We had a grand adventure today! :) While we were playing outside this morning, one of the kids came running up and said, "Hey! We have thick, oozy mud! Just like Bear Hunt! We need to go on a bear hunt!" In case you're not familiar with the reference, Michael Rosen's We're Going On a Bear Hunt is one of our group's absolute favorite stories. I'm talking, even the 2 year olds can recite it almost word for word because they ask for it so much. :) So, off we went on a bear hunt! We found some long, wavy grass.....

​Used our imaginations a bit and called this puddle our deep, cold river...

Circled back to that gloriously thick, oozy mud...

and then we were a bit stumped for a while on how we could find a swirling, whirling snowstorm on a sunny fall day. But eventually the kids came up with not one, but two great ideas for a pretend "snowstorm." We grabbed up a handful of leaves and threw them into the air for our first snowfall, and then we headed to our favorite misting hose for our second snowfall....even catching some "snowflakes" on our tongues!

After that, we finished up with a tiptoe through our big tire "cave" and then came our very favorite part.....screaming and running from the BEAR!!! :) We have recited this story many, many times before, even getting up and doing actions most times, but this is the first time we have ever gone quite this deep into the story....it was SO much fun! Everyone knows about the endless benefits of storytelling and literature for children and their development - language and verbal proficiency, creativity, imagination, & sharpening memory skills to name a few  - but beyond all that, there's just something almost magical about getting all wrapped up in a great story, isn't there?

      Well, we tried to freeze bubbles once again today, and although still not what I was aiming for, we did at least have some success this time! There is more learning in scientific failures than immediate successes, right?! ;) We learned that smaller bubbles work better than bigger ones, and that we had to keep them protected from even the slightest breath of air. Mostly, as soon as we would start to see the tiniest bit of crystallization/freezing, the bubble would pop. Seeing them pop in these temperatures was pretty cool, too though - instead of just disappearing, they would send out a little poof of frosty, flaky bubble shards. But, see how these two bubbles are cracked, dented, and broken, but still there? They're frozen...we did it!