My little guy is studying renewable energies in school so I put this little bit of a lesson together - partly so that he learns more about what inspires him and partly because I wanted to make a windmill :-) Enjoy! Wind Power is energy that is made directly from the wind. The wind turns a windmill:  which then turns something that needs to be turned - like a flour mill (grinding the flour): Or pumping water: But the windmills that are corporate windmills that we see today are called wind turbines. They are set up as "wind farms" that use the wind to "farm" or create energy.  Meet the wind turbines! These mighty machines stand over 300 feet tall with blades that are over 100 feet long! How big is that? Well the towers are are as tall as the statue of liberty and the blades as long as well - this fire truck ladder! The gist of how a turbine works is that is works the reverse of a fan; instead of the blades pushing the air like in a fan - the blades are pushed by wind

 This week we are starting a trip around Europe from the comfort of our own home! We will learn - eat and craft to create experiences that will help us learn about the amazing diversity of our world! First up is Portugal - that little bitty county on the tip of the Iberian Peninsula! The circle is showing the Iberian Peninsula and the arrow shows the country we are focused on: Portugal. Although Portugal is a country and Spain is a country - they share a lot of history because of their location - on a peninsula, separated from the rest of Europe by the imposing Pyrenees Mountains. Check this out for some cool views of the Pyrenees mountains:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCX1A2lkq-o The pre-history of Portugal begins with the Homo heidelbergensis: And it continues with the neanderthals:  And then the homo sapiens arrived! They carved petroglyphs  and built stone circles:  For thousands of years, they lived as tribes of people; some even developing a language.  Then the Romans arrive

 We love science here! Who doesn't love to mix up some vinegar and baking soda and make things "explode" or better yet - create our own non-newtonian (big word but it means that it breaks Newton's laws) fluid out of cornstarch and water! Another common experiment is the red cabbage pH indicator! This one is a lifesaver - the last time I had a migraine - I plopped down at the counter and dripped red cabbage juice into containers of liquids that the kids brought me - I was truly super-mom (for 20 minutes) while I sat and nursed my aching head and the kids oooh-ed and awww-ed over the different colors that their random liquids turned :-) They brought me orange juice, shampoo, cleaner, and grape juice that was squeezed from whole grapes! Everything changed colors and they were impressed each time - it was a win for the red cabbage! Today we are doing it again but this time a bit more controlled. The challenge is for the kids to each find something that has each of the pH

 Today it's cold (again!) so we are off to get some fresh air with the distraction of looking for colors! Warm drinks in one hand and the following color chart in the other - we are off the find these colors around our neighborhood!

Today's after-school activity on this sunny but windy and cold winter day is bubbles! The temperature is too high for bubbles to freeze (bummer?) but with the wind - bubbles are a fun reason to get outside and brave the cold! Since running out to the store to pick up bubble solution in these covid-times is not an option - we made our own! Bubbles occur in nature - in all sorts of ways! But these bubbles are fleeting and hard to reproduce. Find bubbles at the bottoms of waterfalls, coming from snails, on trees, lava flows, where else? Bubbles fascinated the ancient Sumerians who first invented soap by combining ash from plants, goat fat and water. It can be assumed that bubbles entertained people the world over, but they made a strong appearance in 17th century art. Claudine Stella. Les Bouteilles de Savon, 1657. Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon Frans von Mieris. A boy at the window with rainbow bubbles, 1663 Bubbles have also fascinated scientists for ages: Leonardo da Vinci (1452 –