While standing around watching my daughters’ ski lesson on Sunday I ended up chatting with another parent. The conversation inevitably turned to “what do you do?” When she found out what I do she excited, and with a tinge of relief, asked if I had any suggestions for science activities she can do at home with her elementary school age students. My immediate suggestions were to take a look at Exploratorium’s Science Snacks and Microsoft’s Hacking STEM. 

Exploratorium’s Science Snacks website has dozens and dozens of hands-on science and engineering projects for students of all ages. There is a subsection of the site called Family-Friendly Snacks that offers activities specifically designed for parents to do at home with their kids. The vast majority of the projects can be done with common household items. And in response to the COVID-19 outbreak Exploratorium has a selection of activities and videos about viruses.

Hacking STEM is a Microsoft website that offers a couple dozen hands-on science and engineering lessons. The activities are a mix of things that students can probably do on their own and some that probably can’t be done without the supervision of a teacher or parent with working knowledge of the concept(s) being taught. For example, the mini solar house project that I’ve done with ninth grade students was done safely without my direct supervision (I removed the hot glue gun component and had them use tape). But the “party lights” activity on the same page is not something I’d have students do on their own without direct supervision.