Splitting White Light into a Spectrum

It's been awhile since we talked about rainbows, but this simple little activity was a great refresher. Using simple household items, my sons and I split white light into a truly impressive spectrum of colors.

What You Need

1 used music or computer CD

Aluminum foil

Working flashlight

Rubber band

Pushpin

Dark room

Prep

Tear a small piece of foil and cover the flashlight with it. Secure it in place with the rubberband. Using the pushpin, puncture the center of the foil so it has a tiny hole.

Split the Light

Now turn the flashlight on, grab the CD and head into a dark room (we were in the laundry room). Shine the flashlight at the back of the CD, adjusting the angle until you see a straight column of rainbow light.

This stripe of vivid color is the flashlight's spectrum.

How it Works

The tiny groves in the CD when it's laser recorded act as a diffraction grating that split the light.

My boys were so impressed to see their own tiny rainbow! This great activity came from the book Beyond the Solar System.

After School Linky (11-17)

Welcome to the party!

Seeing so many fellow bloggers so eager to raise life-long learners is so inspiring.

Some of my favorite activities from last week's linky follow.

Why Do Leaves Change Colors: FREE Printable Science Experiment at Waddlee-ah-chaa

Fun Math Games with Number Turkeys at JDaniel4's Mom

 Games for the Eyes at Mosswood Connections

 Number Line Activity with Place Values at Hands On As We Grow

 STEM Books for Children from The Educators' Spin On It

Woodland Animals Learning Pack at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

The Measured Mom

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks!

Greek Mythology Matching Card Game

My 9-year-old son finds Greek mythology fascinating. I'm not going to lie. I do too.

I've been wanting to create a Greek gods & goddesses card game for at least a year, and I finally worked up the nerve to create my own graphics (so please don't be critical).

Download a free 2-page PDF of the 16 different gods and goddesses game cards here. I printed four of each page, but gauge your child's attention span. A shorter game can be played with two copies of each page.

Once printed on cardstock and cut apart, I shuffled well and we were ready to play.

We played "go fish" with the cards, dealing five cards to each player and putting the remaining cards face down in a big messy pile between us. The goal is to make matches (if you made four copies of each page, a match will consist of four cards). 

"Do you have any Apollo God of Music cards?" If the opponent has one or two or three Apollos, they hand them all over. Then the inquiring player can ask their opponent for another god/goddess card. If their opponent has none, they must draw a card from the pile in the middle. Any matches are set aside.

The player to run out of cards first wins!

Read Want a few great chapter books to read with this activity? 

These are a few of my son's favorites. Ken Jennings' Junior Genius Guide is a non-fiction chapter book with fun facts and illustrations that reminded me of the Origami Yoda illustrations. 

Joan Holub's Heroes in Training series is a wonderful historic fiction account of Greek mythology from the perspective of 10-year-old Olympians; it's wildly creative! My son has read all the books released in the series so far.

Free Printable Phases of the Moon Game

When our boys and I were marveling at how big and bright the moon was last week, I got the idea to develop this little game.

It's an adaptation of the game Yahtzee, which our 9-year-old loves to play with his grandma. Download the free PDF from Google Drive here. For two players, you'll want to print 8 copies of the game cards (Print more for additional players). Cut and shuffle.

How to Play

Cut the scorecards apart; you'll need one for each player. The youngest player goes first. He/she draws six cards, turns them over and looks to see what they've got. They'll determine which among the hands listed on the scorecard will give them the most points; for example, if they have

first quarter (3)

first quarter (3)

first quarter (3)

last quarter (7)

new moon (1)

last quarter (7)

they can use the hand as their three of a kind, first quarter (add all the threes), or last quarter (add the two sevens). It's up to them to determine where they write the score.

Play alternates between players. If all the types of hands have been scored and a player has yet to get a hand for sequence of five, they can mark this hand as zero. When the game #1 column is filled with numbers, players will add the total and determine who wins - the player with the highest score.

Have more fun, play a second game!

Variation: My youngest son (age 5) wanted to get in on the action. For him I just provided two sets of the cards, shuffled and arranged them face down so he could play memory.

Read

When we were done playing, my oldest son read The Night Sky to my youngest. This beginning reader provided just the right amount of detail for my youngest and had some more complex facts and ideas on two pages at the back for my oldest. 

After School Linky (11-10)

Welcome to the After School Linky Party!

I love that so many bloggers are interested in advancing their child's learning at home. Here are some of my favorite ideas from last week's link up.

Fun Engineering Projects for Kids at Science Sparks.

Homeschooling: Free FBI Lapbook at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Marbled Christmas Tree Craft for Kids at Buggy and Buddy.

Free Skip Counting Dice Printable at 3 Dinosaurs.

Art Around the World in 30 Days at Art Curator for Kids.

There's No Place Like Space Storybook Activity at ABC Creative Learning.

What is Visual Processing? at Mosswood Connections

The After School Linky is cohosted by

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Mama Smiles

Planet Smarty Pants

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Educators' Spin on It

The Measured Mom

This Reading Mama

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, home school, or on the weekend!

When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up, you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board and feature an image on our After School Party in the upcoming weeks!