Part five of our living and learning adventures!
Art Camp. Recently we went to a fine art museum. Brigit was not fully embracing the experience, so we sat down and had a chat about art. She likes doing it but not necessarily looking at the works of others right now. In an effort to give her an opportunity to learn more about art and find other resources, I found a local museum that does art camps for a few hours a day for a week. They talk to kids about art and give them a chance to do it. I signed her on up. We will see what sparks her interest after delving into it for a week! One specific area she was interested in is pottery. During a visit to a Renaissance Festival she fell in love with the pottery and was impressed at the fact it was made by people with their hands. Unfortunately the camp does not delve into pottery. I don’t blame them. I see a pottery wheel in our future. Another thing for me to research and find resources!
IQ Concepts. Brigit was gifted a game of this name. I have never heard of it before, but the colorful beads immediately attracted Brigit. My mom sat with her for over an hour making different combinations of the attached beads and trying to figure out the challenges. I try to leave it out on the table in my strewing efforts, and Brigit picks it up occasionally and works a challenge. Really gets the brain working!
Chapter Reading. We finally finished The Hobbit! We had already watched the movies and Brigit kind of followed them, enjoying the voice of the Smaug before its demise. I asked if she wanted to continue with the saga by starting the Lord of the Rings, but she said no. She wanted a new series, because she said she likes the way one book leads to another, but was tired of the dwarves. I did some research and came up with some ideas (and legal, free ebook downloads). She picked **** next. I have never read it, unlike our previous book series, so we will both be in for a new adventure!
Sprinkler. Brigit loves swimming. She has learned from me and David, as well as structured classes from instructors. She is at the point where she has the concept down pretty well and can swim across the length of a pool, but got bored with the lessons. We have some pools readily available to us, but sometimes it is nice to just go in the back yard and get wet while the yard gets watered, so we broke out the sprinkler recently. I gotta say, I love this sprinkler! I know it was purchased because it waters all shapes of a yard, from semi-circles to squares to long skinny strips. It also gave us a chance to play around with geometry. based on the shape of the different settings and cut outs where water can get through, we would guess what the spray would look like. 
We also did a lot of trial and error to determine the best setting for playing in the sprinkler spray, for the benefit to the plants was cursory in this experiment. It was also convenient to take a break and slurp down messy popsicles afterwards. A good spray down with the hose took care of the colorful dribbles.