stem for homeschoolers Archives

Advanced Coding Lessons for Kids with Bitsbox

March 3, 2017 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Since we’ve been working on coding with our middle schooler this year, she’s learned how to write code for apps, video games, and more! So in this month’s Bitsbox box, we were excited to see her branching into some advanced coding lessons for kids, including if – else statements and sin() functions.

And to top if all off, she got to explore these coding techniques while creating fun fairy-tale inspired apps and art! See how we used the Bitsbox A Land Far Away box to introduce advanced coding skills with absolutely no tears!

If you want to see more Bitsbox coding in action, be sure to check out how we used our first box to introduce coding for kids to our tween and how we used our second box to explore robotics!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

Bitsbox A Land Far Away Subscription Box Unboxing

I always like to begin these posts with a look at what’s inside the Bitsbox deluxe subscription box. Each month’s box has a different theme, so when you purchase a Bitsbox subscription, your child get a new set of apps to create based on a new theme in each box. This month’s theme was “A Land Far Away” and all of the apps were inspired by fairy tales.

Look at all this coding goodness! What I love about Bitsbox is that they make coding fun for kids, so when you buy the deluxe subscription, you always get a few extra toys along with your coding cards for the month.

This month we had trading cards for making mini apps, supersize cards for building advanced applications, temporary fairy-tale tattoos, a sheet of app stickers for keeping track of her progress through the unit, a Cata-pencil (yep, you guessed it – a pencil with a catapult on top) and a movable wooden snake.

Shortly after this picture was taken, my sons discovered the snake and ran off with it. I’ll probably never see it again.

The first thing we did was to add our new coding cards to our Bitsbox binder. We received that along with our second box last month. As we shuffled through the cards, Tigger found two apps she wanted to make right away.

A mini app called “Dream Catcher”.

And a supersized app called “Bling This Thing”. Color me surprised.

Once we had all of the app cards in the binder, it was time to get started!

Advanced Coding Lessons for Kids with Bitsbox

In the Grown-Up Guide (seen in the unboxing picture at the beginning), Bitsbox adds a bit of explanation for parents about exactly what our kids will learn in this box. By the way, that guide is a life-saver. A lot of us parents are like “Huh?” when we hear coding terminology, so that overview was very helpful.

One of the skills used this month is the if-else statement, which is an important skill to use for JavaScript programming. If-else statements are also used in Microsoft Excel and in basic logic, so they’re very useful.

The apps Tigger wanted to work with first don’t use this function. But one does use the sin() function, a skill used in C programming. When she saw that one app let her make art, she was off and running with that one, no matter what programming functions it used.

Since Dream Catcher is a mini app, it only requires a few lines of code. She had it completed in just a few minutes. And it creates this:

Pretty neat, right? It’s a look at how math can be used to create actual art!

After that, it was on to the app “Bling This Thing” – the one she was most excited to create this month.

“Bling This Thing” lets kids choose an object to decorate with jewels. And you can choose really any of the available coding stamps in the unit: cupcakes, crowns, thrones, even monsters!

You can also choose which jewels you’d like to show up as available stones, whether you want the app to select random jewels, and if you want to add any sounds when the jewels appear. It’s a really great exercise in customizing coding to create a desired result – super helpful if your kids are thinking about coding or graphic design for a living.

This app was such a big hit that my third-grader tore himself away from the wooden snake to come out and watch. (Side note: There is no doubt that these children are siblings. Wow.)

It works! Tigger found that she could customize the app even more, slowing down or speeding up the appearance of each jewel or deciding which way the jewels would rotate as they showed up.

After we were done, she added the “Bling This Thing” sticker to her app tracker guide to mark it as completed.

We have absolutely loved learning to code with Bitsbox! In just three months, my tween has learned that computer coding is used to create apps, video games, graphic design, sound effects, and images.

Plus, she’s learned how to use coordinate geometry, sin() functions, and JavaScript programming language – without any mind-numbing boredom. After all, when your twelve-year-old asks you to code for fun, you know you’re on the right track.

Sign up for a Bitsbox subscription yourself and let your children take some advanced coding lessons for kids at home! If you want to try just one box to see how you like it, visit the One-Time Product Shop to buy a single box!

Don’t forget: You can save 20 percent on a brand new Bitsbox subscription with you use the promo code SELENA20! (This code is only valid on new subscriptions and does not apply to purchases from the One-Time Product Shop. All subscriptions automatically renew on the first of the month.)

Want to learn more about Bitsbox? Sign up for the Bitsbox mailing list to learn about new products, boxes, and upcoming promotions! And if you want more ideas for teaching with Bitsbox, sign up for the educator mailing list!

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See our other Bitsbox reviews below!

And follow my STEM for Homeschoolers Pinterest board for more engineering inspiration!

Introductory Robotics for Kids with Bitsbox!

February 10, 2017 by Selena Robinson

We’ve been working on STEM concepts with our middle schooler for the past several months and she’s been enjoying learning science, technology, and even math concepts along the way. Our Bitsbox subscription has been a huge help in this. This girl absolutely hated math a year ago, but now that she’s learning how to use it to make things, she’s seeing mathematics in a whole new way!

This month’s Bitsbox subscription box came with a new theme: Robots! And it was a perfect way to cover introductory robotics for kids with my sixth-grader! Read on to see what’s in the Bitsbox Robo Boogie box and how we used it to code a robot video game!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.

Bitsbox Robo Boogie Subscription Box

Last month, we got the introductory Bitsbox basic subscription box: Animal House. So this month we were on the next box with the theme: Robo Boogie! As you might guess, it’s all about having fun with robotics!

One of the best things about a Bitsbox subscription is that it starts being fun as soon as you pop open the box. There’s absolutely no drudgery about learning to code with these kits.

The Robo Boogie box included a new set of app supercards, a miniature app trading card pack, a set of temporary robot tattoos, a super nifty deluxe binder for storing all of our cards, and a fun Cubebot toy. (As a mom nerd, I was most psyched about the binder. I am not ashamed of this.)

Each supercard contains a fun robot-themed app that kids can code using the code on the back. There are also cards with tips and tricks for making each app a bit unique.

The trading cards are tiny little app instructions for mini coding sessions.

And the Cubebot was a fun “extra” in the kit. It’s actually a really neat toy. It comes as a perfect cube. But if you move the pieces around, you get a robot! The challenge is getting him back into a perfect cube again. It’s hard!

Introductory Robotics for Kids with Bitsbox

After we organized all of the supercards into our brand new binder, Tigger decided to start with the app “Robodog Loves Robocat”. At the risk of sounding condescending, I knew she’d pick that one first. 🙂

So she read the coding instructions, signed in to her Bitsbox account, and got to writing the code. After completing the initial app, she wanted to add a bit of “flair”. So we flipped to another supercard and found a unique fill to add as the background.

Ta-da! This is Robodog Loves Robocat with the Future City background. When you click Play, the robot dog chases the robot cat off the screen. Neat!

As you move through a Bitsbox subscription box, you can keep track of the apps you’ve completed with this fun sticker page. One down, eleven to go.

For the next app, Tigger really wanted to code “Castle Defender.” If you look at the top right corner, you’ll see that this app has an icon that shows the needle all the way to the right. That means this is an app with a higher degree of difficulty.

I pointed that out to Tigger, but she would not be swayed. She was determined to code that app. I love it.

She read the instructions, stopping to test it after each step. According to the instructions, the game includes two characters: a heroic, selfless rock and an evil robot. After double-checking the code and re-reading the instructions, we ended up with a pretty neat robot video game!

As you can hear, even my little ones came in to watch the game being played. They all wanted a chance to try!

The original coding instructions call for the rock to spin at a rate of 15, but when we tried to play it that way, we had a hard time hitting the robot. With a little tweaking (reducing the speed to 5), we got a speed we could manage better.

And that’s one of the biggest parts of engineering: tweaking code to suit your (or your client’s) vision. I love how easily she’s learning these concepts without feeling bored or overwhelmed.

Boom! Another app successfully coded in this month’s box!

Now that Tigger sees what you can code robots to do in an app, we’re going to start researching how robotics engineers use coding to program actual robots to move, speak, and more. This was a wonderful way to start learning about that field!

Our Bitsbox subscription just keeps getting better. We’re looking forward to sharing next month’s box with you!

Be sure to check out the Bitsbox Basic Subscription and sign up! You can choose from one-month, three-month, or twelve-month plans – and they are all amazing! Or if you just want to buy a box outright, you can do that in the One-Time Shop! Great for testing the box to see if your kids love it! (They will.)

PROMO CODE: Save 20% on a new Bitsbox subscription of any length with the special Bitsbox promo code SELENA20! This code does not expire, but it does not apply to purchases from the One-Time Shop or to subscription renewals. New subscriptions only. All subscriptions renew automatically on the first of the month, unless canceled.

For more information about Bitsbox subscription offers and boxes, sign up for the Bitsbox mailing list! And get special tips for teaching with Bitsbox when you sign up for the teachers’ mailing list! Plus, keep up with Bitsbox online at:

Want more details about Bitsbox? Check out our review of the first subscription box!

Plus, learn more about teaching STEM to kids on my STEM for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

STEM for Homeschoolers: How to Build a Toothpick Bridge with Pitsco Education!

January 3, 2017 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

STEM education is a huge priority in our homeschool these days. We’ve got a busy middle schooler and I want her to get a good introduction to science, technology, engineering, and math during these years. That way, as she goes on in her schooling, she won’t be intimidated by these subjects later. And who knows? Maybe she’ll become an engineer herself!

So I jumped at the chance to try the Toothpick Bridges Maker Project from Pitsco Education! See how this curriculum helps kids learn how to build a toothpick bridge and learn about design and engineering at the same time!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.

Pitsco Education Toothpick Bridges Maker Project

Pitsco Education offers many, many resources for homeschoolers who want to work on STEM concepts with their kids. Each of the resources are grouped by category. For example, if you want to focus on math, you can browse plenty of awesome math projects. What I love about Pitsco’s product selection is that all of the lessons feature hands-on projects, which are an incredible teaching method for active homeschoolers (like ours).

The Pitsco Education Toothpick Bridges Maker Project was the foundation for our lesson. In the kit, there are:

Structural glue
A ton of toothpicks
Bottles for handling the glue
A toothpick bridge tester
And an instructional video on how to design your own toothpick bridge

We also received the complete lesson plan Masterpiece Toothpick Bridges: A Guide for Teachers and Students, which was a huge help for me as the educator. The plan includes plenty of activities, research, and illustrations to make an entire month of lessons based on this concept. It’s very, very detailed and an excellent in-depth lesson we’ll be working on through the rest of the year.

How to Build a Toothpick Bridge

I was so thankful for the Toothpick Bridges DVD. It really helped my middle schooler to “see” exactly what the process is for designing and creating her bridge.

Since she has ADHD, she watched the video once and said “I got it!” As we started on the project, though, I could see that she didn’t really get it quite yet. So I played it a second time and watched it along with her, pausing frequently to ask about her understanding. That really helped her get a clearer idea of what was involved in the process.

In the Toothpick Bridges teachers’ guide, there are examples of stunning toothpick bridges constructed by students. Some of these are practically works of art. This time, though, we stuck to the basics.

We started by creating a paper template to use as the design for our bridge sides. My middle schooler used the template on the DVD as her guide.

Then it was time to start measuring how many toothpicks we’d need for each side. We laid them down on the template to get a look at how to place them before we started adding glue.

As the video shows, building these bridges takes time. You can only create one side at a time and you can only construct one set of diagonals at a time. Which meant that we’d work on it for a while, let it set up, then resume working on it. For a child with a short attention span, this was an excellent activity for working on a longer-term project.

Once the individual sides dry, you can stand them up and attach them together, forming your bridge. As you can see, we used a LOT of glue. Next time, we’ll cut back on that a bit…lol.

Once our bridge was constructed, it was time to test it! The goal here is to put as much weight as you can possibly can on the bridge to see how much it can bear before it breaks.

As the video showed, we put on some safety goggles first. No one wants to catch a toothpick in the eye.

We placed a piece of wood (from the Toothpick Bridge tester) on the bridge and tied the bucket to a string. Our bridge wasn’t quite wide enough for the piece of wood to lie straight down, so it’s possible that our results were a bit skewed. Next time, we’ll be sure to use the piece of wood as the template for how wide the flatbed of the bridge should be.

We gradually added sand to the bucket until…the bridge broke!

Afterward, we weighed the sand to see how much our bridge could hold before breaking. It was 6.5 pounds! Who knew you could hold up six and a half pounds with just toothpicks!

This was a STEM activity we truly loved. And we’ll be repeating it again this school year now that we have a better understanding of how to engineer a bridge from scratch.

Are you working on STEM concepts with your kids this year? Be sure to check out the incredible products available from Pitsco Education for kids!

Plus, get more ideas for teaching STEM on my STEM for Homeschoolers Pinterest board!

Simple 3D Printing for Kids with Atmosflare!

March 1, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I’m kind of an old, so the whole concept of 3D printing is still kind of “weird science” to me. But 3D printing holds a LOT of promise. Scientists are even trying to use the technology to make organs for organ transplants!

So it’s worth it to introduce it to kids. And that’s why I was excited to get a chance to try the Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen! While it’s an artistic tool, it’s also a cool way to introduce 3D printing for kids! Take a look at how the pen works below!

Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for this post and I was compensated for my time. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

How the Atmosflare 3D Pen Introduces Kids to 3D Printing

In short, 3D printing works by layering molded plastic into a specific design shape to make a product. And that’s how the Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen works as well!

For me, understanding how 3D printing works was a bit…difficult. But when I broke it down into steps (design, layer, create), it made more sense. And that’s why using the Atmosflare pen is a simple introduction to how 3D printing works: you can use the exact same steps!

As you can see, the Atmosflare pen comes with the pen, two ink cartridges (blue and red), and a battery.

In the box, there are all the pen components and a very simple instruction diagram. But if you’re unsure how to assemble the pen, you can find instruction videos directly on the Atmosflare website.

How to Use the Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen

So, here’s my take on the Atmosflare pen: simple to assemble, not so simple to master.

As you can see, it fits nicely in your hand – just like a pen. To use the pen, you just squeeze the ink cartridge between your fingers….

and hold down the light curing button on top to harden the ink as it flows out.

After a few practice shots, we built a simple 3D shape – a cube.

We established a base, drew the sides, and then connected the top. We had to add a bit more ink at the corners to hold it together.

On to our first structure!

It’s a swing set! Kind of…

This pen is a lot of fun to work with, but it takes some practice to learn to use it properly. So if you have a child who’s easily frustrated, prepare him or her in advance for the fact that it will take a while to learn how to actually make something with the pen.

Atmosflare 3D Pen Usage Tips:

There is definitely a learning curve with the Atmosflare 3D Pen, so you can find helpful instruction videos on the company website. But here are a few tips we picked up as we used it:

Decide what you’re going to make before you begin. Once you start using the pen, it’s kind of hard to improvise without making a mess. Have an idea in mind before you start.
Always start with a base. It’s nice to think that you can just start drawing in the air, but you can’t. You need a base first, then you can start building up from there.
Go slowly. When you push the curing button, the ink tends to harden on the tip and clog. So try to work slowly to give the ink a chance to catch up with your movements.
Work in stages. I found that if you’re creating a structure, it’s best to work on one part at a time. You can even form a complete shape flat on the table and then attach it to another shape by just joining them at a corner and using the curing function on the pen.

Are you ready to introduce 3D printing for kids to your family? You can get an Atmosflare 3D Pen at ToysRUs, Best Buy, Amazon, and from the Atmosflare website!

But if you want to get one for FREE, you can win one in the huge Atmosflare giveaway! 30 winners will get an Atmosflare 3D Drawing Pen absolutely free! Use the giveaway widget below to enter.

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For more 3D drawing tips, keep up with Atmosflare using the social media links below!

Simple STEM Challenges with Hands-On Engineering!

July 29, 2015 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

I’ve set a few homeschooling goals this upcoming school year and one is to include more STEM learning with the kids. My biggest problem is that my passions include literature, writing, and dance – basically everything that is the opposite of STEM….lol.

So I was excited to try the book “Hands-On Engineering” from Prufrock Press! If you’re unsure how you can set up STEM learning at home, this is a great resource for simple STEM challenges!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Simple STEM Challenges with Hands-On Engineering

In “Hands-On Engineering“, you get complete teacher instructions, project descriptions, internet resource links, and student activity sheets. It’s almost a no-prep solution to planning STEM activities. 🙂

The resource is described as appropriate for grades 4-7 and I can see why. Some of the projects are fairly detailed and require a good amount of critical thinking from kids. But I decided to use it with all three of our school-age kids – just to see.

The teacher resources are fabulous. There are diagrams, explanations, Internet links, and summaries that give you a good background of each activity.

We settled on the Build a Catapult challenge from the book, and that involved getting an understanding of how a lever works. I drew the same diagram from the Instructor Key on the board and we talked about the essential parts of a lever.

Then the kids sketched their own diagrams. Afterward, we used some of the internet links listed in the Teacher’s activity sheet for the catapult activity.

We watched a video showing how ancient catapults (or “onagers”) were assembled and we talked about some of the advantages and challenges they posed for armies in battle. Then it was time for the kids to build their own catapult!

Explore Science, Technology, Engineering, Math!

Simple STEM Challenges - Look! We're Learning!

One thing I really like about “Hands-On Engineering” is that there are no detailed instructions on how to build the item in question. As a result, the kids were forced to try various methods, brainstorm ideas, and cooperate. Among the list of available supplies were rubber bands, clothespins, popsicle sticks, and plastic spoons.

What really impressed me was that, of all three children, Pooh (our almost seven-year-old) was the first to build a working catapult!

We rounded up all of the pennies in the house and, before I knew it, it was raining pennies from heaven…lol.

Look at that face. That is the face of a boy who is extremely pleased with himself.

Once Pooh figured out the basic design of a catapult, the other kids made their own. But then they started hitting the chandelier in my dining room with their pennies, so they were banished to the living room. After all, engineers have to learn to work in all kinds of environments. 😉

I loved Hands-On Engineering and I’m looking forward to making more of the projects with the kids this school year! If you’d like to try to build a catapult or any of the other simple STEM challenges in “Hands-On Engineering“, check out the book for yourself!

STEM for Homeschoolers: Decomposition Lesson Ideas for Kids

September 23, 2014 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

As I mentioned earlier this year, we’ve made a bit of a homeschooling U-turn in our family and started focusing more on STEM subjects and foreign language.

So – we’ll be sharing more science lessons and experiments on the blog, along with resources we find online that we love for learning STEM concepts. Today we’re sharing a recent activity using decomposition lesson ideas for kids!

Decomposition Lesson Ideas for Kids

This was NOT one of our planned lessons. A banana in our fruit bowl began to rot and the kids were fascinated by it. So I decided to let it rot so we could examine decomposition up close.

The amazing thing about kids is that they are fascinated by gross stuff. They wanted to see the rotting banana up close. So we got out a plastic fork and poked around.

That gave us a really close look at the bacteria growing inside the fruit.

Yuck.

That face says it all. But then we learned about the process of decomposition and how amazing it is! First, we watched a clip from Sid the Science Kid showing a lab experiment about decomposition.

All living things decay after dying, which is called decomposition. From plants to people.

Michigan Tech University has a great explanation of what happens during the process of decomposition. Basically, bacteria, fungi, and worms perform the work of decomposition by breaking down living organisms after death. This is a GOOD thing, because the broken down organisms become part of the soil and provide a natural fertilizer so that new things can grow. It’s the ultimate recycling!

To get an even closer look at decomposition, check out this video of a watermelon slowly decomposing over 35 days.