Happy New Year. A new year is always an opportunity to look ahead with optimism. Everyone can make a positive impact on our lives and world. Whether or not we actually make (and follow-through on) new year’s resolutions, here are five bold learning ideas that challenge the status quo in ‘education’. Embrace all or just one [...]
Archive for the ‘Activities’ Category
Five Bold Learning Ideas to Challenge the Status Quo in the New Year
Posted by ginac on January 3rd, 2012
Posted in Activities, Homeschool, Interdisciplinary, Learning Methods, Literacy, Make, social change, TED 
Tags: Empathy, Learning, Share, TEDx, TEDxYouth, tolerance, Toys 
Comments OffHappy Holidays
Posted by ginac on December 25th, 2011
Happy Holidays to all of our loyal readers. We’re looking forward to another great year of sharing learning resources with you. Enjoy these past posts for ideas on extending the fun from holiday gifts, especially if those gifts include LEGO or Apple devices. LEGO Creator – Creative Building Ideas Using Existing Bricks Musical Instruments on [...]
Turn Your Child’s Art into a Stuffed Toy
Posted by ginac on December 9th, 2011
Child’s Own Studio hand crafts stuffed toys based on your child’s drawings. The examples on the Child’s Own Studio website show that no matter how crazy-looking the drawing seems, a cute, creative, and beautiful toy emerges. This is such a great idea that I wonder how Child’s Own Studio will keep up with demand as the [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Eclectic Homeschooling, Just for Fun Tags: Childs Own Studio, craft, drawings, stuffed toys, Toy Comments OffAward-Winning PBS Animated Series Now Available Online
Posted by ginac on December 5th, 2011
Cyberchase, an Emmy Award-winning animated series for 8-11 year-olds is now completely available online. This fun, STEM-rich series is full of hands-on math, engineering, and physics lessons weaved creatively into the stories. Learn more about Cyberchase over at GeekMom
Posted in Activities, Interdisciplinary, Math, Online Tools, Science, STEAM Tags: computers, Cyberchase, PBS, STEM, technology, Thirteen, WNET Comments OffScoop.it! Disruptive Learning
Posted by ginac on November 5th, 2011
Scoop.it is a fun way to share online articles, videos, photos, etc. around a topic. It is free, easy to use, and fun to curate. We’ve curated an eclectic collection of disruptive learning articles on our Scoop.it specially for SpottyBanana viewers. In our case, disruptive learning means nonmainstream, non- traditional learning ideas outside of the [...]
Posted in Activities, Art, Eclectic Homeschooling, Learning Methods, Literacy, Online Tools, STEAM Tags: content curation, disruptive learning, Eclectic Homeschooling, Learning, online tools, Scoop.it, spottybanana Comments OffInheritance Series Book 4 Release Date Announced – We’re Celebrating with Free Stuff!
Posted by ginac on November 5th, 2011
Our Giveaway has now ended. Thanks to everyone who participated. Congratulations to Melissa Taylor for winning the Inheritance Book! Enjoy the free Inheritance Series resources we’ve created and curated just for Inheritance Series fans. Get the Inheritance Vocabulary List Inheritance series vocabulary list - Google Doc (web page) Inheritance series vocabulary list - Google Doc (Downloadable [...]
Posted in Activities, Books, Contests, Reading Tags: Books, Brinsingr, Eldest, Eragon, fantasy fiction, giveaway, Inheritance, Inheritance Series, Paolini, reading, Saphira, young adult literature 14 Comments »Youngzine: Free Online Global News for Youth
Posted by ginac on November 3rd, 2011
Youngzine is a dynamic online news website designed for young people interested in technology, ecology, culture, politics, and news from around the world. Youngzine fills a niche for young people interested in news beyond Hollywood gossip and boy bands. Youngzine’s refreshing mix of content is fun, insightful, interesting, appealing, and appropriate for young thinkers and [...]
Posted in Activities, Culture, News, Online Tools, social change, technology Tags: News, news for kids, youngzine Comments OffFollow SpottyBanana on Facebook
Posted by ginac on November 1st, 2011
SpottyBanana’s Facebook fan page is a great place to find and share learning resources, learning news, events, insightful articles, polls, and more. If you aren’t on our fan list yet, you’re missing out on a large part of the conversation we have with our readers each day! Don’t be shy. Share your learning photos, stories, [...]
Posted in Activities, Just for Fun, Online Tools Tags: community, Facebook, Learning, social media, social networking, spottybanana Comments OffFun, Free, Online Haunted House Halloween Game
Posted by ginac on October 28th, 2011
One of favorite free, online Halloween games is simply called Haunted House. It is a game K-mart used to promote on their website a few years ago. It is still available online and is a fun Halloween game. Great sound effects (we like the nasty cat), fun graphics, and spooky music make this game a winner. [...]
Posted in Activities, Games, Halloween, Just for Fun Tags: Halloween, haunted house game, online games Comments OffHow to Make a Batman Villain “Joker” Costume
Posted by ginac on October 21st, 2011
Batman villains are so much fun because they have such big personalities, wear outrageous costumes, and have memorable laughs. Maybe that’s why they’re popular characters for Halloween and pretend-play. For this costume, we simply raided our closets and make-up bags. We based our costume on the Joker from the 1989 Batman movie featuring Jack Nicholson [...]
Posted in Activities, Halloween, Just for Fun Tags: Batman, costume, Dress-up, Halloween, Halloween Costume, Jack Nicholson, Pretend-Play, The Joker, Villain Comments Off
