Our first day of summer learning and play

I love doing activities with my boys. When I play with them, I get ideas for even more games or activities to engage them.  Yesterday was our first official day of summer vacation. It was nice outside so out we went.  I am trying to incorporate fun learning activities considering I am getting practice for when I start home school for Austin in August or September (haven't made it around to scheduling his first day).
So yesterday morning, I looked over Pinterest and found a FUN idea.  Austin loves Legos and Lucas is slowly coming around to them. It was for Star Wars Lego Science.  I followed the recipe exactly except for the Star Wars Legos. Austin loves to take his Lego men apart so I couldn't find enough man parts to create more than 4 lego men...So I just added small and strange shaped Legos to the ice cub trays.

Here is what you need: 
Ice cube tray
Baking soda
Vinegar
Water
Legos or Lego pieces

Directions:

1. Mix 3 parts baking soda with 1 part water.  If desired, add Jello powder to scent and color the mixture.
2. Pour a small amount of the mixture into the bottom of the ice cube tray.
3. Place one Star Wars toy into each section.
4. Cover each toy up with more of the baking soda and water mixture.
5. Place the ice cube tray into the freezer for a few hours.
6. Remove the cubes and place in a container.
7. Add vinegar to remove the figures/Legos.

I popped those in the freezer and headed outside with the kiddos for a few other activities I thought they might enjoy.

ICE RACE
This activity is seriously fun, a little competitive, makes them run a lot (score)and works on their dexterity.... 
I put out a huge bowl of ice and tongs. Placed a labeled (with their name) bucket at the end of the driveway. The goal is to grab an ice cube from the bowl and run/walk without dropping the ice to your bucket and rinse and repeat.

 Austin was really competitive and took this game very seriously.

After that game, the obvious next step is to throw the ice...especially if you have boys.  We talked about a lot of things while throwing. We talked about what happens to the ice if you throw it on the cement, what happens to the ice if you throw it in the grass... they made their own guesses and then we tested.  I asked the boys which would melt first (the ice in the sun or the ice in the shade)  Lucas was pretty excited about this and had a ton of answers to my questions. You could see the little wheels turning as we talked. He got more and more excited so I had him put his theories to the test. He placed ice in the sun and ice in the shade.  We then "timed" them. I type "timed" in air quotes because I actually forgot to the time either of them and just threw out an arbitrary number.  The sun was 15 seconds to melt and the shade was 40 seconds to melt. Don't judge. ;)

 Lucas is checking out the ice in either places while I am "timing"...again with air quotes.

This next activity didn't last long...because there were soap, water and sponges around, but it did keep their attention for just a few minutes.  I drew circles on the ground in yellow, blue and pink. (that's all we had in our shoddy chalk collection). I then called out a color and they tried to throw their wet soapy sponges into the circle for a bullseye.

Lucas had to make darn sure his sponge went into that circle...

And then the inevitable happened.... boys.

At that point, I knew I was pretty set for the moment and could just watch as these two chased eachother all over the driveway and whooped the snot out of eachother with bubbles and sponges. it was quite a sight. They played for a while until both of them were soapy and wet.

And yes.... this is what your camera phone looks like covered in soap. Just so you know.

The "main event" was finally frozen enough to play with!! The boys were so excited and this activity did not disappoint. I'd like to call it LEGO fizzing bubble fun awesomeness....but I guess that's a pretty long title.  The boys loved this activity and the possibilities are endless on what you can put inside the ice.  The blog I got this idea from had a pirate treasure chest one and she hid treasures in it. So cute.

 I actually made them use droppers... partly because I am mean and partly because I wanted to have them be patient while they discovered what was inside.... again, with the mean part.

 Fizzzzz....

 "MOMMY!!! IT'S A LEGO!!"

 More with the fizzing....

Here he is...our little Lego guy.  At this point, they were too excited to use the droppers so those got thrown behind them (perfect for the next boy activity to come).... and they just poured cupfuls of vinegar all over the legos.  They got them all out eventually.

And then, again, the inevitable happened....

....A baking soda and vinegar "dropper gun war".... yes, my kids were shooting eachother with vinegar. Lucas drew the first "punch" and poured vinegar down Austin's back. It was on at that point.

That ended our morning outside doing fun activities as a whole. A vinegar war always ends in bath time!! haha.

Lots of fun ideas and creative ways to get your {boys} moving.

Crystin