Scenes from the Aquarium

Another fun day out at the Melbourne Aquarium. This time with more friends!
H asked me today what our theme is for this year. Last year was The Elements.  This year, due in part to our newly aquired aquarium annual pass, will have to be Marine Biology!

Saturday Science

Marbled Nail Polish

Inspired by our friend K and her Scientriffic magazine, we attempted to create some dazzling marbled nails.

 

The girls created their very own marble nail design by dropping nail polish onto water, dragging a point through the circles of polish and then inserting their nail. The swirled nail polish adhered to the nail, resulting in a unique marbled design.

Why is it so?  The oil always floats to the top because it is less dense than water. Oil and water don’t mix because water molecules are more attracted to each other than to oil molecules.

Molecules of water are strongly attracted to each other because they are polar. Oil and water molecules are not attracted to each other because oil molecules are non-polar and hydrophobic or ‘water-fearing’. Oil has a lower density than water, so it always floats on top.

While we were busy with nail art, the TARDIS dropped in for a visit. It's always nice to see the Doctor.

Always learning

Despite the girls spending alot of time doing this ...

... their brains have been in overdrive since we got back from our holiday.
R is suddenly checkmating me at chess, spontaneously spelling words off the top of her head and contantly sharing insights that are beyond her years. 
H is immersing herself in all things bookish, learning about grammar and her spelling is taking off too.
At a recent trip to the aquarium they shared all their knowledge about marine animals with our friends.  I am amazed at their ability to retain and explain all the facts and figures they soaked up at Heron Is.  What really impresses me is that they don't need to write things down to remember them. They hear it, find it interesting, file it away in their brain somewhere and that's it. Done. Remembered. For ages!  Unschooling does indeed rock!

Botswana was the next destination on our Around the World trip.  After the decidedly "meh" attitude whilst in Mexico it was a welcome change to go to Africa.  We watched our Wild Africa DVD a few times, read a book by Alexander McCall Smith about Akimbo and the Lion, and listened to great music via the AccuRadio app.  H enjoyed spending our virtual money on airplane tickets and a two night stay at the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana. She also did some extensive research on the country, typed it up using her emerging typing skills learnt here and printed out copies to paste in their scrapbooks.
R was keen to do some writing and made some puppets of an African man, meerkat and a crocodile.

Here are some snippets of life around here.

Clockwise from top right:  Happy Birthday P!; chess anyone?; currently reading about Marco Polo's adventures; chilling out with good friend W; Nutmeg the bunny; beautiful colours from our prism on a sunny morning; spot the real animal; what's going on behind those beautiful big blue eyes?;  another doodle.

Dinner with friends C and W turned into a henna tattoo night: