Making Bio-Plastics AT Home!

Yesterday we went with our homeschooling group to a local pumpkin festival. It was fun! The kids do crafts, play on the playground, and participate in the scavenger hunt. The best part was that the things we did were FREE! There were ride and other games to do that cost money, but we decided that we weren't buying tickets and that we would only participate in the free activities.

One of the crafts the kids did was make this biodegradable plastic "stuff".  They call it bio-plastic. When it's done it is kind of this rubbery stuff. We weren't able to mold it, shape it into a ball, while it was still warm. We didn't even realized that once cooled it would pretty much be this hard, rubber, plastic stuff. So if you want to try to shape or mold it you have to do that while it's still WARM!

To make this bio-plastic you need water, corn oil, corn starch. Food coloring is optional, although it nice to make things in color!

1. Place a tablespoon of cornstarch in a plastic ziploc bag
2. Add two drops of corn oil to the cornstarch
3. Add one tablespoon of water to the oil and cornstarch.
4. Mix the cornstarch, corn oil, and water in the plastic bag by rubbing the outside of the bag with your fingers
5. Add two drops of your favorite food coloring and mix again
6. Place the bag in a microwave oven on high for 20-25 seconds. DO NOT completely seal the bag. Careful, it's hot!

It is very warm-hot when it comes out of the microwave so be careful with it. However keep in mind that if you want to mold and shape it you have to do that while it's still warm-hot. 

This is something the kids can very easily do, but because it does get hot I would advise that it is done with adult supervision. Just because of the risk of getting hurt with the stuff as it comes out of the microwave.  Once it's cool it's fine!

Edit Add: We just discovered that you can use vegetable oil instead of corn oil. 

Growing A Willow Tree

One of DH's all time favorite tree is the willow tree. He has always said that he wanted one.  I started to question what are willow tree seeds? Seeing we know we where we can find some at a few public parks and other areas.  My thinking was if we knew what the seeds looked liked or when they seeded we could get some and just grow a willow tree.

A few weeks ago we were @ my mom's house. My step sister was there and we asked her if she happen to know. She said I think you can take a branch, a cutting, and it will grow. So with that I asked my mom if I could borrow her computer to look it up. Seeing there was a willow tree there that we could take a branch or two from it that turn out to be the case.

It was clear that yes, a cutting or broken branch can and will indeed grow and take root for MOST willow tree varieties. Of all the different varieties there are only 2 of them can not be cultivated in this matter. So with that we took a few small branches of the tree that was available to us.

I came home and place it in some water. We have noted the leaves are starting to dry out and fall off. I thought perhaps it didn't work but today we noted there are roots starting to grow off the branches.

In about a week we'll transfer the branches to a pot with soil and leave it  inside for the winter. We think we'll keep them in a pot until they are bigger and then transfer the biggest strongest one to the yard and give away the other ones if they all make it that is!

Mystery Rash: Solved? We hope!

Superstar still has his rash, bumps, spots, whatever you want to call them. When they first appeared on April 9th, I felt as if it was chickenpox. Later that day I learned it was NOT chickenpox, but an unknown virus.

The following Wednesday we went back to the doctor's office. That doctor agreed with the previous diagnosis that it was a viral, unknown origin. However that doctor did give us a steroid cream for it. In addition Superstar has been given benadyrl 3 times a day and an oatmeal bath every night. We were told if he had not cleared up by Monday to see a dermatologist.

So here it is Monday and Superstar still has his rash. I wish I could post pictures here on the blog for you all, but I promise Superstar that I would not. The steroid cream did cause the rash to go "flat", seeing it was raised, but that was the only change to it.

The dermatologist today said it was NEVER an viral infection. That the rash on Superstar is an allergic reaction to a plant. What plant we do not know. It's been already 1.5 weeks and honest I don't remember what and where we have been. In addition there is real no way of knowing what plant unless we are fully aware of what he got himself into.

Let me tell you that has been so frustrating. We for the last 1.5 weeks have been home. We've gone NO WHERE! No church, No co-ops, No field trips, because we were under the impression that it was viral and because it was an unknown virus we didn't know if he was contagious or not. I didn't want to expose him to others, because I didn't want him to pass on the virus. Some virus you are no longer contagious once you break out, others you are still contagious until rash scabs over. So he just didn't know and was working on the side of caution "better save then sorry".

We were given a new stronger cream today to put on his rash and hopefully that will clear it up. At least we now know that we can be around people! This means tomorrow we are going to our homeschool co-op! Thank God!

Planting Socks: The Results

As I mention before we were going to plant a sock. We have planted them and this post is about sharing what we found and how it went!

The first thing we did was went down to our local forest preserve on April 25th. There we put on a sock over our shoes:

After our socks were on we went walking around:

During the walk we found some animal prints in the mud:

The mud was so thick and sticky that I almost lost my shoe:

After our walk we examined our socks! They were muddy and had some things stuck to them. Seeds we hope! We placed them in plastic baggies in hopes to help keep the seeds attached.

As soon as we got home we planted them!

Since that day we have been watering the socks as needed. Waiting for something, anything, to come up. Our wait has finally ended! This past Monday (May 11th) I was able to take a snap shot of each container. Both containers have 1 little bud. I don't know what kind of plant, but it's green! LOL

This one is DS container. You can see the little-tiny plant in the middle. Just some green poking through

This is DD container her little plant poked through a few days before DS (that's why it's taller). It's along the edge.

Now some people may prefer to wash their dirty muddy clothing. However, I prefer to bury them and watch something grow! LOL Let's just say that I was thankful that I didn't have to make those sock come out white again in the wash.

I'm a little disappointed that we got only one plant each, but they did say the best time was fall. So I think we will do this again in the fall and compare the results we get then to the ones we got this time.

So yes it's true you can bury a sock and get something to grow. The question is will these little plants grow and produce more socks. LOL Do you have a forest near you? Do you have some old container? Dirt? Old socks? If so go hiking and when you are done plant a sock!!