I've been holding onto a stack of new STEM books and can't wait to share them with you today. These will be books you can use in the classroom to introduce concepts like simple machines, matter, and more. New STEM Books for Grades K - 3 How to Seesaws Go Up and Down? A Book About Simple Machines by Jennifer Shand, illustrated by Srimalie Bassani SCIENCE - SIMPLE MACHINES The … [Read more...]
40+ Coding Classes, Websites, Games, and Apps for Kids
Updated: 1/1/19 If you're looking for coding or pre-coding classes, games, toys, and apps for your kids to learn to code, you'll find everything you need here. But first, let's define terms. Coding is learning a foreign language -- a machine foreign language. Just like any language, the ability to read and write it is a literacy of its own. The biggest benefit of learning to code is that … [Read more...]
Citizen Science for Kids
written by Lisa Amstutz Are you looking for ways to get kids excited about science? Citizen science might be the answer! These fun and educational projects let people of all ages participate in hands-on research about the natural world. The data they collect is shared with professional scientists. This helps scientists study things like animal migrations and populations on a much broader scale … [Read more...]
Graduation and the Digital Literacy Gap
Disclosure: This post is written and sponsored by The Boys and Girls Club of America GRADUATION & THE DIGITAL LITERACY GAP Not everyone who graduates will have the digital skills to succeed Students are well into the new school year – but how many of them will actually finish it? Here’s the good news – in 2016, the most recent year that statistics are available, the national high school … [Read more...]
2018 Holiday Gift List: STEM Toys, Games, & Kits
Are you looking for the best STEM gifts of 2018 for your kids? Discover the newest and best coding kits, building sets, science kits, STEM books, cool tech, and MORE. I hope this helps you with your Christmas and holiday gift giving. Almost all of these will help your children develop their knowledge and skills in STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and math. I love giving gifts that do … [Read more...]
Best Science Kits for Kids
Let's talk about the best science kits -- kits that make good gifts for kids. How do I know these are the best? Many are highly rated, award-winners from either Parents-Choice, Creative Child Magazine, Dr. Toy, Mensa, Family Fun Magazine, or Oppenheim Toy Award. Discover a science kit to get your kids enthusiastic about learning science. Best Science Kits for Kids Learning Resources … [Read more...]
Bridging the Digital Divide
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Boys and Girls Club of America. BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Creating an Even Playing Field in an Era of Digital Education As students start heading back to classrooms across the country, instead of pencils and paper, many children rely on laptops and the internet to do their work. According to a recent study, 96.5% of students need internet access to … [Read more...]
Free Legends of Learning Online Science Games for Elementary & Middle School Classrooms
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Legends of Learning. All opinions are my own. Free Legends of Learning Online Science Games for Elementary & Middle School Classrooms Science elementary and middle school teachers, you can use the science-based Legends of Learning website to help your students learn and review science concepts. In fact, you can assign a playlist of games to individual … [Read more...]
BGCA & Samsung’s 5 Weeks of Summer of #STEM Challenge
Disclosure: The Boys and Girls Club of America and Samsung sponsored this post. All opinions are my own. Don't miss this free 5-week STEM curriculum for you to do with kids at home from The Boys and Girls Club of America and Samsung. BGCA and Samsung value summer learning and STEM activities. They're offering this to families to help grow children's interest in STEM fields. The Boys and Girls … [Read more...]
Best Books for Kids About Space
The solar system -- the planets, stars, moon, space travel, all of it -- is endlessly fascinating to kids. (And many of us adults, too.) Read these nonfiction and fiction books with your children to learn more about space -- how to be an astronaut, what Mars life would be like, facts about the moon, and what happened to Pluto. Best Books for Kids About Space Hello World, Solar System by … [Read more...]
Meet Botley, An Adorable Coding Robot for Children 5+
"This is cool!" my daughter exclaimed after trying Botley, the new, adorable blue and green coding robot from Learning Resources. And she's right! Botley is a cool {engaging & fun} way for children 5 + to learn hands-on coding. Even better, Botley does not require any other devices-- NO smartphone or tablet required. And I love the growth mindset opportunities like failure and persistence that … [Read more...]
New Favorite Coding Toy for Kids: Cubetto
We absolutely love Cubetto -- it's our new favorite coding toy designed for young kids to learn coding skills as early as age three to six in preschool but also educational and fun for older kids as well. (Like my daughter.) Cubetto is an adorable wooden robot with a wooden screenless(!) coding control board and function blocks that introduces kids not just coding skills like sequential … [Read more...]