day lily and iris leaves for our baskets because we already had them in the yard, and they need to be cut down soon for winter anyway. Here is a pic of Rosie's basket of leaves after she pulled them all out and ripped them up. Her way of getting in on the fun :)

The first time Rowan made his basket, he pinned it together with thumbtacks. But then a little person came along and pulled it apart :( so he made it again using staples!

I thought to try making a basket like the one I made in fourth grade, from strips of palm fronds, when we were studying the California Indians. I haven't made any baskets since.

I also thought it would be fun to make a little bracelet!

We hope to take a wagon ride out to the "Gazelle Field" soon to get some cattails, willows, and grasses to make more fun baskets!

Happy Learning!

~Beth

Planet Cookies 2.6

The reason I'm callin' this post "Planet Cookies 2.6" is because, if you recall, I already posted an article back when Fynn was 5 years old about the cookies he and I made together.  Well, now Rowan is 2.6 years old and this is his turn ~the planet cookies he and I made together!

We just used a sugar cookie recipe and cut out 3 different sizes of cookies: large (a glass), medium (a jar), and tiny (a spice jar). Rowan picked out certain planets to add rings to, and a few we even cut into spiral galaxy shapes (Rowan loves "The Galaxy"). Before putting them in the oven, we decorated them with colored sugar.

Before hand we had mixed up 7 different colors of sugar and food coloring in little jars, each with their own spoon for mixing and sprinkling. We made red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black. How did we make black, you ask? If I remember right, it was something like 3 drops red, 2 drops yellow, and 3 drops blue.

Jupiter with Red Spot

Not only were they beautiful and delicious, but they were easy to make ~as long as I remembered to prepare the dough the night before! (A thing you have to do for sugar cookies.) Rowan was a very good helper ~he loves baking~ not just tasting ~ and we both had a lot of fun!

And on the note of planet cookies, I also want to include our Pretend Planet Cookies from Playdough. Rowan and Fynn have both been making these and "baking" them in pretend ovens and feeding them to whales and blow-up planet friends.

The purple one is The Galaxy.

Vanilla and chocolate playdough

Fynn's sun with solar flares

That mouth you see is Dark-Blue Whale's. He's about to eat that Mercury cookie.

Happy learning!
~Beth