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Tag Archives: Opportunity to learn

Discover The Best Strategies For Learning That Sticks

Preparing an educational activity for young children has the great potential to open up a new world of understanding and experience. So as parents we look around for the perfect activity to develop their already awesome abilities. However, sometimes it is difficult to know how to engage in these activities with your kids so that they benefit from all the learning that is offered. We want to share with you 7 strategies that will help you understand how to unleash learning potential from your home. By using these strategies:

  • you will be able to use and understand the learning opportunities provided by educational activities
  • your child will happily engage and want to do them more often with you
  • you will learn about your child’s abilities and interests
  • your child will learn in a fun and positive way, leading to learning that sticks

A lot of STEM activities on social media are adult-led, focus on the final outcome, and give little freedom for child-led discovery. For example, a beautiful but not developmentally appropriate craft that young kids can’t do by themselves or an experiment that requires constant adult intervention. We believe this creates an obstacle for deep understanding and learning that sticks. Especially when doing activities with younger children. So we’ve rounded up the strategies that we believe are key when doing any educational or STEM activity. Follow these strategies and engage with your children, have fun together and take advantage of the awesome learning opportunities.

1. Build Motivation Beforehand

Motivation is key for learning. It helps associate positive feelings to whatever we are doing, creating positive connections and memories which will be easier to recall. This boosts learning. And let’s face it, if you do something you enjoy, chances are you will do it again. The more you repeat, the better you learn.

One way to help with motivation is to create excitement. We can do this by talking to our kids in a very positive way about the activity or experiment. The more excitement we show prior to the activity and the more we talk about it as something we do together, the more engaged and motivated our kids will be.

2. Get The Timing Right

Timing can make a huge difference for kids benefiting from learning opportunities. This has to do again with associating positive feelings and emotions to the task at hand. Make sure you understand your child’s rhythm, their ups and downs. For example, our kids are more open to new experiments in the mornings, so we try to do them at that time of day. Also, we’d recommend not doing activities with hungry or sleepy kids. 

3. Find The Challenge Sweet Spot

If something is too easy, kids tend to lose interest fast. But if the activity is too challenging it can lead to frustration and lack of motivation. But struggles are part of life, and we help our kids get through them on a daily basis so they grow. We do this by offering a safe and supportive environment. This environment is what you should try to recreate in any educational activity that you do together. Because a certain amount of challenge is needed for learning to occur. This is known as productive struggle. So, how do you know if the activity has the right amount of challenge?

Some activities will give an age range, so you can start there. However, we believe more in the power of observation so you can truly tailor activities to your kids. Because each kid is different. The more you observe your child the more you will understand what their level is. Make sure there is room for them to learn, that they don’t know all the answers, but that it is not too advanced.

So you can understand the concept of productive struggle a bit more, think about it this way: Productive struggle refers to a challenge that is just out of reach but that requires tools that we mostly understand and can use to solve the problem. Try to find activities that can be adapted to different levels.

Activities With Different Challenge Levels

  • 5 Brilliant Ways To Experiment With Oobleck
  • Fantastic Outdoor Game With Great Learning Potential
  • Simple Science Project For Kids: Float or Sink
  • Math Art Project For Kids: Easy DIY Shape Stencils
  • Milk The Cow STEM Challenge: Can You Mimic Nature?

4. Let The Child Play

Play means exploring, making mistakes, interacting with our environment and so much more. If you look at this closely, it is the foundation of learning. Play-based-learning activities are a great way for kids to take control and become active participants of their learning experience. So all you have to do is set up an environment that will foster learning through play and you’ve got it. If you want to guide and be involved, make sure it comes from a place of playing and discovering together. Become scientific teammates instead of having all the answers. The more children are allowed to follow their curious and playful nature, the more they will be willing to experiment and discover. Learning is just a happy by-product of their play.

Play-Based Learning Activities

  • Fantastic Outdoor Game With Great Learning Potential
  • Milk The Cow STEM Challenge: Can You Mimic Nature?
  • STEM Nature Box: Sort, Categorize, And Learn
  • Exciting Math Games For Movement And Learning
  • STEM Water Play: 8 Fun Activities to try this Summer

5. Match The Activity

Try to match the theme of the activity to your kids as much as possible. This is connected to motivation and is key. Choose activities that build on their interests or that can incorporate topics they like. For example: include toy cars, animals, or role-playing with any activity that allows it. Use your imagination to find ways to connect with them through these educational experiences and the learning will be deeper.

The type of activity is also important for learning. For example, our daughter loves to touch everything, so when we tried a typical sodium bicarbonate and vinegar experiment it was over quite fast because she kept wanting to put her hands in the mixture all the time. This is ok for a little while, but we did not want her to spend an hour with her hands in vinegar. So that experiment was not a good match for us. Even though it is a very cool and educational activity, our kid was not able to fully engage and benefit from the learning experience. If however, your kid is more of an observer, it would be perfect.

Every kid has different ways of learning and experimenting, tailor activities to meet those needs. Having said this, we do believe that children learn best when they can manipulate things as much as possible and use as many senses as possible. Hands-on and sensory activities are great for this.   

Hands-on And Sensory Learning Activities

  • String Rainbow Art Project: Explore Shapes With String
  • Math For Toddlers: Easy Sensory Bath Time Activity
  • Beautiful Hands-on Activities For Preschoolers: STEM Nature Eggs
  • Multisensory Learning: The Sound and Feel of Materials
  • Nature Puzzles: A Wonderful Way To Explore Shapes
  • Hands-on Engineering For Kids: How To Make A Wind Farm

6. Manage Expectations

For this we want you to remember one thing, learning is a process and not an end result. Try to steer clear from activities that lead to just one outcome and try to do things that are open-ended. Focus more on observing, guiding, and connecting during the activity rather than rushing to a conclusion. This allows for time. Time to engage, to experiment, make mistakes, try again and actually learn something that will stick. If you can manage your own expectations about the perfect result, you will also transmit this to your kids, avoiding frustration when things don’t go as planned. And also remember, repetition is key for learning. So it is actually better to repeat the experiment many times than to do it just once perfectly. 

7. Add A Touch Of Color

When we do colorful activities, it appeals to their visual experience. Our kids are more interested and motivated, and motivation and engagement leads to better learning. So make it colorful! Ways to do this: always have food coloring at hand and use it whenever there is water involved in any activity (which in our house is quite often). It adds a whole new level of fun to any experiment!    

Rainbow Activities

  • Fun Color Experiment For Toddlers Who Love A Good Mess
  • String Rainbow Art Project: Explore Shapes With String
  • Math For Toddlers: Easy Sensory Bath Time Activity
  • 5 Brilliant Ways To Experiment With Oobleck

So these are our 7 strategies for learning that sticks. But remember, just because you don’t see a specific expected outcome does not mean that learning is not happening. Learning can take on many forms. Just make sure to create a home learning environment that encourages discovery and acknowledges mistakes as part of the learning process. Model excitement at any learning opportunity. Have fun together. Play. The learning will happen naturally and it will be deeper and longer lasting.

Happy STEM learning!   

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Hi! We are Anni and Stefan, a mix of engineering with a dash of education and a pinch of social work, blended together and turned into parents who have a passion for creating lightbulb moments. We want to help you bring STEM learning into your home in a way that is fun, educational and challenging enough so that children can develop their thinking skills. ♥

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astemfulmind

Anni | STEM + Nature Learning
Where will the marble roads take you? 🚗🚦🚧 Where will the marble roads take you? 🚗🚦🚧 🧱
One day we set out to make some mazes or marble runs with clay. I thought my kids would each want to do their own but it ended up being a team project and I'm so glad it went that way! Our project turned into Marble city, with roads and many more fun things along the way. 
I drew a road with a start and a finish, a few loops here and there and some intersections so that they could cover it with clay. And then I just let their imagination take the lead. The beauty of open-ended activities and resources is you never know where it will take you. There were trees, mountains, tunnels, bridges and even stop lights! And after it was created there was imaginative play, role play and a lot of marble traffic!
It was fascinating to observe my kids build a world from clay and other resources we had around the house. The process of building it was play and then that play was extended and transformed by actually playing in the world they created 🧡
It is also definitely something that can be done outside. We did it out on our terrace but I'm excited to try it out in nature where there are even more open-ended resources!! 🌿🌰🍂🌸🪨
Learning new things ✨🥰 I have started a new Learning new things ✨🥰
I have started a new journey, training to be a Forest School Leader. I am not exactly sure in which direction it will take me but it was something that felt right. 
The ethos of Forest school and the role of the reflective practitioner just resonates with me, the outdoor, simple and slow child-led playful learning community. It is what I try to do with my own children and it's wonderful to extend and consolidate everything that I have learned over the last years into something that will serve me and my family as well as other families with children. 
I am very excited to show you how I adapt the Forest School practice to my parenting. We have already created some pretty cool indoor shelters, hammocks for dolls with ropes and cloth, and continue to use our natural materials for child-led experiments and activities. I am also learning to observe my children better and reflect on their needs and interests, which is key to their holistic growth and development.
Hope you find this as inspiring as I do and follow along for some reflections and of course for the nature play and wonder 💚🧡
The wonder of simple experimentation ✨ When you The wonder of simple experimentation ✨
When you let the child lead you never know what will happen. Sometimes nothing really happens, and that's ok too. But then there are times when you bring out some materials and "tools", add a bit of water and you suddenly have a full on experiment station on your hands!
I saved some pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin I had baked, thinking they might come in handy some time. I didn't have anything in mind, but when my 5-year-old said she wanted to do an experiment I offered them to her. 
She directly asked for water to check if pumpkin seeds sink or float. So we gathered water, some containers and a few extra tools (just some kitchen utensils). Turns out some actually sink and others float! We discussed why this might be happening and then I asked her if she thought she could find a way to separate them with the tools we had… this led to some critical thinking, some trial and error and a lot of experimentation and conversations. She was engaged, on a mission, and she had initiated the experiment herself. 
💜 I love watching these moments unfold and they just further convince me that experiments don't need to come with flashy reactions, or bright colors. They can be simple, like this one. Experiments should make us think, tickle our minds with questions about what we see and drive us to test possibilities that will reveal answers, solutions or rethink our questions. And childhood is full of moments like these if you look close enough.
The art of noticing the small details 🐚✨ A s The art of noticing the small details 🐚✨
A simple activity with natural materials and a magnifying glass. I just set this up on the table and we started looking at each material and paying attention to what we could see. It made us think and wonder about patterns, irregularities and just other things we might not notice otherwise. 
We learned to pay attention to details and that things might look different depending on how close you look. And these observations lead to questions and these questions lead to a search for answers, discovery, learning. 
And all it takes is a magnifying glass and some nature 🤎🧡
DIY OOBLECK BLOCKS 🧱🌽💧 These Oobleck blo DIY OOBLECK BLOCKS 🧱🌽💧
These Oobleck blocks are so easy to make and were a perfect addition to our dry Oobleck play as it gave us the chance to build structures and create small worlds. 
Materials you'll need:
🌽Cornstarch
💧Water
🧊Ice trays
🧘‍♀️Patience
To prepare the Oobleck you mix 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water. If you have never tried Oobleck you are in for a fun treat! It is a great sensory experience for kids and really engaging as it behaves both like a solid or fluid depending on the pressure it's under. 
Once you are done experimenting with Oobleck try filling some ice cube trays with it and then let it dry (it can take some days, which can be tricky for little kids but is also a great opportunity to practice patience).
❗A lot of ours cracked and broke so make sure you prepare enough. We made 3 trays.
🧱 That's it! We crushed some of the broken blocks and used the other ones to create, nurturing some STEM skills through play. 
For more ideas for STEM and nature play follow along!
"If children are to keep alive their inborn sense "If children are to keep alive their inborn sense of wonder… they need the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in." Rachel Carson
These words truly resonate with me.
Sharing the path of learning and discovery with our children is so beneficial and not only for our kids. It is so positive for us too! It reawakens our inner child, our own sense of wonder. It allows us to slow down, to play. 
We explore together, we seek out the answers to our questions, we experiment and play, we struggle to find solutions, we persevere and through these experiences we learn. About the world, about each other, about ourselves, giving us the chance to bond over something beautiful.
👉 Follow along for inspiration on family activities that nurture curiosity and drive learning
Have you ever let Oobleck dry? ☀️ Letting Oob Have you ever let Oobleck dry? ☀️
Letting Oobleck dry is the best way to clean it up but it also gives you the chance to use it again in a different way. 
I like to leave it in a tray or cooking pan so it spreads out and dries faster. Once it's dry you can just poke it and scrape it out.
It crumbles and cracks nicely between your fingers and has a lovely texture that my kids (and I) really enjoy.
You can keep it dry or combine it again with water to get the gooey, slimy, and fascinating Oobleck back.
👉 I'm also testing a different way to use dry Oobleck so make sure you stay tuned!
DIY STONE STACKING GAME 🌈🪨 Stone stacking h DIY STONE STACKING GAME 🌈🪨
Stone stacking has many benefits, for both kids and adults. It encourages patience, creative processing, concentration, focus, and hand-eye coordination. We love doing this when we are outdoors and in nature, it gives us a moment to stop and relax. 
This simple DIY is inspired by all those stone stacking moments and adds a bit of a challenge to nurture those skills even more. 
👉 This is how we prepared it:
We collected stones and selected 6 of them for the game, we painted them using acrylic paints, and borrowed a color dice from one of our board games. If you don’t have a color dice just add stickers to a normal one.
👉 How we played:
Players take turns to roll the dice, find the stone that matches the color and place it on the stack. 
🌈 It’s pretty simple, but it adds a new layer to simple stacking, as you navigate having to put bigger and heavier stones on top. It also encourages problem solving, conversations and observations which are key drivers of learning. 
💫 For more simple nature and STEM play you can take outdoors and that nurtures learning make sure to follow along
Motherhood is definitely reawakening my childlike Motherhood is definitely reawakening my childlike curiosity and wonder 💫🌱🦴 
As we were on one of our nature walks one day we found some animal bones in the forest and our reaction was… wow!! Let’s take them home! After packing them in a bag, we decided it would be a good idea to clean them before examining them.
A quick google research revealed that we could use hydrogen peroxide to clean and whiten the bones. Gloves on and to work!
With great care we handled the bones and the hydrogen peroxide, saw the fizzy bubbles come out and observed the reaction (a bit of chemistry at play here!) We talked about what was happening and about the bones themselves, how they are different from ours, what type of animal they could be from according to their teeth (herbivore?) and a lot more.
This process of curiosity, hands-on exploration and discovery is a key part of childhood. Children are naturals at this, and if we follow along and support this process who knows what amazing things we might discover together. What is certain is that by exploring together like this we are nurturing their natural curiosity, cultivating a love for discovering new things and giving them the tools to drive their own learning. 
Never would I have thought that cleaning bones would turn into a great hands-on learning experience. But I have learned that following my children usually leads to moments of discovery like this.
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