Celebrate National Lollipop Day

I’m all for celebrating silly holidays any time of year, but I think it’s especially fun to note these days in the summer, even more so when they are food related.

For reasons I’m unsure of, July 20 is National Lollipop Day, so let’s celebrate with some sweet science and a few printables (not to mention some lollies to eat).

Want to make lollipops from scratch? Steam Powered Family has the recipe, just be aware you might need some special equipment like a lollipop mold and a good candy thermometer. Also be really careful with this one and little kids because hot sugar can burn.

Rock candy is sort of lollipop adjacent, though they take a few days to make while the crystals grow. Get the how to from Happiness is Homemade.

With or without a mold you can also make your own lollipops out of Jolly Ranchers or another hard sugary candy, which is a lot easier and faster to do with littles (and safer, too, because you can melt them in the oven). One Little Project has the lowdown on how to make these.

Whether you make them yourself or buy them, you can also do some experiments with lollipops. Make predictions and observe how lollipops dissolve with this experiment from Fantastic Fun and Learning, or paint with lollies with this idea from No Time for Flash Cards.

How about some lollipop themed crafts? I love this simple lollipop ornament project from Happy Hooligans. They’re so colorful and easy to make and would be great for your holiday tree, or use them in a pretend play sweet shop.

Or cut our a paper spiral and use it to decorate a paper lollipop, as in this one from 10 Minutes of Quality Time (the spiral printable is included). I also love the perler bead lollies from One Crazy Mom. You can make these a solid color or stripes, or use all those mixed up beads to make a totally random design.

Round out your day of lollipops with some printables. I found lollipop coloring pages at The Art Kit Blog and Twisty Noodle (that one’s a color by number) and dot coloring pages at Free Preschool Coloring Pages. You can also do a lollipop color matching activity with this cut and paste printable from Mama’s Reflections.

Next Plan Idea:

St. Patrick's Day STEM Project Ideas

Not all of us live where there is a lot of snow in the winter (or even where it is winter as I write this, but it can still be fun to learn about snow, what it is and why it falls, so let’s get into it!

First, let’s talk snowflake science with The Homeschool Scientist. They have a free prinatble snowflake science less that’s more than 60 pages long and good for multiple grade levels. The blog post linked here includes some fun snow facts, information about how snowflakes form and why they are both six-sided and (probably) all different.

Expressive Monkey has a great post about how snowflakes are formed and why they have six arms, and also shows some of the pictures taken by W. A. Bentley in the 1920s (more on him below).

You can also grab a free snow facts worksheet with space for kids to draw their own unique snowflakes from Education.com. Simple Living Creative Learning also has a paid snow study resource set that includes things like different types of snowflakes, the snow cycle, symmetry drawing with snowflakes, tips for snow safety, snow-related vocabulary and more.

Homeschool Superfreak has another great page for learning about snowflakes, which includes information about Snowflake Bentley, a great book to read (and person to learn about). It includes lesson plan ideas and links to activities.

Speaking of activities, if you happen to have snow around you can make snow ice cream or maple candy, paint on snow or with snow, or do some snow science experiments. If you get a ton of snow you could maybe even build an igloo or snow structure.

If you don’t get snow you can learn about how animals keep warm in the snow and cold temperatures with this experiment from I Can Teach My Child. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls can help you learn why big paws (or snowshoes) make it easier to walk in the snow. Or make a snowstorm in a jar like this one from MomBrite.

Next Plan Idea:

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