“I can’t wait until my kids are on summer break and home all day all summer because I have so many fun and educational activities planned,” said no parent ever. Most scientists think it’s not possible, but kids are proof that perpetual motion machines do exist, and having to keep them entertained all day every day is enough to give even the most laid back parents angina. Sure, you could pack them a lunch in a brown paper sack, give them a nickel and a can to kick, and send them off to the ice cream shoppe and the corner store every day, but then are they really learning anything? Below is a list of things you can do to not just keep them busy, but actually teach them some really cool and useful things that will help them for years to come.
Oh, and no experience is necessary with most of these.
1.) Teach Them Computer Programming
[image credit – hourofcode.com]
Coding used to be a niche skill that only career computer programmers and hackers ever learned (or wanted to learn). However, programming instruction has come a very long way from the days of learning Basic and C using and endless stream of nonsensical characters on a too small Windows 3.1 machine with 75MB hard drive. “Hour of Code” is a hugely successful coding push endorsed by more famous people than you can shake a stick at, and it’s just scratching the surface of what’s available. Scratch from MIT is a contender in the “get kids programming” arena, and Lego Mindstorms connects their programming language with customizeable robots built of, well, Legos. Interactive, engaging, graphics and icon based programming is all the rage, and will keep your kid entertained for hours while laying the foundation for highly marketable skills in the future.
Skills gained: logic, reasoning, patterns, digital appreciation, and obviously, coding!
2.) Help them learn an instrument
If you’re a lifelong musician and music lover, you might find this task easier. If not? There’s still hope. In this oh so wonderful modern world that we live in, it’s now possible to become a world class musician and composer learning many of your skills from the inter-webs. Just ask Usman Riaz who is largely self taught using–you guessed it, YouTube. Plus, cool tools like this Jamstik are popping up, which doesn’t hurt. Of course, if you want to know the real story of Usman, and he’s not shy about sharing it, he was classically trained first, so a few music lessons wouldn’t hurt either.
Stuff you need: An instrument (pick one), a computer or device with the internet, Jamstik (optional)
Skills gained: pattern recognition, musical intelligence, self-directed learning, music appreciation, and… learn to play an instrument!
While on the surface it seems like just another summer time waster, think about all of the variables that go into learning to fish, particularly in fickle coastal waters. Besides patience, skilled anglers need to learn about tides, winds, water temperatures, weather fronts and patterns, predator and prey relationships, food chains and webs, seasonal migrations, barometric pressure, moon phases, and even dabbling in cooking technique. Got a 5th grader in Florida? Because that’s 80% of the state science curriculum right there.
Stuff you need: fishing pole, a fishing book, fish
Skills: patience, environmental science, biology, weather, solunar cycles, and the oh-so-exciting world of knot tying
A shout out to the little, little guys here: got a youngin’? Look no farther than Kindermusik. Countless research and studies show the benefits of music on the development of young minds, and nobody does it better for infants and toddlers than the internationally recognized Kindermusik curriculum. And the best part? You get to stay with them! That means you can attend a few classes, learn all the songs, and then steal them and sing them to your beloved baby in perpetuity.
3D printers aren’t just cool, they require some pretty serious spatial reasoning in order to design and print things using programs like SketchUp. 3D printing is truly a transformational technology that will no doubt transform and revolutionize the way our world creates, invents, prototypes, and even does business. Not interested in footing a $1,000-$3,000 bill? 3D printers are in almost every makerspace around the country, and are popping up in libraries and other shared community spaces. You can even learn to design at home, and send it off to a website like Shapeways to have it printed for a small fee. Kids can design, download, or modify, and print out their dreams. As long as their dreams are smaller than about 1000 cubic inches.
With all of the obvious benefits of music, you’d think everyone would do it all of the time. There’s a few major drawbacks: it’s hard, expensive, and time consuming. Music technology, digital recording and audio editing software has come a long way and done a lot of work toward making music creation much easier. Garage Band on the iPad allows anybody to strum their way to greatness, while more complex programs like Mixcraft, Fruity Loops, and Adobe Encore allow you to create masterpieces, even if you can’t really sing. Or play any instruments. And don’t have a ton of natural music ability.
Stuff you need: Garage Band, or Mixcraft, or Fruity Loops, or Presonus Music Creation Suite, or Adobe Encore, or any of the 100 other programs of varying quality, Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead Music Tech Camp
While I’m sure it’s a blast to run around hitting green monsters with a shovel and shearing sheep to your hearts content, Minecraft has done amazing things to unlock the builder in millions of kids. The Lego of a new generation, Minecraft not only allows kids to build whatever their imagination desires in a 3D interactive environment, it makes a connection between natural resources in our world, their availability, and their practical uses. Well, besides a diamond sword. Who would make a sword out of diamond? It just takes you to help them make the connection. Why not play with them? (It’s actually a little addicting…and a lot better than all that Candy Crush you’ve been playing.) Plus, recent additions such as Redstone have allowed players the ability to build electrical circuits and working machines bit by bit that lay the foundation for understanding of Electrical Engineering. Not bad for a bunch of cubeheads.
This cheap kit from SolarMade comes with everything you need to get started building a solar powered boat or car out of everyday household materials. Build a boat out of pieces of styrofoam, build a car out of recycled plastic, and use the easy to figure out solar panel and motor to give it all the power it needs. Buy 2 and have a race. Buy 3 and have a solar party. Kids will get to experiment with design and get creative while building their engineering prowess.
Smallwood’s Store – Chokoloskee, FL [image credit – TampaBay.com ]
As we strive as a nation to become better at math and reading, we forget that increased time and resources in those arenas mean less time and resources in others. Social Studies and History tends to slip through the cracks more often these days, and at a time when we need a distraction from the present more than ever. Museums, any museum, allows kids to connect with their history and get beyond the world they see in front of their eyes. Until scientists figure out time travel, museums are among the best ways to remind our children where they came from, and that it is important to know about it.
Stuff you need:A Museum and/or historical building
There are 100 different robotics kits out there, plus other 100 ways to build a “robot” out of things lying around your house (think lots of cardboard) and bring him to life using things like littleBits or good ol’ fashioned imagination. Among the best of the high-tech kits, however, is the Lego Mindstorms kit. It has all the fun of building Legos, plus it’s backed by a legit visual programming language that gives kids an introduction to programming: loops, boolean logic, and variables. They can write simple programs that attack your ankles on sight using onboard sensors, or one that makes the robot afraid of the dark. Or, just chase the cat around all day.
Gardner’s multiple intelligences gets talked about often in psychology classes, but is often overlooked once students enter within the walls of a school. Schools tend to look for very specific forms of intelligence, while the real world rewards all different forms and levels of intelligence nearly the same. Even more overlooked is the later-added naturalist intelligence which wasn’t added until 1996. Let kids get in touch with their naturalist self. It unlocks and encourages that inner creativity, develops observation skills and an appreciation for the world around us, giving kids a broader perspective. A little exercise and fresh air isn’t going to hurt anyone either.
Stuff you need: feet (optional)
Skills: outdoor awareness, fitness, curiosity about the natural world
12.) littleBits
LittleBits are snap together circuit kits that can turn any project into an interactive project. Make things that light up, make sound, respond to touch, light, or even use them to turn anything in your house into a Wi-Fi connected device. Ever wanted a Wi-Fi coffee maker? A Wi-Fi connected cat food dispenser? LittleBits magic is not just in the snapping together of the modules, but the creativity and engineering required to build what goes with them. Buy littleBits, challenge kid, sit back and watch the magic happen.
Stuff you need:LittleBits kit, stuff laying around (cardboard, scissors, glue, paper, tape), ideas Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead Maker Camp(optional)
Skills: electronics, prototyping, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity
13.) Pick up a Makey Makey
Makey Makey is a self proclaimed “Invention kit for everyone”. While that does pretty much cover it, what it really does is allows kids to connect any physical object that conducts electricity to a computer. If that computer happens to be connected to the internet, then the options started getting a little crazy. Banana Bongos? Child’s play. A piano made out of water? Now we’re getting somewhere. An interactive beat repeating and sound layering dance floor? Bingo.
Stuff you need: Makey Makey, conductive materials like: bananas, water, small children, pears, dogs
Skills: physical computing, creativity, engineering, problem solving, critical thinking, technology, Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead Maker Camp
If teaching gifted kids in the public schools for the last 7 years has taught me anything, it’s that success in the classroom (and beyond) is not usually defined by intelligence; grit is a much better predictor. Students that give up easily when things get tough or boring or uninteresting tend to struggle, no matter what their intelligence level. Teaching a kid to persevere when the going gets tough–whether they have an IQ of 70 or 170, will serve them better in the long run than any other skill they learn. How do you do it? Let them struggle. Give them chances. Practice grit. Model perseverance. Teach them that failure is not the end of the road; it’s a critical step in real learning, and something that every great innovator deals with.
Of learning