Unless you live under a rock out in the woods and have nothing to do with the normal population, then you have been hearing a lot about STEM or STEAM education on TV and the internet.  I have even started seeing it a lot on commercials on TV, and I do not watch a lot of regular TVs.

So what is STEAM, and why is it so great for our kids? It is a great way to teach kids about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math together.  The jobs that will be available for our kids have not been even thought of yet. Wow, that’s really cool if you think about it.  I know there is a lot of talk about STEAM education but like many of you, I have been having some problems finding great products that I can incorporate into my children’s education.  I came up with a list of websites and fun toys to get you started:

Science

• Sick Science – is a great website for getting some free experiments and great products for doing some really fun science stuff
   Sick Science kits and tricks
• Bill Nye the Science Guy – again a super funny guy that has some great videos and experiments
• Beckman’s World – He was popular in the ’80s and used to come on with Saturday morning cartoons. I love this guy and his sidekick the rat.
• Magic School Bus – You can find these videos on Netflix and YouTube, but we ordered a year’s supply of kits and the kids loved doing them.
• Science Bob – It’s a great website for science fair ideas, experiments, etc. It’s a little slow now, but they are updating the website and I think it will be better real soon
• Kitchen Science – This website is awesome and almost every experiment you can do in your kitchen or garage with the stuff you have in your house/ There is stuff for pre-kindergarten all the way to college-level experiments on body, brain, chemistry, nature, physics, substances, garage science, and so much more
• YouTube – Search any science experiment you can think of and most likely someone has done it

Technology

• Movie Making – Use your iPad or iPhone to make a movie
  here. This website has some great apps for making movies.
• Lego Cars – Take apart and build Lego cars and then for fun have a race!
• Learn Code Learning code is one thing my kids love. We are taking a college course learning Blocky Java Script using Minecraft.  Learn to Mod 
• Create a blog – My oldest daughter is learning how to create a website on WordPress. It’s easy and there is the tune of videos on YouTube. We signed up with GoDaddy and the website comes with how videos when you sign up. Another great hosting company is Host1Plus.com
• K’NEX is the next generation of construction toys. It inspires creativity, builds self-confidence, and encourages interaction among children and parents. The possibilities are endless!

Engineering

• DIY.org – DIY is the best place to level up your skills, meet friends, find an audience, and just be awesome. Learn anything and be anyone.
• Instructables – This is a great website for all ages where you can find out how to make stuff.
• Pinterest.com – Search “engineering activities for kids” to get some awesome projects that you can try.

Art and Crafts/ Music

• Craft Art Edu – online art classes from polymer clay (Hugs has taken several) to painting and jewelry making and even fiber art
• Craftsy – These are online classes that you can take at any time. They offer cake decorating, painting, photography, sewing, knitting, paper crafts, and tons more
• Polymer Clay Tutor – Hugs loves these courses. She teaches how to make things out of polymer clay
• 101 things to do with Cardboard on Pinterest.com – lots of ideas that you can do with cardboard
• Doll furniture – This lady is amazing. She makes the simplest doll furniture out of cardboard.
• Dick Blick – art supplies from an art store, so your child can do art anytime they want
• Art and Craft kits – I have bought lots of these over the years, and my kids love them.
• Guitar Lessons – Learn how to play guitar.
• learn to play piano – The gift of music will help your do better at math and memorizing facts.

Math

• Khan Academy – This is a FREE site where you can learn math, starting with pre-k learning their numbers to college-level learning trigonometry.  They also have High school History, Art, Science, SAT Prep, ACT Prep, and so much more.
• Hands-on Equations Start learning algebra as early as eight years old. Mine did and love using the apps and figuring out the problems.
• Xtra Math– learn basic math skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
• Cool Math – a fun website that teaches math and then your child gets to play lots of fun games to learn math
• Fun Math Activities – This is a great website that has fun activities to learn math