Ordinary Life Magic (Too.)

Yarn Eggs

We’ve made three different kinds of eggs today. :)

Here’s one of them.

For this one we used small, cotton yarn, and since we’re talking Holiday, we’re also using yarn that we’ve dyed

and then spun ourselves, for enchantment’s sake.

We believe in Magic, after all.

And!,

because

“This is so, so soft…..”

Something important to remember:

Colors add to everyday enchantment, if you are willing to suppose they do.

Traditionally, White can be a substitute of any color, a combination of all colors, as well as symbolic of cleansing, purity, truth-seeking, spiritual enlightenment, and healing.

Yellow represents communication, knowledge, and repels negative energy.

Pink represents friendship, femininity, honor, and service.

Purple represents the spiritual world, idealism, and success.

Green represents good luck, money, rejuvenation, harmony, prosperity, and growth.

Blue represents inner light, truth, peace, wisdom, and harmony.

Is it any wonder we honor pastels in the Spring?

We got a few small balloons from our jar, and blew them up just a little.

We fetched the craft glue, watered it down a bit, and then stirred it with a paint brush.

We cut a few three-foot long (or so) pieces of yarn,and tucked them (one at a time, as we were working with them) into the pot of glue solution.

Then we just wrapped the yarn, willy-nilly around the balloon.

We hung up the wrapped balloon by its knotted end on the clothes line, and let it drip for a while.

When they began to firm and dry, we squeezed them a bit, enhancing the “egg” shape.

We let them dry overnight

-inside-

And in the morning popped the balloons, and then peeled them away from the yarn,

and then took care to reshape the eggs.

Happy renewal and Springtime to you.

Special Thanks goes to Donni of The Magic Onions for the reminder of this beloved yarn craft.

Life. On Mondays.

A new place to share and link.

Whatcha doin’ ?

Wanna share?

Want to see what other Mamas, creators, mess makers, home educators, or This Life supporters are doing?

(life on the kitchen table: dripping salsa, Mama’s notebook, dead and living plants in the windowsill, a bowl of apples and mangos, a clothespin, corn chips.)

Well here you go.

We’ll take turns naming the theme. I’ll go first.

Today, my life has been about Corners, so that’s what I’ll call.

(Soon to be linking today’s post.)

What were your corners today?
A corner that you loved? Or love?
A corner that you tended?
A corner that suits you?
A corner where you found something meaningful?

(Comment through Sunday of next week to enter in the fun.)

Next week: Windows.

Something beautiful. Something sparkly. Something warm. Something strange. Stirring. Pretty. Soothing. Meaningful. Appropriate. Whatever suits your mood and Life.

Link on Monday!

Corners:

More Than Alphabet Soup

The Bergblog

Ordinary Life Magic

Hex! The Game

The origins of Hex can be read about here.

The basic objective of this mathematically strategic game is to build a solid line of markers across or down the board – making either a horizontal or vertical unbroken line.

This one has been on our (er… my) agenda for a while… today I finally decided it was time.

First up was making the board.
This would be rather simple if one had a working printer. You could just visit, say… here…. for a print-out.
It would also be simple if one happened to have a small enough and sturdy geometrically correct hexagon.
Or if one had intimate knowledge of geometry and could fashion a board in a few seconds.

But of course none of those things apply here!

Had to make a hexagon, first.

I began with a one inch square. It has to be as exact as possible. Not as easy as it sounds to make, but eventually I had success.

Cut out a square inch, as exact as possible. I used mat board (which is like very heavy poster board) for the game board, and for the hexagon template.

First I found the exact center, and marked it on two opposite sides.

For the flat top, I marked off the 1/4 inch points of either side of the middle 1/2 inch

and then drew a line to the 1/2 inch point drawn before.

I cut it out.

I kept alternating the hexagon around, and looking to see if it was straight – which it wasn’t, so I trimmed tiny bits off of it until it looked even from all angles.

Hex gameboards are either made with nine or eleven across and up for a beginning board, or thirteen for a more serious board, or they’re made with fourteen for competition or tournament boards.
I figured eleven would do it for us.

I drew a line at the bottom of the mat board, for a straight starting point.

Angling the hexagon with points faced up and down, I started tracing around the hexagon to make the board.

Eleven across, and then eleven high, making a rhombus.

Success!

I traced my lines with a sharpie to finish them off,

and then covered the board with contact paper.

For our first games, we used little ceramic tiles,

and then I realized that little pieces of natural clay would be tactilely pleasing…

So I pounded, pressed, and rolled clay,

and then cut out small circles – that would easily fit inside our game hexagons.

You could certainly use little glass stones, or any number of other materials for game pieces. Clay was rather soothing -and accessible- to me.

With the pieces cut out,

we set out to make little bowls to hold them.

We used natural clay again, with pressed and cut out bottoms, and then coiled the clay around to shape our bowls.

Traditionally the games pieces are black and white, we’re leaving ours to the naturally white clay, and will leave our little bowls as well.

Certainly not perfect, but beautiful, none-the-less, I’d say.

Happy gaming and thinking to you!

Science Fair

Sorry I’m a bit late on this… I’ve been thinking and conjuring and piddling about ideas and such.

I’m wondering if a regular monthly Science link-up would be of use to anyone?
Folks can link their blogs and posts (like how we did the science fair), and have a place to share and check out other people’s resources and experiences?

Here’s the winner badge – it goes to everyone!

We had such a great time looking at everyone’s great ideas and fun play (and irritations, in some cases), and we appreciate your playing!!

And now!!

The winner of the drawing – for the year’s subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine is Lisa! Of 5 Orange Potatoes.

woohoo!!
Congratulations to Lisa!

Thanks for playing, everyone!

(And if you could let me know if you’d like a monthly place to link up Science Play – including nature explorations and what you’ve discovered and learned I would appreciate it!)

Playing with Jenga

I think most of us have pretty liberal rules when we play some games with our children – that is, we change things around and adapt where we need to, and make up our own “free parking” rules, and so forth.

Games are games, after all, and meant to be an enjoyable pastime.

A couple of days ago, we got out Jenga. (With the intention to play the game, not build or line them up like dominoes as we so often do.)

The object of the game is to remove lower blocks and add them -one at a time, taking turns- to the top of the tower. The three blocks alternate the direction of the lay, so that blocks can be removed.

It’s obvious, to most of us, what will work, and what will not. You can’t take a middle block of a layer, and then take the one to the right of it, and expect it to stand, for example.

Unless you do.

My babes did. (I don’t know that we’ve ever played the actual game before – if we have, it’s been at least a couple of years.)

At first I found myself “Uh!”ing, as my babes were supposing that as long as they were careful, they could take any block they chose.

At some point I had the notion that the thing to do was to have them experiment with the blocks by themselves – learning how not only balancing at heights works and must be treated carefully, but also structural integrity and ideas like ‘center of gravity’.

So I gave Maddie a pile of eight stories, and Trevelyn a pile of seven. (Much easier to work with, and quicker to rebuild if one makes a serious error in judgment.)

And I said “Let’s see who can build their tower the tallest, playing the game.”

Aah. Much better.

I can sit and watch their processes, and be happy just to see them investigate and learn. No lessons from me. No rules. No interference.

So this simple game becomes a reminder to myself to pause and be present – to think of and accept an opportunity to inspire rather than command my children to learn. It’s practice for me to step out of -again!- the easiest or most efficient way of doing things (ie, teaching – like saying “If you take that one, it will fall, look….”) and to find ways to help my children to come to true understanding – an intimate understanding of the way things work.

And so the deepest learning happens – they are learning by experiencing, supposing, and investigating.
I learn to Pause.
And we all learn to trust in our own abilities just a little bit more.

Create! Winner

woohoo! I love this part. :)

I wrote everyone’s names (twice, if you’re a follower) on a list, and then cut them out.

I left little notes to myself so’s I could distinguish easily who the person was.

Put them in my pretty bowl, and drew out this!

Which means Melissa who left a comment on the 23rd, at 1:27 pm…

“I would love to get my hands on those translucent tiles, i can see a wonderful mobile being made. I already am a follower of this blog (another grand blog made by you)
I would love to be entered in this giveaway, thanks!”

Congratulations, Melissa!
I’m so excited to get your package sent out to you!

There are two more great give-aways planned for the near future – one for the soon-to-be-released book World Myths and Legends: 25 Projects You Can Build Yourself by Rachel K. Benoit,

and

a little Nature Walk Knapsack!

And don’t forget that you have a chance to win a subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine if you enter the Science Fair by Februray 28.

The Create Box

Hmmmm….

Now what can all these things have in common, I wonder?

You’ve got until 6:00 tonight (MST) to toss in your name!

(You double your chances if you are or become a Follower of OLM (Too.). Everyone is welcome to enter.)

http://ordinarylifemagic.com/blog/

Creative Play

It could be that I’m the very last person to have ever thought of this… :), but there you have it.

Maddie wanted to go downstairs today to get her barn,
so of course we did.

I remembered while we were going downstairs that last time she was playing she was looking for more fencing. And then I spied our thousands of popsicle sticks that I have no idea what I’ll ever do with.

Aaaaaah.

Now popsicle sticks would make a beautiful natural-looking fence, wouldn’t they?

At first I tried to weave the sticks, but that didn’t work (they went shooting across the room, and I could hardly give a fence to my child that self-destructed), and then I decided to glue it. I used craft glue. (You could use hot glue to make it more sturdy if you’re making the fence, yourself,)

And a little clay (or beeswax, certainly!) would make a splendid post to hold it upright!

I grabbed the clay (from the shelves off the kitchen – it’s always close at hand) and surprised Maddie with some grass. And flowers.

And she was of course thrilled, and set out to make more.

And one flower looked mightily like a Butterfly, so it sits on the fence post.

If you wanted a permanent fence, you could use air-dry clay, or play-dough that you set out to dry.

As I looked at these little wooden creations we’ve made, my mind started wandering.

Bars for cells for captured knights or pirate play?

Pens for dinosaurs? (Prehistoric Park style.)

Build a treehouse structure for playmobil people?

A grass hut in the rainforest?

Where will your imaginations take you today?

Washi Eggs

This is a traditional Japanese craft that has been around for hundreds of years.

First, you’ll need washi paper – origami paper. I wouldn’t bother with anything else. Origami paper is sturdy and flexible, and able to hold up to this craft.

The paper is expensive. I paid $5 for per packet of 20 and 24 sheets – four designs each.

Commonly, these eggs are done with blown-out eggs. You can certainly do that if you want to (and if you’re feeling very, very brave), but I wouldn’t bother. Working with these eggs takes some pressure and rearranging, and I know that I’d break a shell every few seconds. I used paper mache’ eggs, and wooden eggs both.

You’ll also need glue – I used mod podge (watered down when it got too thick) – use something that doesn’t dry super fast, as you’ll need time.

The only tools you’ll need are something to lay them to dry (a piece of paper), a paint brush, and scissors.

The first thing to do is measure the length, t0p tip to bottom tip of your egg - a leave a little bit to spare. Better to trim your ends as your working then have it go a tiny bit crooked and not cover your egg completely.

When I had the length right, I just used the trimmed off portion as a guide for the length of the rest of the eggs. (Another benefit of paper mache and wooden eggs – they’re all the same size.)

You can measure the width, too, but my paper was close to the correct width (5 7/8), so I just trimmed at the end if I needed to.

Fold your paper in half (I didn’t firmly crease it, as I didn’t want the crease to show) and then fringe your open edges – to about a 1/2 inch away from the fold.

I found that a centimeter (roughly) was a workable size, as smaller made the print choppy and too difficult to match up.

Trim the edges of your fringe, to make them pointed, picket-fence style.

Brush a bit of glue onto one end of your paper,

and move it around until it’s straight, and either end will reach the points of your egg. This takes some doing, and you’ll have to watch your progress, because it’s easy to get off-track, as you’re working with something round.

Put glue all the way out to the end of your first tab (I placed glue on three or so at a time), and smooth it down.

You’ll work all the way around the first side (top of the egg or bottom) before you start on the second side. For this reason, I found it was better to keep the glue onto one side of the crease, so as not to accidentally glue something down on the other half of the egg, causing a crease which dried before I was ready to work on that half.

Another note about technique (I’ve learned the hard way) is that to keep creases to a minumum (where the joint of the tabs connect), place the tab you’re placing down firmly and smoothly, but sort of take the connecting side of the next tab with you.

This makes for a more smooth lay.

Trim your points as you need, if they’re too long.

When the first side is done, do the same thing for the other side.

I finished them with another layer of mod podge, you can use any kind of sealer.

A final note - this takes practice. I did about six before I even stopped shuddering at my work. :/ That’s expensive! :)

I would say that if you want to practice – and I would suggest doing this at least once! – then take the part that you’ve trimmed off for your first egg, fringe it, and on an egg (a boiled one?) get a feel for how it works.

For a children’s version, do the same thing, but allow for wrinkles (like crinkled tissue paper), and then press down with the wrinkles. e11

e10

You’ll need to allow extra length for the crinkles, so cut your paper a little longer.

When Maddie was done, I put on a thick coat of mod podge, and pressed down firmly around her egg. Older children could do this themselves, certainly.

e12

You could also use cheerful tissue paper for a wrinkly alternative for pretty eggs.

I would also be willing to bet that this same technique could be done with any hand-made paper that you’ve crafted (or purchased). I’m sure it would make beautiful eggs.

1 copy

Happy Spring.

Circling

Here’s today’s science project. This one comes from the book Guide To the Best Science Fair Projects by Janice VanCleave.

The question is: What makes a satellite orbit around the earth?

We used two pieces of paper, a cardboard tube, piece of tape, food coloring, water, a marble, a piece of clay, and a cookie sheet.

Tape one end of the tube at the corner of the cookie sheet.

Lay the piece of paper at its edge.

Put several drops of food coloring into a glass with a bit of water, and stir it.

Put the marble (a large marble left more visible tracks for us) into the raised end of the tube, and notice its path across the paper.

Raise the long side of the tray (the side near the tube) about an inch, and prop it up with a book or bits of clay.

Wet the marble again, and send it through the tube.

This time it makes a much rounder orbit!

The reason is because first there was only the weight of the marble to pull to the earth, but the second time there was also the gravity of the tray…. if you raise it again, you get a different path again.

Trev wanted it to fall almost straight down from the tube, so we had to decide how to do that! :)

So we discovered that a satellite needs two things to stay in orbit – the forward-moving motion of the satellite (the engine), and the gravity pulling it toward the center of the earth. Without gravity, the satellite would travel in a straight line, and without the force of the motion of the satellite, it would smack into the earth!

Ordinary Life Magic (Too.)

For Investigators

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