June 2022

These days, “handmade” can mean unique, high-quality, and, often, expensive. But it doesn’t have to be. Teach your teen self-sufficiency by showing her how to create her own products at home. Take your first plunge into handcrafting with this neat and tidy soap recipe. Don’t worry, you’re not actually making the soap from scratch, but […]

Take recycling to new heights. Papier-maché is French for “chewed-up paper”-and that’s kind of what it looks like! In this activity, kids reconstruct old newspaper using a mould and wallpaper paste to take part in this century-old practice. This Earth-friendly crafting technique will result in a functional pencil holder that’s loads of fun to make.What

This potato cannon activity teaches your middle schooler about the principle of Boyle’s Law. Your child will love playing with his food to make a working potato cannon. This outdoor activity will turn a humble potato into bursting ammunition, with a little help from Boyle’s Law. This explosive experiment demonstrates the basic principles of Boyle’s

Show your child how to create a concoction of simple household ingredients that changes colours as acids and bases are added! This magic mixture is called a “pH indicator,” a chemical compound that is added to a solution in order to determine its acidity or basicity visually. While many items (such as cabbage juice) have

In middle school your child will be learning all about heat energy and temperature measurement, and will likely get to use a lab thermometer. This project will enable your child to construct a homemade thermometer that will compliment what he’s learning about this instrument in school.What You Need:❑ Tap water❑ Rubbing alcohol ❑ 11-ounce clear,

One of the most beautiful parts of every cathedral is the stained glass window above the entrance, called a Rose window. Your child can create his own work of beauty based on these century-old works of art. Instead of cutting glass, he can use tissue paper and repeated shapes and patterns for a similar glowing

Botany, the study of plants, is a very important field of science. Many of the medicines we use, as well as most of the foods we eat, come from plants. Botanists cannot go into the field to study every single kind of plant from all over the world, so they create an herbarium, which is

To supplement your eighth grader’s study of magnets in school, try this simple activity at home. Your child will create a homemade working compass using just a steel needle, magnet, jar and a few other supplies. As he builds his compass, he’ll experiment with magnetism and will get to “see” the Earth’s magnetic field as

Step aside Harry Potter; a new wizard is in town! Now your child can create his own wizard or witch puppet to send off on imagined adventures! This project blends many types of artistic elements, such as papier-mâché, painting, sewing and designing. Making the puppet is a detailed, multi-step process that can be completed over

Does the mere thought of bungee jumping make your palms sweat? How about DIY bungee jumping at home with your kids? Don’t worry; there won’t be any broken limbs involved…just broken shells. In place of your child, an egg will be doing all the jumping. The nylon pantyhose you’ll use for this experiment has a

To a child, a grandparent is a timeless figure. But your child’s grandparent had a childhood, youth and adulthood full of interesting and wonderful stories! Encouraging your child to learn about his grandparent’s past will not only strengthen family ties but also it can be a great writing exercise, history lesson, and gift, rolled into

Can you think of a way of cleaning dirty water using the sun? How about getting salt out of water using the sun? In this activity, you will be making a “solar still” that is able to do just that! Let’s get started!What You Need:❑ A wide plastic basin❑ A smaller jar or glass for

Do you remember Shrinky Dinks? They were sheets of plastic film you could draw on, cut out and bake into a shrunken solid piece of plastic. The original Shrinky Dink is no longer in the market, but now there’s something even better: Inkjet printable shrink plastic! Print your very own photos, snapshots or fine art

The discovery of soap was one of the most important aspects in human history. Just think about all the things we use soap for, from keeping clothes and dishes clean to sanitation in hospitals.Today we make some kinds of soap using lye (which is leached from ashes), oils and water, or we can buy ready-made

This autumn, embrace the back-to-school spirit by getting your child organized for the upcoming school year. Here’s a fun and easy activity to help: create a magnetic spice tin pencil holder! It will be easy for your teen to transform beautifully decorated spice tins and loose-leaf tea canisters into durable magnetic organizers that keep pens