This day in history - Mount Vesuvius erupts

On the 24th August 79Ad Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii

pompeii is in Italy. The country shaped like a boot.

The flag is green,white, and red.

We made a volcano and made it erupt. To find out more check out my post by clicking on the image caption.

erupting paper mache volcano

I explained that Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried a whole city called Pompeii. Everyone forgot about the city and it was not discovered until nearly 2000 years later by a archaeologist.


What is a archaeologist?

An archaeologist is someone who tries to find out about the past by looking at things people left behind. They look at  skeletons and fossils and artifacts.

These are the things archaeologists found in Pompeii

Setting up a  Archaeology dig 

We made some clay (4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1½ cups of water) and made a city. My children are really young so they were basically balls with there thumbs pressed into one side to make a door but they were aware of what they were and thats all that matters. We also made some bracelets and some vases that were broke in half (so they can be pieced together at the dig). We placed them in the oven  at 180°C for 1 hour and then painted them.

I placed the houses in the bottom of the sensory table and covered them with sand. I then buried the other pieces we made along with lots of 2p and 1p coins. I kept half of the table empy so that they could move teh sand across later.

City before we buried it.

Becoming Archaeologists

A true archaeologist needs the right outfit and tools. We made some cardboard fedora hats using this fabulous tutorial by justjonty on instructables and equipped ourselves with spoons and toothbrushes.

Unfortunately I did not have time to paper mache and paint our hats but we will definitely be doing this later. These are fab to add to the fancy dress box. The children did not seem to mind they were quite happy with just the cardboard.

The dig!

We used the spoons to search the sand and used the toothbrush to rub the sand of the items before putting them into a tub. I explained that digging at a site is slow and careful work to make sure they don't miss or damage anything

I originally set up a archaeologist tent using a hula hoop, shower curtain, and ribbon. Inside was a table with boxes for them to sort out the things they find. It was too windy to use the tent so we had to make do with just the table :(

We used the pink tub for items and the black for coins. Once we got near to the bottom we started to uncover the city. We had to be really careful. We used our hands and the toothbrush to brush the sand away from the buildings.

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This day in history - Priestley discovers Oxygen

Joseph Priestley

Today is the First of August 2012. On this day 238 years ago in 1774 Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen .

Our Calendar

James Priestley was a English Scientist.

This is England!

He was a very curious man. He did lots of experiments. During his experiments he discovered Oxygen.

The symbol for Oxygen 

O is for Oxygen. Practise the Jolly Phonics. Pretend to turn a light switch on and off and say O, O,  O,O

Jolly Phonic workbook page. 

What Is Oxygen?

We can't see oxygen. It is invisible. We can't see it and we can't smell it. Oxygen is very important. Without it nothing could exist. We would not be here. Oxygen is in the air all around us and in the water we drink.  All plants and animals need to breathe. We breathe in air from our nose and our mouths.

I got my children to place their hands on their tummies and take deep breathes so they could feel the movement of their diaphragms as they breathe.

We can feel our tummies move when we breathe in and out.

 It makes its way into our lungs. The oxygen  then hitches a ride of our red blood cells and travels all around our body.

What Is Air?

Air is a mixture of Oxygen and other invisible gases. It is all around us but we can't see it. So if we can't see it how do we know it is there?

I used a empty pop bottle to demonstrate the existence of air. What is in the bottle?

Nothing? Right?

I squeezed the bottle onto their faces so they could feel the air blow out.

Macey squeezing the bottle so Drew can feel the air.

Happy Chocolate Day

Oh I love chocolte so this has got to be a thing to celebrate. On the 7th July 1550 Chocolate was introduced to Europe. A perfect excuse to make rice crispy cakes omnomnom...

This day In History - Pablo Picasso

I thought it would be interesting to teach my children about history by finding out what happened this day in history and thinking of some activities we can do to relate to what we find.

Our first instalment takes us to 1901.  On the 24th June Pablo Picasso had his first exhibition in Paris at the age of 19.

Self Portrait 1901

 

 The Blue Period 1901 - 1904

As the blue period started in 1901 I thought it was apt to concentrate on this era of Picasso's life. I explained to my children that Picasso was a famous painter from Spain who spent most of his grown up life in France. I let my children find these places on the globe.

Picasso was born in Spain

Picasso spent most of his life in France

 We searched Google images for paintings and watched a youtube video showing paintings from this period and explained to them that Picasso was very sad because his friend Carlos Casagemas died. I explained to them that Picasso used mainly blue and green to paint and we talked about the expressions on the peoples faces and how it made them feel.

" Mammy it makes me feel sad, like when I get hurt. That makes me sad " - Macey age 4  

 Blue Collage

We dug around in our arts and crafts box to find blue materials to make our very own blue artwork.
My daughter drew a picture of Picasso and used blue and green crayons, paint, glitter, tissue and magazine cuttings. My son is too young to understand but he had lots of fun making a blue collage :)

Macey - age 4