Mother Nature

*Suggested Reading*

Earth Day--Hooray! (MathStart 3) by Stuart J. Murphy, Renee Andriani (Illustrator)
Lets Celebrate Earth Day by Peter Roop
Recycle! : A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons
The Garbage Monster by Joni Sensel, Christopher L. Bibins (Illustrator)
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Theodor Seuss Geisel


Items needed this week:

Shoe box with lid
Blue paint (and other colors if you like)
Scissors
Glue
Cellophane, cling wrap or wax paper
Sand (you can substitute dirt from your yard if you don't have sand. Just make sure it's dry). Whole wheat flour works too.
Pinecones or small toy trees (must fit inside the closed shoe box)
Bits of dried plant material (dried moss, dried flowers, dried leaves, etc) or bits of ripped up green and brown tissue paper or crepe paper.
Rocks or pebbles
Small toy animals that you would find in a forest (bears, deer or dinosaurs... dinosaurs seemed to fit anywhere in the kids' minds).
Trash Bags
Gloves

Snack Suggestion: Frozen Frog Eggs


Ingredients:
• 2 Kiwi fruit
• 1 cup of limeade (we used a natural brand without artificial color)
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 8 3-ounce paper or plastic cups
• Popsicle sticks

Instructions:

1. To make a batch, cut a ripe, peeled kiwi fruit into chunks. Blend the fruit chunks with 1 cup of limeade and a tablespoon or so of honey until the mixture is somewhat smooth (some small lumps are fine).

2. Slice a second kiwi into eight thin pieces and press them into the bottoms of eight 3-ounce plastic or paper cups. Pour the blended mixture into the cups, filling them each about halfway.

3. Place the cups in a Pyrex baking dish and cover them with foil. Insert a popsicle stick through the foil and into each cup (the foil will hold the sticks in place) and freeze the pops until solid, about 4 hours.

4. When you're ready to remove the pops from their molds, you can loosen them by briefly dipping the bottoms of the cups in warm water if necessary. Makes 8.