Look Up!

Today marks the 41st Anniversary of man first setting foot on the moon.

 
And here are some out-of-this-world ways we've come up with to celebrate:

Read: Mission Control, This is Apollo to learn more about the astronauts.

Another good book on the topic includes:  What is the Moon Made Of? And Other Questions Kids Have About Space by Donna H. Bowman. And for toddlers and preschoolers, check out our family's favorite by Dan Yaccarino, Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm off the the Moon.


Bake your own Crater Cake. You can find the recipe here.

Snack Idea: Cut out some Swiss Cheese into circles and put them on round crackers for moon-faced snack.

Stargaze: Head outside tonight and see how many constellations you can find. Click here for a July skymap. 

Space Out: Learn how real scientists study the planets by visiting the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's online Cyber Center here.

Create your own Moon Notebook. On clear nights, draw a picture of the moon and write the date and time next to each picture. As time passes, your kids will see the moon in all of its phases. You can download your own chart here. 

Moon Trivia: Did you know that the moon is so far away, that if you were driving there in a car, it would take more than 6 months to reach it?

Bubbles, Bubbles, Everywhere

One of our very favorite things to do in the summer is blowing bubbles. Following are some of the best bubble ideas we've found for kids of every age.

A few years back we discovered Betz White's "Super Foam-erator". They're quick and easy to make - you just need an empty water bottle, a scrap of terry cloth and some dish soap.

 You can find the complete directions can be found here.

I also came across this post on making Gigantic Bubbles with things like Hula Hoops and coat hangers.

Their secret for such durable bubbles is glycerine, which can be found at most any pharmacy.

For something new this summer, we're going to trying these Dry Ice Giant Bubbles from Geek Dad:



Over at Ohdeedoh, they shared 9 recipes for your own bubble solution. And here's our family favorite:

You can download and print your own copy here.