On the day of his first tournament, he felt excited and scared. I left him to judge another debate round and joined back up with him throughout the day to see how he was doing. During the first two days of the tournament, he debated six times, each debate running from an hour to half an hour. He was excited how some of his round went yet knew he had blown others. On the night of the second day, the tournament organizers rounded up all the debaters to announce who would move onto the next round. He sat in silence, while his fellow clubmates talked to each other excitedly. Finally, the moment arrived when he would find out if he would advance. As they read name after name, he celebrated the members of his club who advanced. When the last name was read, his had not been called. As a mom, my heart fell a little. But we had been here before. Every missed swing, every missed catch, every losing season. Baseball had taught him how to handle disappointment.

He was quiet as we headed to the door, getting ready to go home. But then I was told they needed judges for the next round. I asked him if he was okay with us helping this last time, and he said yes. Together we walked to watch debaters who had advanced to the level he had not. But after watching the debate, he realized what the goal was. He realized he was not at that level yet.

The next day, he watched as many debate rounds as he could. He watched those who had been debating for three, four, and five years. He knows he can reach their level, but now knows it will take both work and time.

Three Benefits to Losing your first Debate Tournament

Reflecting on his loss, I realized there are several benefits to losing your first debate tournament.

1. Learning to handle disappointment. Learning to handle disappointment. While I’m sure my son didn’t think he would win the tournament, he was still hurt when his name was not called out to advance. But he didn’t cry, he didn’t shut down, he didn’t insist we go home. He thought quietly. I asked him if he was sad. He said “Just disappointed”. I said “I understand”. And that was it. We moved on to the next thing.
2. Realizing you have not yet arrived. Realizing you have not yet arrived. Most things come easily to my son. But debate is something that challenges him. It is something he cannot just read a book and know how to win debate rounds. Winning in future debates will take work and determination, grit.
3. Celebrating others’ wins, even when you lose. Celebrating others’ wins, even when you lose. After realizing he had not advanced, he still went up to a few clubmates and congratulated them on their wins. The next day, he watched excitedly as one team in his club advanced to the finals. He realized that he could still encourage others, while he, himself, was not in the race anymore.

My sons next tournament is in March. Between now and then, I look forward to seeing how he uses his first debate tournament experience to up his game. I’m sure he’ll rise to the occasion and move closer to his goal of being a great debater.

The post 3 Benefits to Losing a Debate Tournament appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

*I was compensated for this post, but the opinions in the post are wholly my own.

Critical Thinking Quest Box by Silverquicken Experience

When our welcome box arrived in the mail, my kids and I were so excited to see what was inside! When we opened the box, I was very impressed by the beauty and care taken into the packing the box.

My oldest had learned to make sure we have all our supplies before starting, so he laid everything out. The first item we found was a map of all the items included in the box. I loved the way they made the supply list into a map! The map walked us through each item in the box and gave a brief description of the purpose of each item.

Next, we opened the welcome box. In the small box we found a membership card, our first puzzle, along with a hint card. As I read the hint card, I realized the questions the hint card was guiding my son through was using the Socratic method of learning. The questions started with “What do you see?”, then continued down a line of questioning that led my son to discovering the key to solving the puzzle. The Socratic method is the same method of questioning we use in our homeschooling and is instrumental in developing critical thinking.

While I marveled at the hint card, my son immediately got to work to decode the welcome message. With the help of the hint questions, he figured out how to decode the message. Using the provided notepad and pencils, he worked diligently to decode the message. After decoding his welcome message, he was ready to start the adventure!

Adventures in Problem Solving!

The adventure began with an introduction letter that welcomed my son to the Silverquicken School, a school where there are no tests, no quizzes, and no essays. Silverquicken School is a place where deeper learning happens! The letter goes on to tell my son his role at the school is to solve mysteries, using his intelligence as his superpower!

Next, he opened this month’s quest packet and found the Quest introduction. The introduction begins the story that runs throughout the quest. This month’s mystery was called “The Bunker”. The quest packet included four puzzle packets, each with a part of the story started by the introduction letter. Each puzzle packet included a puzzle that must be solved before moving on to the next puzzle packet.

Puzzle Packet 1:

The first puzzle packet continued the storyline from the introduction. At the end of this part of the story, my son had to solve the combination to a lock. The lock was on a door he needed to open in order to find the source of a leak that was flooding the room. If he did not solve the combination lock, he would surely drown! He quickly started working on the puzzle, trying different number combinations. He loved the challenge of this puzzle. It was unlike any problem he had solved before. I asked if he wanted me to help him solve the puzzle, but he responded “No thanks. This is really fun!” I left him alone to work out the puzzle, and he eventually solved the combination!

Puzzle Packet 2:

In the second puzzle packet, my son had to decode a message. The story line continued from the previous puzzle packet, and in this part of the story, he needed to open a hatch right underneath him. Unfortunately, the hatch had a message on it that needed to be decoded before it would open. He worked diligently to figure out what the message was, and once he did, the hatch opened! My son could move onto the next puzzle packet.

Puzzle Packet 3:

In the third puzzle packet, my son had to follow two groundhogs down the holes they had run down. Using clues and process of elimination, he worked diligently to find the combination of two holes. While this may seem simple enough, there were a possibility of 36 combinations! He had to read each clue carefully to eliminate which hole combinations made sense. Scenario by scenario, he eliminated certain possibilities, and eventually figured out which two holes the grounds hogs escaped through. He verified his answer with the solution and moved on to the final puzzle packet.

Puzzle Packet 4:

In the last puzzle packet, my son had to solve a math riddle to gain access to a control panel. The control panel was guarded by an overgrown groundhog, and he would only let you pass after solving a math riddle. My son is a HUGE math fan, so he was excited to solve this math puzzle. He immediately put pen to paper and worked hard to find the solution. Once he found the answer, he confirmed it with the solution, and he had finished his quest!

My son loved the fun, logical, outside the box puzzles and problems he solved during this month’s Silverquicken quest. I loved the quality of the box, and all the little details in the box that added to the adventure. After the excitement from his last puzzle was over, he immediately turned to me and asked, “When do I get the next one?!?”. I laughed and told him next month!

For other ideas to develop kids’ critical thinking, try some of my other posts:

Crystal Science Experiment at Home
Sprinkler Engineering Design Process for kids
Beyblade Experiment: What affects Momentum?
Paintball Forces Science Experiment
Simple Machine Bird: Levers, Gears, and Birds! Oh My!

The post Grow Kids’ Critical Thinking with Monthly Quests! appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

Simple STEM Activity for Kindergarten

During our weekly trip to the library, I searched for books to read to the boys about bees. I wanted books that were both educational, but also beautifully written and illustrated. Fortunately, I found four books that fit the bill!

*Post contains affiliate links. Please see disclosure for more information*

Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera

This beautifully illustrated book lets you join in the life journey of a honeybee. Starting from emerging from a cell in the nest, to all the different jobs she has before she is strong enough to fly. The story also leads you through the parts of the bee that develop as the bee grows, which all lead her to her different roles within the bee colony. Eventually the bee is strong enough to fly outside of the hive, and the story continues to show how the bee is specifically designed for pollinating and gathering nectar. Throughout the rest of the story, we learn how the bees communicate with one another, the lifespan of a bee, as well as how the young are fed. The story perfectly ends the way it began, with the birth of a new bee.

If Bees Disappeared

Ever wonder what would happen if all the bees disappeared? Before reading this book, I never realized how important bees were to our food supply. The book also introduced us to a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), where the worker bees in a colony inexplicably leave the hive. The book goes on to describe the effect of the disappearance to our fruit and vegetable supply, along with other effects to our ecosystem. The boys learned that while they may be afraid of bees, they are a crucial part to life.

Flight of the Honeybee

“Flight of the Honey Bee” follows the adventures of a scout honey bee. The story begins with Scout’s first flight out of the hive. She flies away from the hive, finding a beautiful meadow. During her time away from the hive, she encounters predators, gathers nectar, and survives dangerous weather conditions. Scout eventually makes it back to the hive, where she rejoins her fellow bees and delivers the nectar. Each page of the book includes interesting facts about honey bees, which increase the learning while listening to the lovely story. On the last page of the book provides suggestions how we can support honey bees, and prevent their total extinction.

The Bumblebee Queen

“The Bumblebee Queen” was my youngest son’s absolute favorite book. He asked me to read it every night before bed. The story follows the life cycle of a queen bumblebee and provides facts about bumblebees along the way as well. The queen bee starts in solitude, then lays her first batch of eggs. The book describes the process the queen goes through to lay her eggs and feed the larvae once they hatch, as well as how the larvae grow into bees. The story also describes the different roles bumblebees have through their life, as well as the life expectancy for a bee. We had to read past the queen bee’s death quickly, because it made my son sad every time. But the story ends on a positive note, which the emergence of the next generation of bumblebees.

Bee STEM Activity for Kindergarten

After reading all the books for several days, the boys wanted to invite more bees into our backyard. I really was not interested in having an entire beehive in our backyard. I did a little more research into different types of bees, and found out not all bees live in large bee hives. Infact, there were several types of solitary bees. I decided we could make a simple solitary bee home to invite a particular type of solitary bee into our yard called a Mason Bee. Making a Mason bee home seemed pretty simple, and I already had all the materials. After finishing our school work one day, we moved into Kindergarten STEM activity mode. Together, the boys and I made a simple solitary bee home to invite them into our yard.

Supplies

• empty tin can
• 1 packet of plastic straws
• Elmers glue
• hot glue
• string for outdoors
• permanent marker
• thin sticks

Make a solitary bee home

Step 1: Remove all labeling from tin can.

Step 2: Fit as many straws into the tin can as possible, without squeezing any of the straws.

Step 3: Insert one straw into the tin can, and mark on the straw where the tin can ends.

Step 4: Cut the straw at the mark from step 3.

Step 5: Measure each straw against the cut straw and cut them to match.

Step 6: Pour a copious amount of glue into the bottom of the tin can, enough to cover the bottom completely.

Step 7: Insert all the straws back into the tin can, and leave vertical until the glue dries.

Step 8: Insert a few thin sticks in between some of the straws. Cut the sticks to be approximately the same length as the straws.

Step 9: Hot glue the sticks from step 8 into place.

Step 10: Measure and cut a 18″ piece of string. Fold the string in half and tie a knot to join the two ends together.

Step 11: Place the tin can in the middle of the string, and hot glue the string to 3/4 of the diameter of the can.

Step 12: Hang your bee home in a stable location and watch for a bee to make a home in it.

We all enjoyed learning about bees for a few days. We all have a newfound appreciation for these super-pollinators. Now when we see them, we no longer fear them, but appreciate their part in the world. We just give them their space to do their work.

For more Kindergarten STEM Activity ideas, check out these posts:

Fizzy Homemade Valentines Cards

13 Skip Counting Hands-On Activities

Semipermeable Membrane STEAM activity

Capillary Action Color Explosions!

“If I Built a House” Preschool STEM Activity

Easy and Fun Garden Preschool Science Experiment

STEM Activities for Kindergarten

The post Bee STEM Activity for Kindergarten appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

Natural Egg Dye Experiment with Hard-Boiled Eggs

We started our experiment with researching possible natural dye sources and seeing if we had any. Our research (and available materials) led us to decide to try 5 natural egg dyes.

The dyes we chose to try were:

• Coffee
• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Red Cabbage
• Yellow Onion

Coffee Dye

For the coffee dye, I used leftover coffee grounds from my morning coffee. I poured 1/2 cup of used grounds into a coffee cup, then poured 1 cup of boiling water over the grounds and set it to the side to brew. After 30 minutes, I strained the grounds out of the coffee cup, and into a heat safe cup. Once the coffee was cool, one of my sons carefully lowered a hardboiled egg into the dye. We also dumped some of the used grounds on the egg (after my husband’s suggestion) to see what affect they had on the egg dye. We then left the egg in the dye for 2.5 hours, then carefully removed it from the dye using prongs.

Strawberry & Blueberry Dyes

To make red and purple dyes, we tried using strawberries and blueberries. We started with 1 cup of boiling water, added 1/2 cup of the berry of choice, then let it boil for 2 minutes. Then we strained the fruit out of the mixture over a heat safe cup, then set the cup off to the side to cool off. Once the dye was cool, we lowered a hardboiled egg into the cup. We returned to the dye 2.5 hours later, and carefully removed the egg from the dye using prongs.

Red Cabbage Dye

Red cabbage is a really fun natural dye. First of all, its called red cabbage, but its actually purple. Not sure why, but I wasn’t there when they named the cabbage. Anyways, I chopped up some of the cabbage into this strips, then added the strips of cabbage to a pot of boiling water. We let it simmer for about 2 minutes, then strained the cabbage out of the dye. We all looked at the cabbage dye and realized it was purple! But we already had a purple dye, from the blueberries. Fortunately, I knew a little chemistry trick we could use.

Red cabbage contains an indicator pigment molecule which will change colors when mixed with other liquids. The color change depends on the pH level of the liquid added to the red cabbage liquid. For more details about pigment indicators, check out this article. I looked around the kitchen and found baking soda. On a pH scale, baking soda is considered a base, and will change red cabbage liquid to blue. We added 1/2 a tsp of baking soda to the liquid cabbage, and voila! The dye was suddenly blue!

After the color change, we set the now blue dye off to the side, and waited for it to cool down. Once cool, we lowered a hardboiled egg into the dye, and left it there for 2.5 hours. When the dying time was over, my middle son carefully removed the egg from the dye, using prongs.

Watch this video to see the cabbage dye change from purple to blue!

Making Blue Dye from Red Cabbage and Baking Soda

Yellow Onion Dye

Yellow onion was perhaps the easiest dye to make. We boiled 1 cup of water, then just peeled off the outer layers of a yellow onion (didn’t need to cut the onion or anything) and added the layers to the boiling water. After 2 minutes, we strained the water, and we had yellow dye! We strained the onion out of the water, and set the yellow dye off to the side to cool. Once cool, we carefully lowered a hardboiled egg into the yellow dye, and left it there for 2.5 hours. We carefully removed the egg out of the dye, and set it to the side to dry.

Observations from our Natural Egg Dye Experiment

Once all the eggs were removed from their dyes, we set them all out to compare our results.

Blueberry Natural Dye: The top right egg is the egg dyed with blueberries. While the color is not very deep, you can still tell that it now has a light blue tint to it.

Onion Natural Dye: The top left egg is the one dyed with onions. The onion dye was by far the starkest color change. Instead of white, the egg is now a dark orange color. Pretty amazing results!

Strawberry Natural Dye: The egg in the middle is the one dyed using strawberries. Similar to the blueberry dye, the color is not very deep, but you can see a slight pink tint to the egg.

Coffee Natural Dye: I found this egg dye pretty interesting, due to the different textures. We hypothesized that the texture was due to the coffee ground we dumped on top of the egg but would need to run a more controlled experiment to confirm our guess.

Red Cabbage Natural Dye: This egg was a light blue as well but was definitely more vibrant than the coloring from blueberries.

Natural Egg Dye Taste Test Results:

After all our eggs were dry, we decided it was time for the taste test. Afterall, who doesn’t want to try a coffee flavored egg? Unfortunately, neither the egg white nor the yolk absorbed any of the natural dye taste. We did a little research about parts of an egg and learned there is a membrane between the eggshell and the egg white that likely prevents any of the dye from permeating (going into) the egg white and yolk.

For more of our experiments, try some of these:

Brown Egg in Vinegar Experiment
Crystal Science Experiment at Home
Fun Water Experiment to Cool off in the Heat!
Beyblade Experiment: What affects Momentum?
Easy Beyblade Science Experiment: Explore Different Types of Beyblades
Easy and Fun Garden Preschool Science Experiment

The post Simple Natural Egg Dye Experiment appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

Our First Year of Spanish Lessons

Spanish Lesson #1: Numbers and Colors

Spanish lessons started out with some basics, colors and numbers. To introduce colors and numbers in Spanish, we first watched and listened to Rockaligual’s song “Colores y números”. The boys loved singing and dancing along to this song! Even now, six months after introducing it to them, they boys still sing and dance with the song when we watch it!

To practice the colors in Spanish without the song, I made some quick flash cards. I printed and laminated them so they would last longer in our house. Things can get destroyed pretty easily at our house.

Spanish Lesson #2: Shapes!

Our next Spanish lessons involved learning shapes in Spanish. My mom found another great video to help the boys learn their new vocabulary. The video is by Super Simple Spanish, and uses repetition along with a catchy tune to help kids remember their new words.

I also made some flash card for the shapes to review without the song. Feel free to print and laminate them to use at your home!

Spanish Lesson #3: Days of the Week

Another set of useful word for kids to learn in Spanish are the days of the week, and the months of the year. To learn the days of the week, the boys watched this video. While the video is entertaining and fun, my 5 and 7 year olds needed to watch this video a lot. But to be fair, they are both still memorizing the days of the week in English.

Spanish Lesson #4: Seasons of the Year

Around springtime, my mom thought it would be fun for the boys to learn the seasons of the year in Spanish. She found another video with a catchy tune, and the boys learned to say some difficult Spanish words, like primavera and invierno. I also made a quick matching game for the boys!

Spanish Lesson #5: Food (Comida)

We took our time with this unit, because there was so much to learn! First, we learned the words for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the food we eat for each meal, with a simple song by Calico Spanish for Kids. We also closed the unit by taking a trip to our local grocery store, and finding all the foods we had learned. Then we ended our trip with refrescos for everyone!

To practice the vocabuilary we learned, I created some simple matching worksheet. The first time we tried the worksheets, the boys matched while watching the video. The second time, they tried to match the words on their own. I will use the worksheets over the summer to review what we learned.

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Spanish Lesson #6: Clothing

Sr. Soto was a great teacher for clothing (ha!). The video we used to learn the names of different articles of clothes was a fun rap by Sr. Soto from SingAndLearn-Spanish. My youngest two danced around the living while Sr. Soto broke down the world of clothes in Spanish to them. So fun! For my oldest (who is a proficient reader), my mom made English/Spanish flash cards for him, while the younger two matched pictures of clothing to the Spanish word.

Picture Matching Clothing Spanish Vocabulary

Download your own free copy of the matching cards I used for my youngest two here:

Clothing Spanish Vocabulary Flashcards

These are the matching word cards I made for my oldest son. Simply print, cut, and they’re ready to use!

Spanish Lesson 7: Feelings

Our last unit for the year was on feelings. The boys first learned that when they are expressing their emotions, they always start by saying “Estoy…” and then say the emotion. This video was super simple and helpful to help them learn emotions vocabulary in Spanish. The video ends with dog expressing different emotions, which the boys LOVED!

I also created matching cards for the boys to practice the emotions. Just print, cut out, and practice matching the Spanish word to the correct emoji.

The boys really enjoyed their first year of Spanish lessons. The lessons my mom brought each week were fun and easy for me to recreate with the boys. I loved all the videos she found, as they were all fun to learn and dance to. I love listening to the boys sing their Spanish songs as they play in their rooms or outside. My goal for the boys is not for them to be fluent. Instead, I hope they grow accustomed to saying Spanish words. Early exposure to Spanish will help them have an ear for the Spanish accent later, and help them with proper pronunciation when they are older.

Looking for other easy lessons for your kids? Try one of these!

Simple Ideas to teach Atomic Number

13 Skip Counting Hands-On Activities

Crystal Science Experiment at Home

Sprinkler Engineering Design Process for kids Edit

Beyblade Experiment: What affects Momentum?

Angular Momentum Experiment with Beyblades!

Easy Beyblade Science Experiment: Explore Different Types of Beyblades

The post 7 Easy Spanish Lessons for Kids of Any Age! appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

Re-engineered Homemade Valentines Cards

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After spending some time thinking about our broken hearts, I realized what we needed was a binder. In chemistry, a binder is a substance that makes things stick together. The simplest example of a binder is glue, so I added some white glue to my heart mixture, and voila! I had a much stronger heart!

Materials

• 1/2 Tablespoon white glue
• 4 Tablespoons hot water
• 9 Tablespoon baking soda
• red food coloring
• small bowl
• small heart cookie cutter
• wax paper
• red construction paper
• card stock

Step 1: Pour 4T of hot water into small bowl.

Step 2: Add 1/2 Tablespoon of glue to the hot water, and stir until the glue is mixed well.

Step 3: Add 10 drops of red food coloring to the glue/water mixture.

Step 4: Add 9T of baking soda into the red glue/water mixture, a little bit at a time. Mix well.

Step 5: Place the heart cookie cutter on a piece of wax paper, and pour a little bit of the mixture from step 4 into the heart. Leave the cookie cutter in place for 5 minutes.

Step 6: Remove the cookie cutter, place it on a new place on the wax paper, and repeat step 5 until you have the number of valentines you would like to make. Leave the hearts to dry overnight.

Step 7: Fold the red construction paper in half, then in fourths. Unfold the paper.

Step 8: Cut along the creases of the paper to make eight rectangles.

Step 9: Print the valentines below onto white cardstock paper. Cut out all eight valentines.

Step 10: Glue each valentine from step 9 onto one side of a piece of cut construction paper from step 8.

Step 11: Print the instructions for the hearts, below:

Step 12: Cutout the printed instructions from step 11, and glue them onto the back of each valentine.

Step 13: Glue the dried hearts on the front of the card.

We made 33 valentines for my boys’ classes, and each one was so excited to give them to their friends!

Back at home, we decided to try out some of our leftover hearts, and boy were we in for a surprise! The binder in our hearts (the glue) seem to prevent the bubbles from our baking soda and vinegar reaction from popping! In other words, the addition of a binder to our mixture increased the surface tension of the bubbles in the reaction! Our unexpected result gave us bigger and longer lasting bubble explosions!

First we filled a cup with 1/2 cup of vinegar then dropped a heart in to see what would happen.

We wanted a bigger reaction, so we experimented with starting more vinegar. For our second reaction, we started with 3/4 cup of vinegar.

Wow! The reaction was so much bigger with a little more vinegar. We even learned we could help the reaction by swirling the cup. I love that our homemade valentines cards don’t include any candy, and show kids the fun of chemistry!

For other valentine’s day ideas, try some of these!

35 Valentine’s Day Science Experiments!
Heart Themed STEAM/STEM Activities
DIY Valentine using Water Science
Make a Light up Card with a Simple Circuit!

Or if you would like more chemistry activities, here’s a fun list!

Brown Egg in Vinegar Experiment
Grow Gold Overnight! A fun experiment for kids
Grow a Pot of Gold! Crystal Science Experiment
Crystal Science Experiment at Home
The Anti-Climatic Volcano Experiment

The post Fizzy Homemade Valentines Cards appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

How to Teach kids about the Atomic Number of an Element

*Post contains affiliate links. Please see disclosure for more information.

I started our week by teaching my sons what an atom is. I explaned that atoms are everywhere, but are so small we cannot see them.

Then I asked my middle son bring out one of his favorite t-shirts; a dingy yellow shirt, but with one really helpful image. The Periodic Table.

Where to Find an Atomic Number

I brought my son’s shirt to our table, then pointed to the Helium element on the periodic table. Next, I pointed to a number in the upper left corner, and told them this was the atomic number of the element.

I explained that the atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. I looked at my boys, and saw three blank stares. I needed to find a better way to help them understand.

To start, I went to our local library to see if I could find children’s books about atoms. I found two non-fiction books with simple explanations of atoms:

• What Do You Know about Atoms and Molecules?

• The Particle Model of Matter

The books gave a great summary of what an atom is, and the parts of an atom. But I am a true believer than the best way to learn is through hands on activities. So for snack time and dessert the next day, I created a fun way to make the lesson more tangible.

3 Engineering Activities!

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Supplies

Hands-on Models of Atoms

To make our two models, I started by drawing two concentric circles on a paper plate.

The inner circle is the nucleus of the atom. The outer circle is the first electron shell, where the electrons orbit the nucleus of the atom. The lip of the paper plate is a second electrol shell.

Atomic Number at Snack Time

For snack, I brought out green and red grapes, along with blueberries. Using the green grapes as protons, red grapes as neutrons, and blueberries as electrons. We used different colored grapes for protons and neutrons because these two parts of an atom are the same size. Electrons, on the other hand, are much smaller than protons and neutrons, which is why we used blueberries.

Helium Atomic Number and Atom Model

I pointed to the element Helium on my son’s yellow shirt again, and asked “What is the atomic number of Helium?” They all said “2!”. I told them “YES! Which means a Helium atom has two protons in its nucleus.”

Then I put two green grapes in the nucleus of our atom. Then I explained that the number of protons in an atom is equal to the number of neutrons in a nucleus, and so I added two red grapes to the nucleus.

Then I explained further our atom is a neutral atom, which means it has no negative or positive charge. Protons have a positive charge, and electrons have a negative charge. Inorder for our atom to be neutral, two electrons must be added to offset the charge generated by the protons. My oldest (a fifth grader) understood this concept the best, since he knows how to add negative and positive numbers. We then added two blueberries as electrons to the first electron shell (orbit).

Lithium Atomic Number and Atom Model

We decided to make another atom, so we looked at my son’s shirt again. We picked the element Lithium (Li) to model.

Lithium has an atomic number of three, which means it has three protons in its nucleus. I then asked my sons how many neutrons we should add. They agreed we should add three neutrons to the the nucleus of the atom. I then asked them how many electrons we needed to add. My oldest son said, “We need to add three electrons to keep our atom neutral”. He was right! I then added the electrons to the paper plate. I told my sons that only two electrons fit in the first electron shell, so we needed to place two blueberries (electrons) on the first circle, and the third blueberry on the rim of paper plate, the second electron shell.

Carbon Atomic Number and Atom Model

We made one more atom model, this time a Carbon atom. I told my sons that the carbon atom is important to life. In fact, all living beings have carbon in them! The atomic number of carbon is six, so my oldest added 6 protons (green grapes) and 6 neutrons (red grapes) to the center of our model. He then added two electrons (blueberries) to the first electron shell, and 4 electrons (blueberries) to the second electron shell.

Atomic Number for Dessert

Later in the day, after lunch, we brought out our paper plates again. I always have peanut M&Ms (because they’re my absolute favorite), and had picked up some mini-M&Ms earlier in the week. Using the peanut M&Ms as protons and neutrons, and mini-M&Ms as electrons, we recreated our elements from earlier in the day.

In the following models:

Protons = yellow peanut M&Ms
Neutrons = orange peanut M&Ms
Electrons = tiny M&Ms

We decided to make Helium, Boron, and Carbon atoms this time.

Here’s how our candy atomic models turned out!

Helium Atomic Number and Atom Model

Boron Atomic Number and Atom Model

Carbon Atomic Number and Atom Model

We had so much fun making our element models. And what’s even better was the hands-on activity definitely helped the boys understand what the atomic number of an element represented. Even my 4 year old figured out that whatever number an element had on the periodic table meant that would be the number of M&Ms on the plate (and more!). He understood so well, that I had to refuse to make the model of the element gold. I refused to share 79 (times two) of my peanut M&Ms.

For more fun hands-on STEM ideas, check out some of my other posts!

Melted Crayon Pumpkin STEAM Activity
Grow Gold Overnight! A fun experiment for kids
Grow a Pot of Gold! Crystal Science Experiment 
Semipermeable Membrane STEAM activity
“If I Built a House” Preschool STEM Activity

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Christmas Tree Lights STEM Project for Middle School

Post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see disclosure.

Supplies:

• Chibitronics LED Circuit STEM Starter Kit
• Chibitronics White LED Circuit Stickers
• Lithium Batteries CR2032
• Green Construction Paper
• Scisssors

Christmas Middle School STEM Project

Make a Series Circuit

Step 1: Fold the green construction paper into fourths.

Step 2: Unfold the construction paper, and cut along the lines to make four equal pieces of paper.

Step 3: Draw a Christmas tree on one of the pieces of green construction paper, and cut the tree out.

We are now going to make a parallel circuit.

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Make a Parallel Circuit

Step 4p: Using the copper take, make a parallel circuit, as shown in the picture below:

Tips:
1. All long runs of copper tape are to be one piece. The Chibitronics Starter kit gives great tips for working with copper tape. **Remember to take off the white backing off the copper tape. Otherwise the copper tape will not stick to the paper tree!**
2. Make a long tail at the end of the circuit. The tail must be long enough to reach the top of the tree.

Step 5p: Add the sticker lights to the circuit.
Tip: Make sure the sticker lights are arranged exacty as shown in the picture below:

Tip: Make sure both the top and bottom of the light sticker are touching the copper tape.

Step 6p: Add the lithium battery to the circuit. Make sure the positive side of the battery is facing down, and touching the beginning of the circuit.

Step 7p: Now its time to complete the circuit, and turn the lights on! Place the end of the circuit on the negative side of the battery (top side of battery). The lights should all turn on!

Tip: If lights do not turn on, make sure the top and botton of the light stickers are touching the copper tape.

Step 8: Cut out a small star, and tape it to the top of the battery!

You have just added lights to your Christmas tree using a parrallel circuit!

We had so much fun making our paper circuit Christmas tree lights! We experimented with adding more batteries, and trying to make our circuit blink. In order to make our circuit work, we also did quite a lot of experimenting, and made several discoveries about circuits. Watch out for another post coming soon on our experiments!

Some other posts for more Middle School STEM ideas!

Make a Light up Card with a Simple Circuit!
Building Electrical Circuits and Playing with Light
15 Middle School STEM Projects
Melted Crayon Pumpkin STEAM Activity
The Science Behind Melting Crayons
Rainbow Crayon – a Crayon Melting Point Experiment
Grow a Pot of Gold! Crystal Science Experiment
Beyblade Experiment: What affects Momentum?
Angular Momentum Experiment with Beyblades!
Easy Beyblade Science Experiment: Explore Different Types of Beyblades

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This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see the disclosure.

The Author’s of “The Fundamentals of Circuits Made Easy” Journey to Becoming an Electrical Engineer

I’ve shared some of my experiences as an engineer, both in college and as a professional.I first became interested in STEM while I was in elementary school. My favorite subjects were science and math. It wasn’t until I took physics during my junior year in high school, however, that I was first introduced to circuits. I found them so fascinating that I attended my physics teacher’s extra help hours to learn more about circuits. I loved how each one was like a mini-puzzle that I had to solve. One day, my physics teacher suggested that I look into electrical engineering, an area that analyzes circuits, as he was an electrical engineer in college.

Fast forward to today: I am an electrical engineering student at Bucknell University. I love that electrical engineering is problem solving that applies math and science to real-world situations. I’ve found the most challenging part of studying electrical engineering is time management. Engineers typically have more class hours because of lab periods, which means less time to complete homework. With good time management, however, the work is not as overwhelming as it could be.

I’ve also learned how important it is to ask clarification questions during class, since the material builds off of itself throughout each course, as well as the electrical engineering curriculum.

I’ve had amazing experiences as an electrical engineer. During the summer of 2019 I conducted research at Bucknell to help one of my professors investigate and determine the causes of GPS anomalies (incorrect data points from GPSs) by using machine learning. While I was on campus, I caught up with another professor and mentioned I hand-wrote and illustrated a book (for children ages 8+) about circuits during my senior year of high school. It was designed to inspire future STEM students (especially girls) and introduce them to circuits at an earlier age. The professor looked over my work and showed it to Bucknell’s electrical engineering department. They thought I should publish it!

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Writing a Circuits Book while in College!

Later that summer, I did just that. I published my book “The Fundamentals of Circuits Made Easy”, and now it is now available to purchase on Amazon.
I am currently writing and illustrating more books to create my series Inside Electronics. Each book will be similar to the first book: not formula filled, but rather a non-intimidating conceptual introduction to circuits. Each page explains a topic related to circuits in simple terms and analogies with fun illustrations.

In addition to writing, I have spoken at Girls in STEM events and hosted my own circuit workshop at the local children’s museum near Bucknell. This past summer, I was a machine learning software development intern for Booz Allen Hamilton. Throughout my internship, I learned about the machine learning process, pitched new technologies to my team, and implemented those technologies into their programs. I was also introduced to computer architecture, while working through a cyber security challenge that used reverse-engineering and binary exploitation. Now that I’m back at school, I’m continuing the machine learning-portion of my internship as a part-time employee for Booz Allen.

Emily’s Future Plans

Although I’m sad to be graduating from Bucknell in the spring, I’m excited to start a career in the consulting industry.

I hope you were encouraged by Emily’s experience in engineering! I know she will have a long and successful career!

If you are interested in learning about circuits, or know someone struggling to understand them, I encourage you to purchase Emily’s book, “The Fundamentals of Circuits Made Easy“! You can also learn more about Emily on her site emilybayuk.com.

Learn more about Women in Engineering from my other posts!

A Woman of Strength
My Dad’s Favorite Boss
A Mother and An Engineer
My Life Long Mentor
Happy Mother’s Day: To the Woman who Inspired me the Most
An Unexpected Engineering Career Option

The post The Best Circuits Book for Understanding Electrical Circuits! appeared first on Homeschool Momgineer.

Borax Crystal Science Project for Fall

**Post contains affiliate links. Please see disclosure for more information.

During one of our walks, the boys picked up leaves, acorns, and sticks.

When we got home, each one picked out an item they wanted to grow crystals on. They picked an acorn, a leaf, and small pinecone. We followed the directions in a previous post for Borax crystals, but for simplicity, I’ll share the instructions again below.

Supplies

• fall item (a leaf, acorn, pinecone, stick, etc)
• chopsticks
• 6 inch long piece of butcher string
• Borax
• water
• small glass mason jar
• red and yellow food coloring, to make orange

Instructions

Step 1: Tie one end of the cooking string around the fall item.

Step 2: Tie the other end of the cooking string around the chopstick.

Step 3: Boil 1/2 cup of water. Add a couple of drops of red and yellow food coloring to the water while waiting for it to boil.

Step 4: Slowly pour in 1/4 cup of borax, and stir until all the borax is dissolved. You should see small crystals forming on the surface of the water.

Step 5: When all the Borax is dissolved in the water, set the solution aside, and let it cool for 5 minutes.

Step 6: Transfer the borax water solution into the mason jar.

Step 7: Stick the fall item into the water/borax solution.

Step 8: Leave alone for 24 hours.

Our Fall Borax Crystal Science Project

The boys picked out a lot of items on our walk, but I asked each one to pick only 1 item to make into a crystal. After their selection, we had one acorn, one pinecone, and one leaf.

My oldest and I tied a piece of string to each item. We ended up tying the string around the acorn and pinecone. We had to be very careful with the leaf, and ended up tying the string to the leaf’s stem.

Then we followed the instructions for the borax solution, and filled 3 small mason jars with orange borax water. We carefully placed each of our fall items into the filled mason jars.

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We left our jars alone overnight. When we woke up in the morning, we pulled the acorn, leaf, and pinecone out of the liquid, and look what we found!

As we examined our results further we noticed crystals grew all over the acorn and pinecone. We also noticed crystal growth on the pinecone and acorn had areas where the crystals took off, and a bunch of crystals grew.

Next week examined the leaf, and noticed the crystals only grew on one side of the leaf!

Our leaf results made us wonder what other items we should try growing crystals on. We wanted to better understand why the crystals only grew on one side of the leaf.

What items do you want to try? Why do you think the crystals only grew on one side of the leaf? I would love to hear your ideas!

Other similar posts

Grow a Pot of Gold! Crystal Science Experiment
Crystal Science Experiment at Home
Grow Gold Overnight! A fun experiment for kids
Caramel Apple Rock Painting Fall STEM Activity
Melted Crayon Pumpkin STEAM Activity
Pumpkin STEM Activities and Science Experiments
Painting Pumpkins with Paintballs: A Quick STEAM Activity
Levitating Pumpkin Experiment

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