Pesach STEM Challenge: Building a Basket for Baby Moshe

Truth be told, there is a lot to do indoors as the holiday of Pesach draws near. And it is also true that getting those tasks accomplished with kids in the home can be quite challenging! I see getting outside with these boy as a productivity investment plan. They get the fresh air, exercise and healthy dose of vitamin N[ature] in (so do I) and we can all get a lot more done afterward.
Even more important than all of the daunting tasks that we take on each year to prepare for the holiday is the meaning and significance of this occasion to our kids. This is the time of year we want our children to ask "why" over and over and over again. This holiday is not just about our ancestors and it is not just about us; it is about our children and the future of the Jewish people as a whole. So learning about it at school and at home and engaging in meaningful play activities about Pesach are integral parts of the preparation process--just as much as the cleaning, shopping, and eating of copious amounts of carbohydrates before it begins.

I love a nice STEM challenge. I also love emptying my recycling bin. We did a similar activity to this one last year inside the house and this year I thought it would be extra fun to get outside and build! The boys were greeted at our I Wonder Station with a basket containing two water safe baby dolls and a sign reading "What can you build to carry Baby Moshe across the river?" Below the hook and basket, I set a bin of recycled materials, some craft supplies, masking tape, even tin foil. They sensory table was filled with water, the boys could use the materials in the basket and whatever else was already outside. Their challenge was to build something that could get their baby to float (or even sink) while staying dry. All kinds of brainstorming and creativity ensued...

this container closed over top and provided all around protection until..the water seeped in through the drainage holes in the bottom of it! Oh no!

This container was solid at the bottom, no holes. But...the baby was a little bit too heavy and it toppled over!

Nothing a little sunbathing won't dry off...

Parts were connected, assembled, dismantled and reassembled. Soon, even things in the yard that weren't broken needed fixing! One eager carpenter and his apprentice got busy at work repairing a wheelbarrow handle...

You don't need a lot of fancy toys and materials to carry out a fun and meaningful activity. Even though we did a similar one last year, the boys have grown a whole year older--and wiser--in their understanding of buoyancy. Even Y could now recognize items sinking and floating in the "river." (He tested quite a few!)

And the great outdoors is a wonderful place for building together, whether you're working on the best basket for baby Moshe, building pyramids with plastic mega blocks or woodworking.




So take a little break from wrapping the whole house in tinfoil, maybe bring the roll outside with you along with the contents of your recycling bin and happy playing for Pesach and all year round!

Pesach Is Coming: Dramatic Play Fun!

All work and no play makes for some very grumpy children (and adults alike)! There is so much to be done in the weeks preceding Pesach, but in this special holiday that is so much about our children, what if I told you that you could have it all? Work and play and a little help from your little ones?

Honestly, aside from eating all the foods we need to get rid of and staring at my master lists of things to do, things to buy and things we have stored (somewhere??) from last year, I have been in a bit of De Nile (pun totally intended). But S is learning about Pesach in school and with his usual enthusiasm has come home playing about it, talking about it and teaching Y about it as well. For good reasons this year, I just can't go completely overboard with prep for play or holiday activities--but some simple setups at home (and even in the yard) invited the boys to get busy playing about and helping to prep for this upcoming holiday.

S's wonderful teachers created a dramatic play matzah bakery in their classroom, which of course he loves and requested at home. Amazingly, we were short on empty boxes for a matzah oven, but I did have a growing collection of recycled-once-so-far shoe boxes that could withstand an upgrade. So I turned an old Shabbat Box project into a Pesach matzah oven along with some cardboard and wooden craft stick matzah pans with handles. The sponge painted candlesticks and kiddush cups were totally holiday appropriate here and with a bit of hot glue, some recycled bottle caps, a fire drawn into the background and very limited assembly, our oven was matzah ready. Kids could totally help with this project (and in a way, I guess S did--just not at the time of its actual creation).

We happen to have a Pesach play set the boys received as a gift a couple of years ago from their Safta and Saba, so they use the wooden matzahs from there to bake. They also made a set of play matzahs for our kitchen using cardstock cut into circles and doing crayon rubbings over Lego and Duplo boards and even a handmade template with dots of dried glue to create the texture. You can add in props like aprons and chefs hats, other Pesach themed toys and dishes, you can even add a timer to your oven (we have a digital one from Dollar Tree) and count the 18 minutes! Our two little bakers were very busy getting matzahs in and out of the oven FAST, all while busily setting the seder table with seats for each of the brothers and "one for Eliyahu!"

But before the seder begins, there's a lot of cleaning to do! And no one here loves to clean like S and Y do. Really, no one. But their enthusiasm for the task is enough for all four of us! And I won Mommy of the Year by investing in a roll of tin foil especially just for them. Yup, S told me I'm "the best Mommy ever" because I let him and Y play with soapy water, sponges, rags, and unlimited amounts of masking tape and tin foil. Child labor? Dramatic Play? Tomato, tomahto... And the best part (right next to their gleeful smiles and giggles) was that our kitchen set and toy dishes (and the floor, kids table and chairs) all got cleaned thoroughly for Pesach!

Even outside time has been infused with child-led play about building (and even drawing) pyramids. I've been slowly clearing up and setting up our backyard area as we prepare the space to hopefully house a raised bed table and our season's garden. Taking out some of the toys we've had stored away upstairs in the boys' room that can withstand outdoor elements has been a great way to clear up indoor space, jazz up our backyard for some playing and will hopefully also help keep the boys busy at play while I am busy in the garden this year.

For it's work, work, work, every day and every night... But here, even before Pesach, we still make some time and space for a bit of play. Happy cleaning and preparing if you're at it and remember, play is kosher for Pesach and all year round!

Happy Playing!

Get Outside And...Play with Peppermint Playdough and Petals

I grew up always hearing the gardeners in my life complain about weeds and yet, as an adult who gardens, I cannot help but be completely fascinated and enamored with them! Indeed, while something I plant with intention and care can whither at the mere thought of too much water, not enough sun, shifts in soil pH or an approaching pest, a dandelion sprouts up with vigor and vim between the cracks of our sidewalk. Weeds are amazing! They are independent, self-sufficient, often times beautiful and adapt to the many shifts and changes in their environment. And in the spring, weeds are often among the first signs of renewal of renewal in our yards and gardens. Indeed, the first colorful blooms of the season in our yard are the abundance of weeds that are freely growing where apartment landscaping wants to lawn to be. (I, admittedly prefer the violets and dandelions.)

Petal play is such a whimsical part of childhood. Mixing mud cakes and garden "salads," fairy potions and garden side tea parties would not be possible without the copious amounts of weeds in our yard (and our little snipping garden--but more on that later). And when I'm setting up activities to take outside to our I Wonder station, sometimes it's fun to mix the "traditional" with the "less traditional." We don't often think about playdough as an outdoor activity, but why not? Especially if you are one of those folks who doesn't like the potential mess inside, outside is a great place to take playdough activities! So I grabbed my ingredients and favorite stovetop recipe, added a spring green color with food coloring and some peppermint essential oil for scent, and set up shop outside. I also picked a selection of the most beautiful weeds wildflowers.

In addition to the dough and flowers, I stocked our basket with some favorite playdough tools (rolling pins, plastic knives, cookie cutters) and even some plastic planting pots. One potential issue of playdough play outdoors is surface availability. You may not want your playdough full of soil and mulch (or maybe you do!) and you may not want it stuck to the sidewalk. If you have a table outdoors, that's great, but in the absence of a table to work at, I love plastic trays. I got ours at the Dollar Tree at one point; of course, I haven't seen them there since--but any type of tray will work, even recycled sushi trays.

The boys got to decide how to use the materials and they had a lot of great ideas! I played, too, because even at 30 or so years their senior, petals and peppermint playdough are still such fun!

We had a great time planting playdough flower gardens, making designs and carefully thought out landscaping decisions...

...I even worked a self portrait into creation--striking resemblance, if I do say so myself!

It was fascinating to see the prints left behind in the dough from small leaves and flowers!

In the absence of colorful weeds and wildflowers, or in addition to it, you might consider planting/providing a small snipping garden in your yard. We just recently added ours after I came across the idea in the fabulous play gardening companion, The Garden Classroom: Hands-On Activities in Math, Science, Literacy and Art by Cathy James. In gardening with young children, there can be a world full of "no's." No walking on the garden plot, no picking flowers, no watering over here... I love when I can get to a "yes" and a small garden where it is OK, and even encouraged to snip, pick and play with the flowers (or foliage or herbs) and use them in play of all kinds is the perfect way to do so.

Our snipping garden is just a few inexpensive flowering plants with small blossoms and foliage planted in a plastic window box from last year's dollar store selection. When selecting your "crop," choose whatever is on sale or a small section of your actual flowering plants, herbs or smaller veggies. Perhaps your snipping garden will be an herb garden or a lettuce garden instead, or contain a bit of a few different things. The most important thing is that touching, picking, snipping and using what is growing inside is allowed and encouraged.

Just above the snipping garden hangs a small tin pale with scissors. Tiny garden signs label the space as a "snipping garden" where the boys and guests can "help yourself!" It is situated quite close in proximity to plants that are not for cutting/picking and if this becomes more confusing, I may move it to a more solitary location. Nonetheless, so far the boys have taken quite well to being able to get their hands on this little bitty flower patch while being more cautious and protective over our pansies and strawberry plants int he background!

Playdough activities outdoors add a new and exciting element to a familiar activity that is typically done indoors. This is a great way to inspire outdoor play for children who may be more reluctant toward some of the sensory experiences outside. Here are some variations on the same theme using playdough outdoors:

• Self portraits: as depicted above, you can use balls of dough rolled into circles either on a tray or even on a vertical surface such as a wall, fence, or tree trunk to create a self portrait or funny face using flowers, foliage and nature's loose parts
• Nature prints in playdough: flowers, leaves, pine ones, seeds, pods, small pebbles, acorns...what can you scavenge and discover to add a unique print to playdough?
• Playdough Fairy Gardens: this unique base to fairy garden play is great both indoors and outside, where there is an abundance of nature's loose parts and tiny treasures to add...
• Adding Texture & Scent with Fresh Cut Herbs: In lieu of (or addition to) petals, why not cut some sprigs of fresh herbs from your garden to add to your playdough. Snipped and torn into very tiny pieces, you can add a unique scent and texture to your dough fresh from the garden. We've done this indoors on several occasions (usually when I have some herbs from cooking to use up) and it is a wonderful activity to adapt to outdoor use.
• 
  

  

  In this blast from the past, S is using playdough
  to explore "parts of a flower" (seeds, stems, leaves
  and blossoms)--this is a great activity to take
  outside as well!

• Add Playdough as a Sensory Component of a Potting Shed Dramatic Play Center: Adding elements of dramatic play to your playgarden is a great way to expand on and enhance outdoor play. Empty planting pots, gardening tools and flowers (real or artificial) can be a great addition to your outdoor dramatic play setup and playdough is a great material to add some sensory exploration (not to mention a means to stick your flowers in your pots) to the scene!

And, of course, you can use playdough outdoors in any of the same ways you'd use it indoors. It doesn't even have to be "garden" related. It's easily transportable, you could even take it to the park (we have!) and, especially when you make your own, it is both budget and environmentally friendly overall. So we'll see you outside...

Happy Playing!

Make Your Own Melt & Pour Gardener's Hand Soap

Melt and Pour soap making is so easy, even I can do it! In fact, I've done it once before with these DIY Lavender Bar Soaps. It's a great way to save some $$$ on those fancy artisan soaps, to stock up on a vital household necessity using ingredients you're comfortable with and also makes for a lovely gift. I start my soaps with this oatmeal soap base, and with Pesach drawing near, using up the brick I had left in the pantry seemed a perfect way to contribute to the preparation project at hand...

As it is also the beginning of gardening season here, lots of dirty hands are coming in the house. (Not to mention the rest of the body--these are great in the bath and shower as well.) Some folks like to wear gardening gloves and although I am often rather sensory averse to certain textures (and you'd think dirt would be one of them), I love digging right into the soil bare handed. But when I do get inside, I want something to rub those dirt covered fingers clean again and somehow I just feel better using a good ol' fashioned bar of soap. Even better if it's hydrating like oatmeal soap is! And even better still if it happens to include some of my garden harvest!

Last week, Y and I traveled to our local garden nursery for two plants. Parsley and chamomile for his Peter Rabbit Garden Birthday Party. Rookie parent mistake bringing your budding green thumber to a garden nursery for two things. He fell in love with a broccoli plant and spent a good 20 minutes running his hand over various herbs and smelling them. How could I (a plant hoarder) say no to just a few additional starter plants on our way out?

I did, however, promise myself that I'm not going to "save" my herbs until the end of the season this year, but rather use them throughout their production period and I got started right away with these Gardener's Hand Soap Bars:

You will need:

• 1 lb oatmeal soap base
• lemon, rosemary and peppermint essential oils*
• fresh lemon balm, rosemary, mint (I used spearmint) leaves*
• silicone soap molds
• 1 quart sized crock pot and metal mixing bowl in comparable size or microwave safe glass dish and microwave
• metal soap tins for storage (optional)

*I used this particular combination of herbs and essential oils, but you can pick and choose your own variety!

Instructions:

I use the crock pot method for melting my soap base but if you prefer to microwave your soap base in a glass dish, you can do that instead. Just work over a medium heat setting, stopping every so often over the course of 3-4 minutes to check and stir. In the crock pot method, I fill the crock base with water about half way to create a "water bath." Place your soap block (you can cut it down with a sharp knife for more even/faster melting if you wish) into a metal mixing bowl and slip it in over the water bath. Cover your crock pot and turn onto low heat. Once your brick is melted completely (you'll want to check every half hour or so to make sure you don't burn it), you can turn the heat off and add in several drops of your oils until you've reached your desired scent. Next, grab a small handful of leaves from each of your herbs and finely chop them into the mixture. I used kitchen shears for this. Mix your concoction once more (I like using either a plastic spoon or wooden craft stick) and pour into your soap molds. You can pop the mold into the fridge or freezer for faster solidifying, but it will work just fine to leave it out at room temperature as well. I happened to leave mine out and went to go pick up S from school. Once we got home and settled in for afternoon naps, my soaps were done and ready to be popped out of the molds and stored in metal tins.

Although I did this project solo, you could involve children with it. As it gets quite hot to handle, adult supervision and support is a must. Children can definitely help with selecting scents, cutting herbs, pouring in drops of oil and mixing as well as popping the finished bars out of the mold and into storage tins if you're using those. I think the one thing I love best about soap making is how excited everyone is to wash their hands well and frequently afterward! That's always a bonus...

You can store and use your Gardener's Hand Soaps at home or save a stash to mail out for mother's day. They would make an equally lovely hostess gift or gift for a gardener you know and love. So don't be afraid to get your hands nice and dirty out there as you begin prepping your soil for planting this season! Hands and children, for that matter, are washable--you'll just need a really great bar of soap when you get in.

Happy Playing!

Peter Rabbit Garden Party

I am pretty big on birthdays here but not so much of a party person. It seems like as soon as I throw in the pressure of a birthday party to creating themed activities, all of my creativity flies out of the window! But one thing we did implement here as of Y's first birthday just over a year ago is the family only party. It seemed silly at first to have a party with just the four of us, but it was so much fun, S wanted one, too and we've kept it going.

Y turned two this year! His English birthday fell on the same day as Purim, right after the first day of Spring. His Jewish birthday was over Shabbat, so this past Sunday we had his family party at home with a Peter Rabbit Garden theme. Y has loved playing and planting in our garden and both of the boys love Beatrix Potter books right now. S may have been a bit more cognizant of birthday celebrations at nearly 5 than Y is at just 2 (and in related news, he's already told me he wants a Peter Rabbit Garden Party for his birthday this summer, too). To combat my party panic induced lack of inspiration, I perused the internet for ideas--but in the end, I selected a very simple menu and activities list. We kept it short and sweet and tailored to the tastes and interests of everyone here (especially the birthday boy!) because going overboard and showing up exhausted to the party was just not an option for me this year. (I kind of overdid it last year with the boys' carnival themed parties.) And you know what? Everyone had a great time! There were just the right number of activities. It was not overwhelming, it moved at a reasonable pace and Y (and S for that matter) were still talking about it this morning!

The best thing about a Peter Rabbit Garden themed party is how seamlessly it fits into our family life right now. (I may have slightly selfishly suggested it strongly...) And the ideas here can easily be implemented into your own garden themed party, lesson plans and/or family activities.

The Menu:

Purim. Birthdays. So MANY treats. And with just weeks before Pesach, there are a lot of foods that are on the move list here as it is. When it comes to family birthday dinners, we want to include the birthday star's favorite foods. Y loves a lot of foods (basically every food he's ever tasted) and especially loves meat, corn on the cob and hummus. What can I say? We decided on hot dogs and french fries for the main dinner fare, of course, with a side of corn on the cob. And no party is complete without cake and ice cream--so we shlepped some really good ice cream home from our last family trip to Baltimore and Tatty made an ice cream cake. We also bought cupcakes. Oh well, so much for the lighter fare after all these weeks of endless treats. But we started it off with a quaint little theme related snack course of veggie sticks seemingly right out of Mr. McGregor's garden, homemade dill dip and some "garden fruit smoothies." 



I often go all out of paper goods and decorations for parties. It's a lot of waste. On the other hand, with a lot of dishes being used, it does make it a bit easier when you can just wrap up the disposable tablecloth at the end and toss it all. I tried to fall somewhere in the middle this time. We used our regular tablecloth and cover (it happens to have such a lovely floral print that it fits right in). We bought some floral and rabbit themed paper plates and napkins (I think these were intended for another upcoming holiday and not my son's birthday party, but it works!), and Y really liked a set of sparkly plastic silverware he saw at the store when we were picking out the plates. I stashed that inside an empty planting pot--it was adorable! We also set out our "Veggie Patch" and "Garden Fruit Smoothies" in advance (we already had plastic cups and straws) and it was time for the party to begin!


The Activities:

I will admit that I worried I didn't have enough activities for the boys. I don't know why. It's crazy to think that two boys need ten different party activities or that given the opportunity, they can't also come up with ten more once the main ones are done or in between waiting for one to be finished before starting the next. So I really only had a couple of hands on activities planned plus face/hand/arm painting. We already had a set of face paint crayons from last year and with my limited artistic abilities, I figured we could have some fun with bunny noses and whiskers, and a few simple drawings of favorite vegetables and fruits. I may or may not have been seen sitting on my front stoop yesterday with a pink nose and black whiskers across my cheeks. S wanted strawberries drawn on each of his hands and a carrot on each arm. Y followed suit. Everyone had a bath last night!

Peter Rabbit Mini Gardens: I saw this idea in Sharon Lovejoy's fabulous book on gardening with children, Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots. We upcycled a very old pair of rainboots of mine. I put my husband and boys up to the task of pounding drainage holes in the soles while I ran errands in the morning. I hear they had a lot of fun with this part. Y had accompanied me to the garden nursery last week to pick out a parsley and chamomile plant. We also had some radish seeds and short and sweet carrot seeds for planting. I prepped each boot with potting soil leaving just enough space at the top to sow seeds and stick in one of the plants before having each boy scoop a bit more potting soil over the top and sides. Y chose a little of each type of seed and the parsley plant. S picked just carrot seeds and the chamomile, which he says he would like to try as some tea like Peter Rabbit the next time he has a tummy ache. I have idea if the carrots and radishes will grow successfully beneath the herb plants, but the boots are so whimsical out there in our front garden and this was the perfect way to give them one last shot at life now that they were no longer suitable for my feet. (I did however trick my husband and tell him I'd changed my mind and wanted to wear them again after all!)

Veggie Printed Reusable Farmers Market Bags
I knew I wanted to do some veggie print painting and I also had a couple of bunny shaped cookie cutters for Peter Rabbit stamping. Initially I thought we'd just make some paintings on paper with tempera paints--but how cute would it be to make a set of reusable Farmers Market/snack pouches? I love these canvas pouches for packing up snacks on the go or bringing to the market for produce. So I swapped in the fabric paints we had on hand and set out the ends/tops of the veggies I'd prepped for our snack along with the bunny cookie cutters and each of the boys decorated one.

I love that the project is something we can actually use as opposed to just a picture to hang up. Everyone was amazed at the flower shapes that the celery bottom and bell pepper tops made! And no one tried to eat fabric paint covered veggie scraps--phew!

The Goody "Bag:" I think the Goody Bag eventually became my favorite part of all birthday parties growing up. It was always exciting to wait for the party--whether it was your own or a friend's. It was always fun to be at the party and eat the treats and play the games, but it was also always a little sad when it was over--except when you got a goody bag on the way out! In a way, it kept the party going just a little longer. Many times goody bags are loaded with candies and cheap toys. Those are fun and traditional (and there are some of those things in here as well), but rather than go all out on a lot of this kind of thing, I kept it simple and took a creative spin. Instead of the classic bag approach, each boy got a large plastic planter from the dollar store along with a small (but "real") gardening trowel and fork. They will each get to decide what to plant and grow in these pots--this will be their very own garden to tend to. I will definitely help them as needed, but they get to be in charge of their personal "plot" this season. And because no goody "bag" or bucket is complete without some toys and treats, we also added some "cotton tails" (cotton candy) and "magic beans" (jelly beans) inside of these little bunny bags. They also each got some bunny shaped crayons (it sure is handy having your Peter Rabbit themed birthday fall near a holiday with a bunny theme), a jar of playdough, a jar of sparkly slime and a carrot shaped bubble necklace. They got to take it outside to play in our garden and set off some firecrackers leftover from S's last birthday with their Tatty while Mommy did a bit of clean up and sitting down!

Everyone came in covered in chocolate, sweat, face paint, mud and smiles. A birthday party success! And of course, an obligatory shot of Y going into the cake face first because there are many ways to eat a birthday cake but there is only one right way!

So whether you snag some of these ideas for your own garden or gardening theme, or even your own garden party, I hope you have some good, messy, Peter Rabbit style mischievous fun. We'll be back soon and until then...


Happy Birthday, Y and Happy Playing!

Mad Science Monday: Get Outside And...Into the Laboratory!

On most days, this area of our Play Garden is a Mud Kitchen--but on this particular day, a Tuesday, actually (because Monday had been quite rainy), it became a Scientist's Laboratory for the day! Stuff was gonna get colorful. Stuff was gonna get messy. Stuff was gonna 'splode! Oh YEAH!

The boys were greeted at the I Wonder Station by a sign with a question: Can you be a scientist? I set out some props and materials and let them have at it for as long as they wished. I am embarrassed proud to say that all three of us had to be lured back inside close to bedtime with edible treats.

And while the boys were definitely busy having fun, they were also learning. They were engaged in meaningful symbolic play about being a scientist. This led to some great observation of chemical reactions and colors mixing. It led as well to mathematical discoveries as they measured and estimated potions and concoctions. They developed their fine motor skills using pipettes and tongs and gross motor skills loading up the trunk of our red tricycle to drive some laboratory materials up the sidewalk. They had opportunities to practice social skills and problem solving when it came to sharing space, ideas and resources. They built vocabulary with big words like "laboratory" and "scientist" and even "horticulturalist" (S wanted to be a "scientist who works in the garden).

Folks, I'm not gonna lie--this was messy! This was also fun. This was kind of a self cleaning experiment as well if you consider the baking soda and vinegar factor--but I definitely did a lot of dishes that night and none of them were the ones we ate from! It was worth it and you know what? We'll probably do it again... And if you would like to turn your outdoor space into a Scientist's Laboratory for a day or two or even more, here's what you'll need:









The Bare Basics:

• Tools for filling, squeezing, pouring, grasping... I had a collection of plastic beakers from the Dollar Tree and added in some squeeze bottles, plastic tongs, pipettes, funnels and other tools and toys from our sensory bin tool collection. You can use whatever you have--even if it's from the recycling bin! You don't have to have "real" science tools (but you can use those if you do).
• Water
• White vinegar
• Food coloring or liquid water color 
• Baking soda
• A plastic bin, pan or sensory table

Optional Add-ons:

• lab coats
• goggles
• clipboards and paper, pens, pencils for documentation

Before you begin you'll want to fill some of your containers with water and some with vinegar. Initially I planned to do all of my starter containers with vinegar but we didn't have a lot left (this is in no way indicative of how many science experiments I do here). I decided that having a "control group" was a great way to incorporate scientific method to our activity and filled some containers with water. I added a couple of drops of different colored food coloring to each of my containers. I did not label which ones had water and which had vinegar--this was the fun and surprising part! Pour a generous amount of baking soda in the bottom of your bin/pan or sensory table. Let your little scientists in training have at it! Pretty quickly, the boys discovered that some bottles when squeezed or poured into the baking soda made bubbles and some did not. We talked about why, but then I really did step back and refrained from hijacking their play. I let them mix, concoct, explode, stir, scoop, squeeze, transfer and even snip bits of flowers and leaves from our snipping garden and add them into their potions and concoctions as well. 

By the time we were all football carried inside by Tatty who had lollipops for the shorter scientists (who'd already finished dinner) and some homemade vegetarian chilli cheese fries for the slightly taller scientist who hadn't had dinner yet, we were all covered in splashes of color, baking soda and mud. In other words, a great time was had by all. 

HAPPY PLAYING!