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Happy Valentine's Day STEM Sparks! Here's a good STEM joke for you: "Watt is love? Baby don't Hertz me!" Anyway, we had a lot of fun...

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

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

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)

Welcome back STEM Sparkers! Hope you're ready for the perfect Thanksgiving science experiment: hopping corn! You'll Need a clear glass container popping corn water baking soda white vinegar food coloring (optional) Instructions 1) Fill your glass container with water and add a couple drops of food coloring. 2) Add your baking soda and stir well until it is all dissolved. 3) Add a small handful of popping corn kernels. 4) Add the vinegar and watch the corn start to hop up and

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

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

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

Happy Father's Day here in the States! We love celebrating and gift giving here at STEM Spark, so of course we have STEM inspired gifts for the father in your life. And since STEM Spark loves gift giving, we're giving away one of the sweetest, STEM related, father related picture books out there. Giveaway info below, and we hope everyone enjoys the holiday! (What did the dad angle say to the kid angle? I'm always right. 😏) 1) Circuit tie card from Makerspaces : 2) Person

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 unofficial holiday celebrating the Star Wars franchise. It was derived by fans and is a pun on a famous line from Star Wars, May the Force Be With You. And I can't think of a more STEAM inspired holiday than May the Fourth-- there's so many fun STEAM crafts and activities to celebrate the day! One of the STEAM crafts we did here at STEM Spar

Plastic eggs are soon to be filled with goodies as Easter approaches here in the States, and if you're like me, you wonder what you can do with all the leftover plastic eggs. Last year, Jack and I reused our plastics eggs as a counting game; see our video here . This year we're covering the art and engineering part of STEAM by remaking our plastic eggs into parachutes. Read on for how to do this eggcellent (yep, I went there) STEAM project! You'll Need Plastic Eggs Pipe Cl

Our STEM Spark friend Stephanie B. (hi Stephanie!) suggested that we do the edible science experiment rain cloud in a jar, and although we've done this one a few times before, we couldn't think of a better month to finally share the experiment with the rest of our STEM Spark friends! Because April brings April showers; or in our case, rain clouds in jars! You'll Need Clear jar Water Canned Whipped Cream (like Reddi Whip) Blue Food Coloring Instructions 1. Fill the clear jar

Dr. Seuss Day, aka Read Across America Day, is on March 2nd this year! And I can't think of a better way to celebrate than by making some Non-Newtonian Fluid, aka Oobleck ! The Oobleck can also be dyed green, making it a great St. Patrick Day's science experiment as well! You'll Need Box of Corn Starch Water Measuring cups A Bowl or Pie Tin Spoon Food coloring (optional) Paper towels, paper ads, paper table cloth, or newspaper to cover your working surface to make clean up e

For some more STEM-entine's fun, I've made a quick video tutorial on how to make a Lego heart! This Lego heart is geared towards people whose dexterity is limited; so like preschoolers, arthritis patients (like me), the elderly and so on. Plus, the bricks should be easy to find in any Lego stash or store. I think it will make for a fun STEM project to do with your family and friends on Valentine's Day, so have fun building the heart STEM Sparkers! You won't wanna Lego of t

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

Wow, 2019 is right around the 90 degrees (get it? 90 degrees is a corner, haha)! I sincerely hope everyone had a few highs and good times in 2018, and as you ring in the New Year, may you enjoy this STEM/STEAM inspired activity! Happy Holidays and a Very Merry Happy New Year to all the STEM Spark readers. You'll Need: Balloons Toilet Paper Tubes or Paper Towel Tubes Scissors Tape Colored paper (optional for decorating outside of tubes) Stickers (optional for decorating out

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell slime Jingle bells chime in jingle bell slime Twisting and stretching on Jingle Bell slabs In the frosty lab What a bright time, it's the right time To count with an aardvark Jingle bell slime is a swell time To go sciencing with Annie and STEM Spark Alright now that that is out of my system, we recently did a holiday twist on classic slime by adding jingle bells, glitter and glitter stickers to the classic slime recipe listed below (hey

For US Thanksgiving, I put together a printable Turkey Tangram! Our kiddo loves doing tangram puzzles at his preschool, and when I saw the turkey one at school, I knew I had to make one for STEM Spark! It's a great Thanksgiving STEM activity, and if you're looking for more, check out my Fall STEM Activities board here . Happy Thanksgiving, gobble, gobble! Click here to download the tangram file or head on over to the STEM Spark shop !

STEM Spark loves Halloween! But besides eating all our candy, what kind of STEM activity could we use our candy for? We can use our Halloween candy for a math exercise, of course! Just click here to download the free STEM Spark Counting Candy Worksheet! If you have leftover candy corn, enjoy this worksheet from Math Geek Mama! You can also do a fun science experiment with your jack-o-lantern/pumpkin from Halloween: see this video ! And for more STEM ideas with a fall t