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Coding Critters: Healthy and Happy Critters Lesson Plan
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 25, 2019 | STEM
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Tagged with 'Activity'
Colorful Ice Cream Sensory Bin!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jul 17, 2018 | Sensory Badge
Summer of Science Celery Experiment!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jul 10, 2018 | Science
This Summery Science Veggie Experiment is a great way to demonstrate the way plants pull water from beneath the ground up into their stems and leaves. This experiment is perfect for preschoolers and school-aged children and a great way to stay cool on a sunny summer afternoon. So, let’s do it!
Staying hydrated is critical to maintaining good health. You probably encourage your kids to drink plenty of water, particularly now when we’re all sweating out so much of our moisture to stay cool under the hot summer sun.
But we’re not the only ones who need to stay hydrated!
Our pets, and even our plants, need water to survive. Yup, plants! Plants use water to transport nutrients out of the dirt and into their tissue and also to help keep their cells plump and sturdy – that’s why plants get limp and saggy when they’re in need of watering.Water is also a key ingredient in photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn sunlight into food. But unlike people and animals, plants don’t have mouths to drink with. So how DO plants acquire and circulate water?
Gather Your Materials:
- Fresh celery stalk with plenty of leaves
- Food coloring (blue or red works best)
- Water
- Knife
Fill a glass half full of water.
Add a tablespoon of food coloring and stir.
Trim the bottom of your celery stalk to expose a fresh bottom.
Place the stalk in the glass so that the stem is in the water, but the leaves are not, and take a photo with your phone.
Leave as-is overnight.
The next day, compare your celery stalk to the photo you took the night before!
Does anything look different? Ask your kids a few questions about what they see, including:
Do you think the water has moved up into the celery stalk?
Why do you think this? How can you tell?
How do you think the water traveled through the celery stalk?
Once you’ve observed and discussed the changes to your celery stalk, try cutting about a quarter inch off the bottom. There may be small dots of color (the same color as your food coloring) on the base of the stalk.
Explain to your kids that these dots are the bottoms of the plant’s xylem – small tubes inside the plant that suck up the water and nutrients like a straw and circulate them through the plant so that it can stay healthy, stand up tall, and make its own food.
How will you sneak science into your summer?
Summer of Science Celery Experiment!
READ MORE
This Summery Science Veggie Experiment is a great way to demonstrate the way plants pull water from beneath the ground up into their stems and leaves. This experiment is perfect for preschoolers and school-aged children and a great way to stay cool on a sunny summer afternoon. So, let’s do it!
Staying hydrated is critical to maintaining good health. You probably encourage your kids to drink plenty of water, particularly now when we’re all sweating out so much of our moisture to stay cool under the hot summer sun.
But we’re not the only ones who need to stay hydrated!
Our pets, and even our plants, need water to survive. Yup, plants! Plants use water to transport nutrients out of the dirt and into their tissue and also to help keep their cells plump and sturdy – that’s why plants get limp and saggy when they’re in need of watering.Water is also a key ingredient in photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn sunlight into food. But unlike people and animals, plants don’t have mouths to drink with. So how DO plants acquire and circulate water?
Gather Your Materials:
- Fresh celery stalk with plenty of leaves
- Food coloring (blue or red works best)
- Water
- Knife
Fill a glass half full of water.
Add a tablespoon of food coloring and stir.
Trim the bottom of your celery stalk to expose a fresh bottom.
Place the stalk in the glass so that the stem is in the water, but the leaves are not, and take a photo with your phone.
Leave as-is overnight.
The next day, compare your celery stalk to the photo you took the night before!
Does anything look different? Ask your kids a few questions about what they see, including:
Do you think the water has moved up into the celery stalk?
Why do you think this? How can you tell?
How do you think the water traveled through the celery stalk?
Once you’ve observed and discussed the changes to your celery stalk, try cutting about a quarter inch off the bottom. There may be small dots of color (the same color as your food coloring) on the base of the stalk.
Explain to your kids that these dots are the bottoms of the plant’s xylem – small tubes inside the plant that suck up the water and nutrients like a straw and circulate them through the plant so that it can stay healthy, stand up tall, and make its own food.
How will you sneak science into your summer?
DIY Flying UFO!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 27, 2018 | STEM
Believe it or not, July 2 is World UFO Day and we are over the moon for science! Yup, according to a recent report, there have been more than 105,000 UFO sightings reported over the last 100 years, with the majority of sightings occurring in the U.S. And every year in July, alien aficionados from around the world spend the day celebrating the possibility of life in outer space. There’s even a three-day festival in the UFO Capital of the World, Roswell, New Mexico.You and your little aliens can celebrate, too, with this UFO launcher craft you can make at home!
What You’ll Need
- Plastic drinking straws
- Plastic pipettes or drinking straws larger than the first set
- Tape
- Markers
- Paper
- Scissors
What You’ll Do
Find a UFO template or image online and print or draw at roughly 4x4” (you can fit about four UFOs to an 8.5x11 sheet of paper).
Have your child color the UFO with markers. Then cut out the UFO.
Next, cut the thin straw portion and bottom of the pipette off and tape it to the center of the back of your UFO. If you don’t have a pipette, you can make your own mini air pocket by attaching a rectangular piece of paper to the back of your UFO, leaving only the bottom open and sealing the other sides securely with tape.
Insert the straw into the pipette and blow to launch your UFO, then watch as it flutters gracefully to the floor in a silent space-style landing.
What You'll Learn
- Motion! Explain to your kids that objects can move forward and backward horizontally on a flat plane, like when you’re pushing a toy car on the floor, and that objects can also move up and down, in a vertical motion, like tossing a ball straight up in the air. To move in any direction, objects need a force, like your kids’ breath blown through a straw or their hand pushing the ball upward.
- Projectile Motion! Objects don’t always move in a straight line up, down, forward, or back, though. Sometimes, like when your kids throw a basketball into a hoop, objects move both up and forward. Objects can also move backward and down, like when your kids toss a piece of trash into a trashcan behind them. These curved movements are called Projectile Motion.
- Gravity! What comes up must come down! To explain WHY objects like your UFOs can travel along curved paths, and why they don’t just keep on flying forever, we have to explain gravity. Gravity is the pull of the Earth that keeps everyone and everything on it from flying off into space. This includes your UFO. Gravity is pulling down on it as it’s flying forward, causing a downward arc or curve toward the ground.
DIY Flying UFO!
READ MORE
Believe it or not, July 2 is World UFO Day and we are over the moon for science! Yup, according to a recent report, there have been more than 105,000 UFO sightings reported over the last 100 years, with the majority of sightings occurring in the U.S. And every year in July, alien aficionados from around the world spend the day celebrating the possibility of life in outer space. There’s even a three-day festival in the UFO Capital of the World, Roswell, New Mexico.You and your little aliens can celebrate, too, with this UFO launcher craft you can make at home!
What You’ll Need
- Plastic drinking straws
- Plastic pipettes or drinking straws larger than the first set
- Tape
- Markers
- Paper
- Scissors
What You’ll Do
Find a UFO template or image online and print or draw at roughly 4x4” (you can fit about four UFOs to an 8.5x11 sheet of paper).Have your child color the UFO with markers. Then cut out the UFO.
Next, cut the thin straw portion and bottom of the pipette off and tape it to the center of the back of your UFO. If you don’t have a pipette, you can make your own mini air pocket by attaching a rectangular piece of paper to the back of your UFO, leaving only the bottom open and sealing the other sides securely with tape.
Insert the straw into the pipette and blow to launch your UFO, then watch as it flutters gracefully to the floor in a silent space-style landing.
What You'll Learn
- Motion! Explain to your kids that objects can move forward and backward horizontally on a flat plane, like when you’re pushing a toy car on the floor, and that objects can also move up and down, in a vertical motion, like tossing a ball straight up in the air. To move in any direction, objects need a force, like your kids’ breath blown through a straw or their hand pushing the ball upward.
- Projectile Motion! Objects don’t always move in a straight line up, down, forward, or back, though. Sometimes, like when your kids throw a basketball into a hoop, objects move both up and forward. Objects can also move backward and down, like when your kids toss a piece of trash into a trashcan behind them. These curved movements are called Projectile Motion.
- Gravity! What comes up must come down! To explain WHY objects like your UFOs can travel along curved paths, and why they don’t just keep on flying forever, we have to explain gravity. Gravity is the pull of the Earth that keeps everyone and everything on it from flying off into space. This includes your UFO. Gravity is pulling down on it as it’s flying forward, causing a downward arc or curve toward the ground.
Make Your Own Beaker Creatures Home!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 26, 2018 | STEM
DIY 4th of July Slime!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 21, 2018 | STEM
Happy Birthday, America! A Salute to Slime
All hail the red, white, and blue! When it comes to the Fourth of July, America comes together to celebrate these three colors in a big way. And why not celebrate with a little science? Salute America’s birthday with this patriotic-themed slime!But why do we applaud the colors of red, white, and blue? It is believed that our country’s colors were actually “borrowed” from Union Jack, the flag of Great Britain. Our founding fathers were simply used to red, white and blue. But over the years, each color began to symbolize a different virtue of America:
Red = hardiness, valor
White = purity, innocence
Blue = vigilance, perseverance, and justice
Interesting! Now, let’s get down to the slimy stuff we all want! To make three different types of Fourth of July slime, you will need:Ingredients:
3 cups of warm tap water, divided
½ cup of white glue
Themed confetti½ cup of clear glue (unless you can source out blue glue)
½ cup of red glitter glue
Contact Lens Solution
Measuring cups, spoons, and mixing bowls
Craft sticks to stir
To make the white, confetti slime:
Measure out a ½ cup of white glue.
Pour it into your mixing bowl. You might need a craft stick to move the glue along.
Add a ½ cup of warm tap water. Keep stirring until it is all incorporated.
Now is the time to add your confetti!
Using a ½ cup of warm tap water, mix in ½ teaspoon of contact lens solution. The solution will be cloudy. Small particles at the bottom are okay.
Slowly add the solution to the glue/water in the mixing bowl. At this point, it’s all about the stirring. Keep the slime moving until it forms a clump. Then begin to mix with your hands.
For the red slime:
If you are lucky enough to find red glitter glue, follow the steps exactly like above. The only difference with clear glue (and this red is considered clear glue) is that you add ¼ teaspoon of Borax to the warm water instead of a ½.If you can’t find red glitter glue, add 3-4 drops red food coloring and glitter during step 4 from above.
For the blue slime:
Lastly, for the blue slime, use clear glue and blue food coloring for Step 4(unless you can find blue glue). Honestly, the kids delight to watch the food coloring incorporate, so it is a fun step!
Great results! Now it’s time to play!
Happy 4th of July!
DIY 4th of July Slime!
READ MORE
Happy Birthday, America! A Salute to Slime
All hail the red, white, and blue! When it comes to the Fourth of July, America comes together to celebrate these three colors in a big way. And why not celebrate with a little science? Salute America’s birthday with this patriotic-themed slime!But why do we applaud the colors of red, white, and blue? It is believed that our country’s colors were actually “borrowed” from Union Jack, the flag of Great Britain. Our founding fathers were simply used to red, white and blue. But over the years, each color began to symbolize a different virtue of America:
Red = hardiness, valor
White = purity, innocence
Blue = vigilance, perseverance, and justice
Interesting! Now, let’s get down to the slimy stuff we all want! To make three different types of Fourth of July slime, you will need:Ingredients:
3 cups of warm tap water, divided
½ cup of white glue
Themed confetti½ cup of clear glue (unless you can source out blue glue)
½ cup of red glitter glue
Contact Lens Solution
Measuring cups, spoons, and mixing bowls
Craft sticks to stir
To make the white, confetti slime:
Measure out a ½ cup of white glue.Pour it into your mixing bowl. You might need a craft stick to move the glue along.
Add a ½ cup of warm tap water. Keep stirring until it is all incorporated.
Now is the time to add your confetti!
Using a ½ cup of warm tap water, mix in ½ teaspoon of contact lens solution. The solution will be cloudy. Small particles at the bottom are okay.
Slowly add the solution to the glue/water in the mixing bowl. At this point, it’s all about the stirring. Keep the slime moving until it forms a clump. Then begin to mix with your hands.
For the red slime:
If you are lucky enough to find red glitter glue, follow the steps exactly like above. The only difference with clear glue (and this red is considered clear glue) is that you add ¼ teaspoon of Borax to the warm water instead of a ½.If you can’t find red glitter glue, add 3-4 drops red food coloring and glitter during step 4 from above.
For the blue slime:
Lastly, for the blue slime, use clear glue and blue food coloring for Step 4(unless you can find blue glue). Honestly, the kids delight to watch the food coloring incorporate, so it is a fun step!Great results! Now it’s time to play!
Happy 4th of July!
DIY Glowing Fireflies!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 21, 2018 | STEM
The Official Family Summer Bucket List!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 13, 2018
Summer has arrived!
School is out, the weather is warm, and the days are long. Do you have plans to keep you and your kids (and their brains!) busy over the next few months? Ensure that you are getting the most out of this summer by creating a smart bucket list with the family!
Get creative and draw out pictures, cut and paste from a magazine, or use stickers to illustrate your summer bucket list. Write out everything you and your family would like to do together and make it into a fun collage. Be sure to involve fun learning activities to keep the kids' brains active during these next few months!
Here are a list of 50 ideas to help you get started on your list - a little art, a little entertainment, a little science, and a lot of family fun.
- Take a family trip to the zoo
- Head to the beach
- Go on a Nature Hunt, collecting items you see along the way
- Head to the library for story-time
- Have a backyard BBQ
- Make some slime!
- Play at local parks
- Have a “car wash” with toy cars in the kiddie pool
- Go camping in the backyard
- Create art with sidewalk chalk
- Make a water play station
- Go out for frozen yogurt
- Make an outdoor obstacle course
- Play with pom poms in the pool
- Go bike riding on a trail
- Make a construction site in the sandbox
- Go on a boat ride
- Go to the mall on a rainy day
- Make DIY sidewalk chalk paint
- Play with Magnetic Tiles on the Garage Door
- Go to an outdoor concert
- Mix up Oobleck with corn starch and water
- Go fishing for toys with a bug net in the kiddie pool
- Go to a splash pad
- Make a giant painting together
- Play board games
- Make cookies together
- Go to a baseball game
- Make a fort with blankets
- Watch fireworks at a festival
- Build an outdoor ramp for toy vehicles
- Draw a sidewalk chalk city with roads and buildings
- Paint with sensory balls
- Have a water balloon toss
- Go to the local museum
- Go see a movie at the theater
- Make a paper plate fish craft
- Do an ice excavating experiment!
- Go strawberry picking
- Wash toy farm animals in the kiddie pool
- Run through the sprinkler
- Go to a parade
- Make fruit smoothies
- Go to the local swimming pool
- Make an ice cream cone sensory bin with bowls, cones and pom poms
- Make homemade flour paint with flour, food coloring and water!
- Plant a tree
- Make lemonade with fresh lemons
- Go fishing off a dock
- Have a picnic at the park!
I hope this is enough to get you started on your own family bucket lists.
Hopefully you found plenty of ideas that you and your kids can enjoy together. Now, go and create your own fun and creative bucket list and enjoy some family bonding time this summer!
The Official Family Summer Bucket List!
Get creative and draw out pictures, cut and paste from a magazine, or use stickers to illustrate your summer bucket list. Write out everything you and your family would like to do together and make it into a fun collage. Be sure to involve fun learning activities to keep the kids' brains active during these next few months!Hopefully you found plenty of ideas that you and your kids can enjoy together. Now, go and create your own fun and creative bucket list and enjoy some family bonding time this summer!
READ MORE
Summer has arrived!
School is out, the weather is warm, and the days are long. Do you have plans to keep you and your kids (and their brains!) busy over the next few months? Ensure that you are getting the most out of this summer by creating a smart bucket list with the family!Get creative and draw out pictures, cut and paste from a magazine, or use stickers to illustrate your summer bucket list. Write out everything you and your family would like to do together and make it into a fun collage. Be sure to involve fun learning activities to keep the kids' brains active during these next few months!Here are a list of 50 ideas to help you get started on your list - a little art, a little entertainment, a little science, and a lot of family fun.
- Take a family trip to the zoo
- Head to the beach
- Go on a Nature Hunt, collecting items you see along the way
- Head to the library for story-time
- Have a backyard BBQ
- Make some slime!
- Play at local parks
- Have a “car wash” with toy cars in the kiddie pool
- Go camping in the backyard
- Create art with sidewalk chalk
- Make a water play station
- Go out for frozen yogurt
- Make an outdoor obstacle course
- Play with pom poms in the pool
- Go bike riding on a trail
- Make a construction site in the sandbox
- Go on a boat ride
- Go to the mall on a rainy day
- Make DIY sidewalk chalk paint
- Play with Magnetic Tiles on the Garage Door
- Go to an outdoor concert
- Mix up Oobleck with corn starch and water
- Go fishing for toys with a bug net in the kiddie pool
- Go to a splash pad
- Make a giant painting together
- Play board games
- Make cookies together
- Go to a baseball game
- Make a fort with blankets
- Watch fireworks at a festival
- Build an outdoor ramp for toy vehicles
- Draw a sidewalk chalk city with roads and buildings
- Paint with sensory balls
- Have a water balloon toss
- Go to the local museum
- Go see a movie at the theater
- Make a paper plate fish craft
- Do an ice excavating experiment!
- Go strawberry picking
- Wash toy farm animals in the kiddie pool
- Run through the sprinkler
- Go to a parade
- Make fruit smoothies
- Go to the local swimming pool
- Make an ice cream cone sensory bin with bowls, cones and pom poms
- Make homemade flour paint with flour, food coloring and water!
- Plant a tree
- Make lemonade with fresh lemons
- Go fishing off a dock
- Have a picnic at the park!
I hope this is enough to get you started on your own family bucket lists.
Hopefully you found plenty of ideas that you and your kids can enjoy together. Now, go and create your own fun and creative bucket list and enjoy some family bonding time this summer!
READ MORE
Beaker Creatures Memory Game Printable
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Jun 12, 2018 | Printables
