Funnest . FHE . Ever .

My son has a science project due on Friday. Yes, this coming Friday. Halloween. And it is not just a cute little science project. He is supposed to build a roller coaster. When he came home with the assignment, my jaw dropped. Partly because he had a different science-fair-type-project due LAST week, and partly because I have started to realize that whenever HE has a huge homework assignment, my life has to temporarily revolve around that project -- helping him gather materials, making sure he doesn't completely procrastinate until the last day, protecting the half-finished project from tiny fingers, getting half-finished projects out of my kitchen, and so forth.

Thus, the inspiration for tonight's fun came when I was complaining to my mom about the assignment, and she suggested that a very good "material" for the coaster would be the tubular foam used for insulating copper pipes. Brilliant. It is still hard for me in my pride to admit that sometimes mom really is a good resource. Even better than Google.

And it came to pass that we went to Home Depot to begin our Family Home Evening, singing, singing all the way. (I need to emphasize here that my husband is in Montana for the week, so *I*, by myself, took all five kids to Home Depot. And we made it out alive. With only one trip to the restrooms. And we didn't break anything. In fact we spent less than $10 there.)

Incidentally, we found the foam stuff. It's only $1.18 for 6 feet! We bought 6 tubes and cut them in half lengthwise. Then we taped it together and started "experimenting" with different configurations -- all over the house. Up, down, looping, going all around. Combine that with about a hundred marbles, and all of my kids (well, except the baby) were entertained for more than 2 hours straight. And they learned stuff about physics. (I know, because I made them tell me what they learned. Just so I wouldn't lose the well-deserved title of "boring.")

Anyway, it's educational. It's cheap. It's fun. You will love it! OK, so maybe it's not the absolute funnest thing ever, and maybe the only reason I think it's fun is that I'm secretly a nerd at heart, but my kids seriously did not want to stop, and they want to do it again tomorrow.(Good thing, because my son still has to make one small enough and sturdy enough that he can take it to school on Friday. And then he has to write a report about it.)


Disclaimer: Technically, while I have a 2-year-old, and while he loved this activity as much as the others, marbles are not intended for children under 3 years old. Neither are matchbox cars, legos, or train sets. Or sharpies. So, um, yes, I'm a bad mom. And if you're a good mom, you won't actually let your kids do this unless they're over 3. Or at least you won't blog about it until they're over 3.