Smart Application - Lego Fix The Factory

Lego Mindstorms Fix the Factory is a free application yet of high quality which can not be said for many free applications. It teaches basic programming/coding skills to children in a game environment. Children help EV3RSTORM, a humanoid robot, to navigate the massive NOGO factory maze and put the dislocated batteries back in place to proceed to the next level. Each puzzle introduces new skills to master for example logic gates, functions etc.

Price: Free

Links for:
IPad/Iphone
Android

Smart Application - Fresh Pick

Fizzy's Lunch Lab Fresh Pick is a game application developed by PBS Kids. In this application children age 6-8 years can practise their math and problem solving skills by solving 8 challenges. Challenges include navigating your way through the grocery store, coming up with right amount of change in the check-out line, and successfully serving food to a room full of hungry customers. 

Links for:

IPad

Android

Wednesday Weekly Website–Light Bot

 

Light Bot

Review: Light Bot is an amazing and quite addictive pre programming game for children and adults alike. You have to use programmer-style logic to tell the bot (robot) how to light up all the blue tiles! You have to use Functions, conditionals, recursions and loops! An excellent way to sharpen your logic and getting kids ready for computer programming all the while having fun. Logic and algorithm are two vital skills needed in computer programming no matter which programming language you are using and this game introduces both the skills to kids in a very informal way. There is music but it can conveniently be switched off by clicking the speaker icon in the game. There are also walkthrough videos available for the game, incase you find it too hard.

Suitable for ages: 7-70

21 Things for students

21 Things For Students is a project site to provide project-based activities which are aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students. All the projects introduce students to education technology tools, some tutorials and where and why to use the tools. For example for the virtual programming project, students are introduced to Scratch, some tutorials to get them started and some examples of Scratch projects created for math, ELA, science and social studies.

The 21 projects include:

• 1. Staying Organized
• 2. Web Presence
• 3. Digital Citizenship
• 4. Be Legal & Fair
• 5. Productivity Suite
• 6. Project Collaboration
• 7. Digital Video
• 8. Information Literacy
• 9. Personal Networks
• 10. Self-Directed Learning
• 11. Online Learning
• 12. Interactive Tools
• 13. e-Commerce
• 14. Career Prep
• 15. Troubleshooting
• 16. Visual Organizers
• 17. Powerful Presentations
• 18. VAI-Casting
• 19. Virtual Programming
• 20. Data Quest
• 21. Mobile Computing

There is also a teachers resources page. Overall there is a wealth of information here for the students and educators who want to integrate technology in their education and career.

Wednesday Weekly Website–Whizzball

 

Whizzball

Review: Whizzball is a great site from Dicovery kids. The concept of the game is simple, a ball needs to be guided to the target. But what makes this game such a great one is that there are not only hundreds of puzzles made by kids all over the world, but kids can make their own puzzles for others to solve. Building a puzzle is a simple matter of dragging and dropping objects like simple catapults, tubes, springs and tiles on your game board. Once you are satisfied with your puzzle you can submit it online for the others to solve. It is one of those web sites where you need to visit before you understand the full potential. It can be a wonderful warmer activity when studying simple machine. These types of puzzles are great way to develop the logical thinking and problem solving skills in kids. There is some music but this site can be used to full advantage even without speakers. You will need to register before you can play, but registration is a matter of simply choosing a name for yourself. Once you have submitted your puzzle you can even send it to friends and invite them to play it. Also don’t forget to explore the other games in discovery kids.

Suitable for ages: 6-12

Wednesday Weekly Website–Robot Obstacle Course

 

Robot Obstacle Course

Review: Robot Obstacle Course is a wonderful way to introduce children to the world of programming and computing. This fun and engaging (might I add addictive?) game introduces younger minds to the kind of logical problem solving which is needed in programming computer softwares. Children have to program a robot to navigate an obstacle course. They are offered problems of varying difficulties to solve in the form of different tiles to jump over. At the same time they are introduced to the “IF” and “AND/OR” “logical switches”. A truly delightful resource from Oregon Museum Of Science And Technology. There is no music which is a definite plus. If your children are interested in robotics and computer programming, you can take the learning further by following the online links from the site. There are also other offline, hands on activities in the take home section. Do browse around the site as there are many more gems to be found.

Suitable for ages: 5-13

Few Things To Do With Toys (part II)

 

This is second part of Few Things To Do With Toys. The First Part was about using toys in literacy. In this part I have gathered some ideas on how to use toys in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and history.

STEM with Toys

1. Children can do surveys among family and friends of favorite toys and represent the data in graphical format. You can use this pictogram if children are not comfortable making bar graphs yet.

 

2. In Toy Repair Man, children will need to decide on the correct tool to repair the toy. 

 

3. Gather some toys and talk about what are they made from. Discuss the properties of materials. Brainstorm words like shiny, smooth, hard, soft etc. Challenge the students to find other things in the house made of that same material. You can take the activity further by sorting toys in groups like hard and soft, shiny and dull, fabric and plastic etc. You can also use this describing toys activity after doing the same for real world toys.

 

4. Use the same toys from step 3 or gather some more. Talk about if and how the toys move. You can again sort the toys in groups of movable and non movable toys. You can use this toy sorter to sort toys with and without wheels.

 

5. Using this activity children can look at when teddy bears, dolls and cars were made and what they were made of.

 

6. Making Scientific toys is one sure way to spark interest. There are a lot of benefits in these kinds of toy making. Not only is it a fun way to spend quality time with your child, it increase their interest in science and math, give them a better understanding of why science and math are important in everyday life (applied science and math) and increase their problem solving and designing skills. Try making some simple toys from Science Toymaker and if the child is interested follow the “whys” behind these toys.

 

History with Toys

1. Look at these pictures of toys together with your child. Discuss how toys have changed. Try to guess the time by looking at the pictures of toys.

 

2. Look at the history of some of the famous toys like Lego here.

 

3. Children can sort new and old toys. Talk about why your child thinks a toy as old or new. What things does he/she look at. Carry on to describing the toys.

 

4. Iboard has some very good resources for history using toys. Kids can compare toys of today with toys of past. They can also sort toys into piles of new and old toys. There is also a toy time line available where children can place toys according to their time of invention.

 

5. You can look at how teddy bears have changed over the years and find the differences between your toys and your grandparents toys here. 

March Interactive Math Calendar

I am a day late, but here is the March edition of Interactive Math Calendar.

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Wednesday Weekly Website–Dead Bird Mystery

 

Dead Bird Mystery

Review: Strange Dead Bird Mystery is a wonderful activity by University of Montana. According to the site “The online activity uses a mystery format and narrative structure to attract all students into solving science questions, even those who are not typically engaged by science. The science mystery is in the format of a second-person fictional narrative in a realistic setting. The reader is a character in the story, and makes decisions that influence the outcome of the story. The mystery gets students to think logically, to evaluate facts critically, and to pose and prove/disprove hypotheses -- without realizing they're doing it!” If you have more than one learner, group them together as a team to solve the mystery or you can let them compete against each other. This activity provides information about American wetland but you can still use it if you are living in another part of the world. If your learner likes the activity you can perhaps adopt it for your local habitat by trying to solve the mystery of “fallen leaf” or “buried rocks” or any “spotted birds” you may find on a walk. This activity is available in both flash and HTML versions and has no music.

Suitable for ages: 7-13