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I'm so excited! I'm on a panel for Phoenix FanFusion called "Take Chances, Make Mistakes, Get Messy! Fun DIY Science Projects." I'm on...

That's right, we're celebrating May the Fourth here at STEM Spark! For those of you unfamilar with May the Fourth Be With You, it's an...

Happy Earth Day fellow STEM Sparkers! There are so many great ways to celebrate our wonderful Earth, and here on STEM Spark we can't...

Hello STEM Sparkers! STEM Spark hopes you all are enjoying your March and Women's History Month. This week's post combines our love of...

STEM Spark loves Women in STEM. STEM Spark loves NASA. STEM Spark loves Lego. So put them all together, and STEM Spark loves the Women...

Hello STEM Sparkers! It's actually been below freezing at STEM Spark headquarters, and may I dare say almost like a real winter? Okay, it's probably more like a real fall. And I can only image our Mid-West friends laughing and shaking their heads at us Phoenicians and our desire to play with snow, even if that snow is human-made from the Frozen Science kit! Will your kids like it and/or will you hate it? I saw the Frozen Science kit on sale at Target, and I thought since

As we make plans for the new year, I want to encourage everyone reading STEM Spark to include STEM or STEAM activities into their 2019 plans. And I think one of the best ways to do so is with a STEM/STEAM subscription monthly subscription box like Kiwi Crate , Mel Science or Green Kid Crafts ! Now, we've only tried out Kiwi Crate in our house (thanks Auntie T for a subscription; you know us well!), but Mel Science and Green Kid Crafts look like they'll be just as fun as Kiwi

This summer I came across Tegu Travel Pals, and I was excited to get one for Jack-- it's a wooden, magnetic tangram puzzle that one can take anywhere! Well, we finally got around to trying ours out last night, and you can see Jack and mine's review below. STEM Spark is also raffling of the exact same Tegu Travel Pals Spaceship; see directions below! Happy STEM-i-days! Will your kid(s) like it, or will you (the adult) hate it (that it don't matter if they like it)? Jack lov

Hello! So I've already reviewed magnetic building blocks/magnetic tiles on this post, but I feel like this STEM toy is so popular right now that I want to do another giveaway of the magnetic tiles for the holidays. It will make a great gift under the tree! Here's the overall review summary of this toy: "So in summary, I'd give this STEM product a 4.5 out 5. Very fun and easy to build with and to learn about different shapes, as well as they come with their own carrying ca

Thanksgiving is upon US (United States that is), and that also means Black Friday shopping and gift giving to kids at various holiday events. And if you're looking for a small gift for kids, I'd like suggest a book instead of toy, and in particular, a book that has a STEM component it. We are after all about the STEM, about that STEM, about that STEM over here on STEM Spark, so admittedly I think we all knew I where I was going with this STEM books for the holidays thing.

The winter holidays are right around the corner, so that means we'll be doing a lot of STEM toy and product reviews here at STEM Spark. And a lot of giveaways! So make sure you are following STEM Spark closely for the next month. First review and giveaway for the holidays is Builder Barbie! Here's a reminder of the questions I use for my reviews (although I may be doing shorter answers to these questions so I can do more reviews for the month, so that I can do more giveaway

I had a scary dream, but with a happy ending, the other night. My family and I were flying somewhere overseas (the destination I forget, but it's not relevant to the story). We're on a 747, so it's commercial flight with 300 something passengers. All of sudden, we have to make a crash landing on the sea. Luckily, our pilots manage to land use on the ocean with minimal damage. Passengers have bumps and scraps, but no major injures. And no deaths (woo subconscious for makin

I'm very excited to continue with the Harry Potter theme, and this time with a STEM product review of the Lego Harry Potter Hogwarts Express (train)! Mostly because I love Lego and I love Harry Potter, but also because I get to raffle off a Lego Harry Potter Aragog's Lair set to one lucky reader! Woot! But before I get ahead of myself, as this is my second product review, a reminder of the questions I use for my reviews: Will your kid(s) like it, or will you (the adult)

Hello STEM Spark readers! I’m excited for today’s post, as it’s STEM Spark’s first guest post! I have invited my friend and colleague H.A. Burns to pen the first guest post—Burns and I know each other through the Society of Women Engineers. Besides both being engineers, we’re both authors. While I write children’s picture books, Burns writes science fiction books. And her sci-fi books are pretty cool, imagining a future with cyborgs designed with the aid of viruses and bacter

Okay, this STEM product review of magnetic building blocks (or as I call them, magnetic tiles) is the first product review here on STEM Spark, and quite frankly my first written review for the internets to read (yes, I know the proper name is Internet, but internets is kind of fun to say) . Generally, when people ask me if I like a toy or product, I respond with a "yeah, I like it", or "meh, it was okay", or "I didn't really like it". I haven't typically elaborated on why I

Hello! Welcome to my new blog, STEM Spark! Thank you for virtually being a part of the launch for STEM Spark! I'm Suzie Olsen, engineer, author/writer, mother (of humans, not dragons), wife, lover of pun jokes, and so on. While I'm not new to the blog-o-sphere (https://momeezee.blogspot.com/), this blog is a new platform for me to focus on everything in my life that is science, technology, engineering, and math. Hence the STEM part in STEM Spark. I'll be writing about wh