Month: June 2019

Paper Parachutes

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Travis and I recently made fabric parachutes that were a bit complicated and tangled easily while soaring down. Today we wanted something simpler, because the goal wasn’t so much about the parachute itself as it was to test how to make a parachute fall faster.

For our experiment, we quickly put together paper napkin parachutes.

Decorate your napkins with markers first.

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Travis quickly learned that you need to be gentle drawing on napkins, and was proud when he got the hang of it!

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Cut 4 equal lengths of string for each parachute, and tie around the napkin corners.

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Gather the four lengths of string together in the center, and tie around any small object. Our “contestants” were a feather and a rock. But if you want, multiple toys can get in on the action; this game would be great with Lego people!

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Travis made his hypothesis: that the rock parachute would fall faster than the feather one.  So we headed outside to test it out! A fenced-in overlook made the perfect launch site.

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Even in a still photo you can see the feather parachute lazily drifting down as the rock plummets to the ground.

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The difference here was extremely stark, of course. As mentioned, your kids might want to do multiple launches with items closer in weight. Enjoy the discoveries!

Hands Day

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One fun exercise to do with your baby is to pick a body part and devote the day to it. So today, it was all about hands for me and Veronika!

To start, I sang nursery rhymes that prominently feature hands. Examples include Where is Thumbkin or If You’re Happy and You Know It.

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For the latter, I changed the words so all the versus applied to hands: if you’re happy wiggle your fingers; shake your hands; etc.

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Next we read books that featured hands. There are lots of great body parts books for babies, so turn to the relevant pages and focus on those.

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I pointed to the hands of the people in the illustrations.

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I also pointed out hands throughout the day. Mommy is cooking with her hands. Mommy is writing with her hands.

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If you have paintings around the house with hands, show baby those, too!

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Sidewalk Constellations and Mini-Books

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It was a beautiful morning for sidewalk chalk art, and to add purpose to Travis’s art, I decided to throw in a little STEM learning, too!

We headed outside with our book of constellations, and I challenged him to lay out shells (rocks would work well, too) to represent each star in the pictures. We started with the Big Dipper.

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Could he now connect the lines, following along with the picture in our book? This was a bit of a challenge for Travis, who had to consult the picture between each line, but he ended up with a great dipper.

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The Southern Cross was next. He loved using big shells for two of the stars, and had an a-ha moment when he figured out which way he should draw his chalk lines.

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Then we got silly and made up new constellations. I let his imagination run wild, and soon we had a snake constellation:

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And a ninja constellation:

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Make sure you take pictures of all your artwork before you head inside! I then had these printed so we could put them into a booklet.

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Add one picture per page, along with a fact or two about that constellation.

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We left a page blank, for future imaginative additions!

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These mini-books will serve both as a memory capsule of your day and for storytime down the road.

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Try a Hike with a Carrier

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Today was hiking day for Veronika!

A baby carrier is such a great investment for experiences like these; whether the one you choose is worn on the front or the back, and whether it has baby tummy-facing or facing out, I highly encourage a hike. There is so much for your baby to learn about in nature!

Although Veronika has had plenty of moments in the carrier, today we made a big event of a family walk in the woods. Big brother Travis loved heading off on the adventure!

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Stop to point out marvels of nature, like the face in this tree.

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Or the dappled sunlight on these roots.

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We spotted lots of little chipmunks and she loved watching them scurry.

Eventually the motion did lull her to sleep, and this will likely happen to your baby on a hike too… And that’s not a bad thing! Let baby nap while you take in the calm of nature. Once she was up about forty-five minutes later, her big eyes drank in the surroundings.

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What an adventure!

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Where have you taken your baby in a carrier? Please share in the comments!

Introduce Books with Texture and Noise

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Veronika already has a few books in her library that feature texture and noise, but I gifted her with a few new ones because she can approach them in a different way these days: reading solo! Interactive touch and sound will keep a seven-month-old happily entertained, even if you’re busy getting things done around the house, or on the go.

But first we read them together, of course. She loved the bright pictures and her fingers immediately went for textural elements, like soft fur or shiny metal.

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I pressed each sound button, which got a look of wonder from her each time, and described what she was hearing and seeing.

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Pretty soon, she was flipping through the pages and narrating this book to herself – a sight that makes my heart stop every time!

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I also bought a smaller book that’s perfect for car rides or stroller rides. The soft pages fit in her hands perfectly.

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Some pages rattle and some crinkle.

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The first time through, I described these sounds, and the textures she could feel like the soft fluffy cover. She will happily “read” this one to herself for ages.

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What interactive books does your baby like? Please share in the comments!

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