Frugal Family Fun

If you’ve had the opportunity to scout out many STEM-based subscription boxes online you will have noticed one glaring similarity. Most of these subscriptions are geared towards younger children. But what about STEM-focused activities for tweens and teens? The market until recently has been pretty abysmal. Which was why I was excited to be asked to review a subscriptions box from Creation Crate, a STEM-based service geared towards kids aged 12 and up! 

What’s the service all about:

Creation Crate is geared towards bringing experiential learning to tech-education methods for students and educators alike, in a learning curriculum geared towards helping students learn the basics of engineering, robotics, and computer programing strategies. 

Creation Crate includes monthly boxed crates that contain both the hardware of electronics and the programming for each specific project. Like with many other services, because of the programming required, you will also need a computer or laptop to download and use the Arduino software, the software that runs each programming grid. Projects are sent on a relatively simple start and as time goes on students will receive harder boxes as their subscriptions continue. 

Each box included an instruction pamphlet to help guide you through the initial hardware setup, programming instruction, common errors suggestions, and exercises to utilize your finished programming project. You’re also given the URL to their online project support page, extra parts for your kit (something nonpresent in a lot of other kits), and diagrams and instructions for downloading the software for each kit. 

The Creation Crate that we received was the Mood Lamp project-in-a-box. A fun choice for both my family and my husband’s middle school classes. As a family, we took turns assembling the kit and my husband programmed the kit for us. 

It was my husband’s first time using the Arduino system but after two hours of trial and error, an hour of re-study of the setup diagrams, a quick rewiring of two cables, and we were back in business!

The finished lamp, with it’s with ever-changing red, blue, and green LEDs was fun to watch. It was neat to see the colors gradually and independently change brightness which gave us the perfect opportunity to discuss the process by which we used specific attachments to the circuit board to the battery caused this homespun light show to commence! 

Our Experience:

Though the kits say that no experience is required, we did not find this to be the case. My husband’s knowledge as a STEM, Robotics, ICT I & ICT II, and Project Lead the Way Educator, his previous knowledge for conceptualizing this build, is what eventually saved this project for us as a family. As well, the instruction pamphlet that comes with the box is pretty small, as are the diagrams, and in my opinion, neither delves deep enough into the detail needed to help beginners know how breadboards are designed using the Arduino system. Another nice touch would be telling users to program their kits before building. 

It’s also worth noting that my initial shipper box did come somewhat stained and partially opened. Though this is not a reflection of the Creation crate service, packaging still plays into the initial impression of a service and it is worth noting in this review. 

The Creation Crate subscription box is a wonderful gift or project for an older child or student wanting to learn more about electrical engineering and electronics. More sophisticated than something like Snap Circuits and Vex kits, learning with these kits will help lay a foundation for future study. If you have a budding Arduino or electronics master in your house, try Creation Crate to encourage your kids’ interests. If your kiddo is a beginner, come back to this service once they have a new other vex kits under their belt first! 

With a cost ranging from $30.00 each month to teaching kits starting at $200.00 for numerous projects, there’s an affordable price point for everyone on your list! So be sure to check this service out as with Creation Crate projects, you’re putting together a real project – not theory, but an actual working lamp! And I think that’s pretty great! 

Friends, I encourage you to check this service out for yourselves and to consider the gift of discovery for your budding engineer at home this holiday season! To find out more about this service, click here, and if you’re interested in our other home engineering projects to take a look at our education page here! Now I have to ask, do you have a favorite engineering or robotics kit at home? I’d love to hear about it below! 

Connect with Creation Crate:

|  Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Pinterest | Google + |

 Disclosure: This review was based on a provided sample from Thimble. I was not compensated for this review. 
 
 

I’m sure many of you reading this will be surprised to know that despite attending a performing arts governor’s school program, and loving all things language, theatre, and drawing oriented, all of my elective classes centered on science. Particularly that of technology and robotics. For which the knowledge I gained on building simple machines using motors, circuit boards, power supplies, and programming grids made up some of my fondest memories during my high school years. Which is why when asked if my family would like to review an upcoming Thimble electronic building kit, I jumped at the chance!

Thimble kits are designed to teach beginners a basic understanding of building electronics by way of a monthly kit. Each kit is curated and includes instruction manuals, instructions for accessing online software modulation videos, programming guides, and the needed materials for the project at hand. Thimble offers kits of all levels of difficulty including wifi-robots, LED cubes, robotic arms, alarm clocks, weather stations, quadcopters, and much more! Each month is designed to be a new project and a new adventure! 

Thimble also offers four different subscription prices. The longer the subscriber commitment, the cheaper the pricing will be. With robot kits, some of their more pricey kits, ranging from $12.00 to $300.00 in price. And as you may have assumed, the cost generally reflects the quality of the robot. While this cost may seem steep a lot of Vex and Project Lead the Way Kits can cost upwards of $1,200.00 and more per kit. In comparison, Thimble seems economically focused in comparison.

The Kit:

While excited to review Thimble, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into. As Thimble’s homepage is somewhat vague on the specifics for each kit. The homepage does explain the service is recommended for ages 13 and up, is okay for beginners, and every project involves soldering; soldering kits are not included with the service.

However, the homepage does not provide any photos of the current project, or what the current project even is. While I was able to ascertain that information further into their website, this might be a turn off for shoppers looking for a cursory glance of schematics and logistics while subscribing to their service online. 

It wasn’t until my compass kit arrived a week later. Included in the kit were: 

• A power supply
• Circuit Board
• Circuit Pins
• Mounting Square
• Motor Sensor
• USB Cable

Not included (but needed for this build):

• Batteries
• Soldering Iron
• Solder
• Wire Strippers
• Needle-Nosed Pliers

Upon opening the kit, I was surprised to see how involved the kit appeared to be. Not in an intimidating sort of way but I definitely didn’t anticipate just how do-it-yourself this project was going to be. I suppose I was expecting to solder a few external pieces onto a circuit board but wasn’t expecting to be soldering several multi-pin components or stripping wire.

Though these aren’t tasks are not unknown to me, they would seemingly be a bit advanced for most 13-year-olds and for those in-class or homeschooling. I believe this kit to be better geared towards high school aged students as this kit was so involved. 

Building the Compass:

Once you’re prepared to build your compass, You’ll need to collect the items not included in your kit. This includes need-nosed pliers, wire strippers, solder, soldering iron, and AA-batteries.

Following this, you will need to go to Thimble’s learning platform and follow the links to video tutorials. The first part of the tutorial provides a detailed list of all the parts included in the kit and a list of suggested tools.

Next, you are given two options for building the compass. You can follow a 25-minute video of the process from start to finish, or you can go through a step-by-step tutorial with accompanying videos and photos. We opted for the step-by-step process.

The first step in the process is to solder several components onto the circuit board. As you can see, there are a lot of pins to solder and not a lot of room for error within the kit itself. Although I have experience soldering, I haven’t had much practice in years. Luckily, my husband was standing by and finished the soldering for our family. As a robotics and project lead the way instructor, this was second nature to him. 

Again, there was a lot of soldering that needed to take place and even for someone as used to soldering as my husband mistakes can still easily be made. Do go into making these kits with the understanding that, at times, mistakes may happen. Thimble also offers replacement parts in their online shop. 

The next couple of steps involved soldering more components. Some of which were thankfully spaced out a bit further making soldering easier.Once all the components are soldered to the circuit board, the next step is to attach wires to the compass motor.

Theoretically, you would need to strip the ends of the wire and solder the ends to a mechanized motor or componentry. However, the wire in this kit is very thin and care to detail should be maintained as to not accidentally cut completely through your provided wiring.

Attention to detail should also be considered when soldering the wire to the motor, as the provided instructions didn’t indicate which color wire should be soldered to a specific contact. The accompanying video doesn’t specify either. While assuming this doesn’t matter, in terms of the finished compass, I felt it should be stated as this is a review kit. 

The next step is to program the compass. This was my biggest issue with the entire build. I found the online instructions somewhat vague and I would image confusing for middle school students and younger, such as children in my family, my husband’s students, and robotics team members.

We did manage to get the compass working after an hour of trial and error, though it was not nearly as fun a family project as I had imaged going into the project. 

We were eventually able to utilize the sites LED test for the compass and the magnetometer functions. This was after a 4-hour period of finding the programming software guide unavailable online, which rendered us unable to program our kit. This program was later remedied by Thimble.

We also found the onsite project forum with responses from other users helpful as well. We found that a number of kit owners were having trouble with both the programming and soldering as well. This was somewhat a relief for us throughout the project. 

Final Thoughts:

In terms of Thimble for at-home projects for my family, I would have to pass on Thimble. For my husband’s more advanced students, who would have multiple classes to construct, engineer, and program each kit, this might be a worthwhile investment. While I was really looking forward to building this compass, I was somewhat disappointed with the results. 

Between the lack of poor instructions, video modulations, vague website descriptions, and the nightmarish programming required to make a 1-hour project come to fruition, I’m not sure Thimble would be ideal for our family game nights at home. 

Mind you, if the kits were more affordable, perhaps I’d feel inclined to purchase them for practice kits for my husband. Especially during summer breaks from school. However, starting a price point of $59.00 and a year-long commitment, that’s a great deal of money for kits you may or may not be happy with the results of. 

In the future, I’m thinking Thimble will have perfected their product because of it really an awesome in-home subscription box concept. And who knows, in the future, I may just change my mind. 

Now friends, if you would still like to learn about this service for yourself, you can check out all that Thimble has to offer here. And now, I have to ask, what are you most interested in learning about Thimble and what parts of our build were you a little skeptical to try at home yourself? I’d love to hear about it below!

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Magic. That’s how I like to think about art. From an early age, I’ve always loved drawing, doodling, and practicing my penmanship at home. As does my husband and family! So if you’re family loves art as much as mine, then you understand why I love to provide my family with the newest ways to foster their creativity at home. Especially when it comes to zero-waste learning toys. Which is why I’ve been loving The Magic Sketch Deluxe Set, an electric drawing pad that every parent should have on hand at home!

Boogie Board, the makers of The Magic Sketch, set out to create a portable, sturdy writing tablet device that system that allows kids of all ages to practice writing, penmanship, and creative drawing in an affordable tablet package!

The Magic Sketch features an easy-to-read screen which facilitates the tablets multi-color rainbow writing capabilities.  This awesome unit is also sturdy in makeup, is waterproof, and was designed to withstand being handled by children during play and shoved into backpacks for on-the-go traveling doodling fun! 

The Magic Sketch is designed for kids of all ages.  It is perfect for young kids developing fine motor skills and also great for tweens looking to draw, doodle and express their inner designers. The Magic Sketch would also make an awesome gift for adults who love drawing, such as with adult coloring books! Afterall, who doesn’t love drawing for fun?

The Magic Sketch comes with:

• The Magic Sketch LCD screen
• Protector Guard
• 1 Patterned Roller
• 3 Patterned Stamps
• 20 Learning Stencils
• 20 Game Stencils
• 20 Art Stencils
• Stylus Pen

While the Magic Sketch does come with dozens of fun stencils and accouterments, we keep them neatly stored together in our Magic Sketch shipping box. Easy to use and easy to store for this minimalist mama at home! We’ve all loved Magic Sketch’ liquid crystalized multi-color writing screen. When using the provided writing stylus, my family has been able to draw, work on math equations, and practice robotics and STEM drawings! A tall order from such a small, compact design! 

Another great aspect of the Magic Sketch device is its app which allows users to save your drawings and transfer them to the computer by way of formatted PDF files that can be saved, edited and shared instantly with family, friends, teachers, and co-op members! Making the Magic Sketch a truly zero-waste drawing experience! 

For those on the fence in looking into this unit, just check out the Magic Sketch’s screen. When you write on the board for the first time, you’ll really see the wow factor in this device! The colors really pop and the feel of the tablet and stylus in-hand feels uber close to writing with a pen and paper as you can get! Especially the templates, design rollers and texture stampers!

Then when you start playing with all the templates, stencils, and games you’ll see that the playtime potential for the Magic Sketch can be endless fun! Boogie Board Magic Sketch eWriters are a cost-effective, environmentally friendly way to capture all your family’s creativity needs in a new, modern way!

My family has been over the moon with the Magic Sketch. We all use it regularly and love all the great ways we use this eWriter at home! Friends, I encourage you to check out the Magic sketch for yourself this coming holiday season. You’ll be amazed by this devices crystalized LCD screen as we are!

Now I have to ask, are you already an owner of the Magic Sketch? Or if you’re considering purchasing a unit for your family this coming holiday season, what’s your favorite feature of the Magic Sketch? I’d love to hear about it below! 

Connect with Magic Sketch:

Website | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Linked’in | Amazon

Did you know that according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, there are projected to be close to 1 billion adults in the world that are illiterate?

That’s 25% of the adult population in the entire world that cannot read, write, or know the joys of the written word. With two-thirds of numbers belonging to women and girls alone. Research shows that education, especially the education of women and girls, is one of the most effective ways to fight global poverty and extremism.

According to the Global Campaign for Education, no country has ever achieved continuous and rapid economic growth without first having at least 40% of its adults able to read and write.

Even in the United States literacy rates are dropping. In a 2013 U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy study showed that 32 million adults, nearly 14% percent of the general population, cannot read and 21% of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th-grade level, and 19% of high school graduates can’t read at job proficient levels. 

But issues of literacy do not reside solely at the public school doors. Other American education statistics regularly show that and there is no systematic state-by-state record of the percentage of homeschooling children that suffer educational neglect, poor academic performance, or have never received proper IEP services, particularly in terms of learning disabilities such as Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, and Language Processing Disorder (LPD).

As many homeschooling statistics are composed not of sample data but instead represent findings ascertained from interest group recruits, volunteers, and paid participants. None of which give accurate literacy statistics for those homeschooled in this nation.

This can also be true of many private schools. As many independent charter and private religious schools do not receive federal funding and are not always mandated to follow Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits discrimination based upon disability, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a four-part legislation that ensures students with a disability are provided with Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) tailored to their individual needs, and in some cases are not subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ACA), a 1990 civil rights law that prohibits acts of discrimination based on individual disability. 

Which makes facilitating the need to increase rates of literacy across the board for all public, private, charter, and homeschooling students to be of the utmost public importance. For until educational literacy goals are met for every American student, regardless of your educational styling, we will not fully prosper as a nation. 

Which brings me to the significance of today, International Literacy Day. A day where the importance and impact of literacy on a child’s future are brought to the forefront for every man, woman, child, parent, and teacher in this nation. Despite such bleak reminders, there is still hope for falling literacy rates. We can help show the world the importance of literacy by celebrating International Literacy Day and every other day of the year.

Despite the reminder of such bleak statistics, literacy is nothing if not audacious in nature. We as a people can help show the world the importance of learning by celebrating and honoring International Literacy Day each and every other day of the year.

If you’re looking for ideas, check out these 13 ways that you can raise awareness for International Literacy Day at home:

Educate people on illiteracy facts: People who cannot read are more likely to drop out of high school, have poorer health, and will face more limited job growth throughout their lives. Share facts on social media or with people in your inner circles on how illiteracy can help liberate others from poverty! Share with them this universal truth: The best way to end poverty is through generational wealth. And generational wealth begins with an education founded on the principles of literacy. 

Tutor an adult or child in your community: Ask your local public library for a list of volunteer reading and illiteracy programs. Give others the greatest gift you can, the love of the written word!

Start a book club: A book club is a great way to get others in your town excited about reading. Invite a circle of friends to your home, pick a new book each month, and get together each week to discuss it. Looking to save money on starting a book club? Consider using free Kindle Books! For ideas and more information on how to start a book club, click here.

Cultivate a book drive: Does your child’s classroom, school, or kid’s annex at your local library need books? A book drive can help! Drives are a great way to help raise money for a reading or literacy after-school program. For tips on starting a book drive in your area, click here!

Volunteer at your local public library: Libraries are an important learning hub in many communities and are intricate means to help foster a love of learning for many children. Volunteer at your library. Ask about afterschool reading programs, summer reading series or weekend storytelling programs. 

Sponsor a read-a-thon in your community: Spark community interest in literacy by hosting a reading marathon. Encourage children and adults to read as many books as possible in a given time frame. Ask local businesses to sponsor prizes and incentives for readers. Or if you’re looking to get your family involved in an existing incentivized literacy program check out Pizza Hut’s Book-It Program, a program I participated in as a child myself! 

Host a speaker: Invite a local author, professor, teacher, poet, or historian to discuss the impact literacy has had on his or her life. Looking for an impactful speaker? Invite a volunteer involved in a reading charity, or a Peace Corps member, who can share with your audience how literacy affected the community where they lived and worked as a volunteer.

Start a Little Free Library: The Little Free Library is an organization that creates small book exchanges where anyone in the community can stop and pick up a book and brings another book back to share. Little Free Libraries help encourage a love of reading and with over 30,000 registered locations around the world, it’s easy to start one in your community. For more information, click here.

Tutor a refugee or immigrant in your community: Contact your local Migration and Refugee Services center in your area to sign-up for volunteer opportunities to help individuals and families adjust and assimilate to their new communities by way of better English language and literacy rates. Remember, our ancestors, our people, all came to this country as immigrants, refugees, pirates, and dissenters in one way, fashion, or time. Some trips had better accommodations and situations than others. But one thing remains the same, we all needed help once we reached these shores! 

Use your literacy skills to fight injustices: We all know how closely tied literacy rates are to poverty and social unrest. Utilize your love of the written word for change to fuel your focus for social change by writing letters on behalf of Amnesty International USA. Your words can help fight injustice around the world for those have been wrongfully imprisoned because of who they are or what they believe. Rights for refugees, reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, free speech, the death penalty, worker’s rights, fair trade practices, and other critical human rights issues. Including education and literacy worldwide. In fact, your girl here chartered her college’s inaugural chapter in 2005 and I can attest to the good these awesome folks do! 

Use the power of the press: Have a teacher in your area that goes above and beyond to foster a love of learning for his or her students? Know of students who are making great literacy strides? Contact your local newspaper with just such a story about. Share how literacy has impacted lives of those in your community in real and lasting ways! Turn your local newspaper into a beacon for positive human interest story in your neck of the woods!

Give a book as a gift: What better way of honoring World Literacy Day than giving the gift of the written word? In your gift include a note about why you believe literacy is so important. Perhaps share with a family member or friend a book that way especially meaningful to you as a child. Looking for a zero-waste way to give books? Find free Kindle books online and read aloud to your recipient tonight!

Share your favorite verse on social media: Share with family, friends, colleagues, children your love of a treasured story, book, passage, or speech on your social media channels. Inspire others with how inspired you are of the written word. Considering using today as a way to share your love and affection with your spouse too! Share with them how treasured they are in a new and exciting way! 

My favorite verse? Words from Jane Austen’s famed 1813 work Pride and Prejudice. Words that can melt my heart each and every time I read it! Big ups to my fellow Janeites and Bibliophiles!

So, friends, those are 13 ways you can celebrate World Literacy Day today and each day to come in your community, schools, library, and home. I encourage you all to discuss world literacy and find ways you can advocate the love the written word in your neck of the woods! Now I have to ask, how will you be celebrating World Literacy Day? And if you’d like to share your favorite book, author, prose, or passage, I’d love to hear about that below as well! 

Summer. It’s a glorious time of year. But if you’re like me you may say it every year, where did the summer go? It seems like just yesterday was early June and life was full of warm weather, cotton candy, and the endless possibilities that come from late afternoons in summer.  

So if the idea of summer suddenly crashing into fall leaves you scrambling to hold onto the warm summer sun you’re still in luck. There’s still three whole weeks of the season yet left! Check out these 7 last-minute summer bucket list ideas that can help you hold onto all that is awesome about the sensation of the late summer season.

Check out these 7 last-minute summer bucket list ideas that can help you hold onto all that is awesome about the sensation of the late summer season this year.

Sleep outside: Consider heading in the great blue yonder of your own backyard!  Becuase what’s more summer than sleeping under the stars? Just grab a couple sleeping bags and head to the front porch or layer a sheet over a couple lawn chairs to create a fort. All of which will help you create beautiful midsummer nights dream.

Make a summer jam: If summer had a quintessential favor it would surely be berry. A juicy, ripe, mixed berry flavor to be exact. Lucky for you, you’re a short twenty-minutes away from jam making bliss. Check out my recipe for no-cook blueberry freezer jam. A jam that can help you preserve the flavors of the season for months to come! 

Roast s’mores: Break out your patio fire pits and chimineas and enjoy an end-of-summer roasted s’mores session. Afterall, what better way to spend planning your fall bucket list than while basking by the flames of the bonfire covered in gooey s’mores? You haven’t truly celebrated summer until you can smell bonfire smoke in your hair!

Tackle a garden project: Nothing makes you feel quite so useful as building something with your own two hands. So grab the family and build a birdhouse, plant spring bulbs, plant a cold-weather crop, or create a relaxing seating area for fall with DIY pallet chairs.

Dine al fresco: One of my favorite ways to enjoy the end of summer is by grabbing a blanket and heading to our patio for a fun family dinner, al fresco-style! Nothing screams summer like a dinner by way of fire fly lighting! 

Enjoy watermelon: Don’t let summer pass you by without enjoying some ice cold watermelon. Whether it’s eaten au naturale, frozen like popsicles, or blended into a smoothie or slushie, you just haven’t lived this summer until you indulge in this amazing summer melon before the end of the summer season!

Shop your local farmer’s market: Stop by your farmer’s market to pick up end-of-summer treats like fresh strawberries, corn, watermelon, blueberries, cherries, cantaloupe, squash, zucchini, and raspberries. It’s a great time of year to stock-up on fresh produce which can be canned, blanched, frozen, or dehydrated and enjoyed all winter long!

Ride a bike: The destination isn’t as important as the journey here- just grab your bike and take in the world even if you just ride a few blocks away from your home. The importance here? Taking in a few moments of feeling the end-of-summer wind in your hair!

Host a neighborhood scavenger hunt: Round up kiddos or even just a group of friends and neighbors and have an outdoor scavenger hunt! Look for items that are quintessentially summer-flowering plants, tall grasses, lady bugs, beach balls, pool noodles, bathing suits, baseballs, and more. Make it a zero-waste activity by creating a pdf list and emailing all participants on their smart phones and tablets and see who can find the most objects in a 30-minute minute span!

Have an ice cream cone: Drop everything you’re doing and hit up your local ice cream shop for a cone. Make sure to skip the cup and treat yourself to a waffle cone. Oh, and make it two scoops of ice cream. That’ll ensure the summer vibes last just a little bit longer on the way home. My favorite ice cream cone? One scoop of butter pecan and once scoop of peach ice cream in a chocolate waffle cone!

Take a road trip: There’s nothing as exhilarating than cruising along a sun-drenched country road while you listen to a loud stereo and snack on yummy, roadside foods. So research your state and take off on a weekend or day trip that you’ve never visited before. If the kiddos are already back in school and you’re short on time consider checking out a national park or a free, quirky regional summer festival or state fair. There’s fun t be found along every road in this great nation. Just be sure to pack sunscreen and your favorite songs of summer playlist for the drive! 

Well, friends, there is my list of 11 last-minute summer bucket list ideas. I hope this list will motivate you to take advantage of every last drop that this current end-of-summer season has to offer you in your neck of the woods! Whatever you choose to do, just remember to make the most of what’s left this summer. Afterall, fall is just around the bend!

Now I have to ask, what’s your favorite thing you’ve checked off your bucket list this summer? Or what fun activity will you be putting back on your list this September? I’d love to hear about it below!