Teaching kids fun STEM facts and interesting science facts is a great way to get children excited about science. This offers them an opportunity to obtain brief and memorable information on how the world works and why things are the way they are – from planets to plants, to animals and the human body!
In our rapidly changing world, STEM holds great potential for the future, and definitely seems like it is here to stay. With the right approach and activities, you can help your kids engage with STEM learningfrom young ages.
We have prepared a list of fun facts about STEM that you can share with your children to astonish them and spark interest in different fields. We hope you enjoy our selection of random science facts!
Mindfulness is a great tool for us adults to find balance in our hectic life – but what about the little ones? Surely you don’t have to talk to children about the deeper, complex philosophical foundations of Buddhist and Hindu teachings. However, there are proven benefits to starting early.
The key is to choose age-appropriate methods that will help them enjoy the practice. What does that entail? What do we mean when we talk about mindfulness for kids? Keep reading to find out and discover fun mindfulness activities for kids!
What is mindfulness for kids?
Emotional and mental self-regulation skills are learned at young ages, and this is where mindfulness activities for kids come into the picture. Mindfulness for kids is about teaching them how to pay attention to the present moment, to their body and their surroundings. It equips them with tools for self-awareness, self-acceptance, and confidence, and how to shift their attention amidst the distractions of everyday life.
Simple mindfulness meditation exercises can support children’s healthy development and set them up for success in their adult life.
Importance of Mindfulness Exercises for Kids
The overall positive effects of meditation on psychological and cognitive well-being have been proven in clinical trials and research. But what about the importance of mindfulness for kids?
Research suggests that the same benefits apply to adults and children alike. Here are some of the myriad benefits of mindfulness that can help you and your children:
Here is a fun mindfulness exercise consisting of mindful breathing and a bit of mathematics! Ask your child to inhale deeply while counting up to 4, then pause for another 4, and exhale up to a count of 4. Finally, count to another 4 after emptying the big breath to complete your “square”.
If you want, you can increase the count for a deeper, more engaging breath. This exercise is especially great when they are feeling stressed or dealing with a difficult emotion. (It also helps us adults when our wounded inner child takes over!)
Mindfulness Walk in Nature
Taking long walks in the nature has proven benefits on the mind. It’s a great opportunity to let the mind take a break and indulge in the calming effect of natural surroundings. Especially when we are stuck in our routine commute between work/school and home, confined between four walls for the majority of our days!
Plan a “scavenger hunt” list beforehand, with goals to notice certain kinds of animals and plants on your walk. This will help your child be more attentive to their surroundings, and make it a fun, gamified exercise. You can even encourage them to keep a journal and write their observations regularly.
Engage the Five Senses
Holistic mindfulness exercises help ground the mind in the body and the physical environment. A great way to do this is targeting the five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell, and sound. There is no single recipe to do this. But the essential idea is to stimulate the senses, and perhaps isolate one sense at a time.
One example is a blindfolded taste test, trying to guess the flavour by smelling and eating the sample. The blindfold can be kept on and used for the similar experience, but with sounds. Have your child guess the source and location of a sound inside the house (or perhaps outside).
Mindful Poses
You probably heard of “power posing” and how it can boost your confidence and mood. Why not encourage your child to give the art of mindful posing a go? You can try classic yoga poses such as the warrior(s), happy baby, child’s pose. Or the “superhero” pose—let them stand tall with their feet a little wider than hip-width, with hands placed on their hips or reached to the sky. Ask them if they notice any changes in their mind afterwards, and watch them unleash their inner superhero!
Scan the Body
The body scan meditation aims to bring mindful attention towards the body, and helps release tension. You can opt for this exercise especially before bedtime to offer your child a calm, peaceful sleep. It consists of laying down in a silent room, taking deep breaths and focusing on different parts of the body one by one.
Guide them to focus on the feet, legs, belly, chest, hands, arms, the back, neck, shoulders, face, and finally head. For extra relaxation, you can ask them to gently squeeze the muscles they are focusing on, hold for a few seconds, then release.
How do you practice mindfulness in children?
You might be thinking, “I can’t even them to sit through a feature film, how can I introduce my child to mindfulness?” It surely takes patience, but there are many ways to teach mindfulness to kids. With their ever-curious minds, they are naturally inclined to focus on details of the present. All they need is a little guidance.
The question is, then, not whether they can practice mindfulness, but how to encourage mindfulness in kids. Let’s go through some of the best practices to guide your child in building a habit of mindfulness:
Lead by example
Children are like mirrors of their caretakers. They see the adults around them as embodying the ideal ways to go through life. In other words, what you do is what you will get. Especially for smaller children, how you act in your everyday life, how you approach emotionally challenging situations can have a moulding effect.
Even if it is small breathing exercises or stopping for a moment of gratitude meditation, make sure that you integrate mindfulness in your daily life. Whenever possible, explain to your child what you are doing and how it may help.
Make it a routine
The mind, like the rest of the body, is essentially all muscle. To maintain the muscles in good condition, you need consistency. Just like regular exercise is essential to keep up the overall condition of the body, mindfulness exercises also work much better with regular practice. Allocating a specific time in the day, for at least 5-10 minutes, will ensure a healthy regularity. The key is to show up for it, even on difficult days.
Do it together
Families that practice mindfulness together, stay serene together! When it comes to trying out new things, children love being supported by family members. Take this opportunity to make it a fun activity for some quality family time. You can try parent-children yoga or meditation classes, or try out simple exercises at home together. Reflecting on the experience afterwards will create space for deeper conversations and bonding.
Support the practice with games, videos, apps
Children nowadays have an attention span that’s hard to capture, and it may be a good idea to get support for the exercises. There are plenty of great resources created and curated by experts in mindfulness for kids. Guided meditation apps and videos and mindfulness games appropriate for their age can be very useful.
Recognize and validate emotions
To make mindfulness a consistent part of everyday life, you should encourage the practice of emotional self-acceptance and validation. The way caretakers respond to children’s emotions shape their inner responses. Hence, if you want your child to listen to their body and mind, accept it as it is, you should practice the same thing in your relationship. Make it a regular routine to check on your child’s emotions, talk about them and recognize them. Let them know whatever they feel is valid, and that they are worthy of love and acceptance as they are.
In today’s world, the importance of STEM education goes far beyond classrooms, laboratories, and workplaces designated for these branches. Our daily life and relationship with the world are predominantly determined by the insights of STEM.
The four letters and the disciplines they represent (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) may seem intimidating. One might think, sceptically, at first glance: “How can younger children who don’t yet know basic mathematical concepts be introduced to STEM?”
Where there’s a will, there is a way! And especially in the case of the powerful cross-disciplinary universe of STEM, there are plenty of ways. Whether they have just started preschool or they are heading towards middle school, all children can build a fun and nurturing relationship with STEM.
In this article, we will take a look into what STEM education means for kids, how it can be applied in the learning processes of younger children, and the importance of STEM education in elementary schools and preschools.
What is STEM education for kids?
STEM education includes all sorts of professional and preparatory training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. For adults, this means a more pragmatic and professional skills-oriented kind of education. When we talk about STEM education for kids, it’s a slightly different story.
Surely every child is unique in their interests and talents. But a universal feature shared by children of all ages and backgrounds is a natural curiosity. For kids, STEM education precisely targets this. It nurtures children’s curiosity into an organic interest in science and builds the foundations of mental and motor skills that can later be matured into professional STEM expertise.
What does STEM stand for in preschool and primary education?
STEM stands for the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. As with all other educational journeys, the best time to start STEM learning is in early childhood. The first five years of human life are especially critical for cognitive development.
Of course, this does not mean teaching Java or other coding languages to preschoolers who don’t yet have any literacy skills. The importance of STEM education in elementary schools and preschool comes from laying the foundations for more advanced STEM skills. In fact, STEM education for primary school students starts from real-life scenarios and easily accessible materials which will help them relate to and get engaged with more complex topics.
With an amalgamation of learning and play, children are introduced to basic STEM concepts and encouraged to adopt a scientific mindset. Hands-on learning experiences enable younger kids to ask questions, explore the answers through trial and error, and build analytical skills such as problem-solving and reasoning.
Why is STEM education so important?
STEM education benefits pre-elementary and elementary stage children in so many ways. A well-rounded education is expected to prepare children to succeed and prosper later in life. For 21st-century individuals, STEM is no longer just a field of expertise, but very much embedded in daily life. Even in today’s world, basic STEM competence and digital literacy are among commonly sought features in the skilled workforce.
The United Nations have included STEM education and literacy as a key factor in accomplishing the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is thus fair to say that the importance of STEM education has been recognized as a motor for global sustainable development and prosperity, especially in the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, science and maths continue to be compelling courses for many primary students who have a hard time enjoying the abstract concepts and relations between the ideas. With quality STEM education, these obstacles in earlier school levels can be overcome, and the creative potential of students can be unlocked.
Importance of STEM education implementation in elementary schools
STEM education is a lifelong journey that should start as soon as possible. According to the US National Research Council, the core ideas specific to disciplines and the cross-disciplinary concepts of STEM need to be taught from kindergarten through primary and secondary schooling, continuing later in higher education.
How is an integrated STEM education different from the already existing science and mathematics curricula? Elementary STEM education for kids draws connections between science, technology, and mathematics to help children develop an interdisciplinary mindset.
Whether children will end up pursuing STEM-related careers or not, through integrated STEM education at early ages, they gain 21st-century skills of spatial reasoning, problem-solving, being proactive, creative, and unafraid to experiment through trial and error.
Different STEM Activities for Children Between Ages 7-12
We have mentioned how STEM education is not limited to classrooms. Children are already prone to asking “why” and “how” questions about the world, and most of them can be answered via observation and experiment.
This means that parents can play a supplementary role for K-12 STEM learning with different activities. There are plenty of ways you can help encourage kids with STEM learning, but in a nutshell, it comes down to an approach combining play and work–a hands-on minds-on active learning process. Here are some activity ideas to acquaint early elementary children with STEM:
Outdoor scavenger hunts
Scavenger hunts are the epitome of the hands-on, minds-on approach. Setting up different challenges and goals (for example, a spring scavenger hunt for specific plants and animals) will motivate children to explore and appreciate their environment, and get closely acquainted with nature like true scientists!
Scavenger hunts are especially great for cultivating skills such as problem-solving, communication, following cues and rules, creative thinking, spatial memory, and learning through observation.
DIY STEM Projects
A key feature of STEM is that it allows for creativity, inventiveness, and innovation. Remember how you would play with ordinary objects for hours as a child, making armours from blankets and rocket ships from cardboard boxes? Even with the simplest home items, you can encourage your child to explore their inner engineer, working towards building a certain product and solving a certain problem.
In fact, you can do so even without using any materials. You can play a brainstorming game, such as “The Shoe Factory Mishap”—imagine a shoe factory that produced 100 unpaired extra left shoes. What could be done with these shoes? Come up with 100 ways to use them! Here’s the first one: a very avant-garde vase.
Experiments in the kitchen
The kitchen can turn into a perfect home laboratory for young curious minds. Think about it from their perspective: myriad ingredients leading to different reactions when combined, measuring, mixing, using heat, boiling, cooling, and exploring matter in all states—liquids, solids, gases!
Even the simplest recipe, your go-to cake, for example, can be astonishing as you go through the steps. For younger children, this is an opportunity to learn by doing, and see how biochemistry plays out in daily life.
Online STEM courses and games
Thanks to our highly digitized world, you no longer need complicated and inaccessible equipment to teach your children STEM skills. There are plenty of online STEM education tools and resources, as well as STEM sets for children to guide little ones through an interactive learning process.
Twin app offers thousands of free STEM-related trivia and ideas for fun STEM experiments and activities to try at home. Children can also share their creations with their peers and share their passions with one another, while parents are offered monthly reports to track their child’s progress, areas of interest, and areas of improvement.
How to Use Twin Sets as Part of STEM Education
Twin’s minds-on, hands-on education with STEM kits and app offers a holistic hybrid learning journey for ages 7-12. The Twin STEM sets are tailor-made with the insight gained through fieldwork with 20,000+ children, aiming to instill the love of science in children.
The Twin Coding Kit features magnetic LEGO-compatible modules which, combined with the Twin mobile app, introduce children to the world of coding! For younger children and for those with an artistic side, the Robotic Art Kit combines the LEGO-compatible technological modules with endless creative possibilities. Twin Curiosity Kit is the perfect STEM starter kit for kids who want to get into robotics and try their hand at making innovative inventions.
Last but not least, the award-winning Twin Autonomous Vehicle Kit allows children to design self-driving vehicles powered by artificial intelligence, and control the car through the app themselves!
There are over 1000 projects on the Twin app, some of which use the modules in the STEM kits, and others that can be easily completed with everyday objects found at and around the home.
What’s more, Twin’s online STEM education and coding lessons for kids employ a double-winged approach that combines STEM learning with a sense of ethical duty toward the world. Not only do children develop STEM skills and explore the limits of their imagination, but they also learn about current global issues and come up with solutions, from climate change to alternative, sustainable energy sources and zero waste.
Start your child’s online STEM education journey today, and give them the gift of skills they will use for a lifetime!
Science and children have an organic bond, since children are naturally equipped with a curiosity towards the external world and how things work. The important thing is to nurture this relationship by integrating science into early childhood education, and keeping them interested in science as they grow.
As most parents and educators know, children’s attention span can be volatile. Teaching science to preschoolers and primary school students requires extra care and reinforcement through fun elements to keep their enthusiasm alive.
In this article we will talk about ways to instill a love of science in early childhood that will last for a lifetime!
How to get your child involved in STEM
Take walks in the nature
All great innovations and scientific breakthroughs involve a curious pair of eyes closely observing the world. Exceptional scientists and innovators come out of those with an exceptional bond with nature. What better way to encourage the same relationship between science and children than spending quality outdoor time together!
You can collect leaves and flower petals and identify the species, make some non-human friends, and talk about natural phenomena while you hike, and keep an exploration journal to note down what struck their interest, and reflect on your experience.
Visit science centres
Science museums and centres can provide a complete immersive STEM experience for your little ones. For example, London’s 150-year-old Science Museum houses the Wonderlab interactive gallery, which offers live experiments, a fun maths zone, giant slides, and the opportunity to stargaze.
With a wide variety of hands-on activities and informative sessions, such visits are perfect for creating experiences of science and technology for kids to remember and cherish for a lifetime.
Watch videos and documentaries
Humans are primarily visual learners. According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. This is great news, since we live in an era with access to so many quality nature, science, and technology content both on TV (e.g. Discovery, National Geographic) and digital video platforms such as YouTube and Netflix.
In fact some of them are specifically tailor-made for teaching kids science. SciShow, TheBackyardScientist, and Crash Course Kids are very popular on YouTube among kids interested in science. There are great shows on Netflix to kickstart science education for kids such as Emily’s Wonder Lab, Street Genius, and Explained.
Play video games
If you’re battling with screen addiction at home, maybe it’s time to revise your strategy and come up with healthy ways to use your kid’s screen time. Is your child interested in playing video games? This is actually a great opportunity to ignite an interest in science in early childhood.
Video games that are suitable for children and have world-building, creative, and analytical elements can support STEM learning in kids.Endless Ocean offers an underwater exploration adventure, Minecraft promotes creativity and engineering skills, and the famous strategy game Civilization both improves analytical skills and encourages critical engagement with world history.
What is the best way to get kids interested in science and technology?
There is no single recipe to get your kids interested in science and technology – the one and the same method can be met with one kid’s indifference, and another’s enthusiasm. What you, as a parent or educator, should do is opt for a diverse, well-rounded science education rooted in everyday life and fun!
Conduct experiments at home
Experiments and hands-on science activities for children are a great way to jump directly into the world of science in early childhood. And no, you don’t need a fully-equipped laboratory for that. As long as you put in the effort and guide your kid, there are infinitely many ways to carry out experiments and STEM activities at home.
Don’t know where to start? Check out the wide range of challenges on the Twin STEM games appwith detailed how-to guides! Most of them are easily replicable with materials at home and minimal effort, yielding great fascination and a sense of achievement in children.
Integrate science into play
If there’s one thing that all children love and never get tired of, it’s play! Effective integration of science into their world of play (or making science “child’s play” in a double sense) is the key to igniting sustainable interest in science and technology for kids.
Nowadays there are many STEM toys tailor-made with expertise for the purpose of science education for kids. One such example is the award-winning Twin Science STEM kits offering endless ways to explore, create, and invent for kids.
Not only do they support the development of fundamental 21st century skills for kids such as programming, engineering, AI & robotics, problem solving, scientific thinking, and creative thinking, but they also come with LEGO™ compatible modules easily attached with magnets.
Talk about the science of everyday life
Remember how we talked about the scientific mindset above, ofestablishing a curious relationship with the world? For us adults, most things have lost their mystery and fascination, but it’s not the same with fresh minds – always inquiring about why and how things are the way they are!
When you’re mixing ingredients in the kitchen, explain what you’re doing and which materials have which purposes. What makes the cake batter expand and become fluffy? Where do the sugar grains go when you stir them in a liquid? Always be welcoming and encouraging of inquiry, and make space for them to explore the answers themselves whenever possible.
How do you make STEM learning fun?
We have talked about how to spark interest in science and technology, but how do you create an overall sustainable STEM learning journey? What can you do to adopt an effective and fun science education for kids?
The earlier you start, the better, as is the case with all types of learning. You may be wondering how complex concepts and ideas in the STEM field can be introduced to younger children in a consistent manner. We have a one-stop-shop solution for this: Twin’s hybrid plan.
Not only will children benefit from the guided interactive tools and resources in the app that gamify learning STEM skills, but also get all 6 STEM kits for a full hands-on experience. The hybrid plan is specially tailored for STEM education for ages 8-11 that complements the UK, US, and IB school curricula.
STEM education with Twin’s kits and app also proves useful in teaching science to preschoolers. Children between ages 5-12 can benefit from the Robotic Art Kit and Curiosity Kit under the guidance of an adult, participate in the STEM challenges in the app, and even try out the rich catalogue of STEM trivia.
Shop the STEM kits or try out the hybrid plan to get all 6 kits and unlimited access to the app at a special discounted price!
In today’s fast-paced world, children’s attention spans seem to be decreasing due to the influence of rapidly changing technological environments. A short attention span can impact their academic performance and learning processes. However, understanding how to identify short attention spans in children and adopting appropriate strategies for improvement can lead to positive outcomes. In this blog, we will explore the symptoms of short attention span in children and effective ways to enhance their focus and attention. Also read: How to Increase Your Child’s Attention Span
Symptoms of short attention span:
Struggling in Classes: Children with short attention spans may find it challenging to stay attentive during lessons, experiencing difficulty in focusing on what teachers are saying and becoming easily distracted.
Unfinished Tasks: Children with short attention spans may struggle to complete tasks they start. Signs like leaving tasks unfinished and disorganized living spaces may be noticeable.
Quick Boredom: Children may lose interest in an activity or toy quickly and constantly seek new stimuli.
Social Interaction Challenges: Children with short attention spans may find it hard to concentrate during social interactions, leading to difficulty in communicating with others.
Academic Underperformance: Short attention spans can negatively impact academic performance, hindering children’s learning progress.
Strategies for improving attention span:
StructuredRoutines: Establishing regular and structured daily routines can help children better focus their attention. Consistent morning routines, designated learning hours, and consistent sleep schedules can be beneficial.
Single-Task Focus: Allowing children to focus on one task at a time can help improve their attention. Multitasking can lead to distractions and reduced focus.
Short and Interactive Activities: Opting for short, engaging activities such as games, puzzles, and interactive books can help capture children’s attention more effectively.
Managing Technology and Screen Time: Limiting prolonged screen time and guiding children toward high-quality content can positively impact their attention spans. Also read: How to Manage Screen Time for Kids
Physical Activities: Encouraging regular physical activities can help children expend energy and improve their ability to concentrate.
Conclusion:
A short attention span can pose challenges in a child’s daily life and education. However, by recognizing the symptoms and employing effective strategies, we can enhance children’s ability to focus and maintain attention. Consistent routines, single-task focus, interactive activities, managed technology use, and physical activities are powerful tools to support children in improving their attention spans. Let us remember that every child is unique and should be supported based on their individual needs to foster a positive and attentive learning experience.
Chess is a two-player board game played on a square board with 64 smaller squares, arranged in eight rows and columns. Each player begins with sixteen pieces, including pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, a queen, and a king. The goal is to checkmate the opponent’s king, leading to the end of the game.
Chess has some academic benefits too. The learning skills and memory could be improved by chess. Many sites offer chess learn online. There are coaching classes for beginners that help them to develop skills. Students of all levels can join the chess learn class. Monthly challenges are provided to the students who are willing the chess learn. A very popular site for chess learning is chessklub.com which is highly recommended.
Chess could be very beneficial for students. The benefits are discussed below:
1. Memory and concentration:
Chess improves your memory and concentration. As you are focused on your game, it improves your visual memory. It’s interesting to note that expert chess players show better identification with a specific sort of memory: auditory memory. This is the capacity to recall what you’ve realized through hearing. By concentrating you get to memorize your previous games and it would be easy for you to learn new techniques. Memory and concentration work side by side to each other.
2. Reading skills:
Yes, you read it right. Chess will improve your reading skills too. Different studies showed that chess improves IQ level but the reason how it increases your reading skills is that the process of learning and reading involves understanding, thinking comprehension, and analysis. You will quickly solve your problems and obstacles if you are a chess player.
3. Creativity:
You could be a critical thinker if you play chess. That is why because you keep on thinking in your mind about tactics that how to defeat your opponent or how to kill his King. You will develop your logic faster. Playing a real game of chess is very complex so you could very creative if you want to “checkmate” your opponent.
4. Planning:
If you memorize yourself when you were a young person, possibly you will remember a few things that you have managed without thinking about the outcomes. You realize what is the trademark highlight of all chess players, they design and anticipate constantly, regardless of where they are. While playing chess, arranging is additionally significant, which turns into the piece of the character and makes the individual consistently adhere to those principles. Chess can make you a good planner too.
5. Strategic thinking:
Chess is a game of strategy, requiring a planned approach to outwit opponents. Just as military leaders strategize, chess players position their pieces in a strategic battle. Learning these skills through practice enhances strategic thinking, valuable beyond the game. It aids in everyday decision-making, benefiting not only soldiers and players but anyone facing challenges. Critical thinking also proves vital in academics and workplaces, ensuring preparedness and alternate solutions.
The main thing is the abilities that are being educated through this game go a long way from the board and set up the individual for life troubles, and issues, show them how to address those deterrents imaginatively. In the outcome showing children how to play chess, can be probably the best thing that you will accomplish for them.
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