Shapes is one of the first subjects kids learn when they enter preschool. Furthermore, it is sometimes reviewed in kindergarten. My son and I wanted to create a game to help kids learn shapes. Our fun shape activity for kids is called the Hide and Seek Shape Game.
We used shapes from the Perfection Game we had at home. However, you can use any shapes you have around the house. We also used water beads in our game but you can use an alternative if you like.
Kids will forget they are learning shapes because the game is fun. The object of the game is to race against another person’s time in order to find the shape. If your child is just learning shapes, then you don’t have to use a timer. Once they become more familiar with shapes, then use the timer to make the game more challenging.
Below is a video of how to play this fun shape activity for kids. You will see in the video, my son and I are playing against each other. It gets really intense but in a fun way.
This video comes from my son’s YouTube Channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please like the video and subscribe to the channel if you like what you see.
Science is amazing! We have learned a lot of fun tricks from doing science activities. Today, we will show you one. It is an easy science experiment for home. It is called Disappearing Money. Don’t worry, you can make the money appear again!
This activity will teach your child about light rays and what happens once it reaches the human eye. You will also learn how light rays impact our vision when they don’t reach the eye.
Below is a video showing you how to do this easy science experiment for home. This is a great trick to show family members.
5 Easy Science Experiments for Kids at Home as a Celebration
About two years ago, my son Cory said he wanted to start a YouTube channel. He was four-years-old at the time, and I said no to his request. A year later, as a five-year-old, he asked again to start a YouTube channel. This time I took him a little more seriously because this had been on his mind for a year.
After the second request, I said ,yes, thinking we would create three videos and he would grow tired of the process. However, I was wrong. It has been a year and we have diligently created one video (sometimes two) a week for his channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures.
In order to celebrate my son’s year on YouTube, we have made a compilation of 5 easy science experiments for kids at home. These science activities have been the most viewed on his channel.
Why I said yes
My son had to get both my husband’s and my approval in order to start the channel. I said yes because he was able to answer my one question: How will you use your videos to help people? He said he wanted to share fun activities with other kids.
I have been doing DIY projects and science experiments with Cory since he was two-years-old. I wrote blogs about our activities and posted pictures. However, the pictures never showed his face. Viewers could only see his arm or the back of his head.
He started to develop a desire to share the activities himself. He thought they would be better shared from a kids’ perspective. He was right!
What we have learned during this process
Together Cory and I have learned the art of goal setting. His goal is to get 1000 subscribers. Therefore, we have posted at least one or two videos per week on Youtube. Every week he has steadily received subscribers to his channel. Currently, as I am writing this, the channel has 590 subscribers. We are proud that he is over the half way mark.
Cory has learned to edit his videos. At first, I edited the videos alone. Nonetheless, Cory wanted more graphics, sound effects, and transitions in his videos. We learned this skill in IMovie. We make it a goal to try to learn a new editing skill weekly and incorporate it in the videos.
We have learned to be organized. It takes a lot to produce one video. First, you have to research your idea to see if people want to know about your topic. Then we gather materials for our activities and create talking points. Next, we shoot the videos with proper lighting. Afterwards, we have to edit, create a video title, make a thumbnail, and optimize the video in YouTube with descriptions and keywords. Last, I market the video which means to tell people that it is on YouTube. It is a lot to do weekly but worth the effort if it helps people.
Celebrate With US
You can celebrate Cory’s one year milestone by watching and enjoying his science video below. We hope that you do these 5 fun activities with your kids. Please subscribe to Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures if you like what you see.
Easter is around the corner and many people will be buying eggs to do hunts! We love activities that involve eggs. Last Easter, we did the Colorful Eggs Drop Experiment for kids. This is one of our favorite science experiments to do. This year we decided to erupt eggs! Believe me, it is an easy science experiment for kids at home.
The beauty of this experiment is that it is two-fold. First, your child will learn how to make a bouncy egg. They will learn how a certain household material can permanently change the look and feel of the egg.
Afterwards, they will make it erupt. This is the best part. You can’t just erupt one egg. It is more fun when you erupt more! We decided to do three when we did the activity.
Below is a video showing you how to do the Erupting Egg experiment. The video comes from my son’s YouTube channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe if you like what you see.
Don’t hesitate to do this easy science experiment for kids at home. They will have a blast.
Glow in the dark activities are a big hit in our household. When we saw that it is possible to make glowing water disappear, we had to try it. This activity is called the Disappearing Glow in the Dark Water. It is a fun at home chemistry experiment for kids. It is fascinating and simple to do.
What You Need For This Experiment
You need household materials. The items are below…
Because bleach is used in this experiment, it is important for parents to supervise this fun at home chemistry experiment.
My son and I have created a video showing you how to make water glow in the dark. Furthermore, we show you how to make it disappear. You will see step-by-step instructions and how amazed we were at the results.
We hope you try it. This experiment shows kids how fun science, specifically chemistry, can be.
We encourage you to conduct a search for science experiments on this website and do them with your child. You will see you child’s vocabulary start to expand.
One of my favorite activities is easy DIY projects. I like projects that require materials already in my home. It is not practical for me to buy items for a project that I will use one time. If I purchase something for a project, it will have multiple uses. Today’s activity, Salt Art Painting, fits this criteria.
This activity is a wonderful STEAM educator. Children will observe how salt melts ice. They can combine two colors to make another color. Also, they will see how water can change from a liquid to a solid when turning water into ice.
My son had fun doing the Salt Art Painting. He was amazed that he could create a rainbow before his eyes. This is a great project for preschoolers, kindergarten, and up. It is safe to say that your child may ask to do this activity again.
As a parent, I love that the set up and cleaning afterwards is quick and easy.
The video below provides directions on how to do the Salt Art Painting. The video comes from my son’s YouTube channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe if you like what you see.
We love experiencing the magical scientific power of static electricity.In the past, we made a pencil spin without touching it. This is one of the reasons we think static electricity is so amazing. Today we are doing a simple science activity for kids where we bend water using a balloon.
You are probably wondering how you can bend water using a balloon.
We will give you a hint.
We gave the balloon a negative charge. Afterwards, we held the balloon near the water, which is positively charged. The opposite charges were attracted to each other and the water bends towards the balloon.
Are you still confused?
Watch the video below and see how we did this simply science activity for kids.
Black History month is in February. This is a time to celebrate the contributions of black people to our world. In our household, my son and I learn black history year round. I am fortunate to be able to teach him black history because it is not taught within many our school districts. Today we will focus on black history inventors.
This black inventors t-shirt is available on Amazon! Click the image above to purchase the tee.
My son, Cory, loves doing science experiments and wanted to learn about black history inventors and their inventions. For example, it was fascinating for him to learn that Lewis Latimer invented the carbon filament for the light bulb. This invention made the light bulb shine longer and brighter. Mr. Lewis worked very closely with Thomas Edison.
Hands-On Learning
I try to think of hands-on projects to help my son remember black history facts. Therefore, we decided to make replicas of the inventions we read about through art. Below are some of the art projects my son completed.
Black History Inventors Art Projects
One of the first black history inventors we learned about was Benjamin Banneker. At the age of 20, he took a watch apart to study the pieces and to find out how it works. In 1753, at the age of 22, he built a wooden clock from his discoveries. Many people came all over to see his clock, as it kept perfect time for more than 50 years.
To celebrate Mr. Banneker, we decided to make our own clock. Below is how we did it…
Build Your Own Clock
Materials Needed:
Paper Plate
Scissors
Paint
Paintbrush
Glue
Black Marker
Construction paper (2 different colors)
Paper Brad
Directions:
Have your child build their own clock like Mr. Banneker.
Have your child paint the paper plate.
Cory paining the paper plate.
Draw a long and short clock handle on the construction paper.
This will represent the hour and minute hands.
Cut the handles out of the construction paper
These are the handles for the clock.
On another piece of construction paper, write numbers 1-12
Cut the numbers out individually and paste them on the clock
Poke a hole in the center of the paper plate
Insert the paper brad through the hour hand, minute hand, and the hole in the center of the paper plate.
Secure the paper brad by separating the tines of the legs and bend them over to secure the paper.
Here’s my son’s completed clock.
Another inventor we learned about was Phillip Downing. He created the street letter box, which was a tall metal box with a secure hinged door to drop letters. Before his invention, people who wanted to send mail had to go to the Post Office. The hinged door on the metal box prevented rain and snow from entering and damaging the mail. His invention allowed for people to drop their mail off near their home and to be picked-up by a mail carrier.
Our project below honors Mr. Downing’s contributions to our world…
Make Your Own Letter Box
Materials Needed:
Small or Medium sized cardboard box
Scissors
Blue sheets of construction paper.
Glue or Tape
Marker
Directions:
Explain to your child that Philip Downing created the street letter box to save us a trip to the Post Office and to prevent our mail from becoming damaged.
Tape the cardboard box shut.
With adult supervision, cut a rectangle hole on the box.
We taped our box and cut a rectangle in the center
Tape any parts of the box that may have come apart.
Glue or tape the construction paper on the box so that it is fully covered.
Here my son is cutting blue construction paper to fit around the box.
Write the world “Mailbox” on the cardboard box and tape it to the front.
My son is writing the word “Mailbox” on paper
Here is our letter box to honor Philip Downing
Optional: Have your children write a short letter and put it in your newly created mailbox.
Our Bonus Project
This year we decided to take it a step further and create something more memorable. We made a t-shirt to honor a few of the black inventors we learned about.
My son loves to play with anything that launches or flies across the room. One of his favorite toys is the catapult. We built the catapult and played a fun game with it. It is more fun when you can actually make these types of toys. The benefits are numerous. For example, kids will understand how they work and can adjust them to their liking. Furthermore, children can make as many as they like and even give them out for gifts. We did this for the fun balloon project I will share with you in this post.
We call this project the Balloon Launcher. You only need five items, which you most likely have in your home. The process to making the launcher is very easy. You can play a game with the launcher to see who can shoot objects the farthest. The toy can be used at parties to celebrate another’s accomplishment or their birthday. Below is the process for executing this fun balloon project.
Below is a video showing you how to make the Balloon Launcher. This video comes from the YouTube Channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe and share if you like what you see.
We love to do simple activities that require household materials. These types of activities take a few minutes to set up and provide at least an hour or more fun for kids. The Colorful Milk Experiment is a great example of one of those activities. There is a ton of learning in doing this experiment as well.
Our first time doing the Colorful Milk Experiment, we were amazed at the results. My son was three at the time, and talked about the results for a week. Back then we called this activity the Milk Rainbow. You will need the following for this activity…
This experiment teaches kids how soap attaches to grease, which in this case would be the fat in the milk. Mixing the milk, soap, and food coloring results in a beautiful mixture of colors. We encourage you to try it with a variety of colors.
Below is a video showing you how to do the experiment. It comes from my son’s YouTube channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe if you like what you see on the channel.
