Field Trip-- American Museum of Natural History

We had a busy weekend. Sunday we went to the AMNH in NYC with Mikro's aunt and 2 of his cousins, and saw dinosaurs and live frogs. Mikro and his closest in age cousin T together are a whirlwind, but a joy to watch. His middle cousin is really blossoming. She's no longer shy, and has a great sense of humor. I loved seeing the kids together. I have a ton of photos to edit, and today I'm paying in pain for having dared to go do stuff like a normal person, but I'd say it was worth it. It was really nice to have fun and feel like part of a family. Kev, Mikro and I are way too isolated too much of the time...

I haven't been to the AMNH in years. Never knew there was a special Discovery Room for the kiddos, where they can get hands on with the exhibits. Mikro got to touch a dinosaur skeleton!





And then the bigger kid got to put together a model of a praying mantis.



There were lots of bugs to look at.



And puzzles and toys to play with.



And fossils to touch.



And cousins to hold hands with, and chase around.



Boy meets frogs...





















But by day's end, the sensory boy was pretty overwhelmed. Here he's trying to shield himself from noise. Lucky for us, he just fell asleep during dinner at EJ's Diner, rather than throwing a meltdown...

Linky Love

The Dangerous and Daring Blog for Boys and Girls: http://dangerous-daring-blog.blogspot.com/

101 Things to Do This Summer: http://www.homeschool.com/articles/101ThingsToDoThisSummer/default.asp

The Summer of Bugs Continues-- Fly Away!

Crazy lady releasing the cicada...





Of course, I had to take photos first, and Kev caught me in the act.

More Scenes From the Bug Jar

We are still heavy into the insect world over here. Mikro has a Bug Habitat (plastic cage with multiple hatches to drop the critters in) and a bunch of little bug collecting bottles. In the past ten days or so, we've caught several types of beetles, more crickets, a bumble bee, a huge red ant, lightning bugs, a pill bug (which is actually a crustacean, not an insect),and, most amazingly, a live cicada nymph, which molted and turned into an adult cicada while we had him. We released him yesterday, and he took off on strong sure wings. What a cool thing to get to see!





































And today I bought a few more bug jars...

Linky Love

Here is an excellent list of suggested activities for homeschooling preschoolers

Linky Love

Native American Technology and Art: http://www.nativetech.org/

Free online children's classics: http://www.bygosh.com/childrensclassics.htm

Songs & Fingerplays about Bugs: http://www.preschooleducation.com/sbug.shtml

Preschool Learning Activities: http://www.universalpreschool.com/how-to/

Dragonboat Races

It was brutally hot here this weekend, but we had been sick all week and the stir crazy was at near fatal levels, so we went up to Peekskill for their annual Peekskill Celebration. We got to enjoy dragon boat races, historical reenactors, fencing demos, classic cars, and lots of free swag from local merchants.

The only downside was getting fairly overheated and having to fight to get Mikro to drink adequate amounts of water. Since he's had a sore throat, he's been eating and drinking far less than usual, which is making me crazy... But still, it was a fairly nice outing, and he really liked the dragon boats.

They're Creepy and They're Kooky...

Bugs, that is.

We are doing a nature study on backyard bugs, in hopes Mikro will become fascinated rather than terrified thereby...

Coolest resident so far of the family bug jar: Greenie the Katydid, who we released today after 4 days of residency:












And after I scooped her out of the jar and set her under the rose bushes where Kevin found her, we quickly found our new study subjects. Two crickets, one male, one female, and a tiny grasshopper. It would be pretty neat if we wound up with cricket babies... But I doubt it. They apparently lay eggs in the dirt, and so far, our cage only has greenery and water. We've been feeding them leaves and peaches. Interesting facts: Their poop is called frass, and they make a frassing mess. The female cricket is the one with the long phallic appendage, which is called, I think, an ovicepter. Guess cricket boys get to have ovicepter envy? Grasshoppers have much shorter antennae, proportionally, than crickets do. Who knew?







And who knew playing with bugs would cause me to seriously covet a good macro lens...

Linky Love

The Dangerous and Daring Blog for Boys and Girls: http://dangerous-daring-blog.blogspot.com/

101 Things to Do This Summer: http://www.homeschool.com/articles/101ThingsToDoThisSummer/default.asp