Designing a Mars Rover
A couple of weeks ago I published an all about Mars post that included a video from SciShowKids titled Meet the Mars Rovers! SciShow Kids has published a follow-up to that video. The follow-up is titled How to Design a Mars Rover! How to Design a Mars Rover! explains to elementary school students how scientists […]
The Science of Gardening
Every year we plant a small vegetable garden in our backyard. Some years it does better than others. There was a year when it seemed like we were picking seven cucumbers a day. Last year the cucumbers didn’t do well, but we had cherry tomatoes by the gallon! Our kids like helping in the garden […]
Why Does the Road Crack? – Another Question from my Daughters
One of my favorite things to do these days is to ride bikes with my daughters. Sometimes I even record those rides on Strava because my older daughter now wants to keep track of how fast she can go down a little section of road in our neighborhood (current record 10.5mph). When we were riding […]
Expedition Insects – An Interactive Book from the Smithsonian
Expedition Insects is a neat interactive book from the Smithsonian Science Education Center. The book was written to helps students in third through fifth grade learn about insects from all over the world. The book is full of pictures and videos to complement the text. Throughout the book students can click or tap on underlined […]
Elinor’s Nature Adventure and Hands-on Learning Activities
As I mentioned last week, my daughters have started to enjoy Elinor Wonders Why on PBS Kids. While they were watching an episode this morning I went on the PBS Kids website to search for some Elinor-themed learning activities. I wasn’t disappointed with what I found. The parents page for Elinor Wonders Why is full […]
Maple Syrup Sunday! And Maple Syrup Sundaes
Today is Maple Syrup Sunday here in Maine. It’s a day when many maple syrup producers open their operations to visitors. All of them offer some type of educational program about the production of maple syrup. Many of them will have samples of their products. My favorite one has maple syrup ice cream sundaes! A […]
What Would We Eat on Mars? And Other Fun Science Questions
Long-time followers of my blog have probably noticed that I really like the videos produced by SciShow Kids. Their videos cover a wide range of science topics and almost all of them answer questions that elementary school students are apt to ask. For example, one of the recent releases from SciShow Kids asks, “what would […]
These Geosciences Lessons Rock
K-5 GeoSource is a great resource produced by the American Geosciences Institute. On K-5 GeoSource you will find free lesson plans, science fair project ideas, links to virtual activities, and resources for professional development. The first time I looked at the site back in 2009 it had a distinct Web 1.0 feel. The site has improved of late to […]
How Rockets Fly – And DIY Model Rockets
This morning Jeff Bezos is blasting into space on a new rocket designed by his company, Blue Origin. The BBC has a succinct overview of how the rocket is designed to work. For a kid-friendly explanation of how rockets work, turn to SciShow Kids. Last week SciShow Kids released a video titled How Do Rockets […]
All About Rubber
Here in Maine we’ve had more rainy days than sunny days lately. That means we’ve been wearing our rainboots a lot. Yesterday, as I was trying to convince my daughters to wear their rainboots instead of sneakers my four-year-old asked “what’s rubber?” To which I replied that it’s a waterproof material used in boots to […]
Build a Solar Oven – Hands-on Science Project
This week SciShow Kids released a new video about a favorite hands-on science project, building a solar oven. As you might expect, the video explains the science of using solar energy and explains the basics of how to build a solar oven. However, the video isn’t quite detailed enough to be the only source that […]
Three Video Lessons That Are Full of Poop
SciShow Kids has long been one my favorite YouTube channels for elementary school science videos. It went on hiatus for a while then it came roaring back a few weeks ago. One of the new releases on SciShow Kids is all about dung beetles. That, of course, brought out the ten-year-old in me and I […]
Try Your Hand at Bird Identification With the Audubon Bird App
We have a bunch of bird feeders hanging outside of house. My daughters love seeing the various birds that visit our feeders. I particularly enjoy seeing orioles come to one of our feeders. My daughters (2 and 3 years old) are curious about the names of many of the birds that come to the feeders. […]
Take a Virtual Field Trip to Maine’s Wildlife Park
The Maine Wildlife Park is on my list of must-visit places for anyone visiting Maine with kids between ages two and twelve. It’s a place where you can see moose, bears, beavers, deer, bobcats, lynx, and many other animals that are native to Maine. My daughters absolutely love it! Unfortunately, like many other parks the […]
Kids Can Learn About National Parks on a Virtual Road Trip With Nature Cat
PBS Kids Nature Cat collection offers a bunch of great activities that elementary school students can do at home with or without direct involvement of parents. One of the activities that kids can probably do on their own is the Nature Cat Road Trip. On the Nature Cat Road Trip students learn about a handful of […]
Try This! – A Series of Hands-on Science Lessons for Kids
Try This! is a series of videos produced by National Geographic Kids. Each of the videos in the series presents a hands-on science lesson or experiment that elementary school and middle school kids will enjoy. Middle school students can probably do all of the experiments in the Try This! series on their own. Elementary school […]
5 Resources for Teaching and Learning About the Science of Baseball
The Major League Baseball season started yesterday. The Yankees won, boo! The Red Sox lost, double boo! If you have students who are as excited as I am about the start of the baseball season, try to capitalize on that enthusiasm with one of the following educational resources. Exploratorium’s the Science of Baseball is a bit dated […]
What Makes It Windy? – Lessons for Kids
The wind has been howling here in Maine for the last two days. As my daughter says, “it’s soooo windy.” She asked me this morning why it was so windy outside. That’s a hard concept for a two year old to grasp, but I tried my best to explain it to her. If you have […]
An Online Lab for Learning About Weather Patterns and Forecasts
The Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Weather Lab is one of many online learning activities produced and hosted by the Smithsonian. The Weather Lab is designed to help elementary and middle school students learn about weather patterns. In the Weather Lab students select an ocean current and an air mass then try to predict the weather pattern that will result […]
Nature Cat’s Great Outdoors – An App for Sunny, Rainy, and Snowy Days
Nature Cat’s Great Outdoors is a free app from PBS Kids. The app, available for iOS and Android, provides students with activities they can do outdoors in all kinds of weather. And there some indoor activities for those days when you really don’t want to go outdoors. To use the Nature Cat’s Great Outdoors app […]
Climate Kids’ Big Questions Teaches Students About Climate Change
NASA’s Climate Kids website has many excellent online and offline resources for teaching students about climate change. One of those resources is the Big Questions wheel. The Big Questions wheel guides students through the basic concepts and issues related to climate change. Seven big questions are featured in the wheel. Students select a question to […]
SciShow Kids Answers “Why Do Animals Have Tails?”
My daughters and my dogs’ tails have a close relationship. Sometimes that relationship is tested by a quick grab of a tail and sometimes tested by a swishing tail to the face. But no matter what, my dogs always wag their tails when we come home. That, of course, begs the question, “why do animals […]
Monster Heart Medic – A Game for Learning About Heart Health
Monster Heart Medic is a free iPad app produced by the Lawrence Hall of Science with funding from the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of the app is to help students learn about the cardiovascular system through a game environment. The basic premise of Monster Heart Medic is that students have to help a […]
Educational Games for Elementary School Science Lessons
Educational games can be useful in helping to reinforce concepts and content. A good game can keep students engaged while also helping them develop some thinking skills at the same time. You could create your own games on platforms like Kahoot or Metaverse, but those might not provide the depth of context that professionally developed […]
Play Code Fred to Learn About Circulation and Respiration
Code Fred is a free online game developed by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. The game helps players learn about the human body’s responses to trauma. The object of the game is to help “Fred” escape from the woods while he is chased by a wolf. To keep Fred running players have to […]
Hurricane Webinar 2018!
Thanks to a teacher at Sigsbee Charter School in Key West I learned about a free webinar for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. The webinar is the 2018 Hurricane Webinar hosted by Hurricanes: Science and Society team in partnership with the NOAA National Hurricane Center and the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center. The goal of […]
A Fun App That Helps Kids Learn How Animals Adapt to Their Environments
As the weather warms students start asking, “can we have class outside today?” If you’re an elementary school teacher who has heard this recently and you’re ready to get your kids outside for a lesson, take a look at Plum’s Creaturizer. Plum’s Creaturizer from PBS Kids is a free iOS and Android app that lets students create fun […]
A Hands-on Science Lesson for the Spring
When I was in Kindergarten we grew marigolds in Styrofoam cups and took them home in spring (probably for Mother’s Day, but my mother will have to confirm that detail). I was reminded of that little project when I watched a new SciShow Kids video. Earlier today SciShow Kids published a video titled Grow Your […]
NASA Kids’ Club – Fun Games for Learning About Space
NASA Kids’ Club is a collection games, interactive activities, and images for students in Kindergarten through fourth grade. At the center of the NASA Kids’ Club is a set of games and interactive activities arranged on five skill levels. The activities range from simple things like guessing numbers in “Airplane High Low” to more difficult […]
12 Free Lessons About Rocks, Minerals, and Landforms
Scholastic has a nice resource called StudyJams that contains short videos, slideshows, and quizzes about a variety of topics commonly taught in elementary school classrooms. Rocks, Minerals, and Landforms is one of the topics covered in a unit of twelve StudyJams. The Rocks, Minerals, and Landforms StudyJams include videos, slideshows, and short quizzes. Some of […]
A Fun Game About Ecosystems
Feed the Dingo is a fun game that teaches students about the importance of maintaining balanced ecosystems. In the game students have to build and maintain a desert ecosystem. The game begins with a blank slate to which students have to add plants and animals. The game plays out over twelve virtual days. Each day […]
Kitchen Science – Let’s Make Butter
SciShow Kids recently released a new video titled Let’s Make Butter. The video provides directions for making butter in your kitchen then goes on to explain the science of what happens in the process of making butter. Applications for Education Rainy days like the one we’re having here in Maine are perfect for kitchen science […]
Reach Out Reporter – Science News for Children
Reach Out Reporter is a free service that provides science stories for elementary school students. The site is updated weekly with videos, articles, and graphics. There is a section in Reach Out Reporter called Fact Pack. In the fact pack section you will find sets of short videos and or images arranged around a central […]
A Nice Set of Animated Science Lessons for Children
The Children’s University of Manchester has great collections of animated lessons covering seven science subjects for students of early elementary/ primary school age. The lessons cover The Body and Medicine, Energy and Environment, Earth and Beyond, Teeth and Eating, Micro-organisms, The Brain, and Exercise. For each science subject covered by The Children’s University of Manchester […]