All of these projects are from Kiwi Co and have been a great addition to our homeschool classroom. The simple to build projects are suitable for anyone and each box can be personalized for your child's age range. The boxes come with full-color instructions, fun activities in each booklet, and educational material to learn about each project. It's a great tool to add to your homeschooling curriculum, or just a fun weekend project to do together. You can sign up for the Kiwi Crate that best suits you below.
A sundial is an easy and simple way to tell time just by using the sun. The sun as been an accurate timekeeping device for centuries and you can create your own. The earliest sundial was used was named "shadow clocks" and was used as early as 1500BC. Most recordings of sundial usage was done by the early Egyptians and Babylonians and they used forms of astrology to keep time. Sundials were used long before analog and are quite impressive to see the time changes as the sun moves across the sky. Here's how it's made...
What you'll need:
1. A straight piece of metal or wood. (We used a short length of rebar)
2. 12 large stones, 12 medium stones, and 12 small stones
3. String or measuring tape
4. A watch
What to do:
You need to find a clean, flat surface of ground that is sunny and clear off the area of any large debris, sticks, twigs, leaves, grass, and/or other items. Make sure the area is flat, and if there's slopes or grooves, rake the area clean and get it as level as you can.
Next, Hammer your piece of metal, or wood into the ground where you want the middle of the sundial to be. We used a rake and cleared the area and then raked in a circle for aesthetics.
Next, tie your string to your middle piece and stretch out. Your sundial can be as big, or as small as you like. We wanted a bigger one, so we adjusted accordingly. Take your string around your middle stick and go around in a circle. As you go mark areas of your sundial that you need to either make bigger or smaller. You want to make sure your circle is even all the way around.
Once you've made your circle even all the way around, next you want to mark your time for that moment. Example: If you're doing this project at 1:00 p.m., the sun should cast a shadow on your middle piece onto a spot on your sundial. Place a large stone at that mark on the outer edge of your sundial. Then, set your timer and head back out to place your stone for 2:00 p.m. and so on. For the morning times, start at 7:00 a.m. and place a large stone for 7:00 a.m. Go back every hour and place large stones on the appropriate times. By the end of 24 hours you should have enough large stones in place to finish your dial. Estimate where the remaining large stones should be.
Next, place medium stones between the large stones on your dial. These medium stones will be the marks for the half hour. Example: Place a medium stone between the 1:00 p.m. and the 2:00 p.m. larger stones.
Finally, place the smaller stones inside the outer ring of stones between each medium and large stone. These will be the marks for the 15 minute time intervals. Example: Place a small stone between 1:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., as well as between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Continue around your entire dial and you're done!
Keep in mind that the shadows that are casts against your middle object will change throughout the year and from season to season. In the summer, when we did this project, the shadows were shorter. But, in the winter, the shadows cast will be longer. Although the days in winter are seems shorter, the shadows from the sun will be longer shadows. You can learn more about the shadows and sundials here.
A.M. stands for "ante meridiem," which means before noon and the P.M. stands for "post meridiem," meaning after noon. All time equivalent is before the noon hour or after the noon hour.
Side Note: Be sure to wear gloves while clearing a space for your sundial. We are all nursing a few blisters from our hard work. It was worth the effort, though, because our sundial is large and in a space where we can look at it often.
And, thanks to this guy for helping us lay everything out.
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.
