Parent and Children Interactions

There were two great articles floating around the internet this week about children.

First Lisa Bloom's article on the Huffington Post about how to talk to little girls - mainly by not talking about their image - made its way through Facebook statuses.  Then I was perusing CNN and came across LZ Granderson's article about raising his son to be a nerd.  I recommend reading both.  I like the second article a little better - mostly because it has my POV when it comes to parents taking interest in their kids' education.  Please be your child's cheerleader for their academic accomplishments!

On a personal note: being a nerd doesn't have to hurt your social life.  As my (somewhat jealous but more socially popular) sisters teased when I was growing up, "You're popular among the nerds."  Thanks sisters; I have the best friends!  It really is cool to use your brain!

Blue Shadows

True/False??

You can make a blue shadow.


Think about it...


Think about it some more...


Ready...


It's...


TRUE!!

I'm serious.  I saw it with my own two eyes!

Experiment with opaque and translucent objects outside.
Balls
Balloons - different colors
Saran Wrap of various colors/shapes
Stuffed animals
Bottles of water - various sizes, shapes, and colors of water.

Shadows are caused by objects blocking light.  However, if the object is transparent (see-through) or translucent (kind of see-through), some light is passed.  We're so used to seeing shadows cast by us that we sometimes forget that shadows aren't necessarily black or just of human form.  We were walking home from a dinner this weekend where J was given a blue balloon.  It was so neat to see blue with our own family of shadows!

Try to make different shaped shadows or depict a story in shadows.  Then trace it with some sidewalk chalk or take a picture.

Super fun ideas

We love the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  They are very much geared to the little ones, with simple, easy-to-do hands-on science and lots of room to run around.  I'll share some of J's favorite things.

Some various sizes of threaded steel rods and washers was the first eye-catcher of the day.  They had  tire with rods threaded rods sticking out of them.  Varying the amount of washers and the size of the washers and rods, J got to play with different sounds!

I don't think J realized how much fun I was having with the plastic cylinders of water.  Silly faces weren't the point of the frog blowing bubble exhibit, but I sure had a lot of fun with it.  J enjoyed seeing the pictures on the back of the camera.  The water acts as a magnifier in the cylindrical tube.

Ah!  J's split in half!  See if you could split your child.

When all else fails, FunNoodles always make for fun science.  We often use it as a telescope, "I see you!" and as a microphone, "Do do do!"

And, if you want to go Biology, find/build a nest and teach your kid about hatching eggs.  It's almost like a playpen.

Being a scientist is hard work...

Nerd Alert!!

I joined a Small Business Entrepreneurs group at Stanford and went to my first meeting (my intentions being making Nerdy Baby into a full-fledged non-profit that would bring science to very young children). One small detail: I'm a cube monkey, not a business woman. I am sloooowly learning what I need to do to get this business off the ground (in my 2 hours of spare time a week). However, I am SUPER excited about this new adventure.

My first meeting was on patents (blah), and trademark and copyrights (stuff I could use).  I came home from the meeting very motivated to make a decision I've been tossing around for a few weeks. I purchased a domain name to expand Nerdy Baby.  It is not NerdyBaby. I LOVE Nerdy Baby, but with what I want to do in the future (ie. "baby"), I think it's best to go with a new name, but keeping the "Nerdy".

With that said, I'll keep you anxiously awaiting. Currently the site re-directs you here (I know that much html thanks to this blog). When I'm ready to debut the new addition, you guys will be the first to see it!!

Now, to learn HTML - blah. It's on my to-do list (along with vacuuming, but hey, who's keeping tabs?).

P.S.  If you are a business/lawyer person, I'd be happy to take any advice you're willing to give me.

Noise - sound and frequency

J loved banging on things from a young age.

This picture was actually taken the first time he decided to sit up on his own - when we put a pot in front of him and gave him a wooden spoon. He was a very content baby. The next few weeks - well, ok, the next year and a half - were spent trying out different sound wave formations by banging on anything we'd let him.

Things to try:
* Different objects doing the banging: sticks of various sizes, lengths and diameters, wooden spoons vs. metal spoons, water bottles full of water vs. rice.
* Banging on different objects: floor, walls, pots and pans of various sizes, some unbreakable toys that could get beaten up a little bit, play or real drums.
* Beat fast!!  Beat slow.  Can you repeat a rhythm?  Put on music and tap out some beats.

Remember to set boundaries.  Don't let your kid bang on or with anything valuable or breakable.

I'm going to recommend this experiment for the babies, just for sanity purposes.  Toddlers + banging = bigger headache!

You know when...

...you are a nerd when you state colors using the RGB or CMYK color codes. (thanks, Katerina for showing me this one at work!)

...you have a nerdy baby when he can name all of the tools in the toolbox.


and to apologize for the length between posts - I switched jobs and took on some extra duties and everyone in the family got sick twice within the last two weeks, so I'm a little rundown. I appreciate your support and look forward to many-a-nerdy posts in the near future! In the meantime, I'm taking special requests on nerdy topics to try with J.