Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

How Does Your Brain Work? An activity inspired by Temple Grandin

I recently received a copy of the picture book  The Girl Who Thought In Pictures It's a kids book about one of my heroes- Dr. Temple Grandin.  She's a professor of animal science who also happens to be on the autistic spectrum.  She's funny, brave, persistent, and full of insights.  And I love how she reminds us to value those who see the world in a different way.

Inspired by her story, my son and I tried to explore how our brains work with this simple art activity.

How Does Your Brain Work?  

An Art Activity Inspired by Dr. Temple Grandin


How Does Your Brain Work- Easy Art Activity Inspired by The Girl Who Thought In Pictures:  Temple Grandin


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Monday, November 6, 2017

Twirly Whirly Paper Snowflake Mobile (And our favorite snow books)

Is it a good time to make snowflake crafts with the kids?  The answer to that question is always, "YES!"  Snowflake crafts in summer, snowflake crafts in spring, snowflake crafts all time of the year is my personal crafting mantra.

Well, now that we've removed all the Halloween decorations (sob, sob) my son and I are starting to decorate our home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  While I've yet to find a good kids' Turkey craft that I like, I can always count on snowflakes to tide us creatively over while I keep looking.

twirly whirly paper snowflake mobile- such a fun kids winter snow craft!

Today's twirly whirly paper snowflake mobile is just such an easy and fun craft.  We made ours ona whim one night together before bed.  Don't you just adore it?  You get to make snowflakes AND watch them "fall" from a cute cloud.

(Hmm, I bet you could easily incorporate some STEAM lessons with this art activity as well!)

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Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Easy Script Name Skeletons

Some days you just need an easy and fun activity to bond with the kiddos.  Our household always feels hectic at this time of the year. (Ok, who am I kidding?  It feels hectic year round... Oy!)  So I came up with this fun Halloween activity to create and connect with my eldest son.   Lately he's been learning to write script letters, so he loved making his own Script Name Skeleton with me.

Handwriting Skeletons



Easy Script Name Skeletons- Fun way to practice handwriting, do art, and learn science too! Super easy to set up and fun to see all the different results!



Monday, March 20, 2017

Easy Pom Pom Shooter (Made in less than 10 minutes!)

Lately my son has been obsessed with this DIY pom pom shooter.  Not that I blame him.  It's got a pretty sweet trigger.  Simply press down on the clothes pin.  The rubber band then releases, flinging pom poms into the air.

And you wanna know the best part about today's craft?  You can make one yourself in less than 10 minutes.  Cool right?  Wanna know how?  Keep reading to find out!

Easy Rubber Band Pom Pom Shooter Toy - Super Fun STEAM project to craft with kids.  You probably already own all the materials!

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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Create a Rock Maze

Is the weather getting warmer where you are? Yesterday we embraced the sun with this quick and easy STEM activity.  We grabbed some rocks and made our very own rock maze for cars!

create a rock maze with kids- super easy and fun STEAM activity

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Friday, February 17, 2017

Make a Simple Braille Slate and Stylus (inspired by Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille)

Today's blog post takes a different turn.  Instead of a cute kid craft, we're doing some STEAM crafting and making an old time Braille slate and stylus.

Make a simple braille slate and stylus- inspired by Six Dots:  A Story of Young Louis Braille)

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Tuesday, January 17, 2017

14+ STEAM Activities for Valentine's Day!

Looking for easy ways to incorporate more STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) into your everyday activities with kids?  Want some with a sweet Valentine's Day twist?

14+ Awesome STEAM activities for kids for Valentine's Day
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Sunday, September 11, 2016

40+ Projects that combine STEM with Art!

Seems like everyone's talking about the importance of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) these days. And hey, I get it.  We live in a highly technological world that's rapidly advancing in all sorts of new ways.   We want our kids to be be creative and adaptive problem solvers.

But maybe you're like me and you deeply love arts and crafts.  They're your jam.  And maybe you're unsure how to dive into all this STEAM goodness.  Hey, I get that too.  Hopefully today's post will help.  In this post I sharing over 40 ideas for arts and craft projects that also happen to incorporate STEM ideas.  Yup.  Here are some of my favorite artsy crafty posts...which also happen to have a little STEAM-y oomph to them!

40+ Projects that combine STEM with Art- Great resource for art teachers and crafty folks who want to encourage STEM learning too!
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Fall Leaf Scratch Art (and related books!)

Are the leaves changing colors where you are?  Every year I look forward to seeing the beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows.  Today I wanted to share this really easy fall craft that doubles as a STEAM activity.  It's a science and art activity that helps kids to represent how leaves change colors in the fall.

Fall Leaf Scratch Art



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Thursday, August 11, 2016

Outer Space Kids Jewelry

As a kid I adored watching Ms. Frizzle.   Her crazy hair, her awesome outfits, her magic bus, her love of science... gosh. What wasn't there to love?  Well, today I'm sharing this awesome STEM inspired craft.  We're tapping into our inner science nerds and making some space inspired jewelry with the kiddos!  (Ok, who am I kidding... this would be an awesome craft for any space-loving adults too!)

How to Make Outer Space Planet and Galaxy Jewelry

How to Make Clay Planet and Galaxy outer Space Jewelry with Kids

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So grab your Sculpey Clayfavorite Magic School Bus books, and visit DIY Candy today to learn how to make your very own spacey clay jewelry!

More Space Themed Crafts

Happy making, friends!

How to Make Clay Planet and Galaxy outer Space Jewelry with Kids

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Tape Resist Dinosaur Bone Art (And our favorite 10+ Dinosaur Books!)

I love it when an art and science combine to create a beautiful and easy kids STEM project. When I was growing up science, math, and art were always treated as fairly different topics.  And I get why they taught us that way... it's easier and we get to dig down deep into each one.  But I wish that my kid self also experienced how all three things topics were linked.  Don't artist use math and science when making art?  Isn't there beauty in math and science? Certainly!  And so my inner nerd and artist gets very excited when my son and I do a project that touches on what seem to be different areas.

Ok... but I digress.  Recently my son and I visited our local natural history museum's dinosaur exhibit and marveled at the size and design of t-rex bones.  (Gosh.  Those are some ferocious creatures!  So glad they don't live today.  Eeek.)  So, inspired by that visit and this awesome human skeleton tape resist painting idea, we made our own very beautiful and scientific tape resist dinosaur bone skeleton paintings! 

Tape Resist Dinosaur Bone Paintings 


tape resist dinosaur bone paintings for preschool STEM and ART project
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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Magical COLOR CHANGING Bracelets

Ok. I am seriously IN LOOOVE with today's jewelry craft.  It's easy, great for all ages, involves a science component, AND it is the ultimate summer craft.  Don't believe me?  Well, tada!  We're making magical COLOR CHANGING beaded bracelets.

Yup. You read right.  Whoa!

Amazing and Magical Color Changing Bracelets!

Color Changing Bracelets-  Bracelet looks one way inside... and changes color in the sunlight!  The ULTIMATE spring and summer craft for kiddos!

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Thursday, March 10, 2016

Cracked Rainbow Dinosaur Eggs for Easter

Looking for a creative Easter activity?  Have you ever tried making rainbow cracked eggs?  They're so neat and they remind me of cool dinosaur eggs!

Cracked Rainbow Dinosaur Eggs

cracked rainbow dinosaur eggs for easter


Swing on over to DIY Candy to get my super easy cracked rainbow egg tutorial today!

Happy making, friends!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Design a Paper Glider (Free printable included!)

Does your child love the idea of flying?  Is he or she infatuated with planes, space shuttles, helicopters, or gliders?   Well, today's post is for you!  We're designing and making gliders!  (And bonus- I've even included a printable for you to do the activity too!)   This is a great STEAM Activity that allows kids to be creative, get artsy, and explore the idea of flight too!

Let's Design a Paper Glider!

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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Candy Maze (Design your game... from candy!)

Ooh la la! Today I'm going to share a fun, tasty, and creative CANDY CRAFT!   Do you have a stash of candy lying around?  I'm not a big candy addict... but I've been known to chow down on a few chocolates and gummy candies this time of year.  Yurp.   But can you blame me?  Chocolates are delicious and gummy candies are uber fun.  (Who doesn't dig their bright, happy colors?)  Well, if you have a stash of gummy candies lying around, here's a fun (and tasty) kids STEAM activity!    

Let's Design a Candy Maze!

Easy Kids STEAM Activity- Design a tasty Candy maze with kids!  Super fun activity provides opportunities to be creative!
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Friday, January 8, 2016

Printable Weather Board Game

What's the weather looking like where you are?  It's been raining pretty hard over here, so we've been stuck at indoors quite a bit.  (But we don't mind at all because we desperately need the rain!  Boo, drought.)  Inspired by our rainy weather, today I'm sharing this fun and easy printable weather-themed board game with y'all.  Just print it out, color it in, and play it with your kiddos!

Weather Board Game for Preschoolers- Printable!  Print out, color, and play!


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Friday, November 6, 2015

Recycled Hibernating Bear Craft! (And our favorite Bear books!)

Does your child love learning about nature?  With the recent cooler weather we've been turning to more fall crafts and winter crafts.  Recently we talked about bears and hibernation.  (For some reason my preschooler was amused by the idea of an animal sleeping through the winter.  As a tired, pregnant mom... the idea of sleeping for a long time really appealed to me!)

Today I'm sharing this easy Recycled Hibernating Bear Craft!  It's a great way to teach kids about their natural world using some creative arts and crafts fun!

Recycled Hibernating Bear Craft


Preschool Science- Easy and fun hibernating bear craft!  Great way to teach kids about nature!
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Friday, October 2, 2015

6 Fun Fall Preschool Corn Activities

We love fall crafts!  Pumpkins, corn, Halloween, apples, lovely leaves, cooler weather- ahhh I love it all.   If you're looking for a simple way to incorporate some fall vibes into your preschoolers' life, check out this awesome collection of 6 fun fall corn activities!

There are science ideas, artsy ideas, mathy ideas, and even free printables too!

6 easy and fun preschool corn activities:  Artsy ones, STEM ones, and free printables too!  Great ideas for fall!



Have a great weekend, friends!

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Easy and Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads!

Do Halloween crafts rock your world?  Yes!?  Awesome.  They totally rock mine too.  Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year.  Costumes, magic, candy, gross things, spooky things—I love it all!
Tomorrow is the first day of October and I’m trying to squeeze in as many Halloween crafts as I can before the month is over.   Today I’m sharing a really neat Halloween activity that also doubles as a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activity too.  We’re making shrunken apple heads! 


Super Easy and Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads


Halloween STEAM Activity for kids- Make shrunken apple heads!

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(Ha! My husband was weirded out my this little guy, but I think he’s just adorable.  Look at that toothy grin!)

Friday, September 18, 2015

Easiest cardboard Rainmakers ever!

Recently my son and I have been talking a lot about the weather.  We're currently in the middle of a horrible drought in Southern California so we desperately need rain.  Since we always have a ton of cardboard rolls lying around (which we LUUURVE using for cardboard roll crafts), we recently made a rainmaker together.  Set-up was simple and it was a snap to put it together.

Here's how we did it!

Shake! Shake!  Make Your Own Rainmaker with Kids!


Make a rainmaker with kids- super easy craft for preschoolers!
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