Kids can play & learn with their food with these fun Goldfish crackers STEAM snack activities. Great for young engineers, mathematicians & artists.
An inexpensive and highly engaging process art experience for young children.
Every fall we get a new crop of schools and teachers coming to us looking for ways to get started with making. We're developing more awesome Maker
Make your own play dough circuits. This conductive play dough recipe helps teach kids about electricity in such a fun way!
Propeller-Powered Car - Engineering Project for Kids: Fast and fun, the propeller car is a hands-on lesson in air-powered thrust and inertia. Small, lightweight wheels have less inertia than big ones, which lets the car reach its maximum speed quickly! Just wind it up and watch it race across the floo…
Try a fun twist on a fine motor classic - hammering! You've likely already got everything you need to get started at home!
Clare is a designer/maker working with paper and fabric. She trained as a graphic designer and has worked in the industry, mainly in packaging design but has a life long interest in everything hand…
Learn how to make a bubble snake maker with this easy DIY guide. Perfect for kids, this fun craft uses simple materials to create long, colorful bubble snakes. Step-by-step instructions included.
Makey Makey Floor Piano: Who doesn't want to dance around on a giant floor piano like Tom Hanks in Big? There are many great Makey Makey piano tutorials on the web. We wanted to make a version that really looked like a piano and that worked without participants having to ho…
A parent teacher resource to help young artist gain confidence in drawing a vampire bat.
The newly crowned Miss America 2020, Camille Schrier from Virginia, did a chemistry demonstration for her talent. It was an elaborate version of the classic elephant toothpaste experiment. This was the first time a Miss America participant has ever won with a science experiment for their talent. Unfortunately, I have seen people criticize her talent […]
The Whitney Museum currently has a show featuring Alexander Calder's Circus project. Read more about Calder and the exhibit in the New York Times HERE and HERE. Last spring, my Second and Third grade students studied the work of Alexander Calder and learned about his fascination with the circus. Then, students used their knowledge of Balance and Motion to create an amazing Flying Circus with household items such as toilet paper rolls, straws, yarn, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and Styrofoam.
I created this maker space in my classroom almost two years ago. I am soooooo glad I did. We use it for really cool STEAM projects. It makes it so easy to do one anytime I want. It is always there, stocked and ready to go. I originally envisioned this as an independent activity in my classroom. But, the reality of the mess isn't always possible during a busy kindergarten day. So, I use it more often as an adult supported activity. The kids are still working independently, but an adult is there to remind kiddos to keep it tidy. That, and having a low heat hot glue gun makes creating so much easier. The adult uses the glue gun, but the students are the design directors. It works perfectly that way. So, yes, you will need an aide or parent volunteer to do this with kinder kids. In an older grade level, this would be easier to manage as an independent center or station. Here is how I set it up. Maker Spaces are as individual as the makers who make them. So, when you set yours up, get some inspiration and then do what works for YOU using your available resources. I have three big drawers for the kids to pull materials from... above is cardboard. Below is plastic and paper. It is actually easy to fill the space when you get in the habit of saving cool recyclables and scraps from other projects in your classroom. You can also ask families in your class to donate materials. I use a fourth drawer for storage. I change up the materials in the little bins, so it's nice to have a place to save things like corks hardware, twigs, etc. I like to provide special materials that will aide in making each project. Here are just a few of my bins up close... OK, let's move on to some great projects... Making bridges is usually one of my first projects of the year. We do it as a part of my Fairy tales/ Folk tales unit. I use a comprehension assessment for The Three Billy Goats Gruff , so we spend some time to go in depth with that story. Creating a bridge makes a great extension activity. Here are few more kindergarten kid designs. And of course we had to get out the plastic goats to test them. Don't you love the "No Crossing" sign? Written in Kinder writing of course! At the end of that unit, we also make boats for the gingerbread man to create a safe way for him to cross the river. Here are a couple of those... The tests on the boats are fun, but you have to prepare your kids for disappointment. I read Rosie Revere, Engineer to my class this year when we tested our boats. It was the perfect prime for accepting failure as part of the designing, learning, re-designing process. We use the little Pepperidge Farm gingerbread cookies in each boat for the test. So, of course I give a cookie to each of my little makers too! That book cover is an Amazon affiliate link for your convenience. You can grab it by clicking on the image. It's a must have if you are doing STEM projects in your classroom. For the boat tests, I use a large plastic storage container that I fill with water. We sit in a circle around it and each child gets to put a cookie in their boat and float it (or not) across the water. It's also a great idea to give your kids time to look at each design and talk to each other about how it was made. It's a little makers' convention. It only takes about 30 minutes. I think it is time well spent. Here is a precious video of one or our boat tests: Here are some adorable kid made leprechaun traps. This is the original STEM project. I have been doing leprechaun traps in my classroom for years. I like to have the kids make them in the classroom better than doing it as an at home project. The one year I had kids do them at home, I could tell that parents helped too much! You can tell these were made by little learners... It was great to hear my sweet students explain how each trap was going to work. We usually leave them out around the classroom on March 16th. I put some Rolo candies inside each one. (They are chocolate caramels wrapped in gold foil). I also sprinkle a little gold glitter around. It's lots of fun when students come into the classroom on the 17th and find the GOLD! Things can get pretty messy when the kids are working at the Maker Space. Here is the table during leprechaun trap production. There is a place for everything and we put everything in it's place when its time to clean up. The kids love using the space, so they are usually very willing to help clean up. We have little recycle and trash bins in the space so it is easy to put scraps where they belong. We also made bird feeders last year as a spring project. We had been learning about the season of spring and animals that lay eggs, It was a great extension for our unit. Plus, we have windows in our classroom where we can see so many birds outside. Those little tubs have bird seed and Cheerios cereal. You can also see the big jar of peanut butter. We spread the PB on to the cardboard pieces and then dipped them in the seed. I love this little engineer's design. Those are just a few ideas for your little makers. You don't have to have a Maker Space in your classroom to do these projects, it just makes it easier for me. If you haven't already, I hope you will try some STEAM projects with your kindergarten class. Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy teaching!
Coding with Kindergarteners. Three ways to code with our youngest learners.
Simple circuits are key to the magic in this Harry Potter Wands STEM Project. Includes an easy built in circuit break for an on/off switch.
Explore different facial expressions and emotions in this creative Apple Feelings Art Project for kids to support social emotional learning.
The Scientific Method Posters is the process researchers use to complete science experiments and find answers to scientific questions.
Once the maypole is set up, the children can dance to a waltz, a polka, a jig, or any tune you choose. Our dancers kept track of their braiding by chanting, "Go over it, then under it, and over it and under it," to keep from getting tangled in their ribbons.
This DIY rubber band racer is so much fun! Let the kids make a rubber band race car with the items you already have around the house.
We just loved celebrating International Dot Day at our school this year! After reading "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds, students from Kindergarten through fifth grade created dot-themed art projects to start the year. "Just make a mark and see where it takes you" was the perfect message for our young artists. Fifth Graders made these exploding dots. Their paper sculptures were bright, vibrant, and very fun! Students loved this project and the results were stunning.
13 Creative Ways to use Wikki Stix at Home or in the Classroom!
Although The Breakfast Club was released in February 1985, the story is set on March 24, 1984 -- 30 years ago exactly. Between The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, director John Hughes managed...
