Using just drawing paper, a black sharpie marker, colored pencils and markers, these easy optical art projects are great for kids of all ages. What looks like advanced drawing techniques turn out to be quite simple. In fact, none of these projects require a steady hand or straight lines. Optical Wave Designs Julianna Kunstler’s step [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Make 
Tags: Art, colored pencils, DIY, drawing, easy drawing projects, kids art projects, markers 
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It’s durable. It’s colorful. It’s flexible. It’s duct tape. With a bit of inspiration and a lot of duct tape, you can fashion just about any kind of costume. Whether it be for Halloween, a history project, or pretend-play, there are tons of fun ideas for making costumes and accessories out of duct tape. Here [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Halloween Tags: costumes, Dress-up, duct tape, Halloween, How-to, Pretend-Play Comments Off
Who knew making a hydraulic arm from cardboard, duct tape and some water could be so much fun? A new book, Robotics: Discover the Art and Science of the Future, is our new favorite project book. With twenty projects sprinkled throughout the fact-packed book, there’s plenty of learning projects to keep things interesting. Learn more [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Books, Computer Programming, technology Tags: GeekMom, Project-based learning, Robotics, Robots, STEM, Wired Comments Off
Whether it’s for Halloween, a theatrical performance or just pretend-play, this handsome Roman short sword is fun and easy to make. And while kids get geared-up to make this fun sword, they’ll flex a bit of math for counting, measuring and scaling. Although this project is fairly easy to make, younger children will need help [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Halloween, Make Tags: costume, Halloween, Pretend-Play, Roman Sword Comments Off
There’s no reason to purchase expensive Star Trek uniforms or costumes when you can make your own version for a fraction of the cost. The process is simple and the most of the materials can be found at your local craft store. And for the price you’d pay for a store-purchased uniform shirt, why not [...]
Posted in Activities, Back to School, Eclectic Homeschooling, Halloween, Just for Fun Tags: Captain Kirk, costume, Halloween, outfit, Spock, Star Trek, Starfleet, uniform Comments Off
Summer is a great time to help your kids learn the value of money. Sure, your kids probably know how to count change, but they may not understand the value of money or appreciate what it takes to earn and save it. Why not use this summer to help your children really understand how to [...]
Posted in Activities, Money Tags: allownace, chores, earning money, financial management, fiscal, Money, saving money, spending Comments Off
Rainy day art projects, backyard adventures and culinary experiments are perfect activities for keeping your child’s imagination engaged; and who better to help you than Roald Dahl? James and the Giant Peach The Giant Peach – Grab a magnifying glass and study a peach together! This is a great way for a child to see [...]
Makerspaces have finally hit the mainstream. Even churches, schools, and libraries are incorporating makerspaces into their facilities so that community members; especially kids, can tinker, build, and hack toys, devices, and more to make something new. A Google search confirms the craze– the term makerspace returns 44,800 results. Beyond makerspaces, though, is the idea of [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Back to School, Homeschool, Make, Online Tools Tags: Art, DIY, hand-made, homeschool, make, makerspace, Project-based learning, tinkering Comments OffWhat a fabulous idea! DIY.org is an online community solely for kids (and their parents) to showcase their maker chops. Free to join, DIY.org gives kids tools to collect everything they make as they grow up and a place to share it. Founded by a group of young men who make all sorts of things, the [...]
Posted in Activities, Make, News, Online Tools Tags: craft, DIY, Do-it-yourself, homeschool, make, Project-based learning Comments Off
Regardless of your plans this summer, its always fun to make stuff. We’ve found several really easy Origami projects that even younger children will enjoy. Best of all, the resulting art is functional and beautiful. Our favorite project is the box with lid. Not only are these little boxes attractive, they are great for gift-giving, [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Back to School, Make, Math Tags: Art, make, origami, paper crafts, summer crafts Comments Off
