A Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements

A Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements

Last week at the California Academy of Sciences we picked up these fantastic posters placements (evidently!) that we’re planning on hanging (one will go in our homeschool area and one will head into work with David for his cubicle).

A Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements

The whole family has been pouring over the posters. I love how these pictures (and interesting factoids written up on the reverse side) have been jump starting family conversations about chemistry and physics.

A Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements

What a great use of photography to illustrate the composition of our elements. The sample items are almost as interesting as the elements themselves!

A Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements

The authors website, The Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements, contains a wealth of information and many more photos for each of the elements. There are two companion books, The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe and Theo Gray’s Mad Science: Experiments You Can do At Home – But Probably Shouldn’t, also available. I’m looking forward to checking them out from the library.

Toddler Approved Healthier Smoothies

Toddler approved smoothie with yogurt and ground flax seed

This is our go-to smoothie for that point in the afternoon when I know our daughter needs to eat and drink something, but she just won’t hear of it. (Can you tell we have a three year old in the house?!) In times such as these I need to break out something special. My secret weapon is this delicious smoothie fortified with yogurt and ground flax seeds.

Toddler approved smoothie with yogurt and ground flax seed

The toddler gets to choose the flavor. I’ll like whatever we make, but she feels empowered being able to make the decision. Today she picked peach.

Toddler approved smoothie with yogurt and ground flax seed

Load up the blender with a banana, tablespoon of ground flax seed, half a cup of plain whole milk yogurt, equal parts apple juice and water, and then that fruit of your child’s choice (peach, mixed berry, strawberry, or blueberry). Blend until smooth. Taste. Add more apple juice if the fruit isn’t quite sweet enough. Water down if the smoothie is too thick (a big no-no for our toddler audience). Pour into a sturdy cup and serve with a bpa-free straw (we love these stainless steel babies).

Toddler approved smoothie with yogurt and ground flax seed

Simple and delicious!

Growing Things Greatly in Need of a Haircut

Chard haircut time

“Chard, smile for the camera! Smile, chard!” encourages our three year old as I try to stage a shot exhibiting the ridiculous height of the chard in our garden, while showing off her new haircut (more on that, below).

Before the toddler haircut (outside painting the railing of the porch with water)
Chard haircut time

Our daughter’s hair and the chard stems in the garden were becoming too long and unmanageable.

Toddler haircut time

Her hair brushing in the morning would take ten minutes as I untangled each and every curl. The chard was shading our tomatoes, a big no-no since I really want lots of tomatoes this summer.

Toddler haircut time
Toddler haircut time

Time to break out the scissors.

Chard cut to a more manageable height
Dinner at the kids table

Much better.

Thank you to Sesame Street for helping occupy my daughter while I tried to evenly trim her hair and cut bangs, and for keeping her distracted each morning while we comb through her hair. (Toddler hair styling has become SO much easier since we discovered the trick of briefly plugging her into a tv show while we battle the tangles.) I am thankful for the short Sesame Street clips available on their website. My personal favorite? Madeline Kahn and Grover singing a duet, shown above and featured here.

More Great Art History Books for Kids

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET
Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

Art is important in our family. We come from artistic families and greatly value making and supporting the arts. In that vein, our family loves picture books designed to develop and inspire an appreciation for the arts in young children.

We greatly enjoy these colorful board books for the babies and toddlers alike:


We adore this more advanced series focusing on exploring the alphabet and numbers through works of art published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

We’ve recently discovered another fantastic art appreciation series written for children to add to our family library:

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

Published once again by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, these Can You Find It? books focus on identifying details within works of art. Think of Where’s Waldo but with an educational, historical twist.

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

Our daughter adores these books and has spent hours pouring over them.

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

These particular books were written in 2005 and are no longer widely available in stores (we bought our copies at a local used bookstore). Nevertheless, a quick search online turned up many affordable copies in used form, as well as some other books in this series, plus the Metropolitan Museum of Art sells copies online from their store.

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

What better way to promote art appreciation than by supporting the museum itself?! If you intend to buy this item, please hop on over there and order your copy today.

Little Girl Table Set For Spring

Real and play food at the kids table

We picked up this table and three small sized chairs at IKEA a while back. Why spend $25 per chair when you can buy a side table and stools on sale for the same price?! Put together, it’s the perfect set for a three-year old.

Art projects at the kids table
Feeding her baby doll at the kids table

Our daughter plays there every day.

Snack time at the kids table

This week we clipped some flowers from our garden and placed them in a small bell jar on our play table, transforming the space from hum-drum every day to super special. YES! We finally have enough flowers to clip for bouquets! This is a first from our small, front-yard garden. After two years of hard work, the plants are finally filling out and flourishing. We’re thrilled.

Dinner at the kids table

So here we are in our living room, overlooking our garden. A special, child-sized place we eat meals, practice writing letters, and serve play food to our dolls.

Kids play table

Now we can enjoy the result of all our hard work in the yard with this bouquet of beautiful fresh flowers while we read, write, play all week long…

Real and play food at the kids table

May we enjoy many more hours of fun here and savor fresh cut flowers ALL SUMMER LONG.