Activities

I’m so excited for this week’s art activity! This activity was created by a very good friend of mine, Rosalyn Eves. Rosalyn is a talented writer whom you can on the web here or follow on Twitter here. She’s one of the smartest people I know, and she’s also an artist! Without further ado, here’s the great activity she created […]

This week’s art activity was created by another one of my super-talented friends, Erin Shakespear. Erin is a writer and a craft expert and one of the funny, most warm people I know. Take it away, Erin! With a cool book like Framed being featured on Elaine’s awesome blog, it seemed fitting for this week’s art project to be a frame! […]

On page 3 of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, we learn that the Herdmans burned down Fred Shoemaker’s old broken-down toolhouse when they started a fire with Leroy Herdman’s “Young Einstein” chemistry set. Let’s do some chemistry that’s more fun and much, much safer! So what is chemistry anyway? It’s studying matter and how it reacts and […]

In Cosmic, Liam gets to go on “The Biggest Thrill Ride in the History of the World”–a trip to the moon! Let’s make some indoor rockets and see if we can launch them all the way to the ceiling. Materials needed: fishing line or string, drinking straws, balloons, shuttle picture, masking tape 1. Prepare the launch site. String fishing […]

In Kepler’s Dream, Ella adjusts to life in a new place and is challenged to find her true north. For today’s science activity, you’ll find your true north and learn something about the place you live! It’s time for part 2 of our sundials activity from astronomer and physicist Laura Cotts! For this activity, you’ll just need a piece […]

Jacob Wonderbar and his friends broke the universe and were afraid that they’d destroyed their own galaxy. You probably know that a galaxy is a big, big group of stars, and that the galaxy we live in is called the Milky Way. But let’s learn some more about galaxies and make our own galaxy art! There […]

This week’s book, Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs, is full of snow. In fact, Hazel watches the snow fall in the very first scene and admires its “perfect geometric patterns.” So let’s take a closer look at the geometry of snowflakes! Most snowflakes have hexagonal symmetry, which means that there are six lines you could draw through the […]

To go along with this week’s book, Snow Treasure, we’re going to make a snow treasure of our own: ice cream! I love this activity because it gets kids outside, even in cold weather, and can be tailored to a really wide age range. And you can incorporate as little or as much science as you want!  This is […]

In Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, Steven is crazy about drumming. Rhythm and percussion are great ways to express yourself, and not just if you’re a pro like Steven! I asked my fabulously talented friend Chelsea Gardner (who happens have a degree in music therapy) to give us a guest post this week, and she came […]

In Matthew Kirby’s Icefall, there is an abundance of ice. It become almost a character, sealing the fjord, groaning and growing, and it certainly plays a tremendous role in the climax of the book. And there’s no shortage of ice in Mr. Popper’s Penguins either! Let’s take a look at ice from a scientist’s perspective and explore some of […]