Good news!  J had her first success with the KenKen puzzle I talked about in my last entry.  It did take a few tries and correcting some errors, but she did it.  She was really excited about getting it right, which was fun to see.  This was an easy puzzle, that only used numbers 1 through 5.  As the puzzles increase in the amount of numbers they use, the difficulty seems to increase.  We're going to try another one tomorrow.

I never expected to recommend a TV show as a part of our educational finds this summer, but I'm learning that education can happen in some unexpected places.  J has learned a few things, reviewed a few science concepts, and had many laughs while watching "Mythbusters" on Discovery Channel.  http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/  I wish this show had been around when I was in middle school!  The folks on the show test myths and scenarios you see on TV and movies to see if they actually work in real life.  Yes, they generally are exploding some object in at least one segment of the show, but that's part of the fun.  By the way, viewers are always warned to never try the experiments at home.  There was one exception to that rule--they tried to separate 2 phone books that had their pages interlaced (but not glued or taped in any way).  There are more examples of the phone book experiments on their website you can check out.  It's pretty amazing, and really fun. 

Safety is always considered--that's where their crash test dummy named "Buster" comes in.  The poor thing has been dropped, exploded, set on fire, shot, you name it.  In one episode, they had to actually create a new dummy because the old one was just worn out.  

I know that the experiments shown aren't really practical in any sense (mostly), but I think it is good to have some proof for kids that stuff shown in the movies and TV is not real, even if you say this all the time.  They also explain each experiement, what they are doing and why, and why the myth is busted or confirmed.  One word of warning--some of the experiements have to do with alcohol consumption, so you may need to prescreen the shows or material on the website for age appropriatness. 

So, educational moments can come from some unlikely places.  But anything that can get my kid interested in science and experiements and make it fun and entertaining has my vote.  More cooking to come in the next installment!

On a whim, I bought K a "bug kit" and the dollar store a few days ago.  The kit consisted of a clear plastic tub with a vented lid for observing the bugs and a small net for catching them.  I didn't honestly anticipate that she'd catch anything, but figured she might have some luck with fireflies.  I should have known better. . .

Yesterday, both girls were outside with the bug kit when I heard, "Mom!  You've got to come and see this bug!  It's huge!"  Hearing the words "huge" and "bug" in the same sentence never gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling, but in the name of science and providing learning opportunities for all of you Lancaster County moms and kids, I went to investigate. 

They were right.  It was a very huge bug.  White with black spots, with an orange body underneath.  Something about it didn't look right.  With my husband laughing at me, I caught the bug in the box on my second attempt.  After making sure that lid was on darn tight, we had a closer look. 

We had caught a moth, specifically a Giant Leopard Moth--that's the picture that's attached to this entry.  It had likely just hatched from its cocoon, because it could only crawl around and the wings still looked somewhat slimy.  The body was quite large--probably an inch and a half in length.  Turns out these critters live in in the Eastern US, from Massachusetts down to Florida.  We studied it briefly and then returned it to the same place in the yard where we found it.  I looked up the bug online at www.bugguide.net to find out what kind of moth we'd discovered.  They have a clickable guide that you can search, which makes it easy.  There are many photos of bugs that people from all over submit to the site (who knew--bugwatching?)  If your kid is into bugs, the bug kit (or even just an empty butter tub with holes in the lid) and the Internet are a great place to start learning more. 

Even I have to admit, the moth was quite pretty to look at, but I was still quite happy to let it go back to living in my neighborhood.  My husband tells me that in the Philippines there are beetles as big as your hand.  Ewww.  I'll stick to Pennsylvania bugs.