How to Protect Migrating Birds from Flying into Your Windows

On a lovely day in late spring, moms were chatting, and children playing when "THUD". The sickening sound of a bird hitting a window sounded through our home. The children rushed outside to help the poor creature, while the moms called to them not to touch the poor creature.

Why is there More Wind in the Spring and Fall? and 10 Amazing Do ItYourself Wind Chimes

The neighborhood sirens scream. I grab the baby and call my kids into the hallway, checking my phone to figure out just how far away the tornado is. Tornados come when winds pick up in the spring and fall. The wind can be scary, but most days we enjoy the breeze. It's a great time to build a wind chime, and I have ten amazing wind chime ideas for you. Why is it extra windy during spring and autumn?

What's so special about spring and autumn?

To understand why the winds pick up in spring and fall, think about what else is happening. In the spring, the suns rays are becoming more direct, and beginning with the Equinox, are hitting the earth for more of the day than not.

The result of this direct radiation from the sun is that the air near the surface begins to warm. You may have heard the phrase "heat rises." That isn't true, but warm air rises.

As the air particles heat up, they expand to a greater volume for the same mass. This is called lower density. You could say that the warm air weighs less. It begins to float for the same reason boats float. As the warm air rises, cool air flows in to replace it, and the result is known as wind.

In the fall, the whole system works in reverse, with warm air being forced out of the way. 

Exactly how the wind will blow can't be exactly predicted. They follow a pattern best described by Chaos Theory.

I have some amazing Do IT Yourself wind chimes to help you take advantage of the breezes.

Do it Yourself Windchimes

Clock wise 
Clothespin Windchimes from B-Inspired Mama
Pony Bead Windchimes from Where Imagination Grows
Key Wndchimes from Inner Child Fun
Nature Windchimes from Hands on as We Grow

More great wind chimes  Rainbow Windchimes from sticks from Happy Hooligans
Coffee can Windchimes also from Happy Hooligans
Cutlery Windchimes from Red Ted Art
Bamboo Windchimes from Michelle Made Me
Recycled Windchimes from Maker Mama Craft Blog (This one is really simple!)
Out door Music Windchimes from Hands on as We Grow

Wishing you a gentle change of seasons, with no tornadoes and winds just right for a lovely wind chime.

You may also be interested in

A Simple Introduction to Chaos Theory
A Weather Demo you can do while making dinner
Easy Windsock to make with Kids
Why boats float + 10 boats to make

Beautiful Multiplication Pine Cone Craft

Multiplication practice from a nature art approach. Use pine cones to make math fun.

At 1:00 pm, a young student stares out the window, oblivious to the math lesson: at 4:00 pm, that same student stares at a pine cone she found on the walk home. Her eyes follow every crevice, and as her fingers trace the rough sticky surface, as she breaths it's fresh aroma.

Christmas Ornament Subtraction Craft

These DIY ornaments turn out so pretty that children might like to do them at home for fun or as gifts. However, you could easily use them for subtraction practice. They even satisfy the algebraic component called for in Common Core. Who says you can't have Christmas fun and do math at the same time?

Super Fun Holiday Party Activity Cheat Sheet

"Would you make me a paper airplane?" Lunch time was just ending, and I didn't even have paper available when my son's  classmate asked this question.  I thought it was just a random request. Then the next time I visited the school, another child asked for one, and another, and another.  In fact, they were still asking months later when I went in to have them write end-of-the-year thank-you notes to their teacher.  Finally, I realized why they were asking.

Adding Doubles Christmas Tree Math Puzzle for Kindergarten

As my first fall in the classroom drew to a close, it dawned on me that I wasn't going to make it through my curriculum.  With mandated exit tests looming (as in, fail the test, and you don't graduate), I knew I needed to at least get the planned content in front of my students.  I also knew that they expected to have a party the last day before Christmas break. In a move of desperation, I wrote an entire unit's worth of material into a Christmas theme and taught the whole thing the last day before break.  They moaned and groaned, but most of them decided to play along, and when we reviewed months later they remembered our reindeer games!

Cotton Gems: Fabric Dye Process Art

Today, I have a really fun process art project for you to try, perfect for spring or summer.  My kids invented this while we were working on some out door math activities, and spent over an hour experimenting.  I love it when they get into a process art project like this because their natural love of science takes over and they set about engineering their own creations while learning the properties of matter, all on their own.  Here's how the project came about, and how you can try it too.

We were working with wet cloths on the cement pavement when my daughter decided it would be fun to wash the chalk we had used the day before.  She was delighted to learn that the chalk stained the dingy cloths beautiful colors.  Her brother joined in the fun and then asked for some cotton balls to stain.

Materials you will need to make your own cotton ball gems

Cotton balls

Sidewalk chalk in various colors

Water

You can start by covering the area with water, then color in the water with the chalk.  Or, you can color the area with chalk and cover it with water.

Then, just take the cotton balls and rub them in the wet chalk.

You might enjoy mixing colors to see the result.

Set everything out to dry!

This was our first experience with dying fabric of any kind. Do you have a favorite textile project?

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You may also like one of these posts

I Spy Rot: Effortless Science Lesson

How to make your own constellations

We love looking at the night sky.  If your child is interested in space, or you would like them to be, here is a fun project that brings the heavenly bodies a little closer home. It was also a good way to sneak in some fine motor practice.

Materials:

A polystyrene (styrofoam) tray--Ours come with squash.

Tooth picks

Pictures of the constellations in your night sky

To get our constellation pictures, I used the Star Chart app on my phone.  Have you sen this?  You can just point your phone at the sky and it fills in the pictures the constellations represent.  Snap a screen shot, and you have a picture of the exact constellation you are studying.

If you don't have access to Star Chart, you can do a quick image search, and come up with a printable picture. (If you are using this in a group setting check the copy rights.)

Then just print out the photo, and lay it it over the tray.

Use a tooth pick to punch out the designs. 

After doing a few real constellations, my kids decided to "make up" some constellations of their own.

Holding the trays against the window gives the effect of stars shining in the night sky.

This post is part of the 60 Day Junk Play Challenge.  Be sure to check out the other great activities being done with items from the junk pile, and try a few with your own kids!

Other posts you may like:

Easy Kids Toy Valentine

Make a simple toy Valentine with or for your kids.

I used to spend hours in my mom's bedroom playing with two tiny toy dogs that she kept in her dresser. The dogs were Christmas presents from her brother on a year when there hadn't been much in her own girl hood. The toy dogs used to mysteriously float toward each other, joining with a "clink!" They would pull each outer around from opposite sides of a piece of paper. They were amazing!

How to Use Paper Snow Flakes to Learn Math

Paper snow flakes are a classic project that kids love. They're also a great way to learn a little math.

On a bright January day, perfect to look at, but too cold to stay outside for long, I needed something to do with my bright energetic children.Paper snow flakes were one of my favorite crafts as a child, and I thought that just maybe they would enjoy making some as well.
To introduce this activity to my kids, I folded the paper in half just once and cut two shapes, I got two shapes.Then, I folded to the paper in half twice and two cut shapes.We found four when we unfolded the paper. I continued adding more and more folds, cutting two shapes each time, and they were excited to see that there were more and more shapes.

Multiplying by 2, again and again.

 I asked my children they could find the pattern, and they said "no", but they were grabbing for the paper and the scissors to make their own!

They were grabbing for the paper and scissors

 How to make your basic paper snowflakes 

 If you would like to try this activity, you will just need a stack of tissue paper cut into squares and a pair of scissors.

All you need!

Fold the paper into triangles. You can fold as many times as you like as long as you keep the same center point.

Mark the center carefully

Cut patterns into the sides of the triangles, then unfold the tissue to see your finished product!

Opening the snowflake!

 How to demonstrate the math in snowflakes 

 Real snow flakes have six sides. To get this effect, fold the initial square in half to make a triangle,
then fold that triangle into thirds

Real snow flakes have six sides.

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You could say that this snowflake demonstrates f = (n/2)(xy) where n is the number of cut outs, and x and y represent the number of sections the paper was folded into.  x = 2 when it was folded in half.  y = 3 when it was folded in thirds.  The total number of shapes is f = (2/2) (2*3), which is 6.  

 Six shapes in the snowflake

This pattern corresponds to f= x^y where x is the number of shapes cut, and y is the number of folds.

For elementary students, I recommend that you do just what I did.Show them the pattern, encourage them to guess what it might be, then let them enjoy the project.If you are working with older students you might assign making snowflakes that follow a certain function, or you could let them make some snowflakes, and translate them into math.


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The wonderful thing is that they are automatically doing math to figure out how to get the designs they want.  Add in the added brain connections from doing hands on learning, and you have a great STEAM project that they'll be excited to share with their own kids one day.

Beaded snowflakes

More Math Crafts

Beaded Snowflake addition practice

Beautiful multiplication pine cone craft
Chaos theory for kids

Find out about seasonal projects each month! 

Each month I send an e-mail with seasonal projects like this one to my subscribers. Sign up now to receive next month's newsletter.

More Indoor Activities for Older Kids 

Today, I am excited to be joining a project hosted by Erica at What We Do All Day.  She is a true professional mom, and I love reading her blog to get ideas for my own kids.  Several fantastic blogs are joining in today to bring you indoor activities that you can do with your older kids.  If you are like us, and never know when you will be stuck indoors due to bad weather, you will want to be sure to pin these ideas for later!

Indoor Activities for Tweens come from What We Do All Day

Working With Yarn - 10 Ways to Create come from Betsy's Photography

  Wooden Bangles for Animal Lovers from Adventure in a Box

Inside Activities Promoting Growth Mindset from Planet Smarty Pants

Indoor Pom Pom Races from Lemon Lime Adventures 

Simple Duck Tape Bracelets from the Gingerbread House