I've already discussed my new discovery of Free Admission days in Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh (Oakland location) actually has free days quite often. We have gone to the museum 3 times this school year... for FREE! The museum has several exhibits relating to... bugs!
Now, I'm squeamish about insects. Yuck!!! We talked about insects in science this year.... their anatomy in particular. I tried my best not to show how I felt about bugs to my kids. Hizki likes bugs. Afrikah.... If it's not a butterfly or a lady bug, not so much
Afrikah was so excited to see an exhibit on monarch butterflies and milkweed. She has become an expert on monarch butterflies over this school year. They are her favorite!
Hizki isn't as focused as Afrikah. He likes pretty much any bug...
but when he saw stick bugs in the museum, he wanted me to take a picture so that he could look them up later.
Afrikah loving the monarch butterfly and milkweed exhibit.
Hizki pointing at his new favorite bug.. the stick bug!
I've been wanting my kids to paint with watercolors all year. But I also wanted a project that involved them tying things together into a painting. This seemed to be the perfect opportunity. Hizki wanted to learn about stick bugs. Afrikah actually had interest too. So, we googled stick bugs and learned about them.... Also branched off into leaf bugs. When it came time to paint, Afrikah decided to paint a leaf bug instead of a butterfly...
I bought the watercolors and paint brush/sponge set from Michael's using a 30% off RetailMeNot coupon. If you don't have the RetailMeNot App on your smart phone, I highly suggest that you get it!
Paint and children go hand in hand. Writing reports has its place, but sometimes allowing children to use their imagination in other ways enhances their interest in the environment around them!
Here are their masterpieces!
And that's how we interwove the museum (yeah, we aren't going back a FOURTH time this school year!), bugs (Yah has to have a reason to create those dreaded things), and art (creative ability, flowing from within onto a blank sheet of paper).
You know I love a good water color painting :) We actually have stick and leaf bugs local out here. We were in the park once a few years ago and there was a leaf bug on my husband. I though it was a leaf and went to knock it off and it moved!!!!
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