Watercolor and Salt Art

 

A simple art project to do with any age group. Even though Skylar is in the eleventh grade this year, we don't exclude art and downtime from studies. This art project is a lot of fun and only takes four simple items: 

•Liquid glue

•Salt/sugar

•Paper

•Water Colors

Start first with card stock, or paper. Cardstock is better for holding up with the weight of the glue and the salt or sugar.

Draw a design in glue on the page and be as creative, or as detailed as you want. Let kids use their imagination in the best way they know how. Any drawing in glue will do, but be sure to leave enough space between the lines of your drawing. Larger images work better like the ones above, or a house, the sun, or even basic shapes and designs.

Once the glue is drawn sprinkle on your salt or sugar. Either one works for this project, but be sure to cover the entire area that's been glued. Allow the glue to dry with the sugar or salt on top. 24 hours should be enough time to dry completely.

Once dry, use the watercolors in different colors to drip a small drop onto the grains of the salt/sugar. It only takes a bit, so go slow and make sure you use a small drop at first and work your way up to more as you see the colors change and travel down the salt/sugar. 

Once finished, allow to dry 24 hours and hang up your masterpiece. 

Cardstock we like here.

Watercolors we like here.

Salt we like here.

Liquid Glue we like here.

Venomous Spider Study

 

Math Conundrum

 See if you can figure out this math problem and figure out the right answer...

What's the solution that you came to? 

Check below to see if you got it right.

Create your own problems in the same format and challenge your friends and family to see if they can get the right answers. 

Reptile Observation (Garter Snakes)

Garter snakes are the "fun" snakes. Although, I do not like to hold them, Skylar has no issues picking them up. There aren't many poisonous snakes within the city, I'm sure they're around, we have been lucky enough not to have any around our property. 

Most garter snakes here in Oregon are Western Terrestrial Garter Snake (Thamnophis elegans), Common Garter (Thamnophis sirtalis), Aquatic Gartersnake (Thamnophis atratus), and Northwestern Garter (Thamnophis ordinoides). The skin pattern, characterized by the light color stripes, but not all have the stripe as prominent. 

Garter snakes in Florida are often blue. In Texas there are checkered garter snakes, and mostly active at night. Most garden snakes move around during the day, but when it's too hot they will come out more at night.

Download this sheet here, or right click and save the image above.

Download this sheet and instructions here.

(Source)

Learn more about garter and other snakes here.