Everyday Learning – Page 18 – The Creative Salad

Plant Identification Quiz

In addition to taking my parents to the beach, we visited several beautiful wineries under the pretext of seeing their spacious gardens, of course. Those wineries really know how to draw the tourists.

Right now in California there are so many beautiful, crazy plants blooming. Even after living in Sonoma County for the past five years, I feel still amazed by our crazy Mediterranean climate. I’m humbled by the sheer number of plants that flourish here that are completely foreign to me, having grown up three thousand miles away on the East Coast of the United States.

Here are some fun favorites we’ve spotted recently for you to try to identify.

Ready. Set. Name that plant!

Plant 1:

Plant 2:

Plant 3:

Plant 4:

Plant 5:

Plant 6:

Hint: the flower petals are edible (I personally think they’re really tasty!)

Plant 7:

I’ll post the answers on Friday.

Good luck!

A Toddler’s Interpretation of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Book

I’ve written before about our daughter’s Very Hungry Caterpillar obsession. (Don’t all toddlers love Eric Carle books?)

Several months ago we started working on our own version of the book.

This week we finally devoted some time to finish up the project.

We cut out food items featured in the book (from Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity Pad) and drew caterpillars on each page of our blank board book.

We added Eric Carle’s text from his original book.

We made a cover for our book.

Since completing our version, we’ve read it time and time again.

A simple, fun, literary project!

Materials:
– Blank board book from Bare Books
– Stencils and decorated tissue paper (evidently called artwork sheets) part of the Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activity Pad

More Baby Birds Coming Our Way Soon

Remember this finch nest with four eggs built in the re-purposed sugar bowl wind chimes on our front porch?

It seemed so idyllic until the birds pooped all over the nest and turned this perfect picture into a gigantic mess.

Nevertheless we watched four little birds grow up and leave the nest and loved every minute of it. We thought that was it for the season.

Yet here we are several weeks later with a surprise. Mama House Finch has returned and laid five more eggs, her second clutch of the summer!

Such dainty, little pale blue spotted eggs.

Since the four baby birds of the first clutch barely fit in the nest,

we’re curious to see how five birds will fit! Stay tuned.

Building a Computer with Daddy

After filling the hard-drive of our eight-year old computer, we decided it was time for something new. Instead of taking the easy route and ordering a new one through a manufacturer like Dell or HP, my husband decided to order the parts and make it himself. I ask you, what could be more fun for an engineer than to assemble a computer himself?!

Even better when it becomes a father-daughter weekend project when the little miss, to no one’s surprise, insists on helping. We’re all about transforming everyday activities into learning experiences in our household. David started assembling the computer the night before and then set aside a few simple tasks for the toddler to help with.

About the computer:
David wanted a super fast processor with a great graphics card. I insisted we think about energy efficiency. So we swapped out our over-sized desktop cpu for a more petite case and traded our old screen for a larger, energy-star qualified, LED monitor.

Specifications:
– Antec ISK 300-65 Desktop Computer Case
– ASRock H67M-ITX Motherboard
– Patriot Memory ‘Sector 5’ G Series 4GB
– Western Digital 500 GB Mobile Hard Drive
– Intel Core i3-2100T Dual-Core Desktop Processor
– LG Super-Multi Slim Blu-ray Combo Drive
– Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit
– Samsung 27-inch LED Monitor
– HDMI Cable
Inspired by Jeff Atwood’s computer written about here.

Concerned about potentially exposing your child to lead while building a computer? There’s no need to be worried. Each piece in this computer is RoHS compliant (circled in the photo, above) meaning it’s been manufactured without lead (also mercury, cadmium, and other substances). (See that sticker symbol with RoHS on it? Each computer component has a sticker like that.) Having your kids wash their hands before and after working on the inside of the computer may still be a good idea because of dust and other small particles, but you need not be concerned about lead exposure. (Love living with an engineer who can tell me about things such as these!)

Sewing Inspiration

Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts contains so many creative projects in addition to outlining the basics of various sewing techniques. Some of the projects that I’m most looking forward to tackling include:

Appliquéd sea-print tote
I love the idea of combining fabric-printing with appliqué, thereby adding another texture and dimension to a tote.

Velvet-lined jewelry boxes
What a nice way to jazz up wooden boxes and make a special keepsake box.

Ribbon embroidered flower prints
A beautifully simple project that’s eco-groovy and screams “try me!” I can’t wait to make some embroidered flowers for our bedroom.

Japanese Sashiko Embroidery
I’ve found this stunning embroidery made of small running stitches in a grid-like pattern to be more difficult than it looks, but I’m looking forward to practicing and perfecting my method. These place-mats are stunning.