Get into STEM (and STEAM) Resources!

Here is a blog post at Teachers pay Teachers about some amazing STEM resources. Have a favorite resource or activity? Link it up in the comments!

 If you are looking for even more STEM and STEAM resources, try one of the stores listed below:

Joyful Explorations	Science and Math with Mrs Lau	Meredith Anderson	Elementary Ali
Strawberry Shake	Nitty Gritty Science	Rainbow City Learning	The Science Penguin
Teachers are Terrific	More than a Worksheet	Learning to be Awesome	UtahRoots
Theresa's Teaching Tidbits	Vivify	Mary Carr	Nitty Gritty Science
Get Caught Engineering	Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy	Pinfeather Press	Love2learn2day
Hello Learning	Silly Sam Productions	Erintegration	Literacy Loves Company
Jennifer Maschari	Winged One	Artistic Educational Tools

If you would like to be added to this list, please let me know! I'm happy to add more STEM & STEAM educators.

*Graphics for button above provided by EduClips Design.

Just one day left to enter!

To celebrate, ALL my STEM resources will also be on sale tomorrow!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Winter FREEBIE up!

A slight twist on the standard color-by-number. I have uploaded a new freebie:

• color by product
• color by equivalent fraction
• color by state of matter
• color by verb tense

Enjoy!

Holiday Shopping List: Top 10 STEM Gifts for Kids

STEM Gifts Your Kids Will LOVE

Before I get started, I wanted to briefly let you know that I have not been compensated in any way by any of the makers of these toys/apps/etc. These toys are ones we have owned, used, loved, or had recommended to us over the years, and I thought it might be useful to have them all linked up in one place.

Disclaimer: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you downloads of value and information about educational resources. The links below are Amazon affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure here.



1. For the S in STEM, Magnet Toys!
Magformers,

Tegu Blocks,

and Magna-Tiles!

We own the first two, and have played with Magna-tiles at many friends' houses. These offer amazing open ended play, the ability to explore structure, and are fun for everyone. I highly recommend getting either some of the unusual shapes or the wheels if you get Magformers, but definitely snag the wheels for Tegu - they really add to the imaginative play aspect. Another good option is this Magnet Lab kit from Learning Resources - it's one we have and love:

2. A magnifying glass! Simple, but a must have for all of your science explorations! Whether you are heading to the beach, a park, or your backyard, get a close up look of your findings:

For older kids, look into a microscope.


3. Follow a life cycle with Insect Lore's butterfly garden or other life cycle kits.

For the T in STEM, try these apps and programs:
4. DragonBox Alegbra 12+ and DragonBox Algebra 5+

5. Raspberry Pi for your budding software engineers!

While you're at it, go visit Scratch Programming (free, and you don't need Raspberry Pi to get started learning Scratch)!

For the E in STEM, check out
6. Snap Circuits

The Jr set is linked above, but I highly recommend getting the SC-500 or SC-750 version if your wallet agrees. This is definitely one of my favorite purchases for kids. I wish every kid could have a set of Snap Circuits!

7. Simple Machines 

We don't have this one but it looks great! I have a simple machines set that is no longer made but if I didn't, this would definitely be on my list.

For the M in STEM you can't beat math games and toys.
8. Our favorite math game is Sumoku (app also available), and for super mathy kids you'll want to grab Equate (if they don't already love math, Equate might make them hate it more. It can be pretty intense). For lower elementary, I recommend Zeus on the Loose or Rat-a-Tat-Cat, and for all ages, Set is a fabulous game!

 9. For toys, play money is far and away my top recommendation for hands-on math.

10. Building Toys! I'm lumping all of these together into number 10. Choose a building set that will work best for the kids on your list. Some kids love one but not another. Try LEGOs, Zometool, ZOOB, and Wedgits.

I hope you enjoyed this list! Have a favorite STEM gift I didn't mention? List it in the comments; I'd love to hear about it.

Pin these STEM gift ideas for later:

Find even MORE STEM gifts ideas with an engineering twist:

 or STEM tech gifts:

FREEBIE Friday: Autumn Math Center!

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but better late than never, right? I have a fun math freebie to share for your little ones! The provided mat is optional, but you can use it if you are working on greater than, less than, and equal amounts. If not, you can use this as a memory match game or as counting cards.

You can also use the cards with a movable alphabet for K & 1st kids. I highly recommend getting a wooden set if you can, as we use ours all the time, but if it's not in the budget for you, check out these ideas for cheap and DIY movable alphabets.

You can download the file for free here:

Enjoy!

Colorful Wednesday!

Mrs. Thompson Treasures is hosting a very generous freebie extravaganza for the twelve days of Christmas! My 1st and 3rd grader both enjoyed these activities this morning:

Visit her blog:

and her TpT shop as well! Make sure you follow her store to be notified of the next resources in the series. Thank you, Mrs. Thompson!

Autumn Trees Art Project

I loved doing this project with my kids! I found this post and really liked the tree art project, so we tried it out this morning. I cut a few sheets of paper in half (the long way) and trimmed some tree silhouettes, thinking it would be easier for my kids to focus on their design.  I love how they turned out!

Here are the tree silhouettes and background papers. I used blue for crisp blue autumn sky. For the tissue paper, I lucked out and had several colors that I thought would work.

The kids worked on trimming the tissue paper into small pieces and then started composing their trees. At first we were using glue sticks to place the paper pieces, but found it frustrating, so I grabbed a can of spray adhesive and sprayed each sheet. That made it go a lot faster, though you had to be sure you knew where to stick the paper pieces (that spray adhesive is strong stuff!). After the papers were stuck, I sprayed the trees with the adhesive and stuck them on. Then we added a few more touches (a bird, some leaf-shaped tissue paper pieces), and I trimmed off any paper that was hanging far off the side of the paper.