Sea studies- gearing up for the new aquarium!

In preparation for the new aquarium here in Copenhagen, due to open  March 22, we have started working on sea studies. We put on our snorkel gear and watched a few youtube videos and got in the underwater mood! The creature that inspired us mimic octopus.  So we decided to build a octopus cave diorama, complete with a salt dough octopus. We talked lots about camouflage,  the advantages of being a mimic, and underwater living.

While working on our cave we started talking about octopus eggs, and went online to find out what they look like. We came across this adorable video of eggs hatching, but the best part is the ending where they sing happy birthday to the octopus!

Hunting for shells.

Ursa took a little nap

We went to the beach today to collect shells and have a picnic. There were some seagulls who joined us for lunch, as well.

I also really enjoyed the opportunity to share my own octopus catching experiences in Puerto San Carlos, Mexico. I did some really excellent tide pooling there....maybe that should be where we take the girls next....

Spring on the farm- take two age 4!

 This is our second attempt at a shoe box diorama meets window box (see her first edition HERE). The barn is a tea box, and we lined a shirt box with a plastic bag for the field. 


We spent the day talking about food and farming, and created this mini farm complete with alfalfa field. Its already sprouting on day 2, which is a great reason to choose alfalfa seeds.

We read a bunch of farm related books, here is the collection Saule chose and a bunch we read together to Ursa. 

We also used youtube.com to watch everything from  orange picking here, sheep shearing, my old job as night lamber, carrot harvest, and olive oil production (those are some good links). We talked allot about how farmers choose which crops to grow, and what it means to them if the crops fail

A couple of weeks ago we started some Kentucky Wonder Pole beans in the window, and they are growing, even with just 4 hours of day light! 

Farm themed gaming (Hi Ho Cherryo) and lots of farm themed songs (old Mc Donald, Bingo, farmer in the dell, etc). You can find lots of songs on youtube if you need more. 

A couple of farm puzzles we did.

Spring on the farm

Think shoe box diorama meets window box. Meet, Saule's farm. She has a little barn, a fenced in barnyard, and outer fields. The livestock stay in the barnyard, which is freshly seeded with watercress. The fields have a few onions at the edges, and some other seeds, all planted today so no sprout yet.

We have a nice big dining room table, and this is going to stay our center piece so we can all watch it grow. While we worked on it we talked allot about farm animals and how a farm works. About manure and what crops need to grow, and different kinds of livestock and what they contribute. We sang "Old MacDonald had a farm".  We learned about pest control  and made scare crows. Talked about how dirt is made (we started this 2 weeks ago and have been hooked on worms and dirt ever since). I really like this project and it seems like a things grow we will have plenty to talk about. We will be able to harvest our crop of cress when its ready (this is VERY fast growing so good for Saule's age), and then we can move through the seasons on our tiny farm, and maybe plant something new "next spring"!  Oh, and did I mention the materials are mostly recycled! An old box cut and lined with a grocery bag makes the base. Cardboard scraps from the same box make the barn and fence. The animals were cut from an magazine. Everything was covered in clear packing tape to prevent the water on the plants from ruining it. Add dirt and seeds and its ready.