For many of you, Thanksgiving is still a month away but for Canada, Thanksgiving will be here in only a few days. There will probably be tons of turkey, and all the fixings that goes with them. People will eat and be thankfully and then at the end of the meal, they will scrape the meat from the turkey bones and toss the rest.

Or…

You could take a few of those turkey bones and create a science experiment with your kids. This is a lot of fun and kids are always amazed by how it works.

What you need:

• Turkey Bones (the thinner the better. If the bones are too thick this experiment will take the better part of a week and you lose the excitement for it before it has even finished.)
• Vinegar
• A jar or glass. (I prefer a jar since I can close it.)

Directions:

Day One:

1. Clean off all the excess meat from the chicken bone.
2. Talk to your children about the bone, have them touch the bone and discuss if it is hard or if it is soft. Discussion is key to every experiment.
3. Pour vinegar into the jar.
4. Place in the bones and leave overnight. If they are thin enough, the experiment should only take a day but if they aren’t really thin, it will take about two or three days.
5. Make sure everyone washes their hands.

Day Two:

1. Remove the turkey bones from the vinegar. They should be soft and bendable.
2. Discuss what has happened to them. Allow your children to touch them and bend them.
3. Tie the bones into knots. You can tie them together or simply place knots in each bone. Sometimes the bones will slide out of the knot so I find just placing a clip on either end keeps them secure.
4. Place in a high cupboard out of the way (especially if you have any cats that might be tempted by a bone)
5. Leave the bones overnight (this should only take one night but check the bones before you pull them out for the last stage.
6. Make sure everyone washes their hands.

Day Three:

1. Take out the bones and explore them.
2. Remove any clips if you used them.
3. The bones should be hard, and back to normal except that they are now knotted.

The science behind it all:

Like everyone knows, when you become a parent all the secrets of the world are not revealed to you, although at times you wish that they were, and you might be just as stumped by this experiment as I was the first time I did it and my kids asked, “why?”

So just so you can explain to your child(ren) what has happened, let’s look at the science behind this experiment.

Obviously, the main answer is that we are dealing with a chemical reaction when we do this experiment. Bones contain a substance called “calcium carbonate” and it is this substance that causes the bones to remain hard. When you add vinegar, which is a acetic acid, the chemical reaction occurs.

Carbon dioxide is created and you should see it in the vinegar as tiny bubbles. The carbon is taken from the bones and they begin to soften. When there is no longer any carbon in the bones, the bones can be bent and tied without fear of breaking them.

Now for the really interesting part. Since carbon is in the air around us, it is very easy for the reverse reaction to occur. When you leave the turkey bone out for the night, the calcium that is still in the bone takes the carbon back into the bone. This makes the bone hard again and since you had reshaped it, it will harden into whatever shape you created.

So in essence, you get two reactions in one experiment and a whole new way to look at turkey dinner.

Sirena Van Schaik

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Tags: acetic acid, calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide, chemical reaction, children's science experiment, Fun with Science, science experiement, science experiments for kids, Thanksgiving, turkey, turkey bone experiment, turkey bones, turkey experiment, vinegar

Here we are again, talking about all the gear that you will need for your new baby. I hope that I haven’t overwhelmed you and that you are taking this in stride. I have already covered the nursery, clothing and bath time layettes, so if you haven’t read through those, I would recommend that you do. Don’t worry, when I am done this series, I will post a full list without any of the explanations that I have already gone over.

As I mentioned in the previous posts, the layette is separated into several categories. These are clothing, nursery (including the furniture), bedding, bath time, travelling with baby, and feeding baby. Today I am going to talk about feeding baby and in part five I will wrap up with bedding and travelling with baby. Part 6 will be the complete list but since we aren’t there yet, let’s look at feeding baby.

The Feeding Baby Layette:

• High Chair: I mentioned this first simply because I am going to tell you not to buy it, at least not yet. Baby does not need a high chair until he or she is old enough to be sitting up and eating in it. Before that time, there is no reason to purchase it since it will be one more thing in the way and something that you can save for. Don’t worry about a high chair until after your baby is about 6 months or older.
• Feeding Pillow: If you are breastfeeding, you will want to have a nursing pillow. I didn’t for my first and decided to buy one for my second. It was great! The pillow tucked up around me and I didn’t have to worry about it slipping all the time. Baby nestled right up to me on top of it and breastfeeding (at least positioning) was much easier.
• Breast Pump:Another item you only need if you are breastfeeding your baby. This is important if you want to be able to go out for longer than an hour without your baby or if you will be returning back to work. Remember that just because you are going to work does not mean that you can’t breastfeed, it just takes a little perseverance to do so.
• Nursing Bras: Have at least 2 nursing bras. These will make breastfeeding much easier and having 2 or 3 will keep your bras nice and clean.
• Disposable Breast Pads: Whether you plan on breastfeeding or not, you will want to have some breast pads to keep your bra and clothes dry.
• 6-8 4oz Bottles: You don’t need to have 8 ounce bottles until your baby is much older. Trust me 4 oz will fill her up when she is an infant and she will actually only consume between 2 to 3 oz during each feeding when she is a newborn. You can purchase larger bottles when baby gets older. Make sure you find bottles with good quality nipples.
• Bottle and Nipple Brush: If you use bottles, then you will need a bottle brush. These are fairly cheap and you can buy several so you can transfer the old one out if it gets too dirty or run down.
• 3-4 Baby Bibs: I would recommend getting a few baby bibs right from the start since some babies do spit up after nursing. My youngest burped up some whenever he ate so we had closer to a dozen bibs ready at one time. If you do use a bid during feeding, make sure it comes off before you place baby down to sleep or play.

And that is the feeding layette.

Sirena Van Schaik

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Tags: Baby Bibs, Baby Bottles, baby layette, Bottle and Nipple Brush, breast pump, buying a layette, creating a layette, diaper layette, feeding layette, feeding pillow, high chair, new parent tips, newborn layette, nursing bras, nursing pads, nursing pillow, parenting tips

With Halloween a little over a month away, I like to start planning out some things for Halloween. It is a great time of the year, one of my favorites and in a few short weeks, if you celebrate Halloween, you will be getting costumes ready and all the other little goodies that are involved.

Halloween can be a pretty expensive holiday, and face paint is just one of those things that can bring up the price of the holiday. That’s where this little craft recipe comes in handy but you can use the face paint year round.

What you need:

• 1-1/2 tsp of water
• 3 tsp of cornstarch
• 1-1/2 tsp of cold cream
• a few drops of food coloring

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the cold cream and the cornstarch until it is well blended.
2. Stir in the water slowly.
3. Add a few drops of food coloring.
4. Pour into an airtight container for storage.

When you use the face paint, apply it with a paint brush or purchase small rubber stamps from a craft store (the cheap foam ones) and dip it into the paint before pressing it on the face. This face paint washes off very easily with soap and water but make sure you do not use too much food coloring since it can dye the skin.

Sirena Van Schaik

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Tags: children's craft recipes, Crafty Recipes, face paint, face paint recipe, face painting, halloween, make your own face paint, recipe for face paint

This is a very simple science experiment that can be done with children as young as 2. Basically, if they can sit still and be amazed, then they can enjoy this experiment.

Before you begin any science experiment, whether you do it at home or in a classroom, you should really take the time to make some predictions. Explain what you will be doing, i.e. putting pepper in the water but let them have time to explore the possibilities. Do they think the pepper will float or sink? Is the water hot or cold? Do you think the pepper would float if the water was cold?

Next ask them what would happen if you put dish soap into the water. Write down what the kids are saying for prosperities sake, or if you are in a classroom, and if you want, you could have the kids draw pictures of the bowl of water before and after you add the dish soap.

What you need:

• Pepper
• Water
• A bowl (it doesn’t have to be large but you want it large enough for all the kids to be able to see into it without pushing)
• Dish Soap

Directions:

1. Fill the bowl with water. Ask the questions, let the kids test the water and comment on it.
2. Have your child(ren) add pepper to the water. Discuss what is happening.
3. Place a drop of dish soap in the center of the water and discuss what is happening and why.

And that’s it. A 5 minute activity that you can do over and over again. This experiment actually deals with water tension and how it is affected by the dish soap. Generally, water has a very strong surface tension that pulls the water together. The pepper, which weighs less than the surface tension, floats. When you drop in the dish soap, the surface tension changes, becomes weaker, and the pepper is pulled away from the soap with the water. For kids, it looks like magic.

Sirena Van Schaik

Tags: children's science activities, Fun with Science, kids science activities, magic pepper experiment, moving pepper experiment., pepper experiment, science activities

Wooooooo! The wind howled through the trees and warned of all the evil thrills that graced the night. It was Halloween and everyone from spooks to mice were excited by the events that would unfold…

Of course it isn’t Halloween yet but I thought I would kick off the Halloween crafts early, since I need to slip in a few Thanksgiving crafts over the next month and a half. This is a great activity to do with kids and it gets them using not only their imagination but their own bodies as well. You can do this craft as an individual activity or as a group activity.

What you need:

• Sheet of Poster Paper (You can purchase this at stores like Scholar’s Choice, try to get a roll if possible)
• Drawing Pencil
• Tempura Paint
• Paint Brushes

Directions:

1. Cut out a sheet of poster paint that your child can lay flat on. Have him or her pose on the paper.
2. With the pencil, trace your child.
3. When they get up, square up the head with the pencil and erase the other lines that are not needed. Draw on the neck plugs and add any details you want to the drawing.
4. Mix up your Tempura Paint while your child is finishing up the drawing. Make sure to add a drop or two of dish soap to make cleaning easier.
5. Paint your Frankenstein monster any way you want to.
6. Allow it to dry and then tape it to your door for a Halloween decoration.

You can create all different types of monsters with this. Children love having their outlines drawn and if they are enjoying the outline drawing so much, why not grab a piece of chalk and head out the door to make chalk outlines on the sidewalk. If you do it on Halloween, you can use the outlines for your decorations.

Sirena Van Schaik

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Tags: children's crafts, craft project, Frankenstein, Frankenstein Craft, halloween, Halloween Craft, Halloween Crafts, kid's crafts

Well, here we are with our third installment of building a layette. I know that I am probably taking you through the long haul but I find that it is much easier to understand the whole layette in sections than in getting a list that doesn’t really explain what each part is and what isn’t necessary right from the start. I will have a list at the end of this series for anyone who just wants to print out their layette without worrying about anything else.

As I mentioned in post one and two, a layette is usually broken into several areas. These are clothing, nursery (including the furniture), bedding, bath time, travelling with baby, and feeding baby. I have already talked about clothing and nursery so let’s look at bath time.

The Bath time Layette:

• Plastic Infant Tub: This is a debatable necessity. Some people do not feel the need for an infant tub and prefer to give their baby a bath in either the kitchen sink or in the bathtub with only an inch or two of water in the bottom. It is perfectly fine if you do not have an infant tub and it is fine if you do. I had one for both of my kids because I felt comfortable sitting on the floor and bathing baby in the tub. It kept the baby down low, to avoid any tumbles off a high space, such as the change table, and it was a space I was comfortable with.
• Body Wash: You don’t need a lot of fancy bath washes and bubble baths for a new baby. All you need is a body and hair wash that is designed for baby. Don’t feel the need to purchase ones with lavender and a host of other natural additives since the best thing for baby’s skin is simply being clean without buildups found in some oily body washes. Find one that includes the hair as well so you can give baby a quick hair wash when he or she needs it.
• 12 Wash Cloths: An Item that you don’t really need to purchase if you already have face cloths for yourself but I would recommend them since they are smaller and usually fairly soft against baby’s skin. You only need one hand to rinse and wring them out so you will have the security of having your other hand on your baby.
• 2 Towels: Another item that you don’t need but more than likely, you will have a few laying around since they are often hot items for baby shower gifts. They come in very handy since you will have a little hood on the top of the towel for baby’s head.
• Skin Lotion: When baby comes out of the bath, it is best to rub his or her skin down with a nice infant skin lotion. My preferred lotion of choice is Aveeno but you can find many on the market.
• Baby Toiletry Set: These sets can be found everywhere and it is filled with the basic grooming necessities; hair brush, nail clippers, and a gum brush for brushing the excess milk off the gums. Don’t use any toothpaste when you do this since it isn’t best for baby.

One point that I would like to make is about bath rings. Many parents purchase these and I did for my first before I realized the hazards. Bath rings are for children that can sit on their own in a tub. It suctions to the tub and baby slides his legs under it. It keeps him sitting up without slipping but there has been a high number of injuries (and worse) related to the use of bath rings. You don’t need bath rings and if baby is fine laying in the tub, just let him do so. Don’t purchase a bath ring, even if you see it on another list for baby layettes.

Next time, I will cover feeding but until then, happy shopping.

Sirena Van Schaik

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Tags: Baby Body Wash, baby layette, Baby Skin Lotion, Baby Toiletry Set, Baby Towels, Bath time layette, Bathtime layette, Body Wash, buying a layette, creating a layette, new parent tips, newborn layette, nursery layette, parenting tips, Plastic Infant Tub, shelves, Skin Lotion, Wash Cloths

I know, Thanksgiving isn’t for another few months, well actually it isn’t for a month for those celebrating it in Canada, which is part of the reason why I am starting to post a few craft ideas.  This always seems to be the busy time of year when everyone is scrambling around for the first day of school, followed by Halloween and then Thanksgiving, or vice versa in Canada.  There never seems to be any time before you are launched into one holiday or another.

Over the next few months, I will be sharing some Halloween crafts and some Thanksgiving Crafts.  Today is for Thanksgiving and it is a very simple craft that any child could do from infants up to school-agers.  You may change up a few things for each age group but that’s up to you.

What you need:

• construction paper (several different colors but make sure you have brown and green)
• large piece of construction paper (a fall color)
• glue stick
• scissors
• markers
• (optional: beads, sticker or anything else that can be glued down and has a Thanksgiving theme)

Directions:

1. Help your child draw out a Cornucopia in the brown construction paper.  Cut it out.  Older children should be able to cut it out themselves but you will want to do the cutting for them.
2. Draw out fruit and other items that you would like to put in the Cornucopia. Cut them out.
3. Have your child glue the Cornucopia to the larger paper (leaving enough room for the fruit on the page)
4. Glue down the fruit and other items inside the Cornucopia.  Don’t fix the fruit if it doesn’t land anywhere near or even on top of the Cornucopia. Remember art is an expression of self so it does not have to fit into the cookie cutter crafts.  If she wants to stick the Cornucopia under the fruit, then by all means, allow it. 
5. With markers, a pencil or a pen, have your child write something that he or she is thankful for on each piece of fruit.  You could have the child write it on a separate piece of paper that she folds and glues one side to the fruit to keep the “thanks” hidden until Thanksgiving or it can be there displayed to all.
6. Finish decorating if you are using optional items.

With younger children, you probably won’t put on things that they are thankful for but you can make it into an excellent cutting and gluing activity for them.

If you are not artistically inclined, you can always print out a Cornucopia to color with markers or to trace the outline onto the paper.  Below are a few sites where you can find printouts.

Cornucopia

Fruit

Veggies

Sirena Van Schaik

Tags: children’s crafts, Cornucopia, Cornucopia Craft, Cornucopia of Thanks, Cornucopia of Thanks Craft, craft project, kid’s crafts, Thanksgiven Craft, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Crafts

Okay, this is a very interesting paint since the end result provides a very shiny finish to the painting. It isn’t a paint that you will want to save but much like tongue painting, you can have a lot of fun with this paint.

It is very easy to make, it provides a different texture to work with and it has an interesting smell to it. The sensory experience will definitely be improved with this art recipe.

What you need:

• one can of condensed milk
• food coloring
• resealable containers

Directions:

1. The amount of condensed milk that you use greatly depends on how much you will be painting and how many colors you are going to offer. Usually one can will give you enough paint for about 3 or 4 colors but you won’t have a lot of extras. A lot of people will use between 1/2 and 1 cup of condensed milk for each paint color. When you have decided what you are doing, pour in the desired amount into the small resealable container.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring and stir until the color is well blended.
3. Take out a piece of construction paper and paintbrushes and get painting.

*Mix it up: Mix up the craft by having your child paint on an art easel. I find Milk Paint is a bit thinner than regular paint so the child has to learn through trial and error (or cause and effect) how to keep the paint from dripping down the paper.*

Sirena Van Schaik

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Tags: children’s craft recipes, condenced milk paint, condensed milk paint, crafty milk paint recipe, Crafty Recipes, milk paint, milk paint recipe

If you can remember far enough back, I wrote both part one and two of this series on Theorists of Child Development.  My first post was about Freud and my second was aboutErikson.  Today, I am going to take us closer to the end of this series and discuss Piaget.  If you are not sure who Piaget was, let me give you a little information about the man before I start going on and on about his theories. 

Jean Piaget (1896 t0 1980) was born in Neuchatel Switzerland.  He studied the Cognitive Development of first animals then humans.  Like Freud and Erikson, Piaget believed that a number of developmental milestones occur throughout childhood.  He group his Theory of Cognitive Development into 4 stages: Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage, and Formal Operational Stage.  

Piaget also went on to identify Schema, which are structures that allow a child to gain knowledge.  Each level of development had a different schema such as the sucking relex in infants.  When something does not fit an existing schema, such as the first time a child eats solid food without needing to suck, it presents a problem where the child must learn to adapt. 

Piaget believed that cognitive ability was an inborn trait that deals with adapting to the world around it.  He also believed that children learned through two different means.  These were assimilation, where the child learns by using and adapting an already existing schema, such as sucking moves to the developmental stage where a child mouths objects, and accommodation, where a child will change her schema to accommodate the encounter. 

 Now that I touched on Piaget, let’s look at each of his stages separately.

Piaget’s Stage of Cognitive Development:

• Sensorimotor Stage:  This stage occurred during the age of birth to 2 years of age.  It is the stage where a child’s cognitive development is encouraged by the senses and the child’s movement.  Piaget went on to break this stage into 6 sub-stages.
  • Reflexes:  This is the stage when the infant is still relying on reflexes to understand the world around him.  Things like the Morro Reflex, which is when a child startles, or the Rooting Reflex, when the baby turns its head when the cheek is stroked. 
  • Primary Circular Reactions: Occurs between the ages of 1 to 4 months of age and is the stage where the child will do something unintentionally but will repeat it to form a new schema. 
  • Secondary Circular Reactions:  This next stage occurs between the ages of 4 to 8 months and it is when the child will use an action, and repeat it, to see a reaction from the world around him.  Things like pointing to a bottle will trigger the response of mom or dad to give her a bottle. 
  • Coordination of Reactions: Occurring between 8 and 12 months, this is the stage where the child will intentionally use a schema and may begin to combine schemas together to start exploring the world around her.
  • Tertiary Circular Reaction: 12 to 18 months of age is when you will see this sub-stage and it is basically your child trying to figure out the world around him through trial and error style of learning.
  • Early Representational Thought: This sub-stage occurs between 18 to 24 months and is the period where the child begins thinking with symbolic representation.  Exploration of the world around him is no longer through actions but is through thought as well.
• Preoperational Stage:  This stage occurs during the ages of 2 to 7 years old and it is the stage where the child’s language is significantly developed.  In this stage, children are using representational objects for the world around them and they are unable to understand concrete logic.  Piaget identified this stage of development as the one where children are egocentric. 
• Concrete Operational Stage: Occurring between the ages of 7 to 11 years old, this is the stage where children begin to develop their logical thinking.  They can understand the concrete operations of the world around them but they have a harder time understanding abstract thinking.
• Formal Operational Stage:  This is the stage that goes from 11 years and throughout adulthood.  It is the stage where a person is able to think in abstract ways and also able to use deductive reasoning.

There are many pros and cons to Piaget’s theories and it is important to note that while Piaget had some excellent points to make about the importance of education and the cognitive development, there were some weaknesses to his theory.  One of the biggest weaknesses is the fact that most of his work focused on the development of his own children.  He also failed to consider differences in culture, emotional and personal development and also on the differences in education systems.  Lastly, Piaget often underestimated the abilities of the children that he was studying.

So there is a rather long summary of Jean Piaget.  Please check back in a few weeks and I will go over behaviourists.

Sirena Van Schaik

Tags: child development, Concrete Operational Stage, Coordination of Reactions, Early Childhoood Education, Early Representational Thought, Erik Erikson, Formal Operational Stage, Freud, Id, Infant Development, Jean Piaget, Preoperational Stage, Preschool Development, Primary Circular Reactions, Reflexes, School-Age Development, Secondary Circular Reactions, Sensorimotor Stage, Stages of Development, teen development, Tertiary Circular Reaction, Theorists, Toddler Development

Just wanted to mention that I have an article appearing in the September/October issue of Mothering Magazine.  It is an article about pampering mom so take a few minutes to check it out. I know the September/October issue is going to be an excellent one.

Thanks

Sirena Van Schaik

Tags: Article, mothering magazine, Pampering Mom