Intelligence, Science, and Corks!

We recently got a whole load of corks from Freecycle so that we could use them for science experiments, and for arts and crafts.

A fun afternoon has been had by all, creating cork creatures:

First picture is of Samuel's creature.

He later went on to colour it in with pens.

The corks are held together with paper clips that have been bent straight(ish!) and in some instances, broken into smaller lengths of wire.




Then we have William's collection. He really got into this in a big way! The first one in the picture is the mummy creature, then next to it is the daddy creature (with a big head!), then is the family pet, which is a lion (I'm told). And at the very end you can just see the little baby creature. I was so impressed with how quickly he got the hang of it and how interested in it he was.


This delightful creature is Joshua's creation, modelled on one of the Gorgonites from the film Small Soldiers. Notice the carefully drawn eye on the creature's head!








Mum even had a go (purely in the name of showing the children how to do it...).

















Yesterday I was looking at something that discussed the "8 intelligences". Now, I only go so far along with the theory, but it certainly is true that ones personality/abilities fall under certain headings. Going through the questionnaire, it brings you out with percentages for your child in each "intelligence". It then explains what each of those are, what the kids with those gifts are like, and how to encourage them. We actually found it pretty spot on for Joshua and Samuel - and scarily, we did it on ourselves (remembering how we were as kids) and found it spot on for us! It clearly showed what we thought, that Joshua and I see things similarly, and Roarke and Samuel are close together, which is how we naturally pair up in learning situations.

If anyone is interested, this is the link: http://www.flashkidsbooks.com/ftest/ftest_quiz.php. The point is to understand what kind of a learner your child is.

Talking of links, I found a great science site today that the boys loved working through - not just a game, but a true learning exercise, with a mini built in test to see if they have taken stuff on board. Very good - http://www.engineeringinteract.org/ - aimed at 9-11 year olds.