STEM Themed Toys, Gifts, and Prizes

-


My district hosts a student-centered conference called SIT (Students Involved with Technology). It's a great event where students present their knowledge of tech to other students. It's held on a Saturday and open to kids in grades 3-12. There are students from our district and also kids from surrounding areas. There is even a kid keynote!

Generally our biggest issue is kids running in the hallways... because they are so excited to get to the next session!

The adults just help kids get set up and are there to supervise, but it's the students that present and learn from each other!



Each year we cap off the day with raffle prizes. This year I was asked to make an Amazon wish-list of prize ideas. So, basically, I got to shop for $900 worth of fun stuff! I tried to get prizes that would appeal to kids that range from 8 years old to seniors in high school. I also put some artsy stuff on there, some coding stuff, books, toys, and t-shirts.

Who do you think is more excited about these prizes? Me or this kiddo? lol


After taking the time to make the list, I realized that it might be helpful to others looking for STEM-y toys, gifts, or prizes. These might make nice ideas for birthday presents you have to buy or maybe even for school related STEM events. Either way, I wanted to share some of the fun finds I found! Most things are under $30 with the most expensive still under $100. Our conference is on Saturday, so I'll let you know which of these prizes were the biggest hit!

I can tell you that I have bought a few for family members last Christmas. I got the drone for my brother-in-law and my dad. You are never too old for a fun toy on Christmas, right?! I also got the gold bluetooth speaker and the selfie ring light for a 16 year old in my family. They were both a big hit. I bought the Bit Coding Ozobot for an 8 year old and he loved it! Finally, I personally have the Blokus game and it has always gone over well with my middle school students and even my family likes to play it. For the items that I didn't have personal experience with myself, I spent some time looking at the reviews on Amazon and tried to pick things that had overall positive reviews.

So here's links to everything on my list! Hope it is helpful as you shop for STEM-y toys and gifts:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Valentine's Day: I Heart Math

-
Image
If you teach middle school, brace yourself for the craziness that is Valentine's Day celebrated at school tomorrow! Heart shaped suckers, teddy bears, chocolate, and a few (hopefully minimal) tears. Instead of fighting it, embrace the mathiness that can be squeezed out of this heart-filled holiday! Here are a few resources to use: 1. Send a Math-o-Gram . Love math? Love Desmos? You can send your students (or friends) a heart themed graph! 2. Make a Mathy Valentine Use transformations to rotate your way to your students' hearts. 3. Check out these other heart-shaped graphing activities I found these NCTM Illuuminations graphing actives a few years ago. 4. Graph this equation in Desmos : (this was a fun one for my 6th graders... just to figure out how to type in the correct symbols!) 5. Mobius Strip Hearts ?! Yes! Happy Valentine's Day! <3 Update: More Valentine's Day Activities Added: Early Childhood Ideas: Spark a Lov
Read more

Block Schedule Planning

-
Image
I had an opportunity to teach on a 45-minute traditional class period schedule and a 90-minute block. Both models have their pros and cons. I think my own preference is block schedules because you have so much more time to dive into content. There are fewer transitions and it just seems calmer and more conducive to learning. However, one major challenge is finding purposeful ways to fill that block. If you notice that you are doing one activity for a long period of time, it might be important to think about chunking. What I mean by chunking is thinking of you period in 15-20 minute chunks of time and planning activities within those chunks. I find it's difficult to keep students attention if something lasts longer than 20 minutes, so that was my maximum for any activity (except an assessment). I developed the following sample block plans based on 85 minutes. So, if you have 60 minutes you can think about cutting out one of these pieces. If you teach 90 minutes, add 5 minute
Read more

Why I Don't Use Keywords (or CUBES)

-
Image
Teacher confession time: I used to teach my students about keywords in math class. I did not create this poster, but I could have. In fact I had one very similar hanging in my classroom from 2007-2012. I even wrote one of my National Board portfolio entries about a lesson designed around keywords ! This brings be to CUBES. A problem solving strategy I've seen quite a few times in classrooms. I never used it, but mostly because I didn't hear about it. I probably would have been all over that. If you aren't familiar, here is the strategy: C- circle the numbers U- underline the question B- box the keywords, or math action words E- evaluate the steps you should take S- solve and check You might be wondering why I stopped using keywords in math class in 2012. Honestly, I was pretty stubborn. I mean, kids  got the right answers  when I taught key words! I thought I was helping them. Students liked them. Parents understood them. There are actually several reasons I
Read more