With regards to Roy...

In the past few weeks, it's become painfully obvious that we need to pay more attention to turning our children's considerable powers more strongly toward good and further away from evil.

With this in mind, we've been striving to do more enrichment activities at home.  I'm slightly worried that this will simply enhance their secret-volcano-base-building powers, but I'm willing to take the risk.  At least for right now.

In yesterday's adventure, the Monster and I explored color...and fiber.  It was glorious.  We thought you'd like to play along.

First, assemble out cast of characters: food coloring in the primary colors, vinegar and water, pre-soaked Corriedale fiber ready in the roasting pan.

We discussed, at length, how the primary colors are the basis (basically) for all other colors.  We covered reflection and refraction and rainbows last week.  As that discussion was largely concerned with theory, you're going to have to be satisfied with a total lack of photographic evidence.  

In any case, make sure that all 4 year olds take detailed notes throughout the lesson.  The circles are for primary colors.  

Once a comprehensive internalization of primary colors has occurred (approximate time: 10.6 seconds) use food coloring in the waiting vinegar/water mixture to demonstrate secondary colors. 

These are in the correct arrangement.  You're going to have to take my word for it.  Minus Indigo.  We went straight from Blue to Violet.  Sorry Roy, food coloring can only do so much. 

Again, make sure all 4 year olds are taking accurate notes.

When all the colors have been mixed, pour them onto the waiting fiber, mushing the color in throughly so that it goes all the way through.  When YOU do it, make sure you put the blue and the purple in the right order.  It's also helpful if you don't pour the green all the way over the yellow, which has a tendency to obscure said yellow.  Fortunately, 4 year olds are not super worried about such minor details. 

Bake at 350 for an hour or two, or until the water runs clean.  The vinegar will help the food coloring permanently stain the fiber.  I use about 2 cups for this much fiber (5ish oz.) to help the color remain vibrant.  Less vinegar will give your colors more of a pastel appearance.  

Ta Da!!!

We were a little bummed about getting the order wrong, so we tried a slightly different version (using our handy dandy notes) with some easter egg dye tablets and the crock pot.  Presoak the fiber in a vinegar/water mixture in the crockpot for about 20 mins.  Place 2 blue tablets, 2 red tablets, and 2 yellow tablets at roughly equally spaced intervals around the edge of the fiber.  Like so:

Set the crockpot on medium or low.  If the water starts to boil it will felt your fiber.  We're going on a more basic mixing theory here.  Namely that, as the color spreads, it will mix on it's own to form secondary colors.  Clever, aren't we?  

Seems to be working!

Verrrrrry satisfying.