ACTIVITIES

Last night and today the boys and I just made some crafts. Since Nikki is really into the solar system and already knows about the planets, their relative sizes and colors, I decided to make a new set of planets for him and add additional facts for each planet. So last night we were able to do a lot of cutting and pasting and this is what we came up with so far... tada!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The planets - I know that Pluto is no longer a planet but I still want Nikki to learn about it and I remind him that the proper term for Pluto is that it's a "dwarf planet".

.

.

Jupiter... we even included the Great Red Spot. =D It's just not too visible though...

.
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars

.

.

.

.
.

Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

.

.

.

.

.

.

We used old magazines to provide the colors of the planets (after verifying from the internet of course) and I was happy with the result. The scale is not exact though but at least Nikki will know which planet is bigger than which. I was happy with the activity because not only did it teach the boys about science and astronomy, but it also taught them how to cut (with much difficulty, I might add) and paste, how to work together, how to recycle (I didn't want them to use colored papers because we have many magazines lying around) and that it's okay to make a mess once in a while. We had a lot of fun! Hopefully, in the next few days, we will be able to post the facts under each planet. This is another reason why I like homeschooling. We don't have to rely on schoolbooks that might have information that's not updated. When we did this project, we searched the internet for data and so now, I'm confident that what I'm teaching the boys is right. The first time I taught Nikki the solar system (from Reader's Digest Children's Atlas to the Universe book) Jupiter had 18 satellites. When I checked the internet last night, NASA said Jupiter currently has 63 MOONS!!! Wow!!! So yeah, I'm glad I did research first...

Will post a photo of the finished product later... =D

.....

This afternoon, we played with the frisbee I bought yesterday. Unfortunately, the garden was too small for it and we had to keep playing at a minimum. Too bad. But still, Nikki had fun. As we were playing, I suddenly thought about the huge space in front of Akarenga (the red brick warehouse converted into boutique and dining places at Yokohama) where some families would fly kites, walk their pets, picnic, nap and throw frisbees. I was thinking it would be a wonderful experience to play with the boys and Ruther there. Everyone would have a lot of fun...

Oh well...