• Lifestyle

    Workman Publishing Halloween Giveaway

    I’m so excited to be working together with Workman Publishing (they have some absolutely amazing titles coming out on a regular basis – check ’em out!) to bring you my first ever Book Giveaway, just in time for the Halloween season! There are some amazing books that you could win in…

  • Activities,  Lifestyle

    Maker Monday: Squishy Circuits

    Our last Maker Monday workshop this summer was all about Squishy Circuits.  If you’re not familiar with Squishy Circuits, they were created at the University of St. Thomas as a basic way to teach children about circuitry through (basically) play dough. Two types of dough are created – one is…

  • Activities

    Maker Monday: Stop Motion Animation

    Our program is geared toward children entering 3rd – 6th grade in the fall.  We only register 20 kids for the program because we only have 10 iPads and with technology and science programs, less is more. This is our second Maker Monday program of the summer featuring our iPads…

  • Activities

    Maker Monday: Coding

    coding

    Our first Maker Monday was a lot of fun!  Our program is geared toward children entering 3rd – 6th grade in the fall.  We only register 20 kids for the program because we only have 10 iPads and with technology and science programs, less is more.  I’m always a little…

  • Activities

    Flannel Friday: Quack and Count

      I made some simple ducks using Microsoft Word shapes and the kids had fun adding up the ducks in different ways to always equal seven using the book Quack and Count by Keith Baker.  I put them all in a line on our flannel board and I made sure to…

  • Activities

    Crazy 8s Math Workshop – Math Fun for Everyone!

    We just finished an 8-week session of math classes with Bedtime Math’s Crazy 8s Club for students in 3rd – 5th grades.  I was a little worried that the kids would attend all eight weeks, but we registered 22 kids and had between 16-22 kids every week. The Bedtime Math…

  • Activities

    STEAM: Bristlebot Workshop

    Even with all the snow, we carried on and still offered a Bristlebot Workshop for kids in grades 4 – 8 on Monday night. I started off the program talking about circuitry and although it probably didn’t make the most sense, I think the kids figured out the difference between…

  • Activities

    DIY Spa & Game Night

    We had our holiday/end-of-the-semester party for our middle school students this week and the kids have been asking for another spa and game night, so that’s what we did!  We brought out a bunch of board games, card games and activities and provided a few stations for a spa night.…

  • Activities

    e-Tots, Educational and Fun!

    I have mixed feelings about using technology with little ones.  I love having Skype so that I can see my baby nephew who lives on the other side of the state, but it seems as though apps have taken over as “babysitters” in many cases.  But, if parents are using…

  • Activities

    Elementary STEAM: Popcorn Science

    popcorn

     Last week I offered a Popcorn Science class for our Fun Friday program.  I actually had two programs – the first for 2nd through 4th graders and the other for Kindergarten & 1st graders. The kids were beyond excited to eat the popcorn, but first I wanted to do a little…