Grow Crystal Geode Eggs with Kids

Do you love geodes? My kids adore sparkly rocks and for this Easter craft, we tried our hand and made sparkly geode Easter eggs.  (Or maybe you could call them dragon eggs? Oooh, I love the sound of that.) Aren't they beautiful? Directions for making them are below!

How to Grow Crystal Eggs with Kids

(An easy and fun kids' science STEM project)

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How to Build a Paper Air Skimmer Sleigh (FREE Printable included)

Looking for a really neat winter STEAM activity to make with the kids? A few months ago, my eldest son came back with a really cool paper skimmer that he made at school. They followed this paper skimmer tutorial on YouTube. The directions were great for older kids, but my youngest wasn't able to make one easily. So I came up with an easy printable that we could print out, color, fold, and race. :) Both boys loved using it so much that I'm sharing it here! With it being so close to Christmas, we called them our paper skimmer sleighs. 

Print, Fold, and Build a DIY Paper Air Skimmer Sleigh

(Free printable included!)

 

Free Printable Halloween Agamographs

Ever heard of agamographs? It's optical illusion art that changes depending on how you look at it. I saw this idea first on STEAM powered family. With Halloween coming around, I thought I'd make a coloring sheet agamograph that kids of all ages could try. This would be a perfect after-school activity! No cutting or gluing involved. Just print out the free coloring sheet below, color it in, accordian fold it, and voila! A cool piece of op art!

Free Printable Halloween Agamographs

DIY Recycled CD Hovercraft Toy

Does your child enjoy tinkering and building? Why not try making this recycled hovercraft? All you need are a few items from around the house, and you've got yourself a fun, family STEM project. Directions below! (Watch a video of the hovercraft flying on my IG account.)

How to Make a DIY Recycled CD Hovercraft Toy With Kids

How to grow Chia Egg Heads

Spring is here and while we're all still stuck at home, I've been trying to fill our days with easy spring crafts and activities. That's how we ended up growing our very own chia egg heads... in just one week!

How to Grow Chia Egg Heads with Kids

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Carving Ivory Soap Boats

Did you know you can carve boats from soap?  

Last week during an impromptu playdate, we tried our hand at carving Ivory Soap Boats. This was such an affordable, easy and fun activity that kept two 3rd graders engaged for about 1/2 an hour!

How to Carve Ivory Soap Boats with Kids

4 Kits to create your own DIY Summer STEM + Robotics Camp

Love the idea of sending kids to summer STEM and Robotics camps... but not the prices? I get you! We love doing easy science and STEM activities at home. This past summer, we considered sending my eldest to some robotics camps, but then realized that they just weren't in our budget. So, instead, we set up our own STEM and Robotics camps... at home by purchasing a couple of STEM/ Robotics kits and building them together. Here's a quick review of the 4 kits that we tried out!

A Review of 4 STEM and Robotics Kits 

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How To Regrow Lettuce from a Stump

Have you ever tried growing food from scraps? Did you know that you can grow romaine lettuce... from a stump? It's true! I have a black thumb and yet the kids and I were still able to enjoy this super easy science "gardening" activity.

How to Regrow Lettuce from a Stump

Grow Borax Crystals... on Nature!

Do people still celebrate Christmas in July? We don't, but today's crystal craft adds a bit of a frosty, winter element to our crafts.  (Come to think of it, this would also make a great craft for kids who love Anna, Elsa, or Olaf from the Frozen movie.) We're using Borax to grow crystals on natural items like seed pods, sticks, shells, and leaves. The process is super simple and the results are super sparkly.  You'll only need a couple of items and a bit of patience to do this easy and fun STEM activity.

How to Make Sparkly Cyrstal Leaves, Shells, and Twigs!

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Quick Borax Crystal Pipe Cleaner Sculptures

Ever try your hand at growing crystals... on pipe cleaners? Here's a super easy to grow your own crystals overnight. All you need are Borax, pipe cleaners, and some hot water to create your own sparkly sculptures!

Quick Crystal Sculptures

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DIY Homemade Spirograph

Ever play with a spirograph toy?  We LOVE them and the other day I got to wondering.... could we make a DIY version using materials around our home?  Well, the answer is... YES!  Today I'm sharing this artsy- science craft.  It got a big two-thumbs up from my eldest. He really loved trying it out with me.

Let's Make a DIY Homemade Spirograph Toy!

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small portion off of any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Painting on an Icy Snowman

Looking for a fun, winter-themed kid activity? Try painting an ice snowman.  This is a perfect activity for kids who are stuck inside and looking for something creative to do!

How To Make an Ice Snowman (and Paint It Too!)

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Make a Mini Science Journal Booklet from one sheet of paper

Have you ever tried making tiny notebooks?  My eldest is currently obsessed with pocket-sized books.  He loves using them to doodle, jot down ideas, or record stories.  Today we're doing a STEAM themed craft and turning a single white sheet of computer paper into a cute science journal.  It's the perfect place for young scientists to jot down observations, hypotheses, and ideas for experiments.

Let's get making!

How to Make Mini Science Journal Booklets

(from 1 sheet of computer paper!)

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small portion off of any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Squishy, Slimey, Squelchy Halloween Monster Slime (Only 3 Ingredients!)

So what are your thoughts on slime?  Love it?  Hate it?  We've made slime a handful of times before with mixed results.  (Sometimes we get slime... and sometimes we just get weird wet stuff.) 

Personally, I love the idea of slime... but I have mixed feelings about the mess that it entails.  Recently, I was sent a copy of The Slime Book to review and I jumped on the opportunity.  40 easy slime recipes all in one book?  Count me in. 

Authors Stacey and Jennifer share a ton of fun ideas, but with Halloween approaching, the orange Metamucil slime recipe caught my eye.  I added some googly eyes to their simple 2 ingredient recipe and boom.  Then, boom.  Instant slimey Halloween monster goodness.

Super Squishy and Slimey Halloween Monster Slime 

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Can you explode a Watermelon?

How many rubber bands does it take to explode a watermelon? That's a question that I issue to you, dear reader.  And it's one that we recently tried tackling in today's fun science activity!   Now, I'm not a mom who enjoys making a mess... but when I saw people exploding watermelons with rubber bands, I just couldn't help myself.  We had to try the challenge too!  So, we celebrated the end of summer with this explosive science activity.   It was super duper fun and so, so easy to set up. 

Here's how you Explode a Watermelon with kids!

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How to Build an Epic Cardboard City With Kids (And our 15+ Favorite Books to Inspire Building)

Looking for an easy and affordable group craft idea?  I recently hosted a cardboard craft event to celebrate the launch of my new cardboard craft book Epic Cardboard Adventures (aff link).  Kids and parents were invited to help me build a cardboard city.  If you're looking for an easy group crafting activity, I really recommend this one.  It's super easy to set up and both adults and kids had a lovely morning of crafty fun!

How to Build an Epic Cardboard City with Kids

 Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Play-dough and Cardboard Mazes

Hello friends!  I'm currently on the lookout for easy (and not too messy) ways to keep the kids entertained.  Today I'm sharing a fun preschool STEAM activity that kept both my boys entertained.  We've made outdoor rock mazes, edible candy mazes, and Lego mazes.  Today we're keeping the theme going with these super easy play-dough mazes!

Let's Make Play-Dough Mazes!

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STEAM Kids Kitchen- 70+ Activities and Recipes for Creative Kids

It's here! It's here!

If you have curious and creative kids who love to tinker and question and make... then you'll love our new STEAM Kids in the Kitchen book!

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Painting with Dandelions

One of our favorite Spring crafts is painting with dandelions.   Dandelions are such a funny flower because every kid loves them, but every home-owning adult seems to despise them.  We don't really have a front yard, so I personally adore them.  My youngest and I recently spent one morning picking the yellow flowers and blowing the seeds around (sorry, neighbors!)  Awhile back, I shared how we turn dandelions into dandelion chains and crowns.  Today, I'm sharing another fun craft to do with the yellow flowers- paint with them!

Let's Build Beautiful 3D Card Structures!

What happens when you have access to the internet, shortened daylight hours, a craft-and-math loving kid, and a deck of old playing cards?  Well,  if you're me... you rally everyone together to do a STEAM activity!  Yeah!

Tired of bouncing off the walls one night, our family tried our hands at making these nifty 3D Card Sculptures.  They came out pretty cool and I thought I'd share them today with you!

Let's Make Beautiful 3D Card Sculptures