Helen Neale, KiddyChartsToday we are joined by Helen Neale who edits and owns the KiddyChartswebsite, offering free downloadable fun and educational resources for parents. Why not check it out, there is bound to be something your kids like, and it’s all free?With British Science Week just gone, there are many of us that are looking to do science in the home as a way of supporting our children’s education in the classroom. STEM activities are so important for the development of our children’s minds and personalities.Top toys for scienceLearning Resources toy range is designed to foster imagination and cultivate scientific values in your children. Science-play resources are varied and will help to develop:
Investigative capabilities,
Creative thinking and problem solving,
Enquiring minds, which don’t just accept butquestion, test and retest again, and
Love for science and curiosity about the worldaround them.
Cultivating investigationOne of my daughter’s favourite toys is her Primary Science Lab Set, and I can often be found washing up a conical flask on a Friday afternoon! The robust glassware, and simple experimental designs for the kids enable her to learn freeform investigation, with little input from me. Except perhaps to remind her to clean up the floor after she’s poured red dye on it… ;-)Inspiring creative and critical thinkingScience isn’t just for the analytical, there is creativity in everything a scientist does; from forming a hypothesis to planning an experiment. Even a simple experiment involving mixing colours, can excite kids, particularly if you are just using ordinary food dye that mum usually puts in her cakes!Coding is a vital skill for kids to grasp, and learning to code isn’t as dry as you might think. Even my daughter would want to help the Learning Resources mouse find his cheese by telling him were to find it using simple code.Questioning the way things workThere is no better way to question how something works, than to build it yourself, and then fix it if it isn’t doing what it should!Simple machines keep those questions flowing, as kids build, test, and rebuild many times over. Dyson started off small…and look where he is now? ;-)Loving ScienceThere is nothing quite like trying to find out about the world around us, but in a way to inspire, not to bore. A Primary Science Projector means younger children learn about Astronomy with an exciting product that transports the world of space into their own bedroom.All the Learning Resources toys make learning fun, so even finding out about a healthy diet can be a perfect opportunity for play with the healthy lunch set, and the magnetic food groups set.Great crafts to support our scientific learning toysSupporting these scientific resources with your own ideas is surprisingly easy; it can be done just by crafts in the home.Here are some of the best crafts that we have found that relate well to all of the above scientific learning objectives. Most importantly though, they let our kids have fun and learn at the same time…sneakily.Sun prints from Creative Family Fun, which combine science and art to create wonderful prints.Coffee filter crafts that you can make after learning a little bit about diffusion from There’s Just one Mommy.Another craft using colours but this time from Fun-A-Day, which is beautiful and teaches us about saturation , and absorption too.Sun crayons from Mama Smiles, which is a simply wonderful way of using science to create, and offers lots of learning opportunities for the children involved.Build yourself a nebula in jar from The Kindergarten Connection, to go alongside your solar system on the wall!So as you can see, science gives you so much joy – why not start with your kids early, so they have all their lives to keep having all this fun!
Looking for easy kids Christmas crafts ideas? Download your free Christmas puppet craft from Red Ted Art. This creative easy craft is great for classroom activities or doing at home.
In this guest blog, founder of the the Instagram account @rascals_and_rainbows, Sheila O’Reilly has some fun ideas for parents and teachers to celebrate Children's Art Week.
Find free arts & crafts Father's Day activity ideas that make great gifts for dads. They're quick, easy & creative fun! These keepsakes are so unique, you’ll be able to give the dad in your life a special gift no-one else has!
Helen Neale, KiddyChartsToday we are joined by Helen Neale who edits and owns the KiddyChartswebsite, offering free downloadable fun and educational resources for parents. Why not check it out, there is bound to be something your kids like, and it’s all free?With British Science Week just gone, there are many of us that are looking to do science in the home as a way of supporting our children’s education in the classroom. STEM activities are so important for the development of our children’s minds and personalities.Top toys for scienceLearning Resources toy range is designed to foster imagination and cultivate scientific values in your children. Science-play resources are varied and will help to develop:
Investigative capabilities,
Creative thinking and problem solving,
Enquiring minds, which don’t just accept butquestion, test and retest again, and
Love for science and curiosity about the worldaround them.
Cultivating investigationOne of my daughter’s favourite toys is her Primary Science Lab Set, and I can often be found washing up a conical flask on a Friday afternoon! The robust glassware, and simple experimental designs for the kids enable her to learn freeform investigation, with little input from me. Except perhaps to remind her to clean up the floor after she’s poured red dye on it… ;-)Inspiring creative and critical thinkingScience isn’t just for the analytical, there is creativity in everything a scientist does; from forming a hypothesis to planning an experiment. Even a simple experiment involving mixing colours, can excite kids, particularly if you are just using ordinary food dye that mum usually puts in her cakes!Coding is a vital skill for kids to grasp, and learning to code isn’t as dry as you might think. Even my daughter would want to help the Learning Resources mouse find his cheese by telling him were to find it using simple code.Questioning the way things workThere is no better way to question how something works, than to build it yourself, and then fix it if it isn’t doing what it should!Simple machines keep those questions flowing, as kids build, test, and rebuild many times over. Dyson started off small…and look where he is now? ;-)Loving ScienceThere is nothing quite like trying to find out about the world around us, but in a way to inspire, not to bore. A Primary Science Projector means younger children learn about Astronomy with an exciting product that transports the world of space into their own bedroom.All the Learning Resources toys make learning fun, so even finding out about a healthy diet can be a perfect opportunity for play with the healthy lunch set, and the magnetic food groups set.Great crafts to support our scientific learning toysSupporting these scientific resources with your own ideas is surprisingly easy; it can be done just by crafts in the home.Here are some of the best crafts that we have found that relate well to all of the above scientific learning objectives. Most importantly though, they let our kids have fun and learn at the same time…sneakily.Sun prints from Creative Family Fun, which combine science and art to create wonderful prints.Coffee filter crafts that you can make after learning a little bit about diffusion from There’s Just one Mommy.Another craft using colours but this time from Fun-A-Day, which is beautiful and teaches us about saturation , and absorption too.Sun crayons from Mama Smiles, which is a simply wonderful way of using science to create, and offers lots of learning opportunities for the children involved.Build yourself a nebula in jar from The Kindergarten Connection, to go alongside your solar system on the wall!So as you can see, science gives you so much joy – why not start with your kids early, so they have all their lives to keep having all this fun!
