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Happy 2020 STEM Sparkers! I think there's some 20-20 vision joke in there somewhere, but it's been a busy week here at STEM Spark, so my mind is a little melted (haha, that's a joke related to snowpeople, get it?). Anyway, this week Jack and I did a fun science experiment where we had a Ziplock bag burst because of carbon dioxide. And to make it more seasonal, we first drew snowmen (or maybe snowpeople?) faces on the Ziplocks. Read below on how to make your own exploding.

Wow STEM Sparkers the end of the year is upon us! And of course here at STEM Spark we're celebrating the end of the year with math jokes (What did the person get for shoplifting a calendar? They got 12 months! Har, har, har!) and science experiments including this Confetti Eruptions experiment! You'll Need Baking Soda Vinegar Confetti (or glitter) Plastic (or glass) champagne cups Spoon Tray (or bowl) Measuring cup (or other cup for vinegar) Instructions 1. Put plastic cham

Ho to the 3rd power STEM Sparkers! 'Tis the season to fa la to the 3rd power! Okay, enough 3rd power math puns there, it's time to make some Crystal Pipe Cleaner Ornaments using Borax powder and boiling water. This STEM (or STEAM) Activity is a great way to decorate for the holidays! You'll Need Pipe Cleaners Glass Jar Water Borax (powder form) Pencil Measuring cups/spoons Instructions 1. Create ornament shape using pipe cleaner. I made a spiral using a pencil and Jack ma

Welcome back STEM Sparkers to our holiday STEM product reviews and giveaways! The product we're reviewing this week was recommended to us by a few of our engineering friends, and I have to say, it's a pretty cool STEM product: it's the the Kamigami Robot Lina Ladybug! But before we jump into this review, a little robot humor. What kind of droids live at the North Pole? Snobots! Har, har, har (groan)! Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it? Jack keep asking when w

Happy Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Festivus for the rest of us STEM Sparkers! To celebrate these wonderful holidays, we're giving away a Goldiblox DIY Glowing Unicorn Pillow! I mean, nothing sparks STEM joy like a light up unicorn pillow, am I right? And it is one sharp pillow (get it? alright let's move on)! Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it? Jack was very excited when he opened the mail box the pillow kit came in. He screamed Unicorn Pillow! I was also v

Alright, it's that time of year again where STEM Spark recommends some STEM books for your Black Friday and other holiday shopping. But not only is STEM Spark recommending these books, we're raffling off a bundle of these books to one lucky STEM Spark reader! First up will be STEM book recommendations for kids, and then make sure to scroll all the way through to the bottom for your chance to win the book giveaway! STEM Books for Kids: STEM books for YA: And finally STEM book

STEM Sparkers, I can't believe the holidays are right around the corner (here in the US)! We have all these grand plans again to review products and give them away from now until the New Year here at STEM Spark, so... let's get to it! No time to waste! Unless your Santa Claus or Hermione Granger or Doctor Who or etc and can manipulate time. Anyway, first up is the Lego BrickHeadz Thanksgiving Turkey. Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it? I showed Jack the box and

Gobble, gobble! Jack and I had a lot of fun with this Flying Turkey STEM/STEAM activity-- releasing a balloon and hearing it make that swish, pffft sound is fun for kids and adults (I giggle every time at that pffft sound, haha), The anticipation of flight and a successful launch is exciting too! Below is how to build your own Flying Turkey. You'll Need Balloon Turkey Print Out (I found mine in MS Word) Tape Makers, crayons, or colored pencils (optional) Instructions 1)

Halloween is in STEM Spark's top 100 holidays (give or take 100; is that not the most engineering thing to say? ha), and we love doing STEM and STEAM related activities for Halloween (I mean, STEM is in the blog's name). So image how happy we were to find Geek& Co's Glow Stick Lab-- we could make our own glow sticks for tricking or treating on Halloween night! Science meets Halloween, swoon! Read below for our review on the lab and then a little further (further, yep right

A couple of weeks ago, Jack, Bobby and I went to Disneyland's Oogie Boogie Bash. Unfortunately tickets are sold out, but you can read more here if interested for next year. I recommend going once if you're not that far away as the Halloween themed bash at Disneyland is super fun and of course spooktacular (insert groan)! We had a lot of fun trick or treating, riding the coasters, and costume watching! People get really inventive in their Disney and non-Disney costumes duri

STEM Spark friends and family, you may recall that a little over a year ago, I went about indie publishing my book Annie Aardvark: Adding Ants and creating a Kickstarter campaign to help with the illustration costs (you can check out the Kickstarter post here if that tickles your fancy). It was a dream come true to receive support from friends and family to have successfully funded Kickstarter and even better to see the book actually published. I feel #blessed and my sincer

Hi STEM Sparkers! We're very excited here at STEM Spark; we got to interview the co-author of Everyday Superheros:Women in STEM Careers (you can check out STEM Spark's review of the book here ), Erin Twamley! Below is a little bit about Erin, followed by our interview. Author Erin sharing her non-fiction children's books Erin Twamley is an educator and author. She is dedicated to engaging the next generation of learners in protecting and creating a sustainable planet thro

Let's fall for STEM! We're celebrating fall with this apple related science experiment [insert groan at our earlier pun], so grab that perfect fall accessory, the apple, and let's make it erupt! You'll Need Apple Baking Soda Vinegar Pan/Plate/Bowl Knife and Spoon Food coloring (optional) Instructions 1) Cut a hole on top of the apple using a knife (note: adults this is your queue to cut, and we hold no responsibility for your cutting technique), and then scoop out the rest

Hello STEM Sparkers! Welcome back to the Back to School Book Reviews; this one is the last one which means this post contains the Amazon e-gift card giveaway! The final book STEM Spark is reviewing is Stardust Explores Earth's Wonders . Hope you're ready for this review-- there's a quiz, I mean giveaway, at the end! You can check out the other Back to School Book Reviews here and here . Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it? Jack seemed interest in this book w

Welcome back STEM Sparkers for the next back to school book review! This time STEM Spark is reviewing the fun, STEM chapter book Mia Marcotte and the Robot written by Jeanne Wald and illustrated by Saliha Caliskan. It's definitely a book you want to download to your ROM (see what I did there? made a robot/computer joke)! We did receive an e-copy of Mia Marcotte and the Robot in exchange for our honest opinion of the book. Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it? I

Hello fellow STEM Sparkers! It's back to school time here in Phoenix, so we're loading up on fish. Oh wait, not a school of fish, school that teaches students, K-12. Now that the pun is out of the way, we'll be doing some back to school book reviews of various STEM children books during the whole month of August. Stick us through the end of the month because we plan to raffle of an Amazon gift card so that one lucky STEM Sparker can buy one of these cool STEM books that

Shark Week is coming up soon, and STEM Spark has some very good friends who love Shark Week. So to help our friends celebrate their love of Shark Week, STEM Spark came up with a Frozen Shark Dig STEAM Activity! You'll Need Tiny Plastic Shark Figures Water Bowl Plate/Tray Spoon Salt Instructions 1) Place tiny plastic shark figures in bowl. 2) Pour water in bowl over the sharks. 3) Freeze the water/sharks for 3-4 hours. 4) Remove frozen water/sharks from bowl onto a plate or t

Hello STEM Sparkers! Things have been a little hectic at STEM Spark HQ as we prepare for a move, but among all the chaos, we haven't forgotten to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the Moon! NASA is of course celebrating, and you can check out all their cool celebrations here . Jack choose to celebrate the Moon landing by building his own spaceship out of cardboard boxes. Bobby and I were so busy helping him that I forgot to snap photos for how to build

STEM Spark wishes you a Happy Summer!!! Summer usually means more swimming for us here at STEM Spark, and we have the perfect STEM activity for swimming-- a pool noodle math game! It's guaranteed to make your math happy kid grin and your language happy kid groan. You'll Need A Foam Pool Noddle Scissors or Exacto Knife Permanent Marker Instructions 1) Cut the pool noodle into 10 pieces. This step should probably be done by an adult since scissors or an Exacto knife are in

Jack loves rainbows! I love rainbows! Scientists loves rainbows! I mean there are so many science websites out there explaining the science of rainbows (here's one from How Stuff Works ), which is totally great for explaining rainbow science to children. But what is even better than explaining the science of rainbows is making an edible rainbow out of candies! You'll Need Skittles Water A light colored plate (best for full rainbow color) Instructions 1) Arrange the Skittles