Science Day- Sunlight Experiment

Science Day: This is a simple science experiment to show what happens to plants or grass when they don't get sun. You need two small potted plants, one of which you don't mind if it dies. Put one potted plant in a place where it can receive sun. But not in a place where the sun will burn it. Put other potted plant on a shelf in a dark closet where it can't be knocked over. Keep plants in both places for five days. After five days observe plants. The plant that didn't get sunlight should be wilted and dying. The other plant which did get sun should be thriving.

Alternative: Put a Frisbee or an empty clay pot over a patch of green grass. If you have gardeners do it right after they mow the lawn. Don't move Freebie for seven days. On the eighth day lift up the Frisbee or pot. Notice how the grass underneath is brown and dying. It didn't get sun. Plants need sunlight. This is why it's hard to plant grass under large shady trees laden with leaves. The sun can't reach the grass blades. Even in the forest baby trees can die if the large trees next to them have wide branches. The branches block out the sunlight.

Book Review- Picture Book

Book for Parents to read with their kids. "Do Little Mermaids Wet their Beds?" by Jeanne Willis. Pictures by Penelope Jossen. The book is an easy reading, rhyming book. It's about a four-year-old girl who does lots of things well, but she also wets her bed. One night she has dream about a mermaid who wants her to come and play. So the little girl goes off with the mermaid. By morning, after a whole night of romping around in the sea she curiously has a dry bed. At the end of the book, in fine print, there is a page about bed wetting with advice, which is nice to have. The book helps little kids realize that at some point they will not always have a wet bed.

Summer Tip for Plants

Going away for a long weekend or a five day holiday this summer? If so, and you have indoor plants here's an idea. Use a glass blub water stake for watering. You put the glass bulb in the soil for slow-drip watering. You can find them at garden stores. First see how fast your plants drink. Some bulbs can water for over a week. My sister has such a bulb for her indoor ficus tree. When I housesat for her, I didn't have to refill her bulb for almost two weeks.

Movie Review

Movie Title: National Velvet. Horse movie. Rated G. An English girl (Elizabeth Taylor) with the aid of a friend (Mickey Rooney) races her beloved horse, Pye, in a race. A sweet film. Movie rolls along at a good pace. You don't get bored. Great movie for girls with horse fever.

Doggy Tip

Dog Tip- On hot days do NOT park your car and leave your dog in it. Even for a short period. Do NOT think, well, it's okay I've cracked open the windows some. It gets hot inside a car fast! Some cities give tickets to people who leave dogs in cars. So before leaving your dog in the car to quickly just get milk, even in winter, check to make sure what your city's laws are.

Book Review- Chapter book, Award Winner

Chapter book for nine to twelve-year-olds, depending on their reading level. "Ginger Pye," by Eleanor Estes. New Newbery Medal winner. Basically the book is about the lives of Jerry and Rachel Pye and their dog Ginger. It was an okay book. Not a super great, must read. The most interesting part in the book for me was when Ginger goes missing. I asked one grade school boy who read the book what he thought of it. He voiced the same opinion as me. It was all right, but not the best book he ever read.

Happy Father's Day! Family Activity.

Family Activity. Beat the summer heat. Pack a picnic. Put it in a backpack. Take a walk through a shallow stream with your kids (for sensitive feet wear rubber soled sandals/water shoes). Bring a pail to collect crawdads and pretty rocks in. Play Twenty Questions or I Spy using the nature around you. Example: What you choose is a fish. Your child asks, "Is it bigger than a tree leaf?" You say yes or no. Other questions- "Is it brown?" "Is it a mineral, vegetable, insect, bird, mammal or reptile?" "Does it live in the water?"
Later in the shade eat your lunch and ask your kids if they have any questions about nature. If you don't know the answer then when you get home go online (or go to the library) and find out the answer. Questions might be, "What do crawdads eat? Do crawdads sleep?" "Why is the sky blue?" "What causes streams?"