play dough and earth

Well, we are in week two of the new homeschooling year. After a bit of a bumpy start, everyone is now settling in nicely with the routine. We made some revamps from last go around, and I’m liking it so far.

One of the things I find fun about homeschooling is being able to find interesting activities to go with our lesson. With Joshua learning about the Earth’s core, mantle, and crust, I thought it was a good time to make a new play dough recipe I found using hair conditioner and corn starch! It was incredibly soft, smelled amazing, and provided the perfect “mantle” for Joshua’s Earth. Emma Grace also made some and went a little overboard on the green food coloring. Thankfully it didn’t take long for it to wear off.

After making the play dough, I had Joshua (and Emma because she wants to be like her brother) go find a round rock to serve as the Earth’s core. Then they wrapped it in play dough to serve as the mantle. Finally they got it a little wet and sprinkled dirt on it to serve as the crust. The idea was taken from a Science YouTube video that I can’t find the link to.

Fun activity = lesson learned!