Today, I’m talking about STEM resources for the whole family! But first…
Do you love STEM? Do you want to incorporate more STEM in your homeschool day? Check out our free STEM Gameschool Resource List here:
STEM in your homeschool
As an educator, I’m really picky about the toys that I purchase for our children. I steer clear from the toys with bells and whistles. It’s a rare event to find a toy with batteries in this house, folks! I much prefer toys that encourage creativity and learning. Toys that can be used in a multitude of ways and for many, many years. If I’m investing in a toy, I want it to be durable, educational, and a toy that our family won’t soon outgrow. Many of these toys are of the STEM variety. This month is a STEAM-filled month in the {virtual} Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, and I thought it would be fun to write a post about some of my family’s favorite STEM resources.
STEM Resources for the Whole Family
Build & Imagine
Build & Imagine is an award-winning company that offers a unique line of building toys that combine play, imagination, creativity, engineering, and fun. This is our new favorite toy! When your children are using Build & Imagine, they aren’t just building. They are creating a story, complete with setting and characters and props. The play is fluid and changes each time. The possibilities are endless.
STEAM Kids
This beautifully-illustrated book is filled with 52 hands-on STEAM projects for children ages 4-10. Activity chapters are broken up into five areas of inspiration: Build, Color, Play, Sense, and Grow and each is identified by its STEAM category (science, technology, engineering, art, and/or mathematics).
Each activity explains the STEAM behind it, detailed instructions and illustrations, materials required, difficulty level, time required, and several extension activities to take the learning to the next level.
One thing I really love about STEAM Kids is the fact that it includes an activity planner at the end. This is akin to a meal planner, but for STEAM activities. The planner includes five activities per week (one from each category) and materials required for over 10 weeks. The activity planner also includes fantastic field trip ideas and links to over fifty additional STEAM extension activities.
STEAM Kids was created by a team of amazing moms and bloggers. You’ll recognize many of these names: Anne Carey (Left Brain Craft Brain), Ana Dziengel (Babble Dabble Do), Amber Scardino (Wee Warhols), Chelsey Marashian, (Buggy and Buddy), Dayna Abraham (Lemon Lime Adventures), Erica Clark (What Do We Do All Day?), Jamie Hand (Handmade Kids Art), Karyn Tripp (Teach Beside Me), Leslie Manlapig (Pink Stripey Socks), Malia Hallowell (Playdough to Plato), and Shelley Brewer (STEAM Powered Family). These women are a group of engineers, teachers, math nerds, art lovers and writers who all believe that STEAM is important for children to experience and learn.
Melissa and Doug Unit Blocks
We have had these Melissa and Doug unit blocks since Leo was one year old. Blocks are a classic toy with a world of possibility. It’s a rare day that you don’t find a tower of these on our playroom floor.
Magna -Tiles
I’ll be the first to admit that these blocks are not cheap. One of our closest friends has two boys, eight years apart. Every time we’d go to their house, both boys could be found playing with magna-tiles. Year after year this went on. They were always out. At every gathering, boys and girls of all ages would be seen playing with magna-tiles. One Christmas, I made magna-tiles the gift and the kids’ grandparents would add to the set in subsequent years. Magna-tiles might be my favorite toy of all time. I love legos and much as the next guy but they are hard for young children to use, they end up everywhere, and they can be tricky to clean up. Magna-tiles can be used by any age. They are magnetic, so clean up and storage is a cinch. In my opinion, they are worth their weight in gold.
Kapla Planks
We love our unit blocks but I now have three children who love to build. There are often not enough blocks to go around when the three are working on creating a village. Rather than invest in another wooden block set, I opted to invest in a creative alternative: kapla planks. These planks offer a nice challenge for older children and can also be used for domino-type races.
Groovy Lab in a Box
In case you have not heard of Groovy Lab in a Box, it’s a monthly subscription service that teaches STEMists (your children!) all about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Each month, they send out a themed box filled with investigations that are fun and hands-on. The investigations culminate into an Engineering Design Challenge, where your STEMists must apply what they’ve learned from the investigations (and use their critical thinking skills) to complete the challenge. Aaaaand, there’s a giveaway going on right now!
Electronic Snap Circuits
Leo has been obsessed with Snap Circuits for a few years now. The kits are amazing. The instructions include words and images, making for better understanding. There are so many circuits contained within each kit, folks. You won’t complete the kit or outgrow it any time soon. I often joke that I should write a letter to the creators of Snap Circuits because they have provided me with so much quiet time, and quiet time can be hard to come by in these parts!
K’Nex Education: Intro to Levers and Pulleys
K’Nex Education: Intro to Levers and PulleysK’Nex makes some amazing kits, folks. This is one of our favorites. It never fails to provide me with some quiet time and I love it because I know the kids are learning so much. You can easily use this kit independently or as a small group. There are many options for building reproductions of machines you find in the real world.
Thames and Kosmos: Remote Control Machines
Leo received this kit for Christmas and he adores it. At first I worried that the kit would be too old for him but in no time he had figured it out. If you have a kiddo who loves remote-controlled toys, your child will love this because you can make multiple remote-controlled vehicles.
Hape Marble Railway
Hape Marble RailwayWhen I was young, I had a marble run and I adored it. I love this kit because it is made of solid wood and is extremely durable. The possibilities are endless with marble runs and your children will have no idea that they are learning about gravity and physics!
Tinker Crate
We have been Kiwi Crate fans for years, as Leo was obsessed with arts and crafts at a very young age. T and Seuss continue to enjoy our Kiwi Crate subscription but Leo has moved on to the Tinker and Doodle Crates. Both provide oodles of fun for kids who love to tinker, build, and create. Mom tip: I hide these boxes when they arrive and save them for rainy, sick, or cranky days: instant happiness and quiet. Priceless!
ThinkFun Circuit Maze
I am a huge fan of ThinkFun’s logic and reasoning games. I am particularly fond of their one-player games because they provide me with much-needed quiet time! If your family loves Laser Maze and Gravity Maze, you are going to want to check out the latest: Circuit Maze!
ThinkFun MakerStudio sets
There are currently three MakerStudio sets available: Winches, Gears, and Propellers. Do you have a kiddo who likes to create? A child who raids your trash and recycling bin on a regular basis? A mini inventor? A budding engineer? If so, you might want to read my review of these super-fun kits!
Magic School Bus Science Kits (Young Scientists Club)
Who doesn’t love Ms. Frizzle and her Magic School Bus? My kids became so obsessed with the Magic School Bus series that we purchased it online so that we could watch it in the car while traveling. I love the lessons that are provided with the videos. Recently, we decided to sign up for their monthly science kits and they did not disappoint!
Really, anything by Lego.
Really, anything by Legos are awesome. I loved them when I was six and I love them now. They are a classic toy and they never get old. You can’t go wrong with Lego, folks! Also, if your kiddo is looking for Lego ideas, check out this book!
Popular Mechanics (DVD)
My kids are obsessed with this series. We have had the DVD set for a few years now and they love to watch the various episodes. If you have kiddos who are obsessed with science and how things work, they will adore this series. It’s a great way to sneak in some educational screen time, too!
Learning Resources Primary Science Lab
We love to do science experiments around here. In fact, we were doing them so much that my dishwasher was filled with my dishes. I thought it wise to invest in some science materials for my little #stemists. This kit is affordable and fun for all ages.
Gravity Maze
This is a challenging one-player logic game that incorporates a marble run. The player must construct a marble run that meets the criteria on each challenge card. Challenge cards increase in complexity, providing endless fun.
Laser Maze
Laser MazeIn this one-player game, players must use logic and planning abilities, in combination with lights and mirrors, to get the laser from point A to point B, according to each challenge card. Like Gravity Maze, cards increase in difficulty so your family won’t outgrow this game any time soon!
Bedtime Math
I have gushed about Bedtime Math on this site and on Facebook so many times. I just adore Bedtime Math. We’ve been doing it for years. It’s a fun way to sneak in a little math and I love that each of my children can participate, as every problem is modified. It’s math that we can all do together!
Make Your Own Tinker Kit
We have oodles of random bits and pieces leftover from our recent home construction and I thought it would be fun to put them all in a box for some tinkering fun! The whole thing cost me a whopping $5!
Cardboard Box
How could I talk about our favorite STEM activities and materials without mentioning a childhood favorite: the cardboard box. Parents always joke about how their kiddos play more with the box that toys came in than the actual toy. There’s truth in the joke, folks! The possibilities are endless! In fact, check out our recent Cardboard STEM Challenge!
Can’t get enough STEM? Check out these posts:
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So, tell me… what are your favorite STEM toys and activities? Share here!
This is a great collection of STEM toys and resources! Many of your family’s favourites have been our family’s favourites, too. 🙂 I hadn’t heard of Tinker Crate before, though — it will be perfect for my youngest son, especially over the summer months when boredom strikes. Thank you!! My guys are a little older (13 and 11) and they’re really into littleBits and Arduino now — those kits keep them busy for a long while.
Now I’m heading over to check out Arduino because I’ve never heard of it! Thanks so much for reading, Lisa! 🙂
Amazing collection of resources. We have free of these and are definitely our favorites. Guess this list will come handy when we are looking to buy something new!!! Thanks for sharing!