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Only two weeks remain of our Yoga for Kids program at Southeast, don't miss out!

Sarah Miller, from our Northeast division of the Florida Public Archaeology Network joined us for Wacky Wednesday this past week. We got to learn all about artifacts and fossils that are found right here, in our region of Florida!

We were taught how to detect what time period an artifact was made based on it's texture and the material it is made of.

We listened to a clip of Timucuan natives, and then got a chance to touch and investigate some artifacts. Some of the artifacts were up to 3,000 years old!!!

We also got to play with Cherokee pottery making paddles, as well as design our own! We made our own coil pots, and experienced how natives gave their own pottery texture using corncobs, shells, leaves, and other bits of nature.

Please join us next week for our very last Wacky Wednesday of the summer: a Mad Science inspired Magic Show featuring Mark Alan!

Wednesday, July 30th at 2pm!

Last week, Abby and her volunteers from the St. Johns County 4-H group came to share some information about how to grow plants and maintain them!

We made and decorated self-watering planters out of 2 liter soda bottles (she recommended green bottles).  These planters are so cool because you can put your water in the bottom and leave them until the water has dried up!  Check out our photos below!

What you need to make your own planter:

One 2 liter bottle (of the green variety)

An 8" by 8" square of fabric (cutting an old T-shirt works great!)

Potting soil

Your plant/herb of choice

Decorations for your planter

Last Thursday's installment of Art Lab, we painted our own faces to imitate the Maori people from New Zealand.  We learned that the Maori people actually tattooed their faces with different patterns! These tattoos symbolized status and identity among the people.

The face paint we used was home-made, non-permanent, and very easy to replicate.  All it consisted of was a big dollop of lotion (the kind that you can put on your face, unscented and without color), washable water color concentrate, and a spoonful of cornstarch.  Mix it all together, use q-tips for application, and that's it!  Easy, right?

We had a wonderful time using mirrors to paint our own faces, painting each other's faces, and even painting on mom!  Miss Alex participated in the fun and did some face painting, too!

At storytime this week we traveled back in time - to the days of the dinosaur! We got to see exactly how big a triceratops foot was! We fit almost 26 of our own shoes in just one foot print! That's a BIG foot!

We read:

Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Dinosaur Countdown by Nicholas Oldland

Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein

Edwina: The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems

Then, we used pasta and coffee grounds to make an excavation site!

We all got to take home our own "fossils"!

Growing was the theme of this week's storytime!  We read these books:

E-I-E-I-O: How Old MacDonald Got His Farm by Judy Sierra An Island Grows by Lola M. Schaefer My Garden by Kevin Henkes Big Yellow Sunflower by Frances Barry

 Then, we made an awesome edible sunflower craft. YUM!

If you want to recreate our craft here is what you'll need:

Ricecakes (the larger ones) Peanut butter/Nutella/Icing (something you can spread on your ricecake so the sunflower seeds stick) Bananas (sliced to make flat circles) Sunflower seeds (de-shelled) Plate

Put your spread on your ricecake and place it in the center of your plate, sticky side up! Then, place your sliced bananas all around the outside of the ricecake (those are your sunflower petals). Next, sprinkle your sunflower seeds all over the ricecake. Now you're ready to enjoy your delicious treat!

Every month we hold a Teen Coffeehouse, where our Southeast Branch Teens can interact with each other, learn something new, have fun, and (of course) enjoy some warm beverages!

This month our teens were fascinated by our french press coffee!

Chinese ink wash painting was the topic of last week's art lab!