Future Scientist in the Making

Or something like that... :) We signed up for some Toddler Science Days at the Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing. These classes are specifically aimed at 1 and 2 year olds, so they are perfect for Carson right now. They limit the class to 12 kids and we went to our first class this past Friday. They've had a few already, but we hadn't signed up for those. And at the moment, we're just signed up for one more in August focusing on dinosaurs, but I might look into signing up for a couple more since they were so cool.

Friday's class was called "Make a Splash!" and focused on water science. Well, it was as focused on water science as you can get for a bunch of 1 and 2 year olds. :) They started out the class by singing some songs. Carson really loved the fishy song:

I'm a little fishy
Watch me swim,
Here is my tail,
Here is my fin!
When I want to have fun
with my friends,
I wiggle my tail and
dive right in!

After that, they explained the different stations set up around the room and let us go around at our own pace. We got to make a rainbow in a water density experiment - I think we'll do this one at home later on when he's a little older, too. Basically just fill four small cups with 4 Tablespoons of water in each cup. Then stir sugar into each cup - 1 Tablespoon into the first cup, 2 Tablespoons into the second cup, 3 Tablespoons into the third cup, and 4 Tablespoons into the fourth cup. After that, you start adding some food coloring to each - 3 drops of red into the first cup, 3 drops of yellow into the second cup, 6 drops of blue into the third cup, and 3 drops of green into the fourth cup. Then you get a larger cup with straight sides. Pour the green in first. Then, use a spoon right at the surface of the green and pressed up against the edge to slowly pour in the blue - you need the spoon so as not to break the seal on the green so your colors don't run together. After the blue, you do the same thing with the yellow, and finally with the red. The colors all remain separated in the cup and it looks like a rainbow! It was pretty cool.

Carson got to make a rain stick, too. They had some paper towel tubes with nails pounded into them and covered with duct tape ready for us. We taped a piece of wax paper onto one end and then Carson poured in some dry beans. We sealed up the other end with another piece of wax paper and then got to decorate the exterior with stickers. When you turn it over, it sounds like rain! After that, we got to make a butterfly. Carson had tons of fun coloring with markers on a coffee filter. After he colored on it with several different colors, we dipped it into a shallow dish of water and let it dry. The colors all separate and you get to see what colors are used to make up each color. Once it dried a little, we tied a ribbon in the middle to make a butterfly. It turned out quite pretty and cute! I'll be taking it to work to hang up in my cube - I'm excited to finally have some artwork to hang up! :) After the crafts, we went over to play in the water at the water tables. Carson had so much fun doing that! After the water tables, everyone got to make their own sno-cones! What a treat on a hot day!

Overall, this was a great class! It was really good for Carson to get out and be around kids his own age in a new setting. He was quite shy at first, sitting on my lap for the first 5 minutes or so, but once we started singing the songs, he warmed up quickly. He met some new friends, too, all right around his own age - Vivian, Alexander, Nolen, and Bailea seemed to be his favorites. Vivian and Alexander have birthdays within 3 days of Carson's, Nolen is a little older, and Bailea has the same birthday as Carson's cousin, Rebecca! They're all signed up for the dinosaurs class and some other classes, too, so hopefully we'll be able to see them again this summer!

We headed over to MDOT when we left i5 so Carson could see some of the people Mama works with again. They haven't seen him since he was almost 6 weeks old at our work shower! So he's changed quite a bit since then! Everyone loved seeing him and watching him run and play and jabber. He got a really fun balloon and Winnie the Pooh pen from Sara's friend, Mohammed! Carson has loved playing with the balloon and the pen all weekend! After spending a couple hours at MDOT, we headed home. It was a long, but really fun morning for Carson and Mama!