Hey MRASP-ers! This week really flew by. We have some fun activities up on Zoom today including Playful Poetry and Yoga. We also have a special Zoom for Porch Fest Music Share. Head over to calendar to sign up and we will see you there!
Have you checked out the MRASP Mosaic Project? Take a look at the Special Events Page to see all the fun things we have planned to celebrate the end of the school year!
Today on the blog we have two animal crafts, a weekend long science project, a card board city, and a sepcial recipe. Let's get started . . .
Egg Carton Turtles
Crafted By Brendan
Using craft materials around the house to practice fine motor skills and create a fun spring decoration!
Grade Level: K-5
Individual or multiple people: Individual
Theme: Project, Fine Motor
Materials:
1 empty egg carton
Green construction paper
Scissors
Glue or hot glue
Markers or paint
Location: Table or any large flat surface usable for crafting
Instructions:
Start by cutting out the individual egg compartments from the egg carton until you have some you can use (make as many turtles as you want!)
Draw this shape on your green construction paper and cut it out.
Put a small amount of glue around the rim of the individual egg compartment and press it down onto the shape you just cut out. Wait for the glue to dry!
Now, decorate the shell and the body however you wish with the markers or paint! You can put eyes on the head, toenails on the feet, and a cool pattern on the shell!
Edible Crystals
Jennifer
Grade Level: K-5
Individual or multiple people: Individual (with an adult)
Theme: STEM, Cooking
Materials:
Sugar
Glass mason jars
String
Water
Scissors
Microwave
Instructions:
1. Pour about 3 cups of granulated cane sugar into the large glass container.
2. Add 1 cup (237 ml) of water to the sugar. Watch what happens as the water bubbles through all that sugar. There’s a lot going on in the container already. Use the heavy spoon to thoroughly stir the water (a solvent) and the sugar (a solute) together to make a solution. It will be very viscous (thick) and heavy because there’s a lot more sugar than water in there. Stir it well!
3. An adult must help with this Step! You need to give the water some help with all that sugar so warm up the water. If the container is microwave-safe, put the solution in the oven and heat it for two minutes on high. (You can use a cooktop to heat the solution if you prefer.) Heat the solution to the boiling point.
CAUTION: An adult must handle the hot solution and move it to a stable, heat-safe location. Use the heavy spoon to thoroughly stir the solution again. Make sure all the sugar is stirred but watch out for splatters of hot liquid. Notice how the solution is changing by just using heat.
4. An adult must help with this Step! Move the stirred solution to the microwave (or cooktop) again and heat it on high for another two minutes. Don’t let the solution boil over.
CAUTION: An adult must handle the hot solution and move it to a stable, heat-safe location. Use the spoon to carefully stir the hot solution again. Stir gently because the solution is less viscous (more runny) than before you heated it.
5. Add 3-7 drops of any food coloring to the mixture and stir it in thoroughly.
6. Pour the colored solution into the smaller glass container.
7. You need to use clean string and that’s why new is preferred. On an old roll, unroll some until you get a layer or two under the top layer. Tie the string to the middle of the pencil. Use the scissors to cut off a length longer than the small container is tall. Lay the pencil on top of the small container and trim the string so it’s about 2/3 the height of the container. You want it shorter than the container.
8. Holding the pencil, lower the string into the solution and let it soak for a short time. You want the solution to soak through the string. Lay the pencil and soaked string on a piece of wax paper so the string is perpendicular to the pencil. Allow the solution to cool to room temperature and the straight string to dry completely.
9. As it cools, the solution becomes more viscous so it might be a trick to push the dried string into it again. You may have to use a slow steady pressure to get it to sink deeply into the solution. You’ll need to allow the string to soak in the solution for a week, too. A paper towel over the container will keep dust and goobers away from your candy – uh, your science experiment. Keep track of changes in the solution and the growing crystals in the solution but don’t disturb them by moving them. Pictures are a good idea!
When you’re ready for the big reveal, lift the pencil and pull the string loaded with crystals out of the jar. Lay them on some wax paper and look closely at what grew on the string. Of course, a taste test will have to be a part of your analysis.
How does this even work??
So, you dip a string into a solution of sugar and water and it seems pretty uneventful. It’s kind of like watching paint dry. How in the world did it turn into a beautiful crystal of candy on a string?
When you mixed the sugar with the water and then heated and stirred the solution repeatedly, you created a supersaturated solution. This means there are far more dissolved particles of solute (the sugar) than the solvent (the water) can normally dissolve and hold at a given temperature. By stirring the sugar in hot water instead of room temperature or cold water, the sugar is dissolved faster in the fast moving (heated) water molecules. As the water cools, the huge amount of sugar particles remains in solution (a supersaturated solution) and it contains more sugar than can stay in the liquid. The sugar falls out of the solution as a precipitate (particles). These connect with other sugar particles, and a crystal begins to grow.
You gave the suspended sugar particles a great place to begin crystallizing when you dried some crystals onto the string ahead of time. These are “seed” crystals. As sugar particles begin to settle (the precipitate), they join and form crystals quickly with other sugar molecules. You see this crystallization on both the bottom and sides of the jar as well as on the string. Sugar molecules continue to settle and crystalize on the string and on top of other sugar molecules until you pull it out of the solution and enjoy the candy.
Surprise Ferocious Creatures
By Auroura
Grade Level: K-2
Individual or multiple people: Individual
Materials:
Paper
Pencil
Markers, colored pencils, or crayons
Location: Anywhere
Links and resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvyoGw4kPBs (4 minutes)
Further instructions or accommodations:
Fold your paper in half and unfold. Then, fold each edge to the center crease and unfold. The paper should have four sections. Fold it so that the two middle sections are pressed together, making a sort of mouth. (If this is confusing, the video shows it brilliantly).
Lay it down with the mouth still closed and draw your creature, mouth closed.
Next, open up the mouth and lay your paper flat. Draw the inside of the mouth, complete with huge, ferocious teeth!
Cardboard Roll Mini City
By Jonathan
Use up some of those cardboard rolls crowding your recycle bin with this craft project for all ages!
Grade Level: K-5
Individual or multiple people: Individual
Materials:
Cardboard rolls
Paper (regular or construction)
Tape
Glue
Scissors
Markers (or paint)
Directions:
To make the main structure of each building or house, start by decorating cardboard rolls of any size using paint or markers. You can get creative using different size rolls and adding varying colors and textures for a diverse and colorful city.
To make roofs, cut rectangles out of paper and draw patterns on them. You could draw straight lines, wavy lines, zig-zags, triangles, or whatever else you want. Fold these rectangles in half and tape them on the top of your decorated cardboard rolls by attaching tape to the inside of the roll sticky side out.
Next, use paper and markers to draw different kinds of windows and doors. Make as many as you want, then cut them out and glue them onto your cardboard rolls. If you need some inspiration, take a look outside and observe some of the buildings in your neighborhood.
Once you’re done making your buildings, you can arrange them into a city - you could do this on the floor, on a table, or even better, take a large piece of paper, draw some streets on it and tape your buildings in place. Feel free to make other things to add to your city (like people, trees, cars etc.). If you have toy cars and action figures, those will work too!
Cheesy Crackers
Cooked Up By Courtney
This recipe is a little more advanced than our previous ones, but the results are delicious!
As always make sure to check the ingredients for allergens.
Grade Level: K-5
Individual or multiple people: Either!
Theme: Cooking
Total: 2 hr 40 min
Ingredients
1 large egg, separated
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Directions:
Whisk together the egg white, vinegar and 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl; set aside. Refrigerate the egg yolk in a small bowl, covered, until ready to use.
Pulse the flour, salt, mustard, paprika and turmeric in a food processor to combine. Add the butter, Cheddar and Parmesan, and pulse until the butter is completely broken up. Pour in the egg white mixture, and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball. (It's OK if it's a little wet.)
Place the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap, and pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick square. Wrap it up, and refrigerate to chill and firm up the dough, about 1 hour.
Position 2 oven racks at the top and bottom thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
Roll the dough out on a large piece of parchment (to keep it from sticking to the counter) into a 10-inch square about 1/8 inch thick. (Dust the dough with flour if you find it too sticky.) Trim the edges to straighten the square, then cut it into 1-inch squares (a pizza cutter works great).
Whisk 2 teaspoons water into the egg yolk. Brush the mixture over the tops of each cracker. Sprinkle each with the tiniest pinch of salt.
Bake the crackers, 2 baking sheets at a time, until they are deep golden brown on the bottom, about 20 minutes, rotating the sheets about halfway through. Let the crackers cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Store the crackers at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or freeze them for up to 1 week.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!
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