STEM challenges are perfect Back To School activities. What is STEM? STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math. Some consider projects covering any one of the 4 disciplines a STEM project. Some believe a STEM project has to incorporate all or at least two disciplines. The truth is, any project in one of the 4 disciplines is more than likely involved with another discipline, some are more obvious than others. In general, STEM projects are interdisciplinary activities that teach… Read more

We love doing science experiments. When it is warm, it is a good idea to move science outdoor into the backyard. Today we share ideas of cool backyard science experiments for kids. Some use materials you can find in your backyard, some you want to do outside to avoid the mess inside your house. All are easy and fun for kids. Enjoy. Cool Outdoor Science Experiments Kids Love Create Mentos Geysers, both you and your kids will be amazed. Rain… Read more

Are you looking for summer ideas? Summer is a great time to explore the nature. Will a nature science summer camp sound good? I put together a DIY nature science camp with 5 nature themes for 5 days. Each theme has multiple activities to accommodate different age groups. Depending on your time, you can also break them into one theme each week, since there are 5 to 10 activities for each theme. Nature Science Summer Camp at Home Nature Science… Read more

As 4th of July approaching, many families are planning BBQ parties at home in the backyard. What can kids do at a picnic party or a dinner party? I always like the ideas of simple activities that kids can learn while having fun. It is a plus if there is no prep work needed. Building with toothpick meets all these criteria and is one of my favorite. You can easily adapt it to different themes. For 4th of July you… Read more

Why coding camp for kids? In today’s world, almost everything we do is connected with computers. Shopping, cooking, banking, … Computer literacy is essential for modern life. It is important for everyone to have basic understanding of how computer works, even if you are not planning to be a computer engineer. One big part of understanding computers is to understand how we communicate with computers. Computer coding or programming is basically the language we use to communicate with computers. Since… Read more

We shared ideas for seed science experiments for kids last week. Today we will share weather science experiments for kids to do in the spring. As winter comes to the end, the weather is changing in so many different ways, warmer temperatures, longer days, more or fewer rains, melting snows, and strong winds, … there are many fun weather activity ideas to do with kids. Here are some on my list. Hands-on Weather Science Experiments for Kids All ideas here… Read more

Do you teach by themes? It is an effective way of teaching because it is an effective way to learning for kids. If you do, this is your dream place for science activity ideas — organized seasonal science activities for each month of the year. It is seasonal by holidays, seasons, whether, nature changes, such as plants, trees and animals. Altogether there are over 500 activity ideas, each theme includes activities for preschool to high school students.  Year-Long Science Activities… Read more

Have you tried Minute to Win It Games for Kids at school? It is a fun way to engage kids in learning in a group setting, such as a classroom party or family holiday party. These STEM Minute-to-Win-It Games are easy to set up and easy to play, each activity has STEM learning elements. You can adapt rules and difficulty levels for different age groups. Fun STEM Minute To Win It Games for Kids Scuba Diver: create a scuba diver… Read more

We tried several Egg Drop Project design ideas, each with a different material limitation, some limited materials with straws, and some limited to paper. Today’s Egg Drop Project design challenge is another idea we came up with while doing a different paper project. So this is our 2nd idea on paper only Egg Drop Project design. Compared to the last paper only Egg Drop Project design, this one should sustain a stronger impact and greater drop height. Why We Like… Read more

Can you teach shapes and geometry with computer coding games? Today I am excited to share a new coding toy that I used to just do that. Teaching kids Coding has become a popular topic nowadays. We all know today’s kids will grow up into a new world that computers and robots are essential parts of life. Even if they don’t want to be a programmer to write computer codes, it is important to understand how programs and coding work… Read more

I had always enjoyed visual perception and illusion games. After my research on the relationship between STEM career success and spatial reasoning skills, I realized visual perception is essential for spatial reasoning, which is a higher-order thinking skill, thus I started looking for exercises that can improve visual perception skills. Recently I saw one on social media that not only requires visual perception skill but also out-of-box thinking, as well as some geometry. Since it is very interesting and easy… Read more

Growing bean sprouts is an easy and fun activity to do with kids. Because it requires daily watering and observation, it teaches kids plant science as well as cultivating good characters, such as responsibilities, patience, and persistence. Additionally, it provides delicious and nutritious food on the dinner table. I highly recommend growing bean sprouts with kids as a family activity. Since you do it indoors at home, you can do it any time of the year. I have tried mung… Read more

Spatial reasoning skills, which are critical higher-order thinking skills, come to attention for their role in STEM career success in recent years. What are spatial reasoning skills? Why are they important for science and technology careers? Are spatial reasoning skills trainable? If yes, how can we improve our children’s spatial reasoning skills? Spatial Reasoning Skills Introduction Spatial reasoning is the ability to think about and manipulate objects in three dimensions. Spatial thinking allows you to understand the location and dimension… Read more

Computer coding involves many different knowledge and skills. Have you ever tried color mixing with coding with kids? On computers, a very common color coding system is the RGB color model. According to wikipedia, “the RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive primary colors, red, green… Read more