Museum of Nature & Science

Nathan and I ventured downtown to Fair Park to visit the Museum of Nature & Science. We have been there a couple of times before and I think hands down, this is Nathan's favorite museum.

I let Nathan plan our day and tell me what he wanted to see and do . . . which turned out to be everything.

The Science building had a water exhibit and Nathan enjoyed learning about water. He touched ice, played in water and with some encouragement walked through a fog curtain that was representing steam.

Nathan learned about water pumps and how they pump water from the ground to people's houses. He loved to turn the handle round and round to pump the water. If you pumped all the water out of the ground, it would rain to fill the reserves back up. Nathan did this several times until I pulled him away to give others a turn.

We are studying dinosaurs this week and we stopped by the Dino Dig to search for dinosaur bones. Nathan quickly found a big one by brushing the sand away with his brush.

Then, he measured it to see how long it was.

Nathan made sure we didn't miss out on making giant bubbles. We each took turns to see who could make the biggest bubbles. Nathan likes to pop the bubbles and swish his hands in the soap.

We headed down stairs to the Children's Museum. We had to stop at the dollhouse where you can turn the lights on and off. You can even light the fire in the fireplace.

I had to drag him away from the dollhouse after I noticed he was telling the other kids that it was "his" and they couldn't touch it. Nathan has started to be more assertive about things he is passionate about.

We also had to play with the numbers that you can flip around. One side has numbers and the other side shows dots. Nathan remembered this from his last visit and was requesting to play with it once we arrived at the museum.

We had to skip the water room because it was closed for a mopping. So, we headed straight to the farm. Nathan planted seeds in the garden and shopped for veggies. We also picked eggs from the chickens' nests and put them in egg cartons.

We were surprised to find the cow full of milk (water) because it had been empty on our other visits to the museum. Nathan was very eager to milk the cow and patiently waited his turn. The cow was very easy for him to milk it and he really enjoyed it.

After the farm, we headed to the backyard area. Nathan crawled through ant hills and spider webs. There is also an exhibit on neon gas with buttons to push to light up the tubes of gas. So, yes, we were there for awhile so Nathan could push the buttons over and over.

Our tummies started to growl, so we headed back upstairs to the cafe for lunch. Nathan picked out chips that left his lips and fingers orange.

After lunch, we walked to the Nature Building to see the dinosaur bones.

There is also a light exhibit in the Nature Building that has lots of hands on stations that Nathan loves.

Nathan is turning on the light bulbs to the same wattage and seeing that one is brighter than the other.

This photo wall is another one of Nathan's favorites. He played with it what seemed like forever. You stand next to the wall and it flashes. Then, you step away and it leaves your shadow on the wall. Nathan put his arms out and up. Then, he started to lift up his legs in funny poses. He giggled and laughed each time. Everyone around us enjoyed watching Nathan play with it.

Anything with buttons grabbed Nathan's attention and wouldn't let go. This cave exhibit was one of them. It had buttons to push that lit up different parts of the cave with tiny red lights. Nathan would push a button and ask me what lit up and I read him the description of each part of the cave over and over and over.

I finally dragged him away by letting him choose one more thing to do again. He choose the Dino Dig. So, we walked back over to the Science Building to dig for some more dinosaurs.

By this time the museum had cleared out a bit, so he found his own spot all to himself.

We spent about 30 minutes playing in the sand before we left for home.

We both had a great day at the museum. I enjoyed taking our time at the museum and letting Nathan lead the way. It was fun to see all the exhibits that caught his eye and keep his attention. We can't wait to return!

Cousins Camp - Planet 51

We went to the movies today for Cousins Camp. It turned out great because it was rainy outside. We saw Planet 51 at Studio Movie Grill.

Waiting to be seated.

Enjoying his lunch before the movie starts. He loved his drink and the french fries the best.

The happy campers. Everyone was all smiles after the cute movie.

Jaxon, Julia, Joelle, Jordan

Jessie and Nathan in the front.

Test Driving Boats

We went to Bass Pro Shops and Nathan really enjoyed playing in all the boats. There was a little screaming when we dragged him away.

Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic - Monster Truck

Nathan and I went to Lowe's this morning for their Build and Grow clinic. Daddy had to work today, so we were on our own to build the Monster Truck.

Nathan took over this build. This is his third one and he now knows were to put the nails and how to use the hammer.

Putting on the wheels.

After he put on the stickers, he couldn't wait to play with it. We did a great job without Daddy, but we have more fun when he comes with us.

Summer 2010 - Food Week

This week's theme is Food.

We had fun talking about different fruits and vegetables. We went to the grocery store and looked at all their different shapes and colors.

We made two yummy snacks this week. The first one was pink cupcakes from Nathan's favorite book this week, Pinkalicious. I didn't get a photo of those because they were eaten up quickly.

The other treat we made were chocolate covered bananas.


Dipping the bananas in the chocolate.

Tasting the chocolate.

Yummy!!

Nathan decided to eat the chocolate off the banana and throw it away. He at least took one tiny bite of banana off the end.

Here's a list of our favorite books we read this week about food:

Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann

Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements

Burger Boy by Alan Durant

Happy Father's Day

Nathan gave his Daddy the Lego Toy Story Train for Father's Day. They had a great time putting it together.

They also had a great time playing with it.

New Addition

We have a new addition to our backyard. We only finished the fort. The swings will come later.

Nathan has had a great time playing with it. He can't wait to customize it with a mailbox and house numbers.

Swimming Lesons

For the past two weeks, Nathan has been taking swimming lessons at the Rosemeade Rainforest Pool. He really enjoyed taking this class. I will have to sign him up every year.

Playing Ring Around the Rosy in the baby pool. They started each class in the baby pool for 5 minutes to let the kids get use to the water.

Then, they would move over to the big pool. Here he is swimming with the aid of a noodle.

While his instructor was working with the other kids in his class, Nathan would stand on a platform with bars around it. He would hold on to the bar and bounce up and down. He always had a smile on his face the whole lesson. He is standing next to the girl with the pink hat.

Here he is first in line for his turn on the diving board.

On the diving board with his instructor encouraging him to jump off. He didn't jump by himself. His instructor had to lift him up and drop him in. But, don't worry. He loved it! And, couldn't wait to do it again. This diving pool is 12 and 1/2 feet deep.

This video is from his last day of lessons. The kids showed the parents what they had learned during their lessons. Nathan received a Certificate of Participation and an American Red Cross card stating that he completed the requirements for the Preschool Aquatics Level 1 of the Learn-to-Swim program.

Foam Turtle Craft

We received this turtle foam craft from a friend. The box said it was for 4 and up, but we decided to give it a try.

Nathan enjoyed taking apart each foam cube. He was not interested in putting the cubes on the turtle shell, so Mommy helped him out.

Once the stickers were on the turtle shell, Nathan added a tail and head.

Here's the completed mosaic turtle.

Nathan loved playing with the turtle for several hours. When he went to bed for the night, he took the turtle with him and then decided to take each foam cube off the turtle shell. His room was covered in tiny green foam stickers. We cleaned them up and threw them away. It was a fun craft but didn't last very long in our house. I'm still finding the green cubes all over his room.

Cousins Camp - Rosemeade Rainforest

Cousins Camp was at the Rosemeade Rainforest today. Nathan has been taking swimming lessons there each morning, so we just stayed after his lesson to swim with the cousins.

Nathan taking a break and eating some apples.

Nathan loves playing at this pool. He likes the spray/splash area and shooting the water guns. He doesn't like the bucket that dumps all it's water out on your head without giving a warning. Nathan also loves the baby pool because he can touch the bottom.

We had a great time with the cousins. It was a long day for Nathan. He had been at the pool since 9:30am for his swimming lesson and we left around 2PM. Nathan, of course, quickly fell asleep in the car on the way home. He was wiped out.

Summer 2010 - Summer/Beach Week

This week's theme is Summer/Beach.

We had fun this week celebrating summer. Nathan loves this time of year. He loves to be outside in the bright sunshine playing outside or swimming.

We started summer week with a craft that we got from our playgroup activity swap. It's a great opportunity to get some crafts that I wouldn't think of to do from the other members of our playgroup.

We received this mini bucket, shovel, rack and scooper. The bag was filled with foam stickers and a marker to decorate the bucket.

This activity is right up Nathan's alley. He loves stickers. Pulling the backing off the stickers is a good fine motor workout. Fine motor skills helps to coordinate hand muscle movements like eating with silverware and holding a pencil, which Nathan needs help with.

Here's his finished bucket. He even decorated his shovel with stickers. He asked that I write Summer Time and his name on his bucket with the marker.

We also started our Cousins Camp this week. We get together with Nathan's cousins at least once a week during the summer. We don't get to see our cousins as much as we would like to during the school year, so we make up for it during summer. We go on lots of fun field trips to keep the kids busy like visits to the library, swimming pools and this week we went to the beach.

About a 30 minute drive from our house is this great beach on Lewisville Lake. The sand is very soft and great for sand castles.

We met the cousins there after swimming lessons, so Nathan was a bit tired. He enjoyed playing in the sand and filling his bucket full of water and dumping it out near our feet. Here he is just kicking back and eating some lunch. Shortly after lunch he was exhausted and begged me to take him home. He quickly fell sound asleep in the car. Once we got home, I just put him right in his bed, sand and all.

Nathan and I made a new sensory box this week. For our beach week, we added some shell shaped pasta, sea shells. starfish, his mini bucket and shovel and foam letters and numbers.

Can you tell that Nathan loves playing in the sensory box? He likes to feel the different textures of each item. Sometimes he likes to take items out of the box and examine them on his blanket. He really enjoyed the foam letters and numbers and putting them together like puzzle pieces.

Since it has been so hot lately, we decided to make a cool summer treat. We made yogurt popsicles.

We mixed vanilla yogurt, strawberries and bananas in the blender.

Nathan pouring the yogurt in the blender.

After mixing and pouring the smoothie in the molds, Nathan put the lids on top. Then, we had to wait for them to freeze. It was hard to be patient.

Nathan enjoying the yummy cold popsicle. It was a nice cold treat on a very hot summer day.

Here's a list of our favorite books we read this week about summer and the beach:

Pig Little by Mike Thaler

All Summer's Fun by Daniel Skalak

Sand Castle by Brenda Shannon Yee

Mouse's First Summer by Lauren Thompson

Duck Dunks by Lynne Berry

Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies