School Time Adventures

This week is the week of the dinosaurs! I really wanted River to do some kind of fossil or dinosaur dig but didn't have any plaster of paris. Some people let clay harden onto the dinosaur, but I thought in one wack all the clay would come off, or some small annoying part would wedge between the feet and take forever to clean. Then my aha moment came...have it be an ice age dinosaur dig! Using water worked so well because as pieces of ice went flying I was so grateful I didn't have to sweep or vacuum up little white pieces, instead the big ice chunks went in a bowl and the small pieces just melted!

River had a lot of fun cracking the ice to get the frozen ice age dinosaurs out.

This is what we did......

I took 4 dinosaurs and froze them in their own container overnight.

Then slide out the ice aged dinosaur into a cardboard container or something 

not breakable to allow the fun to begin.

I got out an assortment of utensils from the kitchen: nut opener, garlic press, big spoons. The garlic press ended up working the best. We used a plastic container to put all the large ice chunks in.

The 4 dinosaurs now in their dry nests.

I was racking my brain for a safe way to play with a "real" hammer, nail, and tacks. I wanted to find something that River would be able to hit a nail into and make it stay. The solution: A small box with packing peanuts inside, duck taped closed.

So this is what we used....

the small box, hammer, nails, tacks, and rubber bands

He hit the nails into the box (no, he didn't hit his fingers. I taught him the correct way to hold the nail and swing the hammer)...but the nails actually went too far inside the box, so the tacks were a better solution. 

 River was able to slightly push the tack in and then finish pounding it into the box without the tack disappearing inside the box (plus there was no need to hold the tack while swinging the hammer, I will admit at times I was a little nervous).

He loved putting the nails, tacks, and screw hooks into the box!

Then once he had the tacks in, he could put the rubber bands 

around the tacks to make whatever kind of pattern he wanted.

This activity kept him entertained for at least 1 hour... 

be able to use a hammer, play with tacks, to build and create.
It was one of our favorite hand-eye-coordination activities that we have done!