Little Physics Lesson, Towers, and Lacing Beads, Sorting

So, today my little one discovered something new! He expanded his understanding of physics.
What happened, you say?

First, we were playing with some lacing beads. A little bit about them:
I went out and bought them when he was one and a half because Elizabeth G. Hainstock mentioned this as an activity that children this age can do. In fact, it was the one one she mentioned for this age in her book. At that age, he was able to get the aglet (don't you love Phineas and Ferb http://youtu.be/Evcsj1gx1CE) into the hole, but couldn't figure out how to pull it through. Because we moved, the lacing bead set got put away. Shortly before his second birthday, I found the set and quite amazingly he was just able to lace the beads!

Ok, done with that point onto the next!
These beads are great for sorting and discussing colors and shapes, building important descriptive vocabulary. Now, there were two sets at Toys R Us when I bought them. I chose this set because they were cheaper. You see, each block is painted in one color which contrasts natural wood instead of another color. In the end, I am glad that I chose this set because they lend themselves to beginning to sort better than the two color variety. They are also a bit easier to discuss. Plus, they were cheaper. I don't have ten extra dollars for extra colors right now.

Finally, on to the physics:
These lacing beads also make great blocks for making towers. Today, he was lacing them in bed and all of a sudden decided to stack them. He made a pretty impressive tower before it fell! Now, he already understood that you could push the tower down with your hand, but today he learned a new way to make the tower fall. He learned that you can make the tower fall by jumping on the bed. I couldn't help but laugh as we repeatedly built the tower and he jumped to make it fall. What's more, I think he discovered that the more narrow cylindrical beads make a less stable tower!

And being the complete teacher mom that I am, I tried to introduce the concept of earthquakes by telling him to say it as he jumped!

Oh, the excitement! My little genius!