Coin Cleaning

I mistakenly let Isaac skip his room time yesterday since we were again having school in the living room. I set him up a Thomas track and thought he would play nicely. He did, but he got tired of it and started interrupting us and pestering his hard working sisters. Hannah was using a jar of coins for her math that he seemed interested in, so I pulled out an idea I got from this blog (sorry that I couldn't find the exact post) and set him up to clean coins with a toothbrush. On the blog, it had said it was a huge hit with their kids. I figured he would like it since it involved soapy water.

(Side note: I have recently had to ban him from the kitchen sink without permission because he hops up on the stool that the girls use to wash their dishes off, and he takes it upon himself to wash my dishes and whatever is nearby on the counter. Superbowl Sunday, we had people over and were watching the game when someone discovered Isaac squeezing soapy dish water into the cheese dip and on the left over tortilla roll-ups. Funny to you, not to me!)

So, how did it go?

It did distract him and keep him out of our hair for the rest of the time. However, overall, I would call it a failure because he spent more time playing in the soapy water than cleaning the coins with the toothbrush. I guess Isaac missed the importance of it being a fine motor activity. Oh well! You win some, and you lose some.

I know I am behind in our alphabet path updates, but I will try to catch up this weekend. You'll have to excuse me, these days I am really tired!

***edited*** I tried later with vinegar and salt solution for the girls to really clean the pennies. I explained the chemical reaction that was happening (the whole acetic acid removing the copper oxide bit.) Hannah had a cut on her hand, so this didn't last long. Then Daddy got home right when Genna was getting started, so it was abandoned.