
I just heard about a linky sponsored by Apologia Science, so I'm gonna link this up to Homeschool Science Show and Tell!
We started studying Octopuses, I learned the PROPER plural for that from our science book this past week. Okay, there’s actually a debate about that, but still.




First I gave the kids some various papers, they chose blue and yellow, and let them have at it to make octopuses. While they made those I took turns reading with the different kiddos. Afterwards I was very amused to discover the similarities in their projects.

Next, we looked at my
We talked about how an octopus sucks in water, and then pushes it out, and that’s what pushes them through the ocean.

Then I got out a turkey baster and we squeezed the bulb to feel the air coming out. That let us feel what the water being pushed out did.
Now, you could follow this up with letting them play with it in the bath tub, or in the summer in the pool, but that would not have pictures of it for obvious reasons.

Finally we took some eye droppers I had and tried squeezing them under water.
This part didn’t work so well because apparently someone had knocked the bulbs off, so we weren’t getting good suction with them.
But, with the various hands on and “illustrations” we did, they did get the idea of how an octopus and other cephalopods move, so that’s all good.
What kitchen things have you found to be good for using in science activities?

Chestnut Grove Academy has some great ideas for studying whales with little guys.
Juggling with Kids shared about Diving Ketchup, and I was thinking this is an excellent example of octopus propulsion also.
We're about to start on starfish, anyone have some good hands on ideas for them? I'd love to hear suggestions. All I can think of right now is to look at the ones my MIL gave us under a magnifying glass and make a craft using sandpaper.