Beautiful Multiplication Pine Cone Craft

Multiplication practice from a nature art approach. Use pine cones to make math fun.

At 1:00 pm, a young student stares out the window, oblivious to the math lesson: at 4:00 pm, that same student stares at a pine cone she found on the walk home. Her eyes follow every crevice, and as her fingers trace the rough sticky surface, as she breaths it's fresh aroma.

Lovely Valentine Experiment for Kindergarten

This is simple science experiment that will dress up your Valentine cards.

My kindergartner and I had the best time experimenting with these home made Valentines. We made some beautiful designs, and got just a little messy. This would be a great way to spend time with your favorite kids.

Best Posts of 2015

Don't you like to skip through to the very best part of an article or magazine? I do.

Today I am sharing my top 5 posts from 2015, plus top post from a long, long list of other bloggers. We each submitted just one top post, so you know that they are the best of the best from 2015.  

Christmas Ornament Subtraction Craft

These DIY ornaments turn out so pretty that children might like to do them at home for fun or as gifts. However, you could easily use them for subtraction practice. They even satisfy the algebraic component called for in Common Core. Who says you can't have Christmas fun and do math at the same time?

Super Fun Holiday Party Activity Cheat Sheet

"Would you make me a paper airplane?" Lunch time was just ending, and I didn't even have paper available when my son's  classmate asked this question.  I thought it was just a random request. Then the next time I visited the school, another child asked for one, and another, and another.  In fact, they were still asking months later when I went in to have them write end-of-the-year thank-you notes to their teacher.  Finally, I realized why they were asking.

Kid made nesting supply station

Caring for the wild creatures in our own neighborhood is my favorite way to teach my children to respect the environment.  The Pony Artist wanted to welcome the Robins.  I did a little research, and discovered that birds may appreciate nesting supplies.   Here's how she made her own nesting supply station.

If you would like to make a nesting supply station, here's what you need:

Two strips of felt

Thread

Needle scissors

Yarn (Be sure to use cotton, not synthentic, for the safety of the birds.)

First, the Pony Artist chose two strips of felt from our left over stash.

Next, she sewed the ends together.  This was the most challenging part.

Now it was time to prepare the actual supplies.  She chose some yarn and some string she thought the birds would like and snipped it into pieces.

She put it in the holder, and we tied it to a tree branch.  

It was emptied quickly and my husband thought it looked like the birds were trying to take the holder too!

This was a fun project that gave us a great opportunity to discuss the specific needs of the birds living in our neighborhood.  Of course, we got some fine motor work in as well.   If you have some extra felt and yarn on hand, why not welcome the birds by providing some nice soft lining for their nests?

Several bloggers have been working on using up our craft stash by making up learning activities with things we have on hand.  You can check out the other Learn with your craft stash projects here.






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Cotton Gems: Fabric Dye Process Art

Today, I have a really fun process art project for you to try, perfect for spring or summer.  My kids invented this while we were working on some out door math activities, and spent over an hour experimenting.  I love it when they get into a process art project like this because their natural love of science takes over and they set about engineering their own creations while learning the properties of matter, all on their own.  Here's how the project came about, and how you can try it too.

We were working with wet cloths on the cement pavement when my daughter decided it would be fun to wash the chalk we had used the day before.  She was delighted to learn that the chalk stained the dingy cloths beautiful colors.  Her brother joined in the fun and then asked for some cotton balls to stain.

Materials you will need to make your own cotton ball gems

Cotton balls

Sidewalk chalk in various colors

Water

You can start by covering the area with water, then color in the water with the chalk.  Or, you can color the area with chalk and cover it with water.

Then, just take the cotton balls and rub them in the wet chalk.

You might enjoy mixing colors to see the result.

Set everything out to dry!

This was our first experience with dying fabric of any kind. Do you have a favorite textile project?

If liked this activity, sign up for my newsletter to make sure you don't miss any of my activities or new curriculum.

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I Spy Rot: Effortless Science Lesson

How to make your own constellations

We love looking at the night sky.  If your child is interested in space, or you would like them to be, here is a fun project that brings the heavenly bodies a little closer home. It was also a good way to sneak in some fine motor practice.

Materials:

A polystyrene (styrofoam) tray--Ours come with squash.

Tooth picks

Pictures of the constellations in your night sky

To get our constellation pictures, I used the Star Chart app on my phone.  Have you sen this?  You can just point your phone at the sky and it fills in the pictures the constellations represent.  Snap a screen shot, and you have a picture of the exact constellation you are studying.

If you don't have access to Star Chart, you can do a quick image search, and come up with a printable picture. (If you are using this in a group setting check the copy rights.)

Then just print out the photo, and lay it it over the tray.

Use a tooth pick to punch out the designs. 

After doing a few real constellations, my kids decided to "make up" some constellations of their own.

Holding the trays against the window gives the effect of stars shining in the night sky.

This post is part of the 60 Day Junk Play Challenge.  Be sure to check out the other great activities being done with items from the junk pile, and try a few with your own kids!

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Messy Fort: A Simple Strategy for Making Any Day Special

Building a fort is great engineering practice that helps kids learn physics and  develop their creativity. When I saw the Fort a Building Challenge from Building Blocks and Acorns I knew it was a project for us. However, it did not go as expected.  

After a fun day, that ended up having nothing to do with forts, some illness, and some general disruption of this mother's plans, I finally resorted to just making the fort myself on a random day. After all, setting the example is one of the most important aspects of involving kids in STEM, right?

Materials for this Messy Fort

Foam Mats

Tarp

Dining Room Chairs

Sheet

Twisty Ties

How to Set Up a Messy Fort

I chose this spot in our dining area, because I wanted natural light pouring into our fort so that it would be good for art.  We had already lined the windows with painters tape.

I put down the foam mats to protect the floor and make a comfortable place to sit .

The mats were covered with a tarp for added protection.  I wanted to be sure the kids really had the chance to get messy!

Next, I arranged four chairs on the edge of the tarp.

Finally, I topped it all with a bed sheet, and fastened the corners with twisty ties.

How We Enjoyed our Messy Fort

My preschooler was the first one to use the messy fort .  She loved being able to play with play dough on the ground.  I do not normally allow that.  She made some shape patterns and did an experiment by mixing two types of play dough.

Next, I set up a special sensory play for my toddler.  I mixed up some bubbles with the dish soap, and put them in a pot.

She enjoyed exploring and squishing the suds between her fingers. Sensory play is science for babies!

When my oldest got home from school, he was excited to get on on the action.  He ate his snack in the fort, then he used water colors to practice his spelling words and do some art.

Some times, rather than adding a new activity, we just need to liven up the ordinary tasks. My children loved that they had a special place to enjoy their normal activities.  We enjoyed our messy fort, and I am looking forward to many more forts to come.

How do you like to liven up ordinary days?

There have been some great forts done as part of this fort building challenge including, an ocean fort, an outdoor fort, and a space fort.  All great science themes!  It is not too late to get in on the fun.  Check out the Fort Building Challenge homepage, build your own fort, and even send in a picture.

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How to Use Paper Snow Flakes to Learn Math

Paper snow flakes are a classic project that kids love. They're also a great way to learn a little math.

On a bright January day, perfect to look at, but too cold to stay outside for long, I needed something to do with my bright energetic children.Paper snow flakes were one of my favorite crafts as a child, and I thought that just maybe they would enjoy making some as well.
To introduce this activity to my kids, I folded the paper in half just once and cut two shapes, I got two shapes.Then, I folded to the paper in half twice and two cut shapes.We found four when we unfolded the paper. I continued adding more and more folds, cutting two shapes each time, and they were excited to see that there were more and more shapes.

Multiplying by 2, again and again.

 I asked my children they could find the pattern, and they said "no", but they were grabbing for the paper and the scissors to make their own!

They were grabbing for the paper and scissors

 How to make your basic paper snowflakes 

 If you would like to try this activity, you will just need a stack of tissue paper cut into squares and a pair of scissors.

All you need!

Fold the paper into triangles. You can fold as many times as you like as long as you keep the same center point.

Mark the center carefully

Cut patterns into the sides of the triangles, then unfold the tissue to see your finished product!

Opening the snowflake!

 How to demonstrate the math in snowflakes 

 Real snow flakes have six sides. To get this effect, fold the initial square in half to make a triangle,
then fold that triangle into thirds

Real snow flakes have six sides.

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You could say that this snowflake demonstrates f = (n/2)(xy) where n is the number of cut outs, and x and y represent the number of sections the paper was folded into.  x = 2 when it was folded in half.  y = 3 when it was folded in thirds.  The total number of shapes is f = (2/2) (2*3), which is 6.  

 Six shapes in the snowflake

This pattern corresponds to f= x^y where x is the number of shapes cut, and y is the number of folds.

For elementary students, I recommend that you do just what I did.Show them the pattern, encourage them to guess what it might be, then let them enjoy the project.If you are working with older students you might assign making snowflakes that follow a certain function, or you could let them make some snowflakes, and translate them into math.


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The wonderful thing is that they are automatically doing math to figure out how to get the designs they want.  Add in the added brain connections from doing hands on learning, and you have a great STEAM project that they'll be excited to share with their own kids one day.

Beaded snowflakes

More Math Crafts

Beaded Snowflake addition practice

Beautiful multiplication pine cone craft
Chaos theory for kids

Find out about seasonal projects each month! 

Each month I send an e-mail with seasonal projects like this one to my subscribers. Sign up now to receive next month's newsletter.

More Indoor Activities for Older Kids 

Today, I am excited to be joining a project hosted by Erica at What We Do All Day.  She is a true professional mom, and I love reading her blog to get ideas for my own kids.  Several fantastic blogs are joining in today to bring you indoor activities that you can do with your older kids.  If you are like us, and never know when you will be stuck indoors due to bad weather, you will want to be sure to pin these ideas for later!

Indoor Activities for Tweens come from What We Do All Day

Working With Yarn - 10 Ways to Create come from Betsy's Photography

  Wooden Bangles for Animal Lovers from Adventure in a Box

Inside Activities Promoting Growth Mindset from Planet Smarty Pants

Indoor Pom Pom Races from Lemon Lime Adventures 

Simple Duck Tape Bracelets from the Gingerbread House