Summer of STEM

As schools start finishing up for the summer term, we look at some of the activities and events available during the summer holidays for you and your family to get involved in.

The vast number of events available is impressive. There are even workshops that you may not necessarily associate with STEM subjects, and we think your kids would love them.

Read on to find out more!

Watt is love? Baby, don’t hertz me. 

For our first contender, we looked at the Institute of Imagination. This charity provides a range of events that spark the imagination of young children and families, schools and educators across London.  

Throughout August, iOi will be holding online workshops that incorporate an activity that nearly every child participates in: arts and crafts. Grab your scissors, glue and a range of coloured paper, and join them in building your very own paper city! For more challenging projects, you can scope out their Biomimicry and DIY microscope event.  

These events are aimed at children aged 5 – 12 years old, and they are entirely free! To book these fun activities, visit the events page at Institute of Imagination

Kids should be biologists; they can’t stop taking cell-fies! 

For something a little more technical, head on over to Blue Shift Coding.

Based in Notting Hill, West London, Blue Shift have quite a range of activities geared towards ages 6 – 14. They also offer an arts and design holiday camp where children can explore their creative side while also learning about influential artists and designers.    

Gone are the days where kids spend their summers running around outside, imagining sticks as swords pretending to be pirates or playing hide and seek in the park! Now, it’s all about Minecraft and the next best app. This isn’t the worst thing, and you can support their love for tech with a hands-on camp for Game Design or developing apps. Kids aged 10-14 can learn core engineering and programming principles to create and build their own unique projects.  

Blue Shift Coding summer camps and workshops are not free, but they span over a few days to a week. This could be an excellent option for London-based parents looking for a fun-filled and experiential learning environment for their kids while they work.  
 

Let’s get PHYSICS-cal! 

Interested in a more traditional summer camp that mixes up indoor and outdoor ventures with educational, science-based classes? Mother Nature Science has you covered!  

Located across London and Hertfordshire, this camp is an incredible experience for all kids aged 5-12 years old. This is a five-day camp, from 9 am – 15:30 pm; however, extended hours are available to help with childcare arrangements. All the equipment your kids will need to enjoy every activity from sports to scientific experiments is provided.  

Covering physics, biology and chemistry, your kids can learn about the solar system, taking home their very own glow in the dark mobile. They also cover our favourite topic, friction, as they discover Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion.  

This camp has everything to engage and entertain your kids. We are sure they will come away absolutely knackered but excited to go back! 

HOME-BOUND

We may have been stuck indoors for the last year and a half, but maybe you and your kids are quite happy to stay home and entertain yourselves or with a babysitter. Either way, there are plenty of activities you and your family can do.

All you need to do is examine how things work to get your engineering brain ticking! Maybe you’re a family that likes taking walks or bike rides? Investigate how a bike is put together, and wonder what it would be like with different designs. Would every style still work?

Maybe you’ll pass a bridge or a lock on a canal, explore what holds these bridges up and why the water is transferred when manoeuvering boats from one part of the canal to the next. Then when you head home, the kids can write and draw everything they learnt. Who knows, they may even become inspired to design their own inventions. When curiosity is encouraged, the hours may fly by!

Whatever your situation, there are still many activities your kids can get involved with at home. Using items that you probably have available in your home already. Take a look at this excellent list created by Steam Powered Family for experiments involving water, eggs, sugar and diet drinks, or even shaving cream.

Whatever you and your family and friends get up to, we hope you have a safe and fun-filled summer of STEM!