“Calling all Inventors! Calling all Inventors!”  Is there an inventor in your family, a designer or innovative builder? Well this week we will learn about patents to protect your design and brainstorm for the 2015 SPARK Lab Invent It Challenge.

But don’t forget from 11:30am-12:30 is our monthly Potluck.  Go ahead and be inventive with your family’s dish too! To keep our carbon footprint low, bring your own dishes, utensils and more.

Now, given that a few inventors of the kids’ boardgames last week had filed for patents, this week we will be learning about Patents.   How  you can apply, why  you should as well as the “poor man’s patent.” Click on the image below for the Kids Section of the US Patent Office website.

Bring anything you own that had a patent.  And if you can, go to this link for the US Patent office online and see if you can find the patent number, the date it was assigned and/or print out a photo of the design.

Everyone has a Silly Science Experiment they love.  In addition to the Microscope and slides and the Magnet Station I set up, I also had a “Build your own Gak station.”  So many kids presented amazing elements of Science. So fun to learn about it all.  Here are some of the highlights.

The Deltacs will have some Crazy Cool ones to amaze and make learning about chemistry and physic incredibly memorable.

As that is the goal, right?

And of course I will have supplies to make GAK – that crazy slimy substance made from Borax and School Glue.  Or your could use cornstarch to make OOBleck.  Or here is the recipe to make your own silly putty (you need liquid starch).

Seeing life under a Microscope counts as impressive science too.  I will bring one.  Bring something (or collect from park) something to look at under the microscope.  Paper and pencils will be provided to sketch what you saw under the microscope.

From these great experiments we will learn about atmospheric pressure, construction of comets, exothermic reactions, endothermic reactions, molecular viscosity, subatomic structure, surface tension, meniscus and more.

* Note to Parents:  the above scientific terms are just words like LADYBUG, AVALANCHE, and REFRIGERATOR.  One day you didn’t know them and the next day you were equipped with a word with alot of syllables to communicate what you saw.  Your kids will be learning what they have observed and now have a word for it.  Don’t let the fact that we use these words in laboratories, universities and scientific journals prevent your family from enjoying them.

We will Make Cell Models with Beads, Markers, Paper, Yarn or whatever recyclables & craft supplies YOUR FAMILY brings!

Everything that is growing: trees, flowers, animals, bugs are made of cells.  Our own bodies are made up of trillions of teeny-tiny cells.  Cells are bigger than Atoms, but still too small to see without a microscope.  Without our knowledge, they are growing, eating, building, birthing and dying ALL the time!  At parkday this week, I will unravel some of the mysteries of these gem-like building blocks.  We will discuss the jobs of cell’s organ(elle) have that keep our BODIES functioning. From the book, from LAVA to LIFE, we will learn how our cells evolved from bacteria to become YOU, … over a course of a few hundred million years.

How many cells ARE in your body?  100 trillion!

Build a Cell Online. Make a Cell Fruit Pizza.   Make a REAL Cell Pizza.  Or just a Crafty cell.

This week we will take on the mechanics behind the other simple machines with a serious emphasis on PULLEYS!!!!  With pulleys, we will see how much weight we can redistribute.   Each child will get the chance (more than once I would wager) to put their mental and physical strength to the test.

With Pulleys, we will do some block and tackle work to make loads lighter.  If anyone wants to get ahead of us all – here is a great Pulley project to do at home!!!

I will bring some pulleys and rope.  If you have any rope laying around home or in the garage, please bring it to fill your child’s mind and hands with inspiration while we discuss ideas. Then I will let the kids go to it in making the pulleys work for them.  I have four pulleys in my possession at the present, but if you can bring any more, we will definitely put them to good use for the afternoon as well.  For more  – go to Simple Machines Part 1

UPDATE: BRING A JAR WITH LID (under 8 inches) AND WITH PROVIDED SUPPLIES, TURN IT INTO A BUG CATCHER.

How Amazing are Bugs? They are like little robots – foreign and similar to us at the same time.  Join us for a closer look on October 10th from Noon-4pm for a Homeschool Kid Bug Show.  Most of these picks were from our 1st Bug Faire from Oct 2011.

This event is open to non-M&B Members as well as M&B.

• Bring bugs, spiders, and habitats to show off to friends (alive or dead)
• Write a poem about bugs to be displayed with others at park
• Games like Bug Dice and Honey Hive will be available to play
• Blanket time about bug body parts including crazy cool Compound Eyes
• Bug storytelling and books for those interested

Email jessica(at)jessicadeltac(dot)com to reserve space to set up your bugs (dead or alive). Come early to set up.  There will be a DO NOT TOUCH rule if the owner is not present, but you can bring a sheet to cover up your exhibits if you choose.

And with over 1 million species of insects on this planet and only 5,540 species of mammals- Insects truly rule the world.  Let’s ake it one step further… Most insects contain little fat, lots of protein as well as iron & calcium, so entomophagy is most likely going to be a part of our future as it is in many parts of the globe.  Yes, that means dining ON bugs! 

Some Bugs have many eyes.  Bugs like caterpillars and spiders have simple eyes that are similar to our own.  Most other bugs like dragonflies and bees have compound eyes, with hundreds of lenses (ommatidia) in each eye.  Some have both.  I made a giant compound eye to help kids (& parents) better understand this unique adaptation.

Click here to see how a Bee sees the world through their compound eyes!

Insects on Display

In the past, kids have brought beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas, ladybugs, praying mantis, walking stick bugs, a millipede, spiders, bumble bees, honeybees, dragonflies and more - living and preserved.

………Bug Riddles & Poems (click here for more)

Kids are invited to make up their own poems. Here are some that were on display. (Parents are welcome to write them down)

In addition to browsing and reading the kid’s original poems and bug riddles, I read  Be Nice to Spiders (yes, spiders are not insects, but arachnids) and brought I’m a Pill Bug.

GAMES – Bug Dice

Supplies:  Four kids get a photocopy of four different insect, a bunch of crayons and one dice

How to Play:  Each child takes turn rolling the dice.  Depending on their roll, they color in the part of their insect that correlates with the number on the dice.  Remember – You don’t have to wait until each person colors their part to roll.  As soon as the last person rolls, the next can roll. This prevents players from waiting more than rolling and coloring.

The first ones to color in their entire insect cheer on the rest until the last insect is colored!

We learn so much from the Rangers’ talks on the history of the park, but most captivating is their talks on the wildlife.  In the past years we have come upon much of the park’s wildlife on our own: marmots, mule deer, brown bears (and cubs), chickarees (golden mantled squirrels), pikas, CA jays, flying squirrels, bighorn sheep, 17 species of bats, black-footed ferrets and more.

The story of the Sequoia Trees and how they need fire to survive is incredibly captivating as it is unraveled in interactive exhibits in the quaint Giant Forest Museum.  And there is wonderful history in this park to share stories out and about as well as at our infamous Saturday Night Talent Show run by the kids.  We go to the Wuksachi lodge for more than Wi-fi; twice a week they host brilliant celestial sky-walks.  There are two caves worth taking tours, the closer Crystal Caves and the Boyden caves near a thrashing river in upper elevations of King’s Canyon.

And we camp above 6,000 elevation – where poison oak doesn’t survive, so all the rock scrambling to the top of anything as well as off trail hiking can occurs much more freely.  Because as I believe in my heart,  exploration is key to discovering about what your body can and can’t do.  Such a big part of human development that is hampered by living in a world that constantly minimizes the risk in childrens’ lives.

Pictures from 2013 to come upon our return.  But until then, I’ll leave you with a few.

Due to the heat, we are meeting at  Calabasas Tennis & Swim Club

We will learn about the evolution of the mechanics of the modern Lighthouse, fascinating stories of LightHouse keepers, and bring THREE items for the craft, Make your own Lighthouse: please BRING a Cereal box and scissors (tape, art supplies & battery lights are being provided).  Littler kids can make a simpler Lighthouse with just cups and tape.

Join us Sept 14th @ 10 am for a tour of Point Vincente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes followed by a group picnic at the end of Bluff Top Trail near the Hidden Terranea Beach Cave .

Lighthouse keepers were a strange breed who preferred isolation to town and the demanding tasks required in all types of weather.  I will share the some fabulous Lighthouse stories, including that of Emily Fish, “Socialite Keeper,” who commanded a post at the Pinos Lighthouse in Pacific Grove, CA from 1893-1915.

If you were the daughter or wife of a Lighthouse Keeper, you had a good chance of taking over the occupation, in a day and age where women could either be mother, teacher or nurse.  And some lighthouse keepers were all four.  Ida Lewis gained her reputation for being “The Bravest Woman in America,” for her daring rescues of crashed sailors and others near her post at Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, RI.

Lighthouses offer up almost as much intrigue, as Pirate ships.  This week, learn about the evolution of lighthouses and their mechanics as well as how their purpose has changed over the years.  By 1990, all Lighthouses were automated, except for the one in Boston Harbor.  It will forever remain manned in order to honor the lives and dedication of all lighthouse keepers of the past.

And if you really like Lighthouses, for $101,000 you can purchase the Graves Island Lighthouse to live in.

For $101,000 your family could live here!

The lighthouse lens was invented using prisms.  Prisms bend the light making it visible for many miles.
Sometimes, however, you cannot see the light due to fog or bad weather, and because of that lighthouses have bells or other things that make noise to warn ships under such conditions. Some lighthouses use sealed-beam lamps Sealed-beam lamps swing around like a search light.  It can be seen many times if the light is rotating fast.  These lamps can be shown through rain, fog, and snow.