What’s great about these activities are that they require minimal supplies. All I had to get from the store was some balloons. Everything else I just gathered from the recycle bin or utility drawer.

STEM with Balloons: Hovercraft Engineering Challenge

The first activity we tried was to make a hovercraft. I’ve always wanted to try this! I used regular party balloons for this challenge and collected some recyclables and tools like scissors and tape. First I talked about what a hovercraft was and how it moved with air pushing underneath of it to let it travel above the ground. I let my daughter choose what materials we used to create our first hovercraft.

This challenge would definitely work well as an independent activity for older children. I had to be very hands-on to help my daughter with her concept (she’s 6yrs old).

The first hovercraft we tried was with a coffee filter. My daughter cut a hole in the middle and we put the blown up balloon through so that the coffee filter made a dome on the bottom v.s. a bowl. FAILED! We discovered that the coffee filter was too light and just flew around every which way when my daughter let the balloon go. That got lots of giggles, but not what we were going for.

Next we tried half of a plastic egg. We popped a lot of balloons because the egg was sharp where we cut so we had to put tape around the edges to prevent the balloons from popping. This hovercraft also FAILED! It didn’t stand up so it just fell over and so the air could not get underneath of it to push it up.

Finally my daughter cut some plastic from a strawberry container. We used the short lid that made a little space underneath with you put it on the ground where the air could go and lift it up. It was wider than the egg so that it wouldn’t fall over. That worked! It didn’t go very far, but it was fun to find what a hovercraft would need to be able to fly right. We also tried the larger part of the strawberry container so that there was more space underneath and that worked too. We were so happy we found something that flew! lol (Make sure you check out the video below!)

STEM with Balloons: Submarines

Next we tried a simple experiment with water balloons! We filled a container with water to experiment. I just let the kids play and fill their own water balloons because I didn’t want this activity to be so hands on. They quickly found out how fun it was to fill them and let them go in the bin under the water. I sparked up conversation by asking them simple questions like, “Are the balloons sinking or floating?”, “Why are they moving around?”, “Which balloon moves the most?”.

My daughter experimented by putting some plastic eggs on the balloons like we did with the hovercrafts. She put them on differently and then tested to see which one was faster.

We will definitely be doing the water balloons again soon because the kids could do it all on their own and they had tons of fun; all while experimenting and learning through play! Which one will you try with your kids?

Join us for amazing outdoor STEM activities all month long!

You can find a list of 31 activities & experiments we’re doing each day during the 31 Days of Outdoor STEM hosted by Little Bins for Little Hands.

Want more ideas for teaching STEM? You might like 10 Ways to Teach STEM!

The post Outdoor STEM with Balloons first appeared on True Aim.

10 Ways to Teach STEM

1. Join a 4-H Club

The 4-H science program offers youth to experience STEM through fun hands on activities and projects. Focus areas include robotics, biotechnology, veterinary science and more! 4-H inspires leadership by allowing young adults to take charge of their STEM projects, meet deadlines, and work with their peers. It’s the perfect club to join to encourage these traits in your children!

2. Learn about distance and mathematical equations with a life sized Angry Birds game

No doubt your kids have played or at least heard of Angry Birds sometime in their life. Learn how this school teaches velocity and distance with a real life version of Angry Birds! For a smaller project, you can also create a mini version.

3. Learn about binary codes with bracelets

Create these birthday bracelets inspired by binary codes. Binary codes are how computers transmit information ­ all with the numbers 0 and 1. Complete with a free printable, this activity was designed for ages 6 and 4, but can easily be used with older grades, as a basic introduction to binary numbers ­ with their birthdays.

4. Study weather

Study the weather with these 50 science/STEM weather activities. From how ice grows to how rainbows appear; use these hands­ on tutorials as guides for student ­led learning.

5. Get coding!

The best way to practice coding is well, start coding! Code Academy is a fantastic free and easy program that offers courses in multiple coding languages; and relies more on actually coding than reading endless tutorials.

6. Involve their favorite films

Explore chemistry with these Big Hero 6 inspired activities, or make artificial snow inspired by Disney’s Frozen, or create Star Wars inspired light sabers with homemade glow in the dark slime!

7. Read books and movies involving STEM

Anyone interested in STEM knows the road to success is often incredibly rough and full of challenges. One of my all time favorite movies is Disney’s Meet the Robinsons. Not only is it an entertaining kids movie full of STEM, but it’s packed full of valuable lessons ­ keep moving forward ­ an important lesson in STEM and in life. Other movies, such as Big Hero 6 and The LEGO Movie, can also create an interest in STEM.

Biographies of inventors, such as Who Was Albert Einstein? and the gorgeously illustrated Young Thomas Edison, show the limitless possibilities of STEM in real life situations.

4-H Also has STEM Curriculum backed by more that 110 top tier universities!

8. Create a lemonade stand

Help kids understand the more practical points of mathematics ­ financials ­ by creating a lemonade stand! With this free printable pack, learn about profit and loss, while growing entrepreneurship skills.

9. Explore

With STEM, education is limitless. Here are 30+ ways to teach science without a textbook. Shows like How It’s Made, and the limitless number of museums, aquariums, and zoos make science painless. More often than not, resources for an intense science project can be found in your kitchen or backyard!

10. Involve technology

Often, technology is looked upon as a negative in our society. For me; the opposite couldn’t be more true. I’ve learned more about history from Pinterest and mathematics from Google than strictly non­Internet learning could ever offer. Don’t be afraid of using apps or YouTube channels to encourage STEM learning! STEM can encourage educational technology use; plus encourages a healthy balance and moderation.

School­ based learning can often be viewed as useless ­but STEM proves just the opposite. As kids explore STEM; they begin to learn practical life skills; curiosity, creativity, communication, problem solving, and leadership. They learn how to learn, and teach themselves; a vital skill in college. They gain valuable skills as they become computer savvy; a must in today’s world.

Kids and Teens Using STEM to change the world:

• Fourteen year old Robert Nay from Utah, who created his first website in third grade. By fourteen, he created the app Bubble Ball; which was downloaded over two million times in two weeks, and even knocked Angry Birds out of Apple’s coveted first place spot in the Free Apps section.
• Brandon Boynton, a seventeen year old from Indiana, used his self coding knowledge to create the BullyBox App, an app that allows students to anonymously report bullying.
• Indian teen Shubham Banerjee recently made national headlines for creating a Braille printer out of LEGOs at age thirteen.
• A trio of ninth grade girls from Ireland won Google’s Science Fair in 2014. With homemade equipment; they conducted germination and growth experiments for eleven months. Their ultimate goal? Help the global food crisis.
• Through talks, demonstrations, workshops and interviews, Thaddeus Hughes, 2016 STEM Pillar Winner, has engaged more than 6,000 youth in the wonders of science. He has been a mentor for FIRST Lego League and the Illinois State Robotics Competition for four years. Simultaneously, he developed an afterschool program through the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension called Spinning Robots in which he taught 50 middle schoolers basic circuitry and how to build simple robots.

Nominate a young STEM leader you know in your community! Click here to find out how you can empower them to lead the next generation.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of 4-H. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post 10 Ways to Teach STEM and Inspire Leadership first appeared on True Aim.

Welcome to Mom’s Library!

Filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

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Check out last week’s Mom’s Library for Fun with Pumpkins!

This Week’s Featured Posts…

Bottle Cap Busy Bag Ideas

I’m saving up my lids so I can make some of these! What a great way to reuse something that I can’t recycle.

Sometimes Getting Mad is the Right Thing to Do

I love this bible lesson and activity! There are certain things that should make you mad and it is actually a good thing!

Awesome Stem Learning Activities

I’m a sucker for science, math and engineering. If I could skip reading and writing in my homeschool I would!

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The post Free Resources for Moms: Mom’s Library #112 first appeared on True Aim.