ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

This week’s area of focus is ART, we are creating cupcake liner flowers!

You’ll need:

  • Paper
  • Cupcake liners
  • Crayons
  • Glue
  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Glue on your cupcake liners halfway up your paper.
  2. Cut out construction paper or use crayons to add in your stems and leaves.
  3. Decorate the cupcake liners to resemble your favourite flowers.
  4. Add in any fun elements or decorations.

These spring flowers will bring colour and joy to your child as they anticipate the arrival of Spring!

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

Ready to be mesmerized? Well, our Illusion Tunnel activity this week will do just that. Let’s use ART to create our own illusion spinners!

You’ll need:

  • Cardboard or cardstock
  • Ruler
  • Box cutter (for the adults)
  • Penny
  • Markers

Instructions

  1. Cut out a circle from cardboard or cardstock.
  2. Trace out some lines into a design of your choice.
  3. Colour in the lined sections to create an illusion.
  4. Have an adult carefully make a small slit in the middle of the circle.
  5. Insert the penny into the slit.
  6. Spin your spinner on a flat surface and watch the colours twirl around, mesmerizing you.

These spinners will mesmerize you, just like the illusions in the Children’s Museum Illusion Tunnel does!

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

This week’s area of focus is ART, and we are creating our own stamps!

You’ll need:

  • Foam
  • Scissors
  • Markers
  • Ink pads (or markers)
  • Glue
  • Bottle cap lids

Instructions

  1. Decide what kind of fun shape you’d like to create (picking a simple outline without too much detail is best).
  2. Draw out the design on your piece of foam and cut it out
  3. Glue your foam design to the lid of the bottlecap and start stamping!

This activity allows children to create their own crafting tool and then make artwork with it.

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

This week’s topic is MATH. Make math fun (and tasty) with this marshmallow counting activity.

You’ll need the following:

  • Pictures of mugs (or actual mugs)
  • A marker
  • Marshmallows

Instructions

  1. Lay out pictures of hot chocolate mugs
  2. Write numbers on them with your marker
  3. Ask your child to match the same number of marshmallows to the number on the mug
  4. If they answer correctly, they can eat them as a bonus treat!

Learning how to count can be difficult for children. This homemade counting activity can make it fun! Children will learn how to match numbers and count out the correct number. Motivating them with a game is a good way to start learning about math.

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

Snow, snow, snow. Let’s turn this snow into something fun and make ice marbles! These are not only fun to make, but also a pretty lawn decoration.

You’ll need the following:

  • Balloons
  • Food colouring
  • Water
  • A freezer
  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Place a few droplets of food colouring into your balloon
  2. Fill balloon with water and tie the end
  3. Place outside (if cold enough), or in the freezer for 24 hours
  4. Use scissors to cut the end off the balloon and peel away
  5. Place outside for pretty lawn décor

Ice marbles are a simple activity for children but create an interesting display for your yard. Children can make them into a pattern or build a mini structure out of them too.

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

This week’s area of focus is ART, we are making mashed-up monsters with play dough. For this activity, your child will get to use their creativity by creating their very own pet monster.

You’ll need:

This activity is simple but will get your child’s imagination working double time with this fun monster creation!

Decide what type of monster you are creating and get to work…. there are no specific instructions, we want your child to have creative freedom. We do encourage them to mash up their play dough first (hence the monster MASH part), but they can roll it out and use a cookie cutter for the monster’s outline too.

Decorating their monster is the best part! Use the google eyes, pipe cleaners and various other supplies you gathered to decorate your monster however you choose.

This activity is designed to get your child to use their imagination to create their very own monster buddy. What type of monster is it? Does it have any superpowers? We want your child to explore their creativity and come up with whatever weird and crazy-looking creature they can think of!


If you try this with the children in your life, remember to share your creations with us on social media @childmuseumwpg

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

Here is a game that will help to teach your child about counting and making predictions. Before we start, which colour apple do you think will win the race?

You’ll need:

  • Apple Race printout
  • Paper Clip
  • Fastener
  • Pom Poms or play dough (yellow, green and red). These will be your apples.

Instructions:

Once you have your apple race printout, put the fastener through the paper clip, and push the pin through the apple pie chart. This will be your spinner. Then let the race begin. Have your child predict which colour apple will win. Take turns spinning the paper clip and add the matching coloured apple to the board. Whichever colour reaches the end first wins!

This game is easy to create and helps your child learn math concepts like prediction, counting and addition… with some fun too! 


Remember to share your creations with us on social media @childmuseumwpg

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

It’s a new school year, which means a new school photo! Have your child paint and decorate this adorable school bus picture frame made from popsicle sticks to display their picture in. 

You’ll need:

  • Tacky glue
  • Popsicle sticks 
  • Paints (yellow, grey, black)
  • Paintbrush
  • Buttons or gems
  • Paper

Instructions 

  1. Start by gluing two popsicle sticks together side by side.
  2. Now glue a popsicle stick on either side of your two sticks, vertically. 
  3. About an inch from the bottom of the two vertical sticks, glue three more popsicle sticks on horizontally together. 
  4. Paint your bus. Let it dry 
  5. Add in your decorations: gems or buttons for the lights and paper for the license plate.

This school bus craft is such a cute way for your child to show off their new school photo and get excited for picture day. You can add magnets to the back to put on the fridge for an extra touch.


If you give this a try, please share your creations with us. Tag us on social media @childmuseumwpg. 

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

This week’s area of focus is TECHNOLOGY, and we’re learning how to code with Legos.

In this activity, children get to learn about how coding works and come up with their own secret messages to decode.

You’ll need:

  • Lego’s
  • Lego board
  • Coding template you can find here

First, you need to decide which two colours you’d like to use to make your secret code. We chose blue and yellow to indicate either a 0 or a 1. Next, use your template to write out your message on the Lego board. Once you have written your code out, have a friend try and figure out the message!

Can you decode our secret message? Use the template to find out!! You can try this with a friend if you need to pass along an important message.

(Answer: Children’s Museum ?)


Share your secret messages with us on social media @childmuseumwpg. We’d love to try and figure it out!

ALL ABOARD: WE’RE GATHERING STEAM

This week’s area of focus is SCIENCE, and we’re making water balloons.

In this experiment, your child will learn about liquid density and why some balloons float or sink.

You will need:

  • Balloons
  • Sugary drink
  • Diet sugary drink
  • Large container

Once you have your materials, fill your balloons and label them. Then, fill your large container with water. After, have your child place the balloons in the large container with water and watch to see which ones float and which ones sink. 

Sugary drinks sink, but why? This activity teaches children the scientific process that sugar-filled drinks sink because sugar is heavier. You can learn more here