Gross!
January 31st, 2010
Fuss decided he wanted Sea Monkeys. Unfortunately we have a toy store a block from the house in which one of my closest friends works, so we spend a bit of time there. I can get the kids out of the store without incident (read: purchase). Colin, however, cannot.
This is how we ended up with the bucket of sea monkeys.
Don’t see anything? More about that in a minute.
We followed the instructions and I put them in the window sill. A few days later my toy store friend was over for drinks with her husband. I tried to show here there was nothing in the bucket, but then I saw these little tiny things sort of squirming their way through the water. I don’t know why I found them so creepy, but when I saw them, I almost dropped their home. My friend was able to see them too. Her husband could not so he inexplicably shook the case. Water sloshed all over the floor. We had a good laugh at this, although my friend was appalled at her husband’s lack of thought - he’s a scientist after all!
The next day, I could see no sea monkeys. I’m not sure if they all ended up on the floor, or if it had something to do with me leaving the window open whilst they were on the sill. It was around -7 that day……
Fuss didn’t really mind that we were no longer going to have sea monkeys - he never saw them anyway and gave me permission to get rid of the tank. I promised him we would try the trilobites (is that what they are called?) in the spring when it’s warmer.
I wont be any less grossed out though!
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
Entry Filed under: This N That
5 Comments Add your own
1. April W [APHS] | January 31st, 2010 at 10:43 pm
sea monkeys are very small shrimp.. I can therefore imagine what a less than maggot sized worm looking wiggling thing must have looked like. Totally understand your gross out.
2. Hilary | January 31st, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Sea Monkeys! Both of my boys had them. Alex didn’t care all that much but Jeffrey was quite intrigued with them as you can well imagine. I was too, actually.
They’re not large enough to be visible until for a few days and they do grow quite a bit (about a cm or more) if you don’t let too much water evaporate. Really they’re just shrimp.
I can’t remember how or why, but one set that we had did evaporate entirely. We added distilled water to it months later and new ones left their dormancy behind. It’s quite an interesting learning experience once the process is understood, though they’re terribly boring beyond that point. Maybe try again when Fuss is a bit older?
3. Amanda | February 1st, 2010 at 8:41 am
I can imagine Jeffrey would think they were a great experience. When we try again, I’ll be sure to have him discuss them with Fuss. Fuss is really attached to his fish, so I’m not sure why he didn’t find them interesting. Well, actually it could have something to do with the fact that they didn’t really get going!!!
4. Amanda | February 1st, 2010 at 8:42 am
Maggots! That’s exactly what they looked like. Off to eat breakfast….
5. Risa | February 1st, 2010 at 11:06 am
OK. Good to know that’s one science toy I can skip.
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