Thanksgiving may not be a huge family affair this year, but KiwiCo is here to make sure your kiddos are entertained.
The STEAM project leader has curated several a la carte crates and free DIYs that will up your Thanksgiving activities in a big way. Designed for kids ages three to 16, there’s a little something for everyone this Turkey Day.
photo: KiwiCo
A few of KiwiCo’s offerings include the Science of Cooking: Bread & Butter kit ($19.95). The five and older kit helps kids discover the science of cooking while baking! Kiddos will have the tools to whip up baked goods and buttery spreads.
In addition to paid kits, you can get your hands on several free DIY activities, too! Check out turkey bowling for kids three to eight, and pumpkin powder for give to 16 year olds where kids can see how many volts a pumpkin can produce!
Science is for everyone, especially kids! Your little ones will have fun while learning about STEAM with Netflix’s new show Emily’s Wonder Lab. This live-action kids series hosted by Emily Calandrelli shares an awesome new science experiment or activity in every episode.
Packed with fun experiments on how to make rainbow bubbles and slime, Emily’s Wonder Lab is the perfect hands-on educational series for young kids as each episode features a new science experiment parents can replicate at home to safely engage the whole family.
Calandrelli posted on Instagram. “For many years I pitched science shows to large science networks and was unsuccessful. I would receive the feedback that ’the majority of our audience is male, so we just don’t know if they’d relate to a female host'”.
She continued, “But last year, Netflix picked up our science show, Emily’s Wonder Lab. I filmed the entire thing 9 months pregnant. So there is now a female-led science show on the biggest streaming platform in the world hosted by a pregnant woman – available world wide.”
The series is executive produced and hosted by Calandrelli.
Get the scoop on the pros and cons of a baby food maker, along with our top picks
Your baby is six months old. You’ve made it through the newborn stage, and maybe they’re sleeping through the night. It’s time for you to tackle another big milestone—solid foods. At this point, you’ll need to decide whether or not to buy pre-prepared purees or make homemade meals, and if you ask other parents if you need a baby food maker, be prepared to get some strong opinions, both for and against. But have no fear, we’ll help you with the answer. Read on to find out if a baby food maker is right for your family and which brands we recommend.
Why Some People Love Their Baby Food Maker
1. Making your own baby food is cheaper than buying store-bought baby food, and more environmentally friendly since there are fewer jars and pouches to throw away.
2. You can control exactly what your child is eating, making sure you give them a variety of nutrients and limit sugar, salt, and preservatives. You can cook up fruits, veggies, meat, and fish in your baby food maker, with any herbs and spices you like.
3. By pureeing foods that the rest of the family eats, you introduce your child at an early age to flavors they’ll be eating as they grow up.
4. Baby food makers are built with busy parents in mind. Some operate one-handed, and they have timers so you can set them to steam or blend and walk away until the food is ready to eat.
5. They have more longevity than you might think. You can use your baby food maker even if your child doesn’t eat baby food purees. Use it to steam veggies or make mashed potatoes or applesauce for your baby or the whole family. You can also use it to reheat chilled foods.
1. Buying, washing, chopping, steaming, pureeing, and storing baby food takes time, and not everybody has that. You also need to carve out time to clean the baby food maker and the reusable containers you store the food in, as well as plan out your menus and find baby food recipes.
2. Baby food makers are usually compact, but they’ll still take up space in your cupboards or on your countertop.
3. If you spend a lot of time outside your home on errands or adventures, you need to find a way to pack and refrigerate the foods you bring with you and heat them up when it’s time to eat. Store-bought foods are often shelf-stable and you can buy more as you’re out living your life.
4. If you already have a steamer and a blender or immersion blender, you can perform the same functions of a baby food maker, just with a bit more clean-up since baby food makers let you steam and blend in the same container.
BÉABA Babycook Baby Food Maker and Blender, $160
This powerhouse prepares up to 4.7 cups of food in 15 minutes or less, so you can bulk-cook or prepare food like soup or applesauce for the whole family. In addition to steaming and blending, you can defrost and reheat foods to a comfortable temperature for the baby. The unit can be used one-handed if you’re holding your baby, and it comes with a spatula, mixing lid/smoothie filter, and a recipe booklet. The Babycook Neo ($260) comes with a glass bowl and stainless steel basket and holds 5.2 cups of food.
Baby Brezza Glass Baby Food Maker, $173
The Baby Brezza has a 4-cup capacity and three modes: steam, blend, or steam automatically followed by blending. For convenience, you can steam and blend in the same glass bowl without any transferring.
Tommy Tippee Quick Food Baby Food Maker, $80
This compact, budget-friendly option lets you steam and blend up to 7 ounces of food in the same container for convenience. There’s also an included basket you can steam in if you want to remove the steaming liquid and blend up a chunkier puree for your child.
Make sure to capture all those adorable first-food moments—and share them with your family and friends near and far—with the Tinybeans app. The secure platform puts parents in total control of who sees and interacts with photos and videos of their kids.
STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math has been around for nearly two decades. Scientific administrators introduced the acronym in the early 2000s, and they integrated it into schools to encourage students to study these specific subjects. Since then, many other countries have followed suit and implemented STEM in their education systems. And while this has boosted math and science teachings, student engagement in these areas has declined.
Students in STEM fields in college were more likely to change their major after a few years. And math majors, in particular, changed their major the most, with 52% switching to something else. This phenomenon prompted policymakers to go back to the drawing board and search for the missing link, which they soon discovered was art. Now, educators are using a new curriculum, STEAM, to marry STEM and artistic craft and create inter-disciplinary studies that value both innovation and creativity.
Why Does STEM Need the Arts?
The art in STEAM represents visual arts, history, fine arts, music, social studies, and other creative studies. The point of combining art with different aspects of STEM is to enhance students’ skill sets. Kids need to learn this discipline to be more creative and imaginative in all other subjects. And as quickly as technology and other innovative fields are advancing, students need art-based skills to keep up within the industry.
And while some still argue that art isn’t valuable in the technology age, studies have shown that teaching art skills in schools have already proven beneficial for children. For example, one study found that students who took four years of art and music classes in high school scored 92 points higher on the SATs than those who only took a half year or less. Arts also increase a child’s motor, decision making, and creative skills, which, of course, they draw upon throughout life.
But how can educators integrate art into STEM? Some suggest creating new areas of study, which will undoubtedly happen as time goes on. However, teachers have already successfully integrated fine arts with STEM in existing classes, fields, and majors:
1. Design. Design is one field where art naturally fits into STEM. From video games to logos to buildings, this art form infiltrates nearly every area of our lives. It’s a prime example of how art can serve a practical function. In schools, teachers can implement STEAM through design by focusing on the artistic aspects of presentations, visual projects, computer graphics, and more. As students begin their college careers, those interested in design may study architecture, animation, cinematography, fashion, programming, and even photography.
Many schools have already begun to integrate design into their curriculums, and universities are beginning to offer more design-focused majors. Even museums are featuring innovative exhibitions that foster experiential learning in design and production. With this discipline on the rise, we’ll undoubtedly see more students choose it as their field of study.
2. Performing Arts. While the performing arts might not naturally coincide with STEM, they do provide students with experiences that may help them improve their science, math, technology, and engineering skills. For instance, professors teach collaboration and critical thinking in performing arts programs like drama and theater. Both skills are advantageous and sought after in STEM job fields like green energy, computer programming, and bioengineering.
We also see some aspects of the performing arts within STEM, albeit not as often as design. For example, playwrights and theater majors often use technical and persuasive writing in their work. Students often use these writing styles in the communication phase of the engineering process. So, although the two don’t seem similar, they do share a commonality through creativity.
3. Creative Planning. Another way the education system can integrate art into STEM is with creative planning. While this isn’t a class, per se, the components of creative planning are part of all STEM fields. Creative problem solving, thinking, and innovation all influence STEM and are incredibly important if students want to keep up within related industries.
For example, architecture requires people within the sector to brainstorm new designs and plans for buildings. From unique materials to different structural models, architects must think creatively with every project.
Moreover, innovation generally requires a creative mind. After all, it entails creating something new or improving an already-existing object or system. And to do that, STEM fields need creative thinkers and planners. Luckily, the arts can function as a training ground for these talents.
STEM & the Arts Fit Together
It is worth noting that the goal of art in STEAM isn’t to teach art to STEM students, although, in some cases, it does. However, those studying science, engineering, and other STEM-related subjects are already quite creative. They don’t lack ingenuity. So, the goal of integrating art into STEAM curriculums should be to teach students how to apply this subject in real-life situations. How can a student creatively solve a design issue? Or how might they use their creative teachings to help them better communicate their project plans?
With this in mind, educators can find a balance between STEM and the arts by integrating both within established fields of study like design, performing arts, and creative planning. However, art is also a natural component of many other STEM disciplines. However, finding ways to apply this creativity in real situations may be more difficult, especially in a classroom setting.
While policymakers and educators search for new ways to integrate the two subjects, one thing is certain—students deserve to learn about both equally. Merging these two types of education will allow students the space to think creatively, problem-solve, and develop essential skills which they can use in any field.
Of course, this union of differing subjects is also a major benefit to society as the nation continues to be a leader in design and innovation. Investing in the arts today will inevitably make for a brighter, more innovative future—for each individual and the entire world.
Jennifer Landis is a mom, wife, freelance writer, and blogger. She enjoys long naps on the couch, sneaking spoonfuls of peanut butter when her kid's not looking, and binge watching Doctor Who while her kid's asleep. She really does like her kid, though, she promises. Find her on Twitter @JenniferELandis.
Your kids will have fun building with the Sesame Street gang. Elmo and his friends are joining the Magna-Tiles family. Your little one can bring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and all their friends to life with these buildable magnetic pieces.
The all new Colors With Elmo Magna-Tiles set features all your favorite Sesame Street characters. This new construction toy will help your will help children learn their basic colors and shapes. These colorful double-sided pieces can make a variety of shapes. You can even use them to create a pencil holder,
The building possibilities are as endless as your child’s imagination. This toy will also strengthen their STEAM, fine motor and problem solving skills as they play.
Cookie Monster’s Shapes Magna-Tiles help children learn shape recognition and problem solving. Flip the tiles to create a giant cookie.
Sesame Street School Bus Magna-Tiles lets your little one practice counting numbers. Flip the tiles and build a bus that will take your little learners on a ride to a place “where the air is sweet”! The Sesame Street School Bus set helps build STEAM skills, allows your little ones to identify numbers, practice counting and number order and much more.
Colors with Elmo Magna-Tiles, Counting with Cookie Monster Magna-Tiles and Sesame Street School Bus Magna-Tiles are available at CreateOn.com. Each set retails for $39.99.
Kids science that involves candy, potato Technology, marble-run Engineering, Art with squirt guns and Math hopscotch? Today’s STEAM projects are all about the fun and they’ll ward off boredom to boot. Click through the gallery to get a few fun science projects for your little learners.
Science: Candy Density Experiment
This colorful experiment found on CandyExperiments teaches your little scientist all about density using candy as the main ingredient. What’s not to love about this weighty rainbow! Remember: the volume of sugar in each colored layer is the key to figuring out why the colors rise or sink.
photo: Allison Sutcliffe
What experiments are you up to? Share your ideas and photos by emailing Editor AT tinybeans.go-vip.net.
Homeschooled kids need to take time away from their screens to unwind and decompress. Last week, Popsicle began rolling out Virtual Recess, a new series of interactive Instagram livestreams, tutorials, storytelling and crafts that inspire families to get creative and play at home. They have partnered with top play experts, Story Pirates and Left Brain Craft Brain, to create this new program.
Parents and kids can tune into Virtual Recess on Popsicle’s Instagram Live every Tuesday and Thurs. at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. ET starting Tues., May 12 for new and exciting sessions.
Each original Virtual Recess activity is appropriate for kids ages 6-12, requires no special equipment or supplies, and can be completed in 20 minutes or less. Developed by Popsicle’s play expert partners, these activities are also specifically crafted to inspire kids to use their imaginations.
Create a new invention with Story Pirates, an educational media company that collects written works from kids across the country and adapts those stories into sketches and songs for their podcast. Send a top-secret spy message with Left Brain Craft Brain, a STEAM-based creator that explores scientific methods through art in creative and fun ways.
Follow Popsicle on Instagram for the latest Virtual Recess programming updates and check out Popsicle.com/playzone to access fun DIY crafts and games, all created to help imaginations flourish.
From the moment they learn how to shake their little Huggies-covered booty, kids will find any excuse to dance. But throw some flashing lights and apple-juice libations into the mix? You’ve got the hottest kiddies dance club on the block. Scroll down to find out how to create that VIP club vibe at home.
Photo: CirKiz
1.Break out ALL OF THE LIGHTS. Flashing bicycle lights, leftover glow sticks from Halloween, a string of Christmas lights—all that matters is that the daytime lights are switched off, and the party lights come ON. Make sure to draw the shades!
2. The ultimate playlist. Nothing kills the vibe like a stint of silence while you search for the next song. Make sure you have at least ten songs qued up and ready. Take a few requests before hand or just hit play on our ultimate playlist.
3.Let ’em dress themselves. Picking out that “going out” outfit is a rite of passage. Let them go nuts with the wardrobe, including accessories!
4. The Guestlist. Have your kiddos help you create a flyer for the party of the century. Have them hand it out to friends they want to cut a rug with.
5. Stock the bar. From apple juice topped with tiny tropical umbrellas to ginger ale with slices of orange, make sure there are a few specialty libations to keep them hydrated through the dance marathon.
6. Show your stamp. They may not get the reference, but it’s a scientific fact that littles love stamps. So give ’em a hand stamp as they enter the club. No ins and outs!
7. Play DJ. keep things interesting by helping to run the show. As the, um, seasoned club-goer, lead dance challenges (“everyone do the worm!”), call-and-response chants and host dance offs between dueling crews.
8. Bubbles, steam and smoke. Get your hands on a bubble gun or steam machine to take the party to 11.
9. Set up a photo booth. So much better than selfies! Set up a well-lit corner where kids can get silly with their buds (goofy costumes are a great addition) and snap a pic to remember this party forever!
10. Lounge lizards. Create a few cozy lounge areas where the kids can take a breather, sip their spritzer or chat up that cutie they met out on the dance floor.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate through the days of the week to finally emerge as a beautiful butterfly. Now your kids can reenact this story and other beloved tales by Eric Carle. The World of Eric Carle is launching 6 Magnatile story sets exclusively at Target starting March 1.
Products include the following beloved titles deconstructed on Magnatile pieces to create unique structures and encourage learning of numbers, colors, shapes and more.
Your mini master builder can take their LEGO creations to a whole new level with E-Blox.
The creative E-Blox kits bring your brick designs to life with sound, lights and movement. The sets feature bricks and modules which are compatible with LEGO bricks and designed to add innovative elements, like a robot with flashing eyes or an animal that makes sounds. E-Blox also come in sets kids can use to create STEAM-based projects like a real working FM radio or an airplane propeller that spins.
E-Blox features three different categories: Circuit Blox, Power Blox and Story Blox. You can also purchase sets of add-on bricks, which you can simply use together with your existing brick sets, like LEGO. The Circuit Blox line helps kids explore concepts like electricity, current and voltage with building projects that involve lights, alarms, switches and LED lights.
The Power Blox line, which can work in conjunction with the Circuit sets, enables builders to add an electrical element to their creations with the use of LED and tin-plated blocks. When they connect to a battery block for power, they’ll light up without any wires.
The Story Blox bring reading skills into use with an interactive storybook that features QR codes. When the codes are scanned they enable kids to research using online learning sources and use that knowledge to complete themed models connected to the story.
You can shop the entire E-Blox collection here, with sets ranging in price from $10.99 to $54.99.