Mudpies & Butterflies

Upcoming Events
Aug 13 - Venia's Vacation: Belarusse, Vienna, and..

Aug - 6 Topanga Beach Day (boogie boards and sandcastles)

July 30 - Summer Parkday

July 23 - Leather Stamping

July 16 - Ancient Rome

July 9 - Japan Past & Present

July 2 - Independence & H2O

June 25 Beach Day

June 18 Tenzi Frenzi

June 11 - Juggling Craft and Fun

June 4 - Stokes Theater & Plays

May 28 - Christina's Family Yogatime

May 21 - Bring your crafty projects & Potluck

May 14- Career Day

May 7 - Mother's Day Tea

April 30 - Art Show & Painting

Apr 23 - Earthday Show & Tell and Planting

Apr16 - 19 Joshua Tree Annual Family Campout

Apr 9 - HexiFlexigons - rescheduled

Apr 2 - Magic Tricks & Juggling Sticks

Mar 26 - HexiFlexigons - Geometry Gone Wild

Mar 19 - Potluck & Nat Amer Kid Presentations

Mar 12 - Nat Amer 2: Plains & Tipi's

Mar 5 - Native American 1: Inuit & Carving

Feb 28 - The Art of Debate

Feb 19 - Potluck & Chinese New Year & Korean, Vietnamese

Feb 12 - Valentyne's Day exchange

Feb 5 - Favorite Books

Jan 29 - Build an African Kalimba

Jan 22 - Patents and Inventors

Jan 15 Potluck, Patents and Inventors

Jan 8 - Boardgames and Beginnings

Jan 1st New Year's Playday

Dec 25 Merry Christmas No Parkday

Dec 18 Kwanza; Hannukah; Xmas; Solstice Celebration & Lunch Potluck

Dec 15 Caroling at Retirement Homes

Dec 11 Holiday Craft Day

Dec 4 Idioms by Maria Wheee!

Nov 27 Happy Thanksgiving No Parkday

Nov 20 Venezuela by Enrique & Potluck

Nov 13 Science Bloopers

Nov 6 Inside a Courtroom

Nov 4 Take your Kid to Vote

Oct 30 Costume Halloween Party

Oct 23 Bring a Poem

Oct 19 Campfire Potluck &Talent Show

Oct 16 Poetry Play Day & Potluck

Oct 9 Save Big Cats & Habitats

Oct 2 Making & Launching Rockets

Sept 28 Watts Tower Drumming Festival 10-4pm

Sept 25 Basket Weaving with NewsPaper

Sept 18 M&B Family Campout @ Sequoia Nat'l Park (No parkday)

Sept 11 OuterSpace Aeronautics or
Sustainable Farming & Husbandry (if cool enough for goats to visit)

Sep 10 M&B Free @ LA County Fair

Sep 2 Amazing Aeronautics

Aug 28 Beach Day

Aug 21 Pioneer Day

Aug 14 Five Year M&B Anniversary

Aug 7 Solar Ovens Part III

Jul 31 Solar Ovens Part II

Jul 24 Solar Ovens Part I @ Beach

Jul 17 Balloon Fun/Physics

Jul 10 Blind as a Bat (Braille & Sonar)

Jul 3rd (No Parkday Independence)

Jun 26 Tal Family

Jun 19 Kinetic Ball Run & Squirt bottle motion & Potluck

Jun 12 Summer Festival & Games

Jun 11 Full Moon Hike

Jun 5 Let's Get Tiny - Cells (Animal & Plant)

May 29 Lets get tiny - Cells (Animal & Plant)

May 22 Famous People

May 15 Beach Day & Potluck

May 8 Celebrating Mothers

May 1 Secrets of Water

Apr 24 Earthday & Planting

Apr 17 Games & Crafts Bring Your OWN

Apr 10 Nat'l Poetry Month

Apr 3 Cotton Magic

Mar 27 Bacteria Fun

Mar 20 Potluck & Organ Day!

Mar14-16 Joshua Tree Annual Spring Family Campout

Mar 13 - No Theme due to weekend Campout

Mar 6- Birdwatching & Nesting Day

Feb 27 - Physics of Bowling due to Rain

Feb 20 - The Winter Olympics

Feb 14-17 Backyard Bird Count

Feb 13 - VOLUNTEER PLEASE. Valentines Day

Feb 6 - Taxonomy & the Darwin Challenge

Jan 30 - Lunar New Year of the Horse

Jan 23 - Simple Machines II - Pulleys & Levers

Jan 16 - Habitats & Keystone Species & Noon Potluck

Jan 9 - Cogs & Cams: Simple Machines

Jan 2 - Reconnecting after holidays & New Year's Celebrations

Dec 26 - No Parkday Happy Holidays

Dec 19 - Celebrate Holidays: Winter Solstice, Kwanza, Christmas & Hanukkah

Dec 12 - Solar Fun & Mask Making with Michelle

Dec 5 - Monarch Magic & Eucalyptus

Nov 28 - Happy Thanksgiving - No Parkday

Nov 23 - Fieldtrip to Monarch Groves in Goleta

Nov 21 - Monarchs & Eucalyptus Trees postponed

Nov 14 - Atoms, Protons, Electrons, Oh My!

Nov 7 - Autumn Leaves & Sewing with Heather

Oct 31 - Halloween Festival

Oct 24 - Spooky SeeSaw Algebra

Oct 17 - 3 City Geography & Int'l Potluck & 6:00pm Talent Show

Oct 10 - 2nd M&B Bug Faire

Oct 3 - Abacus Math Magic

Sept 26 - Bark Painting & Spirit Animals

Sep 19-23 Annual Sequoia Family Campout

Sep 14 Fieldtrip to Point Vicente

Sep 12 - Lighthouses & Prisms II

Sep 5 - Build Splash Toys @ Pool

Aug 29 - Lighthouses & Light I

Aug 22 - DeSalination @ Beach PD

Aug 15 - Weaving yarn or old clothes

Aug 8 - Hula Hoop II

Aug 1 - Hula Hoop I @ Beach A

Jul 25 - M&B's 4th Anniversary
All ages Talent Show

Jul 18 - Hawaii Day & Potluck

Jul 11 - Bubble Science Fun

July 4 No Parkday HOLIDAY

Jun 27 No Parkday HOLIDAY

Jun 20 - Crafts Free for All

Jun 13 - Gold Mining & BoomTowns

Jun 6 - Anyone? Or Lemonade Stands

May 31-Jun 2 Family Campout at Montano De Oro

May 30 - MayDay PlayDay II

May 23 - MayDay PlayDay

May 16 - Bats, Owl Pellets & Potluck

May 9 - Primitive Arts & Indian Trading Blanket

May 2 - Painting & Poems

Apr 25- Help Our Wildlife Thrive

Apr 18 - M&B Earthday & Potluck 5pm

Apr 11 - Missouri Day / Bees Part 2
HoneyLove.org

Apr 4 - Bees ($3/kid for candlemaking)
Ula's Birthday

Mar 28 - Feathers, Microscopes & Origami Cranes

Mar 21 - History of Sugar; Plant own sugarcane

Mar 14 - Robots & Circuitry $3/kid

Mar 7 - Rainy Day @ Skirball Free

Feb 28 - Felting & Fiber Arts

Feb 21 - Morocco II
and Islamic Prayer

Feb 14 Valentines & Asian New Year Traditions

Feb 7 - Huichol Yarn Paintings
& Esme's Bday

Jan 31 - Birth of a Nation

Jan 24 - Cancelled
due to RAIN

Jan 17 - Craft parkday

Jan 15 - USA Tour @ Skirball

Jan 10- Morocco Senses & Allah

Jan 3 - Free for All Playday

Dec 27 - Free For All Playday

Dec 20 - Xmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Divali & Winter Solstice (Carols & Potluck)

Dec 13 - Morocco, Art & Mint Tea

Dec 6 - Pompeii Part II & Archeology

Nov 29 - Let's BOWL
due to Rain

Nov 22 - Thanksgiving - No Parkday

Nov 15 - Duct Tape Crafts & creations by C & C
and Lunch Potluck

Nov 8 - Ancient Pompeii & Mt Vesuvius

Nov 1 - Election & Voting Debate:
More trees or Waterslide

Oct 25 - Trunk or Treat; Dress-up
Halloween

Oct 18 - Peace Building &
Anger drop

Oct 11 - Superhero Rain

Oct 4 - Inks from Nature

Sep 27 Ireland Fun & Culture

Sep 20 -Sequoia-sized Boardgames

Sep 13 - 3rd Sequoia Campout

Sep 6- Heroes and Heroines - Kids Presentations

Aug 30 - Simile, Metaphors & Figures of Speech

Aug 23- Letterboxing II

Aug 16 - Letterboxing I

Aug 9 - Beach Day

Aug 2 - Modern Olympics II

July 26 - Ancient Olympics I

July 19 - Paper Arts: Bowls, Books & Beads

July 12 - Beach Day

July 5 - Statue of Liberty - 4th July

June 28 - Storytelling & Aussie Rainsticks

June 21 - Fun Games Field day

June 14 - Mystery Math = Algebra Fun

June 7- Silly Summer Day Fun

May 31 - Build Miniature Golf

May 24 - Sewing & Haiku Part II

May 17 - Haikus & Drums & Evening Potluck

May 10 - Rock Hunter Guest Speakers

May 3 - May Day Celebrations

Apr 26 - Fibonacci & Nature

Apr 19 - Thai New Year -Songkran & Potluck

April 12 - Spring Bling & Night Crawlers Planting season

April 5- Easter /Passover Crafts

Mar 29 - Ethics & Fairytales

Mar 22 - Detective Fingerprints & Crafts

Mar 15 - Prep for Joshua Tree

Mar 8 - Marbles & Physics

Mar 1 - Make Real Dream Catchers

Feb 23 - Pirates, Sea Captains &Tall Ships

Feb 16 - Wilderness Survival - guest Speaker

Feb 9 - Anatomy Guts vs Feeling Guts

Feb 2- Gravity Fun Games

Jan 26 - Cement Bridges Part Two

Jan 19 - Kids first Rock & Gem Show

Jan 12 - Global New Years Celebration

Jan 5 - Rockets-Aquarius M&B helped launch

Dec 29 - Cement Construction hand print tile

Dec 22- Kwanza, Hannukah, Bodhi Day stories & games 12/8

Dec 15 - Amy's Anatomy Obstacle Course

Dec 8 - Painting so it POPS! w/ out wind

Dec 1 - Painting so it POPS!

Nov 24 - Happy Thanksgiving - No M&B Parkday

Nov 17 - Fun with Manners & Empowering Etiquette & And 3rd Thurs Potluck (lunchtime)!

Nov 10 - History of Photography - Make Pinhole Cameras

Nov 3 - Butterfly & Bug Faire & Poems & Riddles

Oct 27 - Pumpkin Festival *Dress UP!!

Oct 20 - Empathy & Empowerment

Oct 13 - Braille & Visually Impaired

Oct 6- Atoms & Cool Molecules

Sept 29- Black Bears & Sequoias

Sept 22 - Sequoia Fires & Cones

Sept 15- Clay Creatures & Open-ended ?s

Sept 8- Beat the Heat Beach Day

Sept 1 - Lemonade Stand Commerce

Aug 25 - Back to Homeschool Play

Aug 18 - Saw Safely & make a Jacob's Ladder

Aug 11 - Biomes, Habitats & Soda Bottle Terrarium

Aug 4 - M&B 2Year Anniversary Party

July 28 - Finger Knitting & Natural Fibers

July 21 - Stone Soup Potluck & Storytime

July 14 - CrazyFun ScienceLab Experiments

July 7 - Independence Day Celebration @ Zuma Beach

June 30 - Nocturnal Creatures & Owl Pellets to dissect

June 23 - Book Exchange Circus

June 16 - Lewis & Clark, Quill pens from feathers & Potluck

June 9 ATC- Making Artists' Trading Cards

June 2 Petraglyphs, Pictoglyphs & Rafting the Grand Canyon

May 26 Historical
Figures that changed the World
all Kids Perform

May 19 Pharoahs, Pyramids & Crafts
And Potluck 5pm-sundown

May 12
Mars & Space Travel

May 5
Mother's Day
High Tea

Apr 28
Physics & Imagination=
Future Travel

Apr 21
Mask Making & Storytelling

Apr 14
Sound Waves

Apr 7
Geodesic Dome

Mar 31
Earthquakes & Tectonics

Mar 24
Show & Tell & Games

Mar 17
Family Campout Joshua Tree

Mar 10
Mardi Gras

Mar 3
Africa & Wangari Maathai

Feb 24
Brains: the Inside Story

Feb 3
Chinese New Year

Jan 27
Pioneer Parkday Part 2

Jan 20
Days of Yore

Jan 13
Fun & Safety
with Germs

Jan 6
Chess by Jahan

Dec 31
New Year's FreePlay

Dec 23
Kwanza, Hannukah
& Christmas

Dec 16
Engines & Cars
& Alternative Power

Dec 9
Microscopic World

Dec 2
Cartoon & Collage

Nov 25th
Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov 18th
Nature Crafts & Yoga

Nov 11th
Wind Turbines

Nov 4th
Indian Diwali Celebration

Oct 28th
Spooky Obstacle Course

Oct 21st
How Songs are Born

Oct 14th
Build a
Weather Station

Oct 7th
Prisms, Vision & Zoetropes

Sept 30th
Spanish CultureFest

Sept 23rd
Russian Culture & Potluck

Sept 17
Family Campout @ Sequoia Nat'l Park

Sept 9th
Chemical (molecular) Reactions

Sept 2nd
History of Flight

August 26th
Light, Refraction & Rainbows

Aug 19
Potluck

August 12
Turtles, Tortoises & YOU

August 5th
Honey, Bees & Wasps

July 29th
M&B 1 year anniversary

July 22
Inuit Culture & Games

July 15th
Bastille Day - French Independence

June 17th
Swedish MidSummerFest

June 10th
Catapults & Parachutes
Gravity & Lift

June 3rd
Our BodyGuards
Snot & Scabs

May 27th
Pollination, Fruit & Seeds

May 20th
Hawaii & Potluck Luau!

May 13
Ladybugs, Silkworms & Praying Mantis

May 6th
Knots, Pirates & Explorers

April 29
Earth Day Part 2

April 22
40th anniversary of Earth Day

April 15th
Japanese Girls' & Boy's Day

April 8th
Bridges, Cantilevers & Treehouses

April 1st
Magnetism part II: Physical Force of Nature

March 25
Magnetism part I: I'm attracted!

March 18th
Desert Life

March 11th
Global Timelines

March 4th
Spring Bling:
Worms, Dirt & Seeds

Create an Animal Habitat 1/16

Potluck @ 11:30 am Animals & Habitats @ 1:00 pm

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The genesis of this week’s activity and learning comes directly from my youngest daughter. Let the sky, desert or ocean be the limit in making your personalized HABITAT. I will supply construction paper and other art supplies – you bring the creativity and fun! Your goal can be to populate a Biome like a desert or marsh, or you can start with a Keystone animal like a wolf or an otter and then create the mini-web-of-life that sustains it. You can work by yourself, or enlist your friends to build your habitat together. (See how Yellowstone thrived when their Keystone animal – the Wolf – was returned to its natural habitat).

This is a great example of how learning and curriculum evolve organically in our home. One of the main reasons we create our own curriculum, is so that our children have greater control in what they are learning. My husband and I embrace the interests of our children as well as the experiences we have at parks, museums, and field-trips. We then to scaffold them into our overall educational goals. As a result, we experience less resistance because they are “choosing” what they are learning. Btw, “less” is a far cry from – not at all!

Creating an Animal Habitat or Turning Interest into Education

Step 1: Puffed with pride, my daughter brought me downstairs to show me the duck she made from a white bag and how two fans can make it swim across the counter. Click below to watch.

Step 2: She pulled out blue paper to make a pond. My eldest daughter came to see what we were doing. webpond

Step 3: I went to the computer and pulled up a link What Do Ducks Eat? We learned that they were omnivores and that they foraged differently during in each of the four seasons.

Step 4: Üla started making signs to keep people from feeding ducks empty calories while Esmé started making fish and fish eggs. I added grasses and cattails.

Step 5: The girls kept returning to the webpage to see what else was in the diet of ducks. Esmé added tadpoles and then insects. I added algae. And Üla made snails and started making crayfish. (To make an accurate crayfish, we pulled up the pictures from when Üla helped biologists capture the invasive species in Topanga’s watershed this past fall.)

Step 6: During this nature explosion on our kitchen countertop, we held numerous discussions about the Untitled-4 Web-of-Life. From there, I figured out ways to enfold other academic learning. For example I presented the question – “How long will it take these three invasive crayfish to over populate this pond?” This sent us to the computer to understand how often they reproduce. They suggested that if all three were boys – they would never over populate. But if they did, they pondered if it would turn out to happen in a Fibonacci number series. We also further discussed how the crawfish were displacing the native endangered trout in Topanga.

A day later, Üla had started on a Woodlands habitat that hosted a family of nesting bluebirds amongst other living creatures. Number 10 of the Darwin Challenge. And other friends have been inspired to start thinking about animals they love and their habitats. What animal will you create a world around? See you Thursday.

And don’t forget Potluck starts @ 11:30 and we have two special visitors…

pparker

Take a Tour of the Museum of Flying

Due to a Groupon (still available here), I set up a fieldtrip to the Museum of Flying last Friday (they are only open Fri-Sun). It was a great way to meet history in person. We saw firsthand how flying machines evolved to our modern day jets. Wow! Plus we had unforeseen bonuses: seeing a 70 year-old star of the movie, The Gray Eagles before it flew into the sky and after the tour planes were skywriting.

Here we are in front of 2 fully restored P-51 Mustangs (and pilot). Introduced in 1942, these “Cadillacs of the Sky,” were the swiftest, most maneuverable planes in WWII combat dogfights. Over 14,000 were built and less than 100 remain. The museum sent us over to the Santa Monica Municipal Airport to catch a glimpse before we took our tour. It was a fluke that “February” and “Bum Steer” were there at all.

This was especially relevant for my daughters, whose American great-grandfather pilot, Jackson Clary (far right), flew numerous missions in this Halifax bomber DK259. On Sept 29, 1943, German night-fighter-pilot Prinz zu Lippe-Weissenfeld attacked the bomber from below. Due to the damage, Clary soon ordered his six crewmen to parachute out as he crash-landed the flaming fighter plane. Not knowing if they landed on enemy lines or not, the survivors owe their lives to the brave families in the once dutch town of Boekelo (present day Netherlands) that aided the Americans. Last fall, on the 70th anniversary of that crash, the town hosted descendants of the crew (including my Sister-in-law) to erect a monument in their honor.

Below on the left is the P-51 called “February,” and it had the docents at the museum in a flurry of excitement to get to see it. Not only is February fully-restored mechanically, but her exterior is as it was during flight in WWII w hen it was flown by Capt. Jim Brooks, survivors who are both main characters in the documentary, Gray Eagles which we got to see just before we left the Museum.

The P-51 on the right, “BumSteer” was restored and modified so either person in front or back has a stick to steer the plane. The three red swastika’s circles denote the number of Nazi planes it shot down. The pilot was very indulgent to answer most of our questions. “They can reach a ceiling of 42,000 feet… people don’t know how many parts were made to supply the original 14,000…this is the time of year we train for the airshow we perform… three of us fly in a “V” formation with our wings closer than they are parked on the tarmac right now…”

Time to get to our tour at the Museum of Flying.

Our fabulous tourguide Steve, at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica intrigued and captivated us all.

On the right a basket from a Hot Air Balloon since the first manned flight was by the French Montgolfier brothers 1783, earning their father a title from Louis XVI. This replica of the Wright brothers’ plane was also a movie star. It was created for and flown in the movie: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

This one above is a Yak 3, a Russian combat airplane from WWII. This actual plane has 14 registered victories from the war as denoted by the stars on the right. And yes, that is wood exposed on the end of the wing, as that is what the interior was composed.

The only other replica in the museum beyond the Wright Bros, was this red one, all the others were once or still are active flying planes. This was a replica of Amelia Earhart’s plane that she flew that made her famous for being the 1st woman to fly solo from the East to West Coast. Part of her notoriety was due in part to her bank account. Most women couldn’t afford to cover petrol and maintenance costs let alone buy their own airplane like Earhart. The museum emphasized the WASPS and other Female Pioneers of Flight. Women like Blanche and Florence were not solvent enough to buy their own planes, but broke records anyhow. They were at the mercy of the people who funded the Barnstorms and other aeronautic events.

And if this wasn’t all enough, after we left the museum for a nearby park to picnic Ula shouted “Look UP!!” We had the added bonus of seeing five airplanes SKYWRITING in circles around us! Yet another bonus for our fieldtrip!! It was Shia LaBoeuf’s high-priced apology for plagiarism ($25,000) – 5 glints of light (airplanes from our far distance) flying in synchronized fashion wrote #STOPCREATING almost a dozen times. What a fabulous day with wonderful people (shout out to Linda!).

How can you add to the Web of Life?

What impact do you make on your environment?

How do you raise a Conservationist? You first spend time outdoors. You listen to what you can hear. You watch what life is around you: ants and pillbugs; birds trilling calls and cawing warnings; patterns in clouds in the morning, afternoon and evening; and more. Spending time in Nature creates awareness and compassion for the world about us. Fortunately for my family, there is alot of nature available in our area.

Even though we don’t live IN Topanga, many of our friends do and some of our happiest moments in California have taken place in and about Topanga canyon. This is why over the past 5 years, we have been involved in many events to help keep Topanga’s Web-of-Life intact. On Topanga Earthdays we’ve helped clean out the watershed of debris and invasive plants; we have taken many conservation “walk-abouts” with Tracker Rob, and then with the Tree people we have taken out invasive plants and planted indigenous species. As members of the Topanga Wildlife Youth Group, my children were part of a sacred red-tailed hawk release as well as helped biologists record, research and remove cray invasive crayfish from the Topanga creek. Find out a way that you can get involved to help protect your environments and the your personal web-of-life. Your family will have a sense of pride and an added connection to the world outdoors. This is one of the best ways to prevent cynicism and complacency from taking hold of a human being. You need not look further than the faces in these photos to find proof.

Gorgeous-Grunion