How to Make an Apple Swan

I love that my son shows natural skills in science, math, and engineering activities yet he is also quite creative and artistic.  This morning he created this beautiful fruit art masterpiece - an apple swan!

Edible Apple Swan

I think he did great for his first attempt at a fruit sculpture!

How to make an apple swan

He found the directions on how to make an apple swan on You Tube.  Check out the video below and give it a try yourself!

Having Fun with Math at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science {+ Giveaway!}


I'm excited to be able to offer this 15% off discount for new memberships to the Perot Museum.  Read about our recent visit to the museum and enter the giveaway to win four free passes to the Perot Museum!  I have two sets of these so there will be two winners who each win four passes!
 
We love the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  The exhibits are amazing and the kids love how each one is interactive.  We can easily spend all day there and not see everything.  Today we spent most of our time in the 2theXtreme: MathAlive! exhibit.
 
Nicholas designed a skateboard.  His goal was to optimize it to perform the best tricks.  He adjusted the board shape, the length of the board, the size of the wheels, and the tail length.  Then he got to run a test to see how it would perform.  Who knew skateboarding involved so much math?!
 

Rachel loved the climbing wall.  She could have measured her height and arm span but today she just wanted to climb.


I think the kids' favorite part of the exhibit was the Boardercross snowboarding experience.  They stood on snowboards that pivot to help them maneuver around curves on the track.  But they also had to keep in mind that as they changed the angle of the board they would lose speed and might not win the race.  All three of us had a blast on this.  We played it over, and over, and over again!


Nicholas learned about math and architecture as he worked to choose the elements he would need to build a stable skyscraper.


Oh I loved the Shadow Play exhibit.  The wall looked like it was just covered in numbers randomly scattered around...until you turned on the light that shone from the side.  How cool!


Ok, another bit hit was the 360 degree photo shoot experience.  The kids made a single pose and then see their picture as taken by 20 cameras at the same time that were stationed all around the photo booth.  It made for a really neat 360 slide show!


We learned about nature and numbers by playing with the Fibonacci Series.  This always makes math come to life for me!


Nicholas enjoyed the Mix It Up station where he learned how music notes use fractions of a beat in half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes.  He got to press buttons to hear the differences in the beats.  Yep, music and fractions!  So cool!


We loved seeing the On Target exhibit that even talked about Robonaut who we just learned about on our recent trip to NASA.  She got to work on an interactive task of moving a robotic arm to capture a target floating in space.


We had so much fun and this is all just from one amazing exhibit, 2theExtreme: MathAlive!  Make

What else can you see and do at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science?
  • Play with the 88 dancing water molecules (and snowflakes)
  • Visit the Hoglund Foundation Theater, a National Geographic Experience and watch Robots 3D, Pandas: The Journey Home 3D, or Galapagos 3D: Nature's Wonderland
  • Ride the 54 foot glass-encased escalator with a stunning view of the Dallas skyline
  • Experience the full body flight simulator
  • Glide through space on a "Journey through the Solar System"
  • See the transition of Dallas from underwater to Ice Age to present day
  • See the world's first installation of an 85-foot Alamosaurus plus the new species Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum
  • Experience an earthquake and touch a tornado
  • Use brain waves to launch ping pong balls, conduct real-time DNA experiments or use a thermal camera to identify hot and cool points on your body in the Being Human Hall
  • Create a tune on the musical staircase
  • Race a T. rex, cheetah, or famous athlete
Want to win four tickets to check out the Perot Museum of Nature and Science for free?  I have two sets of four tickets so there will be two winners chosen.  Tickets must be used by 1/4/15.  Enter the Rafflecopter below:


a Rafflecopter giveaway




The Perot Museum is located at 2201 N. Field Street in Dallas.  The museum is open 10:00 - 5:00 Monday - Saturday and 12:00 - 5:00 on Sundays.  For more information, please call the Perot Museum at 214-428-5555 or visit their website and Facebook page.