Christmas Excitement: Harriet

I don't know if it is just me but I find shopping for babies extremely difficult.  Harriet turns two in February so she is old enough to be excited to open a present and find something new within, but she's not old enough to care very much about what the item is.  Also, we have enough toys around the house that she never wants for playthings.  Or playmates, as that goes.  

On the other hand it is extremely fun to shop for the very littles because they don't complain about what they receive and never ask for anything.  Besides that, Harriet squeals with delight--I kid you not--and I'm looking forward to hearing that on Christmas morning.

Fortunately, Harriet does have some very decided interests including balls and babies.  We already have plenty of baby dolls so we decided that Santa would bring Harriet a ball.

It had to be bright and cheerful looking and be small enough that she could handle it without being small enough to lose.  I really like the one we ended up purchasing; the 7 inch Crocodile Creek Playball.  We got it off amazon.  

Harriet's book, Babies, is by Gyo Fujikawa, a favorite childhood author of my husband.  The illustrations are unbelievably sweet and as Harriet loves babies, I'm pretty sure it will be a winner.  This is an extra-long board book.  You should find it at the library to see the page of babies being naughty and the page of babies being nice.  So, so, so, so cute.  We purchased it at amazon.  (I don't like going to stores.)

I'm making Harriet this fabric doll for her stocking stuffer.  The other two girls are getting the same doll in different colors.  I purchased them all from quilthome.com.  Just search for dolls or doll.  So far I have cut out the fabric.  I'm a little (lot) intimidated by sewing but as Christmas draws nearer I will have to bite the bullet and pull out the sewing machine.  Wish me luck.  

I think I mentioned before that I pick the children's present from their great-grandma.  Great-grandma is giving Harriet this Hohner Kids Glockenspiel this year.  We have a lot of musical instruments, but no glockenspiels yet.  I'm hoping this is a hit (ha) but we won't know until she's had it awhile.

Now--that is all we're giving Harriet.  Her sister Miriam picked her name for Christmas and is giving her a stuffed pumpkin she is sewing.  She's almost done and it is going to be pretty cute.  

Since that isn't very many ideas I thought I would share some truly awesome gifts that we've given in the past to this age group with great success.  

First, the beloved Sweet Pea.  We gave Sweet Pea to Harriet last Christmas when Harriet was almost one and Sweet Pea has been Harriet's most beloved object ever since.  She sleeps with her every day for her nap and every night.  I'll say, "Harriet, time for a nap," and Harriet will pout a little and then say, "Sweet Pea."  Once Harriet has Sweet Pea, all is well.  

Sweet Pea is very soft and cuddly and comes in a pod.  Harriet never cared much for the pod, but for kids who like to put things in and take things out, the pod might be a bonus.  There are other versions of the same idea including a snuggle bug and other more boyish looking dolls.  I think babies like them so much because they are so soft and simple.  Search for Manhattan Toy Snuggle Pod.  They cost $10 at amazon.  In real life the green isn't that bright.

Next in the list of tried and true toys is the ever popular rocking toy.  We bought the Little Tikes Rocking Puppy for Miriam's 2nd Christmas (so she would have been about 18 months old) and Harriet and Eli still play on it constantly these eight years later.  We no longer have the black nose, but nothing else comes off so the rest is in perfect working order.  It isn't even discolored or awful looking as some plastic toys tend to become.  We're big fans of the easy-on, easy-off feature as we don't have to help the small ones at all.  Eli, age 3, can rock himself across the room and do little "tricks" on it.  You can get it at amazon.

Another favorite is the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes.  It plays really pretty music, it isn't too loud, it  is easy for tiny hands to push the button and change the songs, and it is easy to hold.  Harriet loves hers.    She dances.  

And that's it.  Like I said, this age group is hard.  A few years ago I would have wholeheartedly recommended the Playskool gloworm but they've changed the design and the last one we purchased stunk.  The first one we bought for Miriam lasted forever and was an absolute favorite.  I'm a little bitter about the changes. :)  For Harriet's birthday I'm considering a little baby stroller as I know she would love it.  My hubby is hesitant though because we've purchased those before and they've all broken within a few months.  Any ideas are welcome.  Harriet's birthday is in February.

Merry Christmas!

Earth Science: Water and Water Purification Part Two

We started our science instruction on Wednesday by reading The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks  by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen.  I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone how great Magic School Bus books are.  We love them around here.

After reading the book we went on a field trip to the Weber Basin Water Conservation District.  Otherwise known as the water treatment plant.  It was awesome!!  We enjoyed the company of other homeschool families and we thoroughly enjoyed learning about how our water is processed and prepared for use.  (Lady Harriet and Eli played at a friend's home since I have a hard time packing our lady--she's heavy.)

 The first building contained all the chemicals.  They make their own chlorine at the plant in that big vat/container/thingy that Miriam is standing by.  I thought that was interesting.

 Our tour guide was very nice, informative, and patient.  All good qualities for a guide of small children to have.

 Here the guide is showing samples of different things that can be in water that you don't want in water that you drink.

 Here he is showing us different germs that live in un-purified water.

 After the chemicals building we went outside where there are large reservoirs of water.  The water closest to the chemicals building had all this gunk floating on it.  The farther you walked the cleaner the water looked because the heavy clumps of mud and gunk sink to the bottom.

 At the end of the reservoirs is a little waterfall.  The highest water is the cleanest.

 Here's an empty reservoir where you can see the mechanism that pushes all the sludge out.  The walls are made of redwood.  According to the guide redwood holds up beautifully and doesn't rust like metal.  Who wood have guessed?  (I realize I'm only amusing to myself.)

 This is the second building.  The top floor contains water being sifted through several layers of sediment to get out more impurities.

 The tour guide, Kevin, by a model of the layers the water sifts through.

 The basement of that building is really cool--literally and figuratively.

 Here is where they add the chlorine and pump all the water used by employees of the plant.

 And here is where they do the last step--add ultraviolet light. Who knew?  Oh wait, my hubby did.  I didn't.  My kids and I thought that part was extra cool as it wasn't in any of the books we had read.

During the summer the plant sends through 40 million gallons a day and it gets used each day.  That's a lot of water!

What a fun field trip!!  I highly recommend that you go to your local water treatment facility and get a tour.  We had a great time!

Earth Science: Water and Water Purification Part One

 Learning about purifying water is a lot more fun than you might think.  We started by reading the material in our actual science book and then we filled out a worksheet about the earth's water resources.

 After that we read a bunch of supplemental books.  How Did That Get to my House?: Water by Nancy R. Masters was probably the most pertinent of the books we read.  It was a really good overview of water, the water cycle, why we need water, and how you access water and clean it.  Excellent book to read if you are studying water.

 Our World of Water: Children and Water Around the World by Beatrice Hollyer was by far my children's favorite.  It showcases six children who live in various places around the world and discusses how each child gets water.  This was perfect for reading around Thanksgiving.  I think access to water is blessing many of us take for granted but not after reading this book.  At least, not until we forget again.  My children loved this book and really came away with a sense of gratitude for water.  I highly recommend.

Why Living Things Need . . . Water by Daniel Nunn was a very basic introduction to why water is important.  It took five minutes to read, it had nice pictures, and my children liked it.

Nature's Cycles: Water by Dana Meachen Rau is another super-simple book. I really liked it though because we have talked about the water cycle numerous times and my younger kids still don't have it down.  This was a good review.

Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean  by Arthur Dorros was perfect for what I needed.  It discusses how snow melts and trickles into brooks that trickle into streams that flow into rivers that wind up in the ocean.  This book provoked a lot of good questions and helped the kids understand sea level and things like that.  

 Later that night, when Dad came home, we pulled out a science kit.  It was only $11 so you can imagine that it wasn't the highest quality.  However, it did a good enough job that I think it was well worth the money.

 First you put your little tubes together filled with carbon, sand, gravel and a little paper filter at the bottom.

 Then you make some dirty water.  I think that was the kids' favorite part.

 Then you pour the dirty water through your filter and see what comes out at the bottom and what gets stuck in the filter.  The box specified that the filter doesn't work well enough to drink the results but that was pretty obvious by the end result (I didn't take a pic of the filtered water--oops).  It was a lot cleaner than it started though.

 We had a lovely time watching the process and it led perfectly into the field trip we went on the next day.  Pics of that soon to follow.  Happy drinking.  :)

Earth Science: Clouds

 We are back to studying the weather.  Not for long though.  We are almost done.

 Studying clouds involved making clouds out of batting and cotton balls.  The kids had a blast.  To reinforce the concepts I put up a chart of different types of clouds on the wall and every day the kids evaluate the clouds outside, find the closest match on the chart, and then write down that day's type of cloud on a "chart" (piece of paper) taped on the wall next to the chart.  This has really helped the kids learn to slow down and think about the types of clouds.

 Even Lady Harriet made clouds!

Awesome.  For some supplemental material we read:

 The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola.  It was the perfect length and mix of text and pics for the elementary level.

Wild About Weather by Ed Brotak pgs. 82- 92.