Want a fun, inexpensive and interesting thing to do with your kids? For under ten bucks, you can buy a prehistoric triop kit , found at most stores in the fish and pet section. We bought our kit for under six bucks! You don't even have to have children to enjoy this fascinating water creature. Follow the instructions and within 24 hours you will see tiny specks swimming around. They grow fast, at a rate I've never personally seen before, doubling and even tripling in size by day four. And they swim at high speeds, do lots of loop-de-loops, and are great fun to watch. Your nose will be pressed against the glass container, inspecting all the body parts. As these guys grow, I will post more pictures.

KC has been feeding them every day, and he understands that they only live roughly three months (he had a butterfly garden last year, so he already knows the process of life and how most small creatures only live a short life span.)

Be sure to set a lamp next to the water container (glass is best) so the temperature is at an optimum for growth. Because we started this project in the winter time, we keep the light on throughout the day and night, and have a small strip of aluminum foil along the buttom of the jar, creating a shadowed area for shade or rest. We got that tip from the instruction sheet, which is full of facts, tips and pictures.

For under ten dollars, this is an affordable project to do any time of year and adds to your child's love of learning through experiencing and doing something they find amazing. It also assists in the learning of responsibility, like feeding times and keeping track of days for water additions.

This summer we are going to embark upon a bigger, more expensive project in our back yard, or possibly the front yard. We are building a pond for some frogs that live around our house. Researching this project online, we know it will take a lot of work, but the result will be educational and lots of fun. If you have any tips with pond building, feel free to email them to BagOfEyebrows@gmail.com or just use the comment button below. We plan to start that project in June or July.