Books of the Week – Feb. 27, 2010

We recently went to a church festival and one of the activities was a book fair. We found so many great books, most of them written in the 30’s, 40’s, and 60’s. I felt like I won the jackpot! :) I just love the look of older books!

My Box and String, by Betty Woods was written in 1963. This is such a cute book, written in rhyme, about a boy who makes a *thing* with a box and some string and then doesn’t want anyone else to play with it. Yet, he isn’t sure what to do with it himself. Finally, with the help of a little girl’s wise words, he realizes the fun was in creating his box and string. This is a great little book about the fun a child can have with simple, everyday objects. And it is a great book about using one’s imagination too, since several animals, as well as a boy and girl, come up with all kinds of creative uses for the box and string creation. We all love this book!

Another great find was Everyday Animals, by Gertrude E. Allen. This book was written in 1961 and is a non-fiction chapter book. It has wonderful black and white illustrations and each chapter talks about a different animal… rabbits, chipmunks, mice, skunks, porcupines, and gray squirrels… animals a child knows and probably has seen. The text is great and the author did a great job of writing about things that small children will truly find interesting. For instance, this part from the rabbit section:

“When Mother Rabbit is expecting babies she finds a spot under some tree roots or bushes or in tall grass. She digs a hole and lines it with grass and bits of fur. She makes a blanket from grass and fur and tucks it over the babies when she leaves the nest.”

Or from the chipmunk chapter:

“Chipmunks look odd when they swim. They hold their tails straight up in the air!”

Ok, obviously I love this book and so does M despite it’s length. We’ve been reading one chapter at a time, and he has really enjoyed learning all the little things about these animals.
Click on the button at the top of the page to see more reviews on great kids’ books!
Have a beautiful day! :)

Science Time… Color Changing Paper

Well, I can’t remember what number science experiment we are on, but this one also came from our Mind Blowing Science kit.

First, we filled two cups with a little water.  M added baking soda to one and citric acid to the other.  We labeled them A for acid, and B for base.  We also marked two q-tips so we wouldn’t accidentally put one of them in both the base and the acid.

Then we took out some “goldenrod” paper that came in the kit.  M dipped one q-tip into the acid cup and drew a little on the paper.  At first it simply looked like a darker shade of orange, but as we watched it turned into a deep red.

When M dipped the other q-tip into the base solution and drew over the red, it erased the red and the paper was goldenrod again (really, why can’t they say dark yellow or light orange?).

And then we had fun drawing invisible pictures with the base solution and making them appear with the acid solution.  M expected more of a “wow” with this experiment and was a little disappointed that it was only changing to one color.  However, he still had enough fun with this that he played around with it for quite a while.

So, here’s the deal… goldenrod paper has a chemical in it that is an acid indicator, and it turns red when it comes in contact with acid.  The base solution of baking soda neutralizes the acid and erases the red marks.  Apparently you can do this experiment with cranberry juice too!  Hopefully we’ll get around to trying that one sometime soon.

And then, of course, came the dumping everything in the tray and watching it foam up.  And then a half hour of playing with more baking soda and a little vinegar.  It really never gets old does it? :)

Well, it doesn’t if you are three years old. :)

Check out more science at Ticia’s Science Sunday post!

Have a beautiful day! :)