Floating "flowers"

What we used:

Construction paper
Scissors
bowl of water

What we did:
Cut out flowers with four petals. Ours were about 6 inches across. Fold the petals up so it looks like a flower bud. Place in a bowl of water and watch as the flower "blooms".

Ok the boys thought this was really cool. They were amazed at how they bloomed. Nate was easily able to cut out the flowers after I traced them.

Tornado in a bottle

Here's what we used:

2 - 2 liter bottles
duct tape and gorilla tape
scissors
glitter (optional)
dye (optional)
water

What we did:
Fill one bottle about 3/4 full with water. If desired, add glitter and dye now. I used yellow dye and yellow glitter, I suggest using two different colors so there's more of a contrast. Turn empty bottle upside down and tape the two openings together very securely. We first used duct tape and then went over it with gorilla tape. Once secure, turn the bottles over and rotate around a few times. The tornado should form at this point. If not, practice with the rotating and you should get it.

The finished product:

I may try this again with some smaller water bottles. Not sure it will work, will let you know. But these bottles are really heavy and for a 4 year old to flip over and rotate. We'll see if the smaller ones work. I had to show the boys a video of a tornado on youtube first since they didn't know what a tornado was. Then Nate says "Wow, can we see one in person sometime??" Ugh, I hope not!

Snow globes

What we used:

baby food jar
glitter
plastic figures
glue gun (not pictured)
water (not pictured)
ribbon (optional, not pictured)

What we did:
Glue the figures onto the inside lid of the baby food jar (or any other jar). After it dries, fill the jar with water (leave about 1/4-1/2 inch of air). Pour about 1/8 ts of glitter(or more depending on the size of your jar) in the water. Put the lid on the jar and close very tightly. You can use ribbon to decorate the bottom if you wish. Or you could paint it also. Enjoy!

The finished product! The picture does not give them justice. They looked really pretty.

Nate even used the glue gun on this one. We just used random plastic figures we found around the house. But you could buy something and plan better than we did =) Nothing too wide, depending on the size of the jar. We used distilled water. Not sure you have to, I was just worried if we didn't that things would end up growing inside it. You can also use a few drops of dye and color the water, that would be pretty. This was really neat and we will definitely do it again!