Making Birdfeeders

I came across a great way to use up plastic, gallon jugs - bird feeders! And it couldn't be easier!!

We just happened to have some empty water jugs (not a usual staple at our house) sitting in our to-be-recycled bin and a bag of unopened bird feed in our school closet, so we had an impromptu bird feeder making session during one of our snow days.

And the important part is that they work, too! We had birds within 5 hours of hanging them!!! The feed we have in there seems to really attract cardinals! The boys and I really enjoy looking out the front windows and watching them.

Bulldozer

Homemade Compass

The homemade compass instructions in our science book includes a piece of cork. Well, cork is not a common household item at our house so that sent me on an internet search and I finally found one with items we had on hand (because I'm not one of those prepare-a-week-in-advance kinda moms).

First, I took Will outside and using the knowledge that the sun rises in the East, we figured out which was is North.

Then we made a hanging compass and compared it to a compass. It worked! YAY! (I like it so much when an experiment actually works!) The hanging needle is pointing in the N/S direction! YAY! :)

(I included the black piece of paper at the bottom of the cup so the needle could be seen easier in the picture.)