Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Crystal ABC's

Well today I started school with Josiah. He had so much fun and did wonderful! (I'm sure I'm not biased) After much research and sorting through so many resources I picked from here and there and came up with our own thing that works for us. Josiah is really active so I knew it had to be short, sweet, and hands on!
 Through play he already has a lot figured out. He can count to 20, knows his colors, knows his shapes, and can say his ABC's. We said our ABC's when we washed our hands basically since we started washing his hands. While potty training we had a color and shape book that we read and it worked to keep him on the potty long enough to go and was educational. When we tired of the book we started pointing to different things for shape and color. We travel quite a bit so we would count trucks on our way. He is all boy and a semi is so much cooler than some minivan.
We are working on letter recognition. Josiah loves to read so we have done some, but haven't pushed it hard. This week we are working on the letter A. So we colored a picture and read a story about an alligator. Played some free online games about the letter A. Then we made crystal A's. There are so many free printables out there that with a little research you will have more than you need. We made a capital A and a lower case a. Josiah had so much fun shaping them (I did help to get the lower case a to stay by doing the twisting).

Making the A's

What you need:
Pipe Cleaners
Borax
Yarn
Popsicle Stick or Something to tie your letters to
Hot/Boiling Water
Glass Jar

 I started water in the tea kettle. I figured that would make it easier to pour in the jars.
 Then we made our A's out of the pipe cleaners. There is no right or wrong way as long as you get an A that fits in your jar.

Tie one end of the yarn to the A and the other to your popsicle stick so that your letter will hang in the jar.
Before you put it in the jar fill the jar with the hot water and start mixing in the Borax until no more will dissolve. I let Josiah stir it since I was right there.
Finally hang your A's in the jars and wait.
 As the water cools it can not hold as much of the Borax and it will start to separate out. Borax is a crystal in nature and will return to that state.




I had to put them in the window above my sink to keep little hands out of them. He can't wait for tomorrow to see what his A looks like. I think an entire alphabet would be fun!

Update 1/30 - We took the A's out of their jars this morning (they sat for 24 hrs), and they are awesome.They are hard, the plate was just to keep the water mess contained.