Heartland Moms- From the Heart Newsletter, Reminders May 18, 2007

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This issue...

• Playgroups
• Summer Fun
• Field Trips
• Website Info
• Simple Science Projects for Kids

Scheduled Playgroups

Saturday Playgroup- May 19, Charlie Brown Park, Sebring, 10:00 -11:30

It is hot! Since summer time weather is quickly approaching, we will be discontinuing outside playgroups. For the summer, we will be meeting at the Children's Museum of the Highlands every other Wednesday morning, beginning June13. Every other week we are not at the Children's Museum, you can attend story time or lapsit at the Sebring Public Library. Visit the calendar for more dates.

Summer Playgroups

If you are interested in joining other moms with children that are similar in age to your child or children for a summer playgroup, please complete the information on the first page of website. We will be providing the information to those that are interested to coordinate your own times and locations. Since MOPS is not held during the summer, this will be a good time to socialize with other moms.

Field Trips

This summer, we are planning 3 trips out of town. All sites are great for children of all ages, so feel welcome to bring older children.

June 21, Sea World, leave Sebring at 8:00 am. Tickets are available for pre-purchase at Publix (you can avoid the summer time lines). I believe Sea World is still "buy one day and come back for 2007." It may be busy, but Sea World is so laid back. Bring clothes for the kids to get wet in Shamu's Happy Harbor.

July 10, Lakeland Children's Museum and lunch

July 30, St Pete's Children's Museum and lunch

More details will follow later, closer to the date.

Website Information

Join our Google Group! Membership is opened to all moms. Due to some unwanted spam, the group is restricted access and new members that are not personally known will be moderated for a short time to ensure our information is only exposed to those we want to see it. Please fill out a membership request and you will be approved shortly. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

Please feel free to start your own posts! Also, business ads and blog ads are available.

Smart Moms Work at Home Mom Forum- If you are a work at home mom, we would love to have you join our forum. Check us out!

Heartland Moms is providing information for all moms, not just moms in the Heartland. Please invite your friends near and far to visit our website and forum. We would love to have their input and would love to help more moms. You can forward this message to all of your friends. Thanks for your referrals.

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Simple Science Projects You Can Make With The Kids

You want your kids to have fun, but also want to expand their minds. What's a parent to do? How about a few easy science projects that are simple to recreate? Your kids will love the hands-on experience and you can feel good about getting them involved in an activity that will have them learning (without the kids even realizing it). Here are five easy science projects for you and your kids. Try one of them on a rainy afternoon or anytime the kids are looking for something fun to do.

Grow Crystals

Crystals can be quite fascinating. We are constantly surrounded by them from simple table salt and sugar, to the graphite in your pencil. Of course there are also more famous crystals like precious stones and diamond. You can grow some fascinating salt crystals yourself. All you need are water, salt and some time.

Start by making a salt solution. Fill a cup with warm water and continue to add salt to it until the water can absorb no additional salt. You know you have reached this stage when the salt just drops to the bottom of the cup.

Pour a little of the salt water on a saucer and leave it sitting in a warm spot. As the water evaporates, the salt crystals will start to form. Continue to pour a little more of the saltwater on the saucer and the existing crystals and watch them grow.

Water Tension

Have you ever watched small insects walk on water? This is possible because of water tension. Here are two simple experiments that will demonstrate water tension. All you need is a glass, water, a paper clip and several pennies.

Fill the glass with water. Now drop a paper clip in the glass. Watch it drop to the bottom. Fish the paper clip out and this time gently lay it flat on the water. If you do it right, the paper clip will float on top of the water.

For our second experiment, we need to fill the glass all the way to the top with water. Grab some pennies and carefully add them to the glass, one at a time. Watch as the water rises in a dome shape over the glass without spilling.

If you'd like to take this experiment one step further, use a drop of dish soap to show how soap will disrupt the water tension. Add one drop of the soap to the glass of water. The water tension will be “broken”, and the water will spill over the edges of the glass.

Static Electricity

Static electricity is another fun phenomenon. It's what makes clothes stick together in the dryer and makes your child's hair stand up when you hold a statically charged item (like a blanked from the dryer) over your child's head. Here's a simple static electricity experiment that's lots of fun. You can truly amaze young kids with this “magic”.

All you need are a balloon and either a piece of felt, or a wool sweater. Blow up the balloon, then rub it against the felt or sweater for a few seconds. Take the balloon and stick it on the wall. It should be held up there by the static electricity.

Build Your Own Volcano

This is the most “involved of all the science projects in this article. But who could resist making their own working Volcano. Since things can get a bit messy, this experiment is best done outside.

Start by making a batch of salt dough by mixing 6 cups of flour, 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of cooking oil in a large bowl. Add more water as needed. You should end up with a smooth but firm dough.

Next, place and empty soda bottle on an old baking sheet and mold the dough around bottle. Cover it all the way to the top, but be careful and don't drop any dough in the bottle.

Fill the soda bottle with warm water almost to the top. It helps to use a funnel to get the water in the bottle, but not on the salt dough volcano. For bright red lava, add some red food coloring to the water before adding it to the bottle.

Pour 6 drops of liquid detergent into the bottle, then add 2 tbs of baking solda and step away from the volcano. Watch the “red lava” pour out of the volcano during this fantastics eruption.

Grow Something

You don't need a garden to grow something with your kids. There are quite a few things you can do on the kitchen counter or in a small pot. For a very fast growing experiment plant some beans in a cup of soil. Keep them in a warm spot and water them daily. Within a few days you should see a little bean sprout poking it's head out of the soil.

You can also grow alfalfa sprouts in nothing more than a dish with wet paper towels. You may even convince your child to eat her salad when you top it with some of the sprouts she has grown. For more involved growing experiments, plant some herbs in a couple of small clay pots in the kitchen window, or plant strawberry plants in wooden barrel on the porch.

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Give these simple science experiments for kids a try and watch their faces light up as you experiment together. Not only will you have a great time with your little ones, you are also expanding their curious minds. For more fun ideas on what to do with the kids along with recipes, product reviews and more visit www.ParentingZoo.com and join our online parenting magazine and membership site. Join us today at wwwParentingZoo.com.

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