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In our previous interaction with you, we all agreed that there is a need to replace the excessive use of digital media with activities that are experiential and hands-on. This will ensure the wellbeing of all children and push them to not only make mistakes but also learn from them. What makes this the best solution and a proper replacement for excessive use of electronic gadgets is that it engages children in a way that no other form of learning can. It will not only push them to ask questions but also find solutions by experimenting and challenging themselves. The best part is that when it comes to experiential learning, no method is right or wrong.

Given below is a carefully collected set of hands-on activities that can be easily performed in the comfort of your own home. These can be used to help children revise and go back to the concepts they have already learned. You do not need to go out of the way to buy any extra equipment, and just the open space that is available at your house will work. To make sure children have a variety of activities to choose from, these are a mix of all disciplines. 

Build a Museum 

This can be done by putting the furniture or showpieces at home to use. Children today have a habit of collecting objects that they like, and they can be used for this activity too. Tell your child to gather a variety of objects and create a museum from the same. Start with asking them to differentiate items and categorize them in terms of the material used, its value, the money it may have cost, etc. Let them use their organizational skills to decorate and create a museum. Once done, ask them to give a tour of their museum by putting their knowledge in history and their vocabulary skills to use.

The Apple Rotting Experiment 

This will help children understand the importance of the environment and how species react differently in different settings. Cut pieces of apples and put them in different glasses. Use solutions like oil, water, vinegar, and air for each glass and label them with the same. Give it a few days and let children draw and make predictions on what might happen the next day. Let them understand the decaying process, and ask many scientific questions that they may be curious about. 

Scavenger Hunt 

This can be an activity within an activity! All you need to do is hide clues within the boundaries of your home, exactly like a treasure hunt. Each clue can have a variety of learning activities, like math equations or science-related questions. All of these have to be relevant to the chapters your kid is studying at school. Encourage them by keeping some treasure or a few extra minutes of gadgets ready for them as a reward once they complete the treasure hunt. To make it more engaging, set a time limit to the hunt too, and let them figure out how much time is left on their own. 

The Value of Storytime 

If you have not already made this a habit for children, now is the right time to start. Reading stories will help the child not only learn new words but also enhance his/her imagination. When you come across a new or unfamiliar word, try and strike a conversation around the term with your kid. Introduce different genres of stories and encourage your children to use their imagination and the new words that they have learned to create their own stories too. To work on their drawing skills, it is a good idea to sketch the characters along with your child.

Start a Restaurant 

This will help children revisit their language and literary skills. Use props and utensils to create a restaurant at home. Let them design a menu from scratch and use words they have learned at school. You can also use vegetables and fruits, asking your child to categorize them and learn to differentiate. Let them play the role of a waiter, owner, or even a customer to enhance their communication skills and confidence. 

Note that all these activities have been chosen to keep in mind the times of the pandemic. Apart from all this, it is a good practice to weekly check-in with your children emotionally. Taking a day off once in a while to binge on food or TV shows is sometimes a great idea too! 

A pro tip is to make sure your kids are an active part of this whole process. It is only when they are given attention, and their opinions are valued, is when they start participating and engaging themselves in activities. 

To sum it all up, we at Experihub believe that, at the end of the day, what makes a significant difference is not what your children are taught, but how they are taught. 

At ExperiHub, we teach Science and Mathematics by bringing concepts from the real world into the classroom. We conduct science experiments and have myriad science projects for better learning and understanding of concepts. If you want to learn more about Experiential Learning and cool home experiments, browse through our Online Sessions and Youtube Channel! 

In today’s world, STEM education has become necessary for students to compete in a global economy and be prepared for the future. To spark an interest in STEM careers in students’ minds, introducing them to this whole new world gets much easier through hands-on and experiential activities. These activities are not only inquiry-based, but they also activate critical thinking in the mind of the learners. 

We have come up with a list of exciting activities that will open children to a new world of information and urge them to think in the direction of STEM subjects. To make it easier, we have classified these activities by subject – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. 

SCIENCE 

1. Water Cycle in a Bag – Make this is group/pair activity. Grab a transparent sandwich bag and use a permanent marker to draw a sun, cloud, and water on it. Fill it with ¼ cup of water and four drops of blue food colouring. Cover its lid and use tape to hang the bag on the window of the classroom. Sit back and watch it work. The science behind this is that the limited amount of water on Earth has to change periodically. This is called the water cycle. Over the next few days, children will see water evaporating into vapour and slowly change back into condensed liquid, just like a cloud. Finally, they will notice that the air cannot hold the water anymore, and hence, it falls down in the form of precipitation and therefore it can be called it.
2. Oil Spill – This activity is simple and can be modified according to the age group of the children. Here, take a large container and mix oil and water. Add a few feathers to this combination and provide the children with equipment like spoons, sponges, cotton, paper towels etc. Ask them to try and separate the oil from water and the feathers. This shows how drastically oil spills can affect the environment. Students will observe how oil affects the feathers and how difficult it is to separate it from water. You can further teach them about environmental change and the ill effects of such calamities. 

TECHNOLOGY 

1. Coding a LEGO Maze – Through the use of Lego mazes and instruction cards, students begin to use different codes and act as the “user,” one who is building something of value. They will be the ones guiding you through the maze, understanding command codes, and estimating from the perspective of a third person. This will help students to start understanding and learning the basics of coding. The best part is that it can be modified according to the needs and expertise of the children. They will learn to make predictions, minute calculations, and do sequencing.
2. Creating a Stop Motion Animation – You can use the Stop Motion Animation App for ease of activity. All you have to do is decide on a backdrop; it can be as simple as a window or anything fancy. Gather toys and other props that can create motion and be included in your animation. Put your shooting device on a stand and use the app to start making a movie! Give students a chance to experiment and use their creativity. There are not one but many benefits of this activity. It not only supports storytelling but also teaches children the mechanics of movie-making. They can learn to experiment, test, and plan out where a story is heading. Finally, it encourages problem-solving and critical thinking.

ENGINEERING 

1. Jelly Bean Building – For this, you can use marshmallows and toothpicks. All you have to do is ask the students to try and connect toothpicks with marshmallows. Tell them to observe the shapes that hold together, ones that are interesting to look at, shapes that do not have any symmetry etc. You can modify these questions according to your understanding. This activity will make students understand the design behind structural engineering. Make them use structural thought and technology, challenging them to make different structures with these materials.
2. Up, Up and Away – Provide the children with a limited set of supplies. Some important ones are tape, straws, wooden dowels, paper, cardboard, and clay. Leave it to the children to come up with designs and tweak their product to construct an airplane. While some may look at pictures to get a fair idea, others may use their knowledge of wings and technology. Make sure the students make the airplane fly as the end result. This project is open-ended and very hands-on. Students can use their prior knowledge, research skills, and innovation, and creativity to design an aircraft of their own. The lesson can be one of trial and error as well as teamwork. 

MATH 

1. Math Hunt – While this is one of the easiest, it makes children get out of the classroom and go out into the field. All you have to do is take up a math worksheet, handpick a few Math questions and create a hunt. Number these chits and hide them around the playground or the classroom. Keep at least ten clues and let children open the next one only when they solve the first question. This can be done in groups. Sometimes, it is all about these simple activities that spark an interest in children. You can make this a weekly or a monthly habit, one that students look forward to.
2. Nerf Gun Math – Gather plastic cups, a permanent marker, something to keep a record, eye protection, and a nerf gun kit. Instead of nerf, you can also use a ball. Write your numbers (can vary according to age group) on a cup and set them up in pyramid form. Make this into a small competition and get the students shooting at the pyramid! This lets students identify the number on the cups and calculate the total points they have scored. It will not only be fun but also challenging to count and add. 

While these are just a handful of activities, they are enough to equip the children with all they need to know about STEM subjects! Ample STEM activities are floating around on the web, but not all of them are authentic, and not all of them fulfill the purpose of giving out knowledge and useful information. It is on you to choose wisely and decide what is the most appropriate for your children.

A wise tip is to make sure that you, as a teacher, are thorough with your instructions and try to shuffle between subjects when introducing these activities to the students. We are confident that once you have a fair idea of how these activities work, you will have enough knowledge to create such experiments of your own too! 

We wish you all the best with introducing these to your children and look forward to them engaging and interacting with enthusiasm! 

At ExperiHub, we teach Science and Mathematics by bringing concepts from the real world into the classroom. We conduct science experiments and have myriad science projects for better learning and understanding of concepts. If you want to learn more about Experiential Learning and cool home experiments, browse through our Online Sessions and Youtube Channel!  

References – 

“More than 30 resources for STEM Project based Learning Activities” Wabisabi Learning. https://wabisabilearning.com/blogs/stem/36-stem-project-based-learning-activities

“11 Engaging Stem Activities for Kids that will foster curiosity” Brianna Flavin, 26th August. 2019, www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/simple-stem-activities-for-kids/

This is because whiteboard marker has some pigment and a type of alcohol in it. Upon drying the alcohol evaporates while the pigment is left behind as a solid. Since the glass is smooth the solid slides right off when it gets wet!