Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Mystery box

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Hobo Mama: Mystery box

Since my giveaway for Appleseed Lane ends Friday,
I thought I'd share our fun with the
November box on crime scene science!
We bought a subscription to Appleseed Lane,
so we get a science-based box once a month
with fun activities, crafts, and a book to explain it all!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
Mikko was eager to spread it all out.
As you can see, we had two of everything
with the sibling add-on (no fighting! woo!).

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
Mikko loves crime-solving games and shows
(this is actually true and, yes, I know he's 6),
so he was ready to get right to detecting.
We had to solve which nefarious caterpillar sibling got into the cookie jar.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
One thing I love is Appleseed Lane supplies ALL the materials.
For instance, one of the activities called for a pencil, and I was thinking:
Oh, no, I have to find a pencil? But it was included — but unsharpened.
So I was thinking, Oh, no, I have to find a pencil sharpener?
But the sharpener was INCLUDED! It's so easy.
This bag of flour was a great relief to me,
because we never have any now that we're grain-free!
That was another one where I read the directions first and had a mini-panic
before realizing: Nope, it's all included. Whew!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
So, anyway: First up, handprint molds!
See that little packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid? Included!
No running to the store. Love it.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
The boys mixed together peacefully. Yea!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
Our two bowls of microwaved gloop. The one on the left never gelled, sadly.
I'm not sure what I did wrong considering it was all pre-measured!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
The coolest thing by far, and still a beloved plaything, was
the pen that was also a black light.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
It uncovered the invisible message!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
I loved that this month's box got Mikko interacting with the page,
writing and doing some reading activities.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
He's not reading yet (or interested in learning),
but he was happy to work on the decoding and write down the answers.
(Score!)

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
The next coolest project was ink chromatography.
Well, I don't know, I can't decide — they were both very cool!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
As you can see, the ink colors separated out.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
And then we got to match the sample strips to the suspect's note. Neato!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
Someone woke up from his nap happy to join back in.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
Next was fingerprinting — rubbing a pencil along paper
to build up the graphite and using that as a dipping powder.

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
Mikko pressed each dusted fingertip onto a piece of (included) tape
and stuck them each onto his fingerprint card.
I remembered while we were doing this that for safety reasons
you're supposed to fingerprint your kids. Done!

Hobo Mama: Mystery box
This was one successful mystery box
and one happy sleuth!
Our December box on electricity is on its way,
and we can't wait.

If you're interested in signing up for the next box
or buying a gift subscription for a home-learning family,
you can get $5 off with the coupon code 5OFF!

The giveaway is part of
the Natural Parents Network Holiday Gift Guide,
and it ends Friday — 
enter all 6 Rafflecopter widgets here
to be eligible for one of 26 prize packages!

NPN Holiday Gift Guide & Giveaway {12.6; 26 winners; US; $2,500}



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11 comments:

Cathy Kennedy said...

This looks like fun and as a retired homeschool mom, I know how exciting it is to watch one's kids enjoy the whole learning experience. Happy WW!

Memories for Life said...

What a fun day! And that's so great that everything was included. Sometimes they expect you to have things on hand that not everyone does (like the flour).

Erika Price said...

Looks like it was so much fun!

stevebethere said...

What fun heheh!

have a funtastic rest of week ;-)

Ms POSH said...

Looks like they learned and they had fun.

POSH

Kristin Aquariann said...

What a fun subscription service! Happy WW.

Anonymous said...

That is such a great service! My two youngest boys would love having something like that. On a side note, your oldest and my youngest are about the same age! Mine was born in July of 2007.

Natashalh said...

What fun! I did a chromatography project in middle school, but I'd never thought of turning it into a kid's activity.

Unknown said...

That sounds like a great box of activities! I wonder if I could find something like that here. Both mine would love it!

Momma Jorje said...

This looked so cool I had to dig up your review! And then enter it! But not before I added Appleseed Lane subscription to Sasha's wish list!

Unknown said...

That is an awesome idea. I didn't really know they had a kit like that. My kiddos would love to do that. You never know, you may get that detective when they grow up. Thanks for sharing!

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