LDS Tangrams

General Conference is this coming weekend! In our home we almost treat it like a minor holiday--we have certain treats and traditions that we have been doing for years now.  Every six months I put together a conference basket to keep my children entertained and engaged in the broadcast.  The contents of our basket varies from year to year depending on the ages of my children, my creativity level, and requests from my kids.  My good friend, Kensie, shared and idea with me this week that I am going to pass on to you!  This would be the perfect addition to your conference weekend . . . or any Sunday (you could hand this off to your kids while you sneak in a quick Sunday afternoon nap!)  

I loved doing tangrams as a kid.  And really, I still love to play with them!  Kensie created these tangram cards with an LDS twist.  

She created 31 different cards and you can download them all for free! (If you don't have tangrams in your house you can order them here or you can even print some for free here.)

I hope this idea helps you with your Conference Weekend plans.  Enjoy!


(In order to download the cards you will need to click on the image and then right click to save.)

Spring Break Science

Last week was our spring break.  Since our weather is still very cold we had to create some indoor fun.  Between watching movies, arts and crafts, and playing games we kept pretty busy.  One of our afternoons we filled doing science experiments.  Not all the experiments worked out perfectly but we still had fun.

Yellow + Blue = Green

This is a good one to start with since it takes several hours to see the results.  Fill one cup with yellow water and another with blue.  Place a paper towel going from the colored cups into an empty one.  It's fun to see the water creep up the paper towel and change into green in the empty cup.  The results are much better than what I have shown.  I just never got around to taking a final picture.  Eventually the water level in all three cups will become even.

Balloon Rocket

My kids loved this one.  String a straw onto a long piece of yarn.  Tie the yarn between two chairs.  Blow up a balloon and hold the end closed.  Tape the balloon to the straw and then let it go.  It's fun to predict how far the balloon will fly with different amounts of air in it.

Glitter Volcano

Add 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda into a tall vase along with a few drops of red food coloring and some glitter.  Pour some vinegar into the vase and watch what happens.  Try it again with something besides glitter.  Predict what you think will happen.

Density Rainbow

Add sugar and food dye to four cups as indicated below.  Pour three tablespoons of water into each cup.  Stir until dissolved.

In an empty cup use a spoon to carefully layer the water.  Start with blue, then green, yellow, and finally red.  If you layer carefully enough the colors should remain separated.  Why does this happen?  By using different amounts of sugar in each glass the concentration was different for each color.  The most dense solution sinks to the bottom and the least dense sits on top. Ours didn't turn out nearly as good as this one, but we got the idea.

Baking Soda Bombs

Place 1.5 tablespoons of baking soda into a paper towel and wrap up.  In a ziploc bag add 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup water.  Place the paper towel bundle into the bag, zip, and shake.  Stand back and watch the bag inflate.  The bag is supposed to pop, but ours never did.

Inflating Balloons

In a water bottle or jar add 1/2-1 cup of vinegar.  Use a funnel to pour 1-2 tablespoons of baking soda into a balloon.  Stretch the balloon end over the bottle, being careful to not let any of the baking soda get into the bottle.  Lift the balloon up and shake the baking soda into the jar.  Watch as the balloon fills with gas and inflates.  This experiment is a popular one at our house.  I never get tired of the look on my kids faces as they watch the balloons fill up on their own.

Have you done any science experiments with your kids that were successful?  Please share!

Summer Schedule

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This week we're finishing up the school year.  I can't believe how fast it flew by.  I'm super excited for summer though and having my daughter home with me all day long. 

I want to have a fun flexible summer but still stay organized at the same time.  To help us with that I made up a chart so my kids have a visual of what their week will look like.

I read a study several years ago that said when children anticipate events they create better memories of them.  So don't spring a trip to Disneyland on your kids the night before.  Let them anticipate it for weeks or even months ahead of time.  It will make it more exciting and they'll remember that event so much more in the years to come.

Hopefully our little weekly chart will help my kids get excited about the things we'll be doing each week.

I printed off a bunch of free clip art of reoccurring activities we'll be doing this summer, but also weekly chores and errands that need to be done.   I covered each picture and our chart in contact paper.

The pictures are removable with tape and the column on the right is for any pictures we're not using that week.

We hung our chart up in the kitchen where it's easy to see and the kids can reach it and help plan out the week.  I think it's so helpful, especially with toddlers and preschool age kids, to have a visual of what they're going to be doing for the week.  I'm sure we'll keep using our chart come fall and add some pictures to mark what days preschool will be on for my son.

What do you do to stay organized during summer break?