Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning is a term to describe learning by doing. Its goal is often to foster approaches towards learning, like curiosity, goal setting, collaboration, persistence, and problem-solving, rather than starting with specific skills or concepts that a lesson is built around. Learning at home is a rich opportunity for this type of learning. While it can take a more “traditional'' form, like creating and running a lemonade stand, building a model volcano, or researching a planet or animal of interest and then designing an art project or report to demonstrate learning, it can also take surprising forms. Below we offer some ways we’ve engaged in project-based learning during the pandemic.

Glow Sticks Dance Party

An example from a weekend a few weeks back was the arrival of a package of glow sticks. The sender shared a clip of kids dancing like glowing stick figures in the dark, and that was the spark that put things into action. First, we had to figure out how to attach the glow sticks to clothes. We tried scotch tape and masking tape, but they weren’t strong enough. Duct tape to the rescue! We even had to try out different size pieces of duct tape, as well as how many glow sticks to put on our limbs to still allow for dancing movements. Next, we had to find a spot in the house that was dark enough for the full effect, and finally select some music and practice coordinated dance routines. All together, we spent about 3 hours on a rainy Saturday doing this, and another couple of hours with new songs and routines on Sunday. And this might have continued longer, but the glow sticks lost most of their glow.

If you want to try this at home, we found these Kids Bop Dance Along Videos that can really help with the coordinated dance routine aspect of this project. (Even without the glow in the dark part, these are fun videos for movement time indoors.) For younger kids, we needed easier versions of dances, as well as a different variety of song choices. No surprise that Baby Shark was quickly requested (don’t hate me!), but there is also Freeze Dance or Shake Your Sillies Out, and anything Laurie Berkner Band (we are huge fans of The Airplane Song, The Goldfish Song, and We Are the Dinosaurs!).

Exercise Videos

Another way to stay active and learn together is by making an exercise video. Marion’s kids kicked us off in this effort with this fabulous video, and it inspired my kids to get in on the action as well! The kids had to think about which exercises to include, write them down, decide how many repetitions and in what order, practice it, sometimes explain it, count their movements, and then work with an adult to learn some movie-making skills. But the best part is that my kids often request Marion’s kids’ video for our morning movement time because they love seeing other kids leading the exercises and it taps into their competitive spirits. And they are constantly adding to a list of what to include in their next video, so stay tuned for more!

Marble Races
All of our kids love building marble tracks. We are fortunate to have various materials that they use for this, including some plastic pieces, Duplo pieces, and wooden pieces, but you could also be creative with materials at home like cardboard, paper towel or toilet paper rolls, cut up plastic bottles as funnels, and so on. We also have lots of marbles, but you can also use bouncy balls, ping pong balls, pebbles, or even acorns. One day the twins were playing with the plastic tracks and realized that some of the marbles were too big to fit on the track and some were just right. They were very excited to test every marble and put them into containers of “too big” and “just right.” My boys will always notice that some marbles are faster on various tracks than others, which usually ends in negotiations (if I’m lucky) or fights (if I’m not lucky) over who gets the fastest marbles. Well, it turns out that the same marble is not necessarily the fastest on different materials (yay, a compromise!) and that’s pretty interesting to explore. Also, some of the tracks allow for steeper inclines than others, or have the potential for drops, jumps, and so on, and that is also interesting to explore. The fact that they are asking these questions, creating different tracks to test out their ideas, being systematic in their analysis of their findings (e.g., it doesn’t make sense to retest every single marble of the same type), comparing each others’ creations and findings, communicating what they are finding out, and all the while excited and engaged is what I call a great project-based learning experience! And as this video of Marion’s son shows, there is a whole lot of persistence, creativity, and enthusiasm involved too! And all of that is not even mentioning the math and physics that they are using and experiencing naturally in their investigations. There is a huge fan following for marble track races on youtube kids that can inspire more ideas (like Rube Goldberg creations) and questions too! (By the way, you could also think about this activity as race courses for cars instead of marbles if that’s more up your kids’ alley!)

Ask Questions

You may wonder where to start with project-based learning, and a great place to start is with a question, hopefully from a child. You might be surprised by what questions your kids have (though you probably are not at this point in your parenting journey!) and how challenging it can be to actually answer them. Stephen Colbert is giving it a shot on this hilarious segment that I hope he keeps up! It’s been a while since we’ve shared a list of digital resources, but this spreadsheet is an amazing one. It has livestream options by topic area in a schedule grid, and offers great ways to keep your kids occupied, engaged, moving, and best of all, to spark their own ideas! And speaking of questions and ideas that were sparked, look out for Marion’s upcoming post on her son’s science fair question!