Chemical Reactions using Common Household Items

Z had to work on a project for public school here this weekend showing chemical reactions using common kitchen items. We pretty much covered this already when we created our Snow Volcano this winter but it was fun to do again using slight variations. She'll be taking a volcano to school tomorrow to show her class what happens when you combine baking soda, vinegar and a little red food coloring.

This was vinegar and baking soda:

lemon juice and baking soda:

orange juice and baking soda:

We took photos and she created a mini-board to share with her class showing the different variations so she only has to do one "experiment" in front of the class tomorrow. 

I know this isn't "homeschooling" yet but it's work that we're doing at home and I wanted to share! She's excited at the possibility of being able to do more science next year when at home...I am too!

Just a Fun Share!

Since our decision to homeschool we've been slowly turning our basement into a learning space. I've been trying to be frugal and use what we already have for most everything. I have gone and purchased a chalkboard that was on sale online and we did pick up a book case from Wal-Mart and some plastic bins from our local dollar store. Our space is shaping up pretty nicely and I'll share more photos of our space when we are closer to being done...but I wanted to share this awesome find that was FREE! 

A canvas chalkboard pull-down map!! I actually had this in my apartment when in college that my dad picked up somewhere and after moving around a lot afterwards I had assumed that it had been given away or sold because I lost track of it. When home visiting my dad however over Easter he had it sitting out for me! I couldn't believe that he still had it and am so tickled to use it for our geography unit. The backside of the map has the world...so awesome! I just had to share.  :)

Rock Painting

We live in Northern Wisconsin and we've got at least 6 inches of snow STILL! We've been getting a bit antsy and have been looking for some easy crafts. Rock painting was something that I had pinned on Pinterest awhile back and we hadn't attempted it up to this point. I had however pulled a small stash of rocks from our rock garden so we used those for this little project.

We used small bottles of acrylic craft paint that I picked up at our Ace Hardware and painted a few coats on to the rocks so the colors were vibrant.

*TIP* For art projects I have a vinyl tablecloth that we throw over our work table in the basement and for painting I cut up pieces of cardboard to serve as art mats.

I pulled out my permanent markers too and love the little faces on Zoey's rocks (pictured below).

A fun, easy art project that you get to see pretty much immediate gratification from! Sometimes that's nice! Right now the rocks are sitting in a pretty little bowl on our table but the plan is to put them out in the garden this summer.

Thanks for stopping by!