science behind bubbles Archives

Fun Activities Teach! with Felice Gerwitz

Podcast 194

Fun activities teach, right? Or do you believe that learning does not have to be fun to be effective? A little fun can often spark the creativity in your child and lead to learning that happens spontaneously. In this episode, Felice discusses some fun activities that teach and great memories of activities she accomplished with her children to make homeschooling not only a success–but something she has passed down to the next generation (her grandkids!).

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Show Notes: Fun Activities Teach

Follow Felice’s Pinterest Board: Fun Activities That Teach

Here are some fun activities that teach:

1. Math: Learning to add using numbered paper (one on each page). Child solves problems by standing on the first number and counting forward to the answer, or backward (or subtraction)
2. Paper Airplanes – study aerodynamics, air pressure, resistance, etc.
3. Pond life – Reading, researching, studying and documenting all without twisting their arms!
4. Teaching Science and Having Fun – creating lab boxes, it is the importance to have all the equipment or supplies handy when doing science projects or experiments.
5. Bubbles – in the tub, bubbles with a wire coat hanger – surface tension – learn about the science behind a bubble
6. Baking soda and vinegar – what chemical property does this make? What is it used for? Have fun using a zipper plastic baggie, small paper cup (fill 1/2 full with baking soda) pour vinegar into the bottom of the bag, zip closed, flip and watch it pop! (and make a mess – do this outdoors!)
7. Magnifying glass and the sun. Make s’mores, harness the power of the sun through magnification!
8. Bug catchers – with a magnifying glass – catch and release – use nature journal to document.
9. ART – fabulous fun projects, use fingerprints and paint or ink pads to make fun creatures, studying fingerprints
10. Crayon relief – with watercolors. How wax repels water (colors).

Culmination Education Events:

Unit studies – Studied Medieval Period. Reenacted a full medieval meal complete with bread bowls for plates, whole chicken, and the kids could even throw the bones on the floor! Children staged a joust complete with pretend swords, damsels in distress and wood horses. (We even had a court jester and neighbors dressed up like the King and Queen!)
Weather Unit with Weather “Man” Broadcast. The children studied weather, learned how to read a weather map, made weather instruments and took readings for weeks, and then each child took turns being a weather man or lady, and we recorded the entire production The children used their own “findings” to give their weathercast.