Look! It Sticks

When Ava was about one and a half I created a bean tub for her to have some sensory play. I then discovered we had a Lakeshore store close to where we were living at the time. While in the Lakeshore store I found this magnetic wand and chips. I decided to hide the magnetic chips in the beans and create another work for her to do. She would take the wand move it around in the beans, pull it out and have chips on her wand. She would then take her hand and rake the chips into another container until all the chips were collected from the beans.

Now that she's older I decided to use the wand for another work. I found little items around the house that were Magnetic and Non-Magnetic. I put them in a container along with two paper labels with the words Magnetic and Non-Magnetic on them.

Ava took each item and would put it up to the wand to see if it was Magnetic or Non-Magnetic. After each discovery she would place the item under the correct label. 

Red And Yellow Make Orange

Ava received a science kit from her titi Michelle and family for her 4th birthday. She was super excited to open it up and get started with color mixing!

She put in the color tablets added water then used her magnifying glass to watch the water change red, blue and yellow.

She mixed red and yellow and got orange. 

She mixed yellow and blue and got green.

She then did some color mixing in her test tubes.

She then mixed different colors in her container.

She added some crystals to her mixed colors.

She set a timer for 1 hour and covered the crystals.

She took the lid off after an hour and found these larger crystals. 

God Bless America

It was raining off and on July 4th. We weren't sure if they were going to have any fireworks at the Farmville town commons. Around 7:00 p.m. the skies cleared up and around 9:00 p.m. we headed to join the rest of the town of Farmville. We decided to ride our bikes instead of walking to the town center. The lawn in front of the commons was already full of families set up to watch the fireworks. We pulled our bikes around the commons building and set up just in time for the fireworks to begin. Ava enjoyed the music that was being played and entertained those around us with her dancing. Soon after God Bless America began to play and the firework display began. I wasn't sure how Lucy was going to react to the loud noise but she gazed up at the sky unfazed. There's nothing better than spending time with my sweet family.

Bird Park

We were looking for somewhere to take the girls that wasn't too far from us and outdoorsy. We came across Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Scotland Neck, NC. If you asked me the names of all these birds, I honestly couldn't tell you but we enjoyed ourselves. We saw a lot of birds you don't normally see at a zoo, for instance. We also got to purchase feeding sticks and feed to give to the parakeets and flamingos. Ava was super excited about the flamingos eating from her hand but not about the mud they left behind on her palms. The parakeets were so vibrantly colored and nibbled right from our feeding sticks. I rather enjoyed watching the family of swans. I couldn't get the best shot because of the fence. We enjoyed a picnic in a shaded gazebo and ended the day with some ice cream.