Mystery Capsules

I don't know about you but I'm doing everything I can think of to keep my kiddos engaged. I don't want the spring-fever-school-is-almost-out bug to get them. We only have 23 more days, but who's counting, not me! It's business as usual in my room at least for a few more weeks.
We did a fun little writing activity yesterday that I thought I'd share. I found these capsules at Wal-Mart in the toy department last summer for my grandkids and they thought they were pretty fun. Well, the teacher in me had to think of a way to use them in school.

They are gelatin capsules with a sponge shaped creature inside. When you soak them in warm water, the capsule dissolves and the sponge creature appears. I bought several packages for my class. There are dinosaurs, ocean animals, insects, and forest animals.

I wrote a little note and left the capsules laying in a pile for the kids to find after lunch. 

Here's a copy of the note:

The mystery began and they were excited, engaged, and enthused to see if they could break the spell.
Each firstie chose a capsule and placed it in the warm water and watched to see what pet emerged.

Then they started to write.

Even my kids who don't like to write very much were very engaged and writing. It was a fun activity and everyone got a new pet to take home!

If you'd like to download the letter and writing paper, you can click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Friday tomorrow!