Easter egg hunt fun and some (wee little) science

On this easter weekend, how could we miss the egg hunt. Guadalupe river park had hosted Spring festival with some 40+ vendors. The usually quiet and lonely park was bustling with kids and adults. Out of the other egg hunt places I had picked this one as I wanted to combine some science activities along with the fun.


The egg hunt was in the historic orchard and the theme was eat healthy, as a result there were no candies or chocolates. Different colored eggs were hidden all around the orchard to symbolize various fruits, purple for plum, green for apple etc. The goal was to find eggs of all colors. In return they were to get a small goodie bag with nuts and dry fruits in it. The hunt actually got over within 10 minutes!

There were various kids friendly activities such as bouncers, face painting, bean bag throwing etc. There were stalls set up by Happy hollow zoo, Schmahl science and a few more, however we got to visit only 2 of them, the happy hollow and the tie-die one. Below is the python skin displayed by "Happy Hollow Zoo".


What mostly caught our attention was the tie-die booth as they used natural dies made from onion skin, walnut leaves etc. "A" used marbles to tie the silk handkerchief and then it was dipped and simmered in the dye for about 15 min. The kerchief was then allowed to air dry.


Although there was not much of science involved, kids had fun getting outdoors and enjoying nature to the heart's content!

Gem, Mineral and Jewelry show

The Santa Clara Valley Gem and Mineral Society organizes Gem, Mineral and Jewelry show once a year. The event is hosted for 3 days including the weekends. "A" has interest in gems and there were some kids activities, so I decided to take her forthe event.

There was a designated kids area at the exhibition and kids were given questionnaire. They had to read the information displayed on the project boards in order to answer them. There were various project boards displaying information on rock cycle, types of rocks, fossils, minerals, rock formations in cave, volcanoes, earthquake etc.

After the kids completed this activity they were each given a bag containing 2 samples of each of the rock types: igneous,metamorphic and sedimentary. The kids area also had a very good collection of different rocks. There were some demonstartions to find out which type of rocks float, erosion, parts of a volcano, stalactite formation etc.

After exploring the kids area went to see more of the rocks and gems and were awe-struck at the fine collection of gems and various minerals.

The kids had fun selecting their geodes, watching how beads are made and finished off with panning for gold We got to see a gold nugget which was actually found by someone while panning!

Body Worlds

The Tech museum has hosted many educational visitin exhibits in the past, like the "Leonardo da Vinci" and "Genghis Khan". Currently they are hosting the Body Worlds Vital - an exhibit that gives a glimpse of the complex body systems beneath our skin. The exhibits are made possible by a technique called "Plastination" which is used to preserve the body parts.

The exhibit is in its final days at The Tech so we decided to check it out during the spring break. I do not have any visuals for this blog as flash photography or video recording was not allowed, however I had to blog about it as me and my kids learnt a lot from this exhibit, facts that a common person is not aware of.

Since no pictures were allowed in the exhibit, we had to soak in and process all the information that we were getting. We were in the exhibit for almost 4 hours without realizing it! Each exhibit had very detailed explanations. All the exhibits were amazing however my personal favorite was the one that showed the network of blood vessels in our body as well as on the organs like heart.

It is a great learning experience for the kids and adults as the message is very clear "Healthy eating habits and excerise" is "The mantra" for living well! Atleast for time being, I can get my kids to eat veggies and fruits!

A visit to the Jelly Belly factory

During the kid's spring break, I wanted to show them a factory and so I gave them two options the Jelly Belly factory or Mrs. Grossman's sticker factory. Without any hesitation the decision was made, the "Jelly Belly"! The kids wanted to see how jelly beans are made.

Jelly beans are thought to have their origin in the turkish delight.

It was about 1.5 hrs drive one way, through which both sat patiently. On reaching there we first took the 50 min tour. A factory tour departs every 15-20 minutes, so the wait is not long. We were each given a paper cap. Flash photography or video recording is not allowed in the factory.

There are 4 stages in the making of a jelly bean:

1.Making of the core of the jelly bean (this happens in a kitchen and you only see these jelly beans coming out on conveyor belt). This is smaller than the actual jelly bean size.

2. They are tumbled with a mixture of cornstarch, sugar, color, flavor etc. Here the jelly bean grows to its final size. They are rested after this stage so the shells grow hard.

3. They are glistened and polished in the rotating drums.

4. They are sorted (the ones with not the proper shape are removed) and packaged.

The tour is on an elevation so the entire factory floor is visible. The entire tour involves stops at 5-6 places and video's are played. Samples of jelly beans in intermediate stages are given out for tasting. On the walls and in many locations portraits of famous people like Ronald regan, Elvis Presley, MLK, Princess Dianna, mother teresa etc were displayed.(The Elvis Presley portrait was made from 10,000 jelly beans).

The kids most enjoyed to see the colorful jelly beans in trays. The huge robots that moved things like trays on the factory floor left the kids spell-bound. The huge mixers and conveyor bels were intriguing for the kids. A free jelly bean packet at the end of the tour, jelly bean tasting bar and some more jelly bean shopping were the happy endings of the tour.

A visit to Petroglyph

"A"'s friend told her about this place called "Petroglyph". and "A" had been telling me for about a month that she wanted to go to the place. We got the opportunity to visit it during the kid's spring break.

Petroglyph, in Willow Glen-San Jose, is an art studio for kids as well as the grown-ups. You pick the ceramic items that you would like to paint. The paints, brushes, sponges, stencils, stamps, stickers are provided so you can let your imagination run loose and create your own masterpiece. You are charged for the sitting fee and the ceramic item and you can work on your art as long as you want. Your item is then put in the kiln for the colors to fasten and brighten up.(Science behind it: The paints contain sand and when heated the sand turns to glass and becomes shiny and glossy). It can be picked up after 2-3 days.

"A" and "I" picked a dolphin and a cup with butterfly respectively. They spent about 1hr to 1:15 hrs in painting. It was a fun activity for the afternoon, but a little expensive too(I felt the ceramic base items were a little overly priced)!

Calligraphy Pen

Calligraphy: It is the art of beautiful writing or scripting. Its origin is Greek - "Kallos" means beauty and "graphe" means writing.

When I was a student in school and college in India, I used "fountain pens" for writing as it made handwriting look neat. I rarely used ball point back then. Little did I know then that my fountain pen had a fancy name, "Calligraphy pen"!. This pen has a pointed thin metal at one end called the "nib" and ink supply in the other half.

My 4th grader recently started reading the Newbery medal book, "The View from Saturday" by E.L.Konigsburg for her book report. A character from the book, Noah Gershom, learns Calligraphy and teaches the art to his friends too.

A few days ago while casually strolling in the Michael's store, I came across the Calligraphy pen and I had to buy it! I showed "A" how to use it and instantly she started working with it. It takes a little practice to get used to this pen as it is not as versatile as the ball point pen. It can be used when writing speed is not important. This is "A"'s first Calligraphy!

Nature Safari@ tule pond

We have found the Math Science Nucleus programs very educational and I have blogged about some of them here and here.

Today they had the Nature Safari program. The main activity was a 1.5 mile nature hike around the Tule pond.(Tule pond is located on top of the Hayward Fault and last time we visited the place, it was flooded and we could not take the walk.) There were 6 stations set up around the pond and kids were given a scavenger hunt activity. There were arrows placed at multiple points to guide on the right path.

Station A: It was near a tule hut. There are few stumps for kids to play on in this. The activity was to find worms in the ground.The kids had to write down the place where they found the worms.

Station B: The activity here was to collect the leaves or Arroyo, Red and Sandbar willow trees. The trees were labeled of course!

Station C:The activity here was to collect the leaves of Coast Live Oak, western sycamore and Red bud. During the indoor activity we got to touch the leaf of the western sycamore. Its texture is very soft and hence was used by native people as a "bathroom tissue"!

Station D: This station was at the butterfly meadow and the kids had to bring back a milkweed leaf. Milkweed can be identified by folding the leaf which causes white fluid to ooze out.

Station E: This station was set on top of Hayward fault and from here we could see the Tyson Lagoon which is a sag pond, a feature of the earthquake zone(we just learned this last week!).

Station F: At this station the kids had to describe a bird that they saw flying and a bird that was swimming.

On our walk we explored eucalyptus tree, clover leaves, mushrooms, egrets etc. Children who completed the Nature Safari got a pencil and a magnifier as gifts.

There were indoor activities such as 1) Removing the soft core of elderberry branch to make an ornament, we learnt that the native americans used them to make tools, musical instruments and ornaments."A" and "I" both made ornaments out of the elderberry branch. 2) Counting the number of rings on the cross-section of tree truck to determine its age. 3) Making dragonfly arm band. 4) Tape the needle and broadleaves to a cardpaper, cover them completely and keep as a keepsake.

Overall a well spent 2 hours.