A few weeks ago, my son and I grew butterflies. It was a magical experience. They came to us as caterpillars and we let them go at Painted Lady Butterflies. My son, Cory, loved the project so much, he wanted to learn the lifecycle of another animal. After doing a search, we found that we could grow ladybugs. We found that this is definitely a fun educational project for kids.
Watch the short video below to see our process for growing ladybugs
We used the Insect Lore Ladybug Land kit for this project. It was interesting to learn the lifecycle of ladybugs. The soon to be ladybugs arrived as larvae. About a week later they turned into pupae. Then one morning we work up and saw them as ladybugs. After feeding and observing them for a few days, we released them into the world.
We encourage you to try this fun educational project for kids. If you are looking for fun things to do with kids at home, then this is the activity for you. This fun STEM project can be done by preschoolers and up. It is a wonderful insect activity that your children will never forget.
Fun Educational Project for Kids
Below is a short video showing you how we grew the ladybugs. It comes from my son’s YouTube channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe if you like what you see.
Summer will be here soon! This is a time when most kids are out of school. Parents are looking for fun and safe activities to keep their kids busy. In my opinion, nothing beats going outside to the playground or splashing in the pool. However, some days kids may have to stay in because of rain. We have a fun paper activity for boys and girls that can be done during these times. It is called the paper banger!
A paper banger is paper that pops loudly when it is moved quickly in a certain way.
It is an easy paper craft for children. We teach you step-by-step how to make the paper banger in the video below. Your kids will learn this awesome trick by folding paper. Additionally, they will learn the science of why this paper banger pops loudly.
You only need one item for this fun paper activity for boys and girls…
Animals are a fun subject for kids to learn about in school and at home. In fact, animals was one way my oldest son became interested in reading books. His favorite book as a baby was Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle. While reading this book, I would make the story come alive by doing the animal sounds in the book. Today, he still loves animals so, we decided to play a fun animal groups for kids game.
Being exposed to animal classification is a wonderful science and math lesson for kids. They learn how to observe animal characteristics and place them in categories. Children are also exposed to the diversity of living organisms on earth. Classification helps kids to learn about animal features and their similarities and differences
I decided to use a game for our animal classification lesson because it highly motivates my son. He is competitive and loves to win. Furthermore, games incorporate three of the five senses which are hearing, touching, and seeing. This helps my son gain a deeper understanding of the material.
In order to make this fun animal groups for kids game more exciting, we used his toy, Boom City Toy Car Set. In this game, you earn points for putting animals in the correct category and having the fastest car. As you will see in the video below, we had a blast playing this game.
We encourage you to watch the video with your kids. They will learn how to classify three types of animals in a fun way.
The video comes from my son’s YouTube channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. It has science experiments, DIY projects, and learning games. Please subscribe to the channel if you like what you see.
Learning the alphabet is one of the first academic concepts children are exposed to at home and/or school. It can be a daunting task to learn the alphabet in the beginning. Kids must know 26 upper and lower case letters. Fortunately, there are helpful tools to help children master the alphabet like games and books. Today we want to share a fun and entertaining alphabet book for preschoolers and up.
Many children get the letters confused , which is understandable. I remember getting the lowercase b and d mixed up during a writing assignment in the first grade. Our teacher hung those writing assignments on the wall. I still remember being embarrassed that the letter d was where b should have been. Every day, I wanted to take the paper down.
Corban has fond memories of learning the alphabet. When my baby boy was born, Corban wanted to write an alphabet book to help his younger brother and other kids learn the letters in a fun way. I was deeply touched by his desire and decided to help him achieve this goal.
Corban worked on the book,Alexander’s Hide and Seek Alphabet, for six months. He took the lead on the whole process from writing and critiquing the illustrations to approving the cover and marketing the book. While there are many alphabet books out there, this book has a different spin.
In the short video below, my son will tell you more about his book
Alphabet Book with a FUN MEMORY TRICK
Alexander’s Hide and Seek Alphabet uses a learning technique called the “Loci Method” to help kids learn and review the alphabet. The Loci Method is a memory tool which connects the information kids want to remember with places they know well. We used Alexander’s home in this book because children know their living spaces very well. Additionally, we used familiar household items to make it easier for children to find what they are seeking.
In order to make the Loci method fun for kids, we incorporated the game, Hide and Seek. We encourage you to take this book with you while walking through your home to find each item in this book. Have your child identify the beginning letter and sound of the item. For example, when you find an apple in your home, encourage your child to pick it up, say “apple” and its phonetic sound “ah”.
If you don’t have something named in this book, find an alternative in your home. Make up your own Alphabet Hide and Seek Game and play with your child.
Your child will be amazed that they could find so many things that start with each letter of the alphabet in their own home.
Have fun playing, learning, and reading this alphabet book for preschoolers and up!
Click the image below to access the book on Amazon
Art is such an important activity for kids to do. It displays their creativity and imagination. In our household, we love sea animals. We wanted to do a project that combines painting and sea creatures. Therefore, we came up with colorful ice sea animals. If you don’t have iced animals, then you can use cubed ice. Below we will show you how to do this easy art project for kindergarten, preschool, and up.
This easy art project for kindergarten and up will expose your kids to science and art. They will learn how water changes from a liquid to solid ice. Additionally, children will see ice change colors. If you leave the project out long enough, they will observe how solid ice changes back to a liquid.
We like this activity because it is easy to do and requires minimal setup.
Below is a video that shows you how to create Colorful Sea Animals. The video below comes from my son’s YouTube channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe if you like what you see.
If you have kids that like art, check out these projects below…
Science explosions are my son’s favorite type of activity. You may assume that we saw this activity in a science book or the Internet. However, we read about this activity while reading the Weird School book series by Dan Gutman. My son, Cory, loves reading these books. Once he saw we could make a lunch bag explode, he looked at me and said, “We gotta do it!” This is definitely a fun science experiment to do at home.
The great thing about this activity is you most likely have all the ingredients in your home. Below is what we used….
It is best to do this science experiment outside. Also, you should wear old clothes along with science gloves and goggles.
While doing this experiment, your child will learn about how acids (vinegar) and bases (baking soda) react to one another. Vinegar and baking soda combine to make carbon dioxide which is a gas.
Don’t be surprised if your child wants to do this activity again.
In the short video below, we show you how to set up the experiment. The video comes from my son’s YouTube Channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please subscribe if you like what you see.
Try this today! It will be a fun science experiment to do at home!
I think playing games are the best way for children to review information. Games incorporate three of the five senses for learning which are sight, hearing, and touch. Sometimes, if you are creative, you can include smell and taste as well. Below I will tell you about a 3rd grade math game we created.
This week, I decided to review multiplication and division with my son. He is starting to multiply and divide multi-digit numbers. I wanted to ensure that he mastered his times tables from 0 – 12.
My son loves games and competition. Therefore, playing this game really increased his motivation to get every math problem correct.
In order to make our review games more interesting, I like incorporating his favorite toys. This week he wanted to use Turbo Bot as a way to earn extra points in this activity. Turbo Bot is a toy that can dance, spin, explore, and even record your voice.
Watch the video below to see how we used Turbo Bot to make this 3rd grade math game more challenging and exciting.
Also you can use this game to review any concept, whether its addition, history, or science facts. We encourage you to be creative and use the game in your own way.
The video below comes from my son’s YouTube Channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please like and subscribe if you like what you see.
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.
