Coins, Lemons, and Jellyfish...Oh My!

Big Bro woke up and got into his first work of the day, involving polishing coins.
Had read somewhere that you can polish pennies using lemons and salt paste, so we decided to give that a try for all of the coins...seemed to work well. First, Big Bro had to carefully slice a lemon into two halves. Then, he had to pour salt into a glass bowl. then, he added water and had to make a paste...it was more like a slurry, but it was the best consistency we could get...
then, he had to have a bowl for rinsing the coins and towels for drying and polishing.
I explained the process to him, but did not really do a presentation, because I have actually never done this before either, so it was a kind of trial and error thing...but it was a good experience.
Big Bro seemed to enjoy it, although he got tired after doing several cups of change. Out of curiosity, if anyone else uses this method, about how many coins do you suggest laying out for children?
We just had a huge barrel of coins, so the supply was never ending...but I think maybe it was a little bit overwhelming for him. He enjoyed it, but next time he chooses this work, I think I will lay out a small basket with a pre-determined number of coins for him.
After the coin polishing, he then did a coin matching and a coin identification work. We then did some sample money math problems together, with me reviewing the coins as he was working.

Little Bro chose to do some block play work with open, stackable blocks. These are cool, as if turned onto their sides, they stack up just like the pink tower. If you hold them upright, a child can choose to link them in a variety of ways to make all kinds of neat designs. Little Bro made (as he called them) "a castle, a cat with a bowl of milk, and a colorful pink tower with holes in it"...

Little Bro then wanted to paint. He painted some pictures and then, wanted to make a jellyfish. So, i helped him to round up some scraps that could work for a jellyfish...plastic freezer wrap, some string scraps, some paint, and some clear Tacky Glue.

Will post some photos tomorrow when everything is dried.

Paint and clear Tacky Glue are getting lots of use in our home. I may have to order a bulk amount of clear Tacky Glue.

Little Bro enjoyed making his paintings.
He then listened while Big Bro read to me.

Then, we cleaned up and were off to meet a new friend for a play date of sorts.

We had lunch with our new friend and his mom and then, we came home and the boys played with their wooden train set.

The last day of summer for us...tomorrow starts our official first day of school!