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
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.
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.
My son loves to make all types of paper airplanes. His favorite one to make is the glider.It does loops and has a lot of air time. When he first saw the paper helicopter, he wasn’t sure how it would fly. We decided to make it and he was amazed at how it spun in the air. We want to share this fun project with you and your children. We are going to show you how to make a paper helicopter that flies.
You most likely have all the items for the paper helicopter in your home now.
While making the helicopter, it is a great time to discuss terms like speed, airtime, distance, and acrobatics with your child. This helicopter has a lot of airtime, some speed, and no distance.
Once your child flies this helicopter for the first time, they will want to do it repeatedly.
If you have a child that likes paper airplanes, we suggest the book, Show-How Guides Paper Airplanes by Keith Zoo. It has 11 different types of planes your child can make. Furthermore, it provides the speed, airtime, distance, acrobatics, and uniqueness of each plane. This is one of my son’s favorite books. He has it out frequently to make various paper airplanes.
Below we have provided you with a video on how to make a paper helicopter that flies. We give you step-by-step detailed instructions. You will also see my son flying it at the end of the video.
The video below comes from my son’s YouTube Channel, Corban’s Fun Learning Adventures. Please like, share, and subscribe if you like what you see.
Valentine’s Day is around the corner. We love doing theme-based science experiments in our home. This year we decided to make a chemical love potion with ingredients we have on hand. This Valentine’s Day Science Experiment is fun and simple to do. Kids will be focused on creating a bubbly colorful potion, which is NOT meant to be consumed. Parents should do this activity with their children.
Kids and parents will learn patience while doing this Valentine’s Day Science Experiment. You have to use a specified amount of each ingredient in order for the chemical reaction to work. Once kids see the bubbly potion appear, they will be proud of their accomplishments.
Below is a video showing you how to make the love potion. We encourage you to follow the exact directions in the video.
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.
