Pendulum Painting & Learning About Galileo
We are enjoying learning about Italy, along with the Artists and Scientists that lived there. We have been stretching out the 2 weeks of Italy into this whole month of September, and I see us doing this for each country to come, from the Build Your Masterpiece Class. It has been a really nice change for us in our homeschool... Let me show you how we managed this one in our homeschool! 
Normally, at this time of year we are learning about apples, and autumn and what not, which I totally love, and we may do some of that in a bit, but we have followed those types of learning plans for a few years now, and I am really excited to be doing something totally different with the kids this year, all with the Build Your Masterpiece Class.We started with the video lesson about Galileo, and the kids were interested and enjoyed learning about all the things that he discovered, and invented.
I know the look on Claire's face seems a little less impressed, this lesson did include a lot of info, but they watched the whole thing, and we talked all about it during and afterward.
They really couldn't wait to get started on the art project that they knew was coming after the Scientist Spotlight, and while we were watching the video tutorial for the pendulum painting, which they loved, they were like, really mom? we are doing this? You have everything we need? They were a bit in shock, and I reassured them that, yes, in fact, this is happening!
We gathered our supplies and set the stage.
You can find the art tutorial for this project here, and it is included in the Build Your Masterpiece Class which is a 10 week Art + Literature-based curriculum plan, and in the second week of Italy, this Art Project and Scientist Spotlight is planned. I encourage you to check this curriculum out for you and your family this year. We have moms from all over the world checking this plan out, and trying it with their kids, even moms who do not homeschool, are loving this learning plan with their kids, on weekends, and holidays throughout the year, plus teachers in the classroom as well!
“I love the idea of incorporating multisensory aspects to learning. Books, activities, crafts, cooking… This is an amazing way to tie learning all together in a fun, educational way! I look forward to getting started this Fall! Thanks!” ~ Tiana Dms, Texus, USA
Once we gathered our paint, string, washers, paper clips, paper cups (get the wax-lined ones, or styrofoam cups) I set the stage and placed down an old shower curtain on the floor, placed four chairs and two broomsticks up and tied the metal washers to string. We then sculpted our paper clips into W's and poked holes in the cups, on the sides, and on the bottom.
We used Crayola Washable Neon Paint and mixed it with a bit of water, to help the paint be more fluid.
The kids really loved filling up their cups with water and paint and measuring out equal amounts. They also did not do equal amounts and created their own paint mixtures as an experiment of sorts. This part was fun, and they could not wait to get started.
We filled up the cup, holding the hole closed with our finger. I will not lie, this was not as simple as the video seemed to make it. We had some trouble with the holes we had poked, and the paint would not come out. I would recommend really making sure the hole is nice and poked through, as our cups had enough paper flaps to close up, and the paint would be stopped. Next time we will try styrofoam cups and see if they deliver a different result.
Connor's paint dropped out as it was spinning, and it looked really cool! 
Claire tried many cups full of different colors of paint, with various levels of water and paint. In the end, hers was so beautiful, I was really impressed with how well they turned out and happy that we did this one!The kids really loved playing with the paper clips, and have continued to play and sculpt with them, more then I thought they would, but of course, they always surprise me what they think is cool, out of what I have planned. They were happy with the paper clips... note was taken... get more paper clips! 
I wanted to give it a try too because it looked so fun! I enjoyed it and really liked how mine turned out.After the excitement cooled down, and the kids were happy with their creations, they started to their free time, but Claire wanted to play her Sims4 game, and she wanted to create Galileo! Here is is, with all the detail she could find.
I thought it was really creative, and she used the cover of this book; Who was Galileo? to create his character. I really love how creative this game is. This book was our alternate choice for the additional book that was recommended for this day, from the library! We also read some of it the day before, while we were making our Italian Hug Cookies... more on that coming soon!
We ended the day with her favorite Strega Nona book, at bedtime. This book is funny and is a good reading level that is enjoyable for my daughter to read without trouble.
Learning with the curriculum of the Build Your Masterpiece Class has been really rewarding so far, and I cannot wait to show my kids France, which is to coming soon!Til next time,Breathe deeply and enjoy building your masterpiece with scissors and glue, and pendulums too,~Alexandra