3 Fun Science Projects to Keep Your Child Curious Over Summer Break

During the school year, children find themselves fully immersed in academic activities. Then, over the summer, that abruptly stops. For some children, this leads to summer learning loss, where they fail to retain knowledge they gained when school was in session. Fortunately, there are plenty of educational activities you can do in the comfort of your home, from reading challenges to science projects. Here are a few science experiments that can be fun for the whole family:

Project 1: DIY Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano

This classic science experiment never gets old. People of all ages enjoy watching the results of this chemical reaction between common household products. When you do this experiment together, you can experiment with different amounts of baking soda and vinegar to create different eruption heights and effects.

Materials needed for this experiment include: 

• A plastic bottle

• Baking soda

• Vinegar

• Food coloring

• A container to contain the volcano eruption

Here’s how the experiment works:

1. Build the base by placing the plastic bottle in the center of the container. Add materials like paper mache or clay to create a more realistic volcano shape.

2. Mix a few drops of food coloring into the baking soda.

3. Fill the plastic bottle about halfway with vinegar.

4. Carefully pour the baking soda into the vinegar-filled bottle, and step back quickly to watch the volcanic eruption!

5. Clean up messes after completing the experiment.

Project 2: Homemade Slime

What could be more fun than playing with a gooey material that can easily wash off your hands with soap and water? Making homemade slime is a great way to spend a summer afternoon. Your child may even forget that they’re learning when you perform this science experiment together. 

These are the materials you will need for this experiment: 

• White school glue

• Liquid starch

• Water

• Food coloring

Here are the steps:

1. Mix 1/2 cup of white school glue with 1/2 cup of water in a mixing bowl. Stir until well blended.

2. Add a few drops of food coloring to the glue mixture. Stir until you have evenly distributed the color.

3. Slowly add 1/4 cup of liquid starch to the glue mixture, stirring constantly.

4. Continue stirring and kneading the slime until it reaches the desired consistency. Add more liquid starch if the slime comes out too sticky. Add a little water if it's stiff.

5. Once the slime has the right texture, customize it with different colors! Divide the slime into separate portions, and mix in different food coloring to create a variety of colors.

6. Store your homemade slime in an airtight container when not in use to keep it from drying out. Enjoy playing with your colorful, customized slime!

Project 3: Solar Oven S'mores

S’mores and summer fun go together like chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. Campers traditionally make these snacks over a campfire, but you can also make them in a solar oven. And when you make them in an oven, you’re doing science! This experiment is educational and delicious. 

To make solar oven s'mores, you will need the following ingredients and materials:

Ingredients:

• Graham crackers

• Marshmallows

• Chocolate bars

Materials:

• Cardboard pizza box with a lid

• Aluminum foil

• Plastic wrap

• Black construction paper

• Tape

• Scissors

Here are the steps for making solar oven s’mores: 

1. Line the inside of the pizza box with aluminum foil, shiny side up, to create a reflective surface that will help trap and reflect the sunlight.

2. Cut a piece of black construction paper to fit the bottom of the pizza box, and tape it in place. The black paper will absorb the sunlight and help create heat inside the solar oven.

3. Arrange the ingredients for the s'mores on the graham crackers - place a piece of chocolate on one graham cracker and a marshmallow on the other.

4. Place the s'mores on a small plate, and carefully place them inside the pizza box.

5. Close the pizza box lid, and securely tape it shut to seal in the heat.

6. Place the solar oven in direct sunlight, with the reflective side facing the sun. Adjust the position of the solar oven throughout the process to ensure maximum sunlight exposure.

7. Allow the s'mores to cook in the solar oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the marshmallow melts and the chocolate becomes soft.

8. Carefully remove the plate from the solar oven, and assemble the s'mores by placing the marshmallow and chocolate between the two graham crackers.

9. Enjoy delicious solar oven s'mores!

We encourage you to make science fun with these easy-to-do at-home science experiments this summer. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Why Students Should Be at the Center of Their Learning

The purpose of education is to help each student be successful in life, learning things they need to know about the world around them. However, not every student develops in the same way while going to school. Some students need more than what’s contained in the walls of a conventional classroom. This is where student-centered learning becomes optimal.  

A New Way for Students to Learn

Traditionally, classroom learning has been centered around teachers. Students learn what the teachers are told to teach. Student-centered learning differs in that it allows students to be involved in their own educational experiences. Teachers and students work together to create the learning paths, leading to a more collaborative environment and more meaningful learning for the students. 

Why Student Centered Learning Works

Putting students at the center of their learning has many benefits for everyone involved. Children who feel involved in the learning process become more engaged in what they’re learning and motivated to succeed. They take more ownership of their work and responsibility for their learning. Through this increased focus, critical thinking and problem-solving skills naturally improve. Learning becomes an adventure, one that students continue to enjoy beyond their time in school. 

Collaboration in the Classroom 

One of the main benefits of student-centered learning is the room it leaves for collaboration between peers. Students have more opportunities to put their heads together, whether it’s for everyday assignments or projects that take them beyond the classroom. Through this collaboration, they learn how to work with others to achieve common goals. They learn soft skills such as communication and listening that are more important than ever in today’s interconnected world. 

Developing Skills for the Modern World

In today’s world, some of the most important skills you can have come from collaborating with others. Knowing how to communicate effectively, resolve conflicts and adapt to change matters more now than ever before. The more children learn to work with others at a young age, the better prepared they will be for life after school. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we know all about the power of putting students at the center of their learning. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Building a Supportive Environment for Your Gifted Child

When you find out you have a gifted child, it’s often more of a confirmation of something you knew all along. Your child is special, and they are likely to outperform their peers. However, being a gifted child is rarely that straightforward. Gifted children tend to feel the need to prove themselves, and they struggle to ask for help when they need it. Here are some ways you can be a supportive parent to a gifted child. 

Avoid Comparison to Others

Most of the pressure gifted children face is from comparing themselves to others. These could be peers who they perceive as being smarter or more socially adept than they are. Help your child by avoiding the trap of comparing them to other people. Telling your child they are smarter than someone else can make them feel uneasy. Comparing them to someone who is outperforming them can make them feel less than. Focus on your child as an individual, rather than finding others to compare them to.

Applaud Effort and Accomplishments

Gifted children sometimes need to be reminded that effort matters. They tend to be more focused on the end goal and accomplishing the next big thing. However, the small accomplishments along the way are what help them get there. These children also need to be reminded that, even if something is not a resounding success, the effort made to reach the goal was worthwhile. 

Encourage Relationship Building

Your gifted child may appear to live in their own world. Children with diverse interests sometimes struggle to understand the importance of other people. Encourage your child to focus on building relationships with others, and not just their teachers. Talk to them about the friends they’ve made at school and their relationships with other family members. Guide them in focusing on friendships and relationships just as much as they focus on the very interesting thing they learned about in science class. 

Provide Enrichment Opportunities

Your gifted child is likely to have a lot of different interests, but some will persist over time. Whatever they’re interested in, provide opportunities for deeper exploration. If they won’t stop talking about sharks, spend a day at the aquarium together. Go to the library, and see if you can find some nonfiction books that will allow them to learn even more about their favorite things. Help them find answers to their seemingly endless list of questions. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we create opportunities for every child to explore their genius. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

How Project-Based Learning Helps Students Find Themselves

Along with learning about academic subjects, students spend their time in school discovering who they are and who they want to be. Many students find that extracurricular activities give them the most opportunities for self-discovery. However, there’s another way students can learn a lot about themselves while learning about classroom subjects: through project-based learning. Here are some of the ways project-based learning can help students find themselves. 

Collaboration and Social Skills

Project-based learning requires students to work together toward a common goal. One of the best ways to learn about yourself is by working with others. Students learn how they can overcome challenges, from the intrapersonal to the academic. They learn the most effective ways to communicate, often through trial and error. At the end of each project, they build even more on these essential skills, gaining more insight into who they are.  

Building Autonomy and Self-Direction

It may seem to contradict the previous point, but in many projects, working independently is as important as collaborating with the group. Each student needs to build their part of the project so that the whole can come together. While working collaboratively, they learn what they can do by themselves and where they need to lean on each other. Once the project is complete, each student can take ownership of their contributions.

Developing Critical Thinking and Creativity

Children who learn in project-based settings often find themselves needing to think creatively and critically at the same time. Leaning too much on creativity can create beautiful end results that lack substance, while leaning too much on critical thinking can lead to too much thinking and not enough doing. Each project creates new opportunities to make informed decisions with the help of teammates, who learn from each other in the process. 

Cultivating Passion and Purpose

Finding yourself, especially as a young student, means discovering what you’re passionate about and where you excel. Project-based learning allows students to explore their personal interests in a way that relates to the subjects they’re studying. Rather than being abstract and distant, academic concepts become tangible, and therefore more relatable. Students may discover interests they never knew they had and talents that they choose to explore outside the classroom. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we believe project-based learning puts students on the path to success. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Teaching Your Child to Love Learning for Life

Most of us start out inquisitive and creative, but after facing the pressures of life, some people lose that love for learning. Children who learn to love learning early on often carry that interest with them throughout their lives. Every day can be a learning experience, which leaves room for openness, curiosity and seeing life as an opportunity. Here’s how you can instill a love of learning in your child. 

Read Together

One of the most valuable tools for activating a child’s imagination is reading to them. Read a variety of stories, from true life adventures to science epics. When your child is ready, encourage them to read to you. The act of reading together makes reading a more engaging experience, which is important for developing, inquisitive minds. 

Make Learning Fun

There’s more to learning than reading and writing. Show your child how learning applies to everyday life. Go exploring together in nature, and have them record their observations as a science lesson. Play board games as a family to teach your child about storytelling, math and more. You can always find opportunities to learn together. 

Say “I Don’t Know” 

Every once in a while, your child will stump you. They’ll ask you “why” one too many times, and you won’t know the answer to the question. You may be tempted to make something up that seems plausible, but that won’t help them learn. Admit that you don’t know, and take the opportunity to learn something new together. Go on a research journey, and validate your child’s curiosity. 

Explore Their Interests

Children often cling to a particular interest — or several — and refuse to let go. Explore their interests with them. If they love butterflies this week, see if there’s a museum exhibit nearby that you can take them to. Maybe they’re into snakes, and it’s time to check out some books about their reptilian friends from the library. 

Ask More Questions

Teach your child to be curious by modeling curiosity. Open-ended questions like “why do you think that is?” and “how did you come to that conclusion?” can help your child look deeper into what they’re learning. The critical thinking process is an essential part of learning, and by getting those gears turning early on in life, you’ll put your child ahead of the game. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we hope all of our students develop a lifelong love of learning. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.