the science behind

STEM

weather

winter

With schools back from the winter break, it’s a perfect time for some serious exploration and noodling on interesting questions that come up during the winter seasons, like amazing facts about snow & ice. From the science of snowflakes to icicles, KiwiCo has you covered!

5 Amazing Facts You Never Knew About Snow & Ice

The Science Behind

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With schools back from the winter break, it’s a perfect time for some serious exploration and noodling on interesting questions that come up during the winter seasons, like amazing facts about snow & ice. From the science of snowflakes to icicles, KiwiCo has you covered!

tinker crate

Everyone loves watching movies, but have you ever thought about how they’re made? In this article, you’ll discover some of the secrets behind movie magic and even learn how to create your own DIY animations!

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Everyone loves watching movies, but have you ever thought about how they’re made? In this article, you’ll discover some of the secrets behind movie magic and even learn how to create your own DIY animations!

DIY Animation

Baseball is back! So what better time to start exploring the physics of baseball?
Let’s start with the pitcher. Have you ever seen baseball pitchers do those crazy windups? There’s good reason behind it! It’s called sequential summation of movement. What?!

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Baseball is back! So what better time to start exploring the physics of baseball?

Physics of Baseball

new years

kiwico news

Make new year’s resolutions for 2018, because setting goals and trying new things is awesome!

Holiday

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Make new year’s resolutions for 2018, because setting goals and trying new things is awesome!

Why do we make New Year’s resolutions?

outdoor activities

physics

Super Bowl LII is almost upon us! In honor of Super Bowl Sunday on February 4th, we’re looking at the scientific side of this great American sport.

The Surprising Physics of a Spiraling Football

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Super Bowl LII is almost upon us! In honor of Super Bowl Sunday on February 4th, we’re looking at the scientific side of this great American sport.

child development

Is your head spinning with all the different acronyms spinning around our culture these days? Find yourself wondering what do they all mean? Well, we can help with that: STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. The added “A” is for art, and the “R” is for reading. But, do you need to be worried if there is one that is right – or best – for your child? Our short answer is, “Nope.” Here at <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/">KiwiCo</a>, we’re big fans of STEM, of course – but we also focus on STEAM because we think the value of art and design is critical in promoting creative confidence. And all our crates include a crucial element of literacy in the form of our magazines and blueprints!

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Is your head spinning with all the different acronyms spinning around our culture these days? Find yourself wondering what do they all mean? Well, we can help with that: STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. The added “A” is for art, and the “R” is for reading. But, do you need to be worried if there is one that is right – or best – for your child? Our short answer is, “Nope.” Here at KiwiCo, we’re big fans of STEM, of course – but we also focus on STEAM because we think the value of art and design is critical in promoting creative confidence. And all our crates include a crucial element of literacy in the form of our magazines and blueprints!

STEM to STEAM to STREAM?

Like with most sports, there is tons of amazing science behind soccer. As with other sports we’ve explored, like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2018/01/31/the-surprising-physics-of-a-spiraling-football/">football</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2018/03/19/basketball-science/">basketball</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2018/04/16/physics-of-baseball/">baseball</a>, much of soccer science comes down to physics.

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Like with most sports, there is tons of amazing science behind soccer. As with other sports we’ve explored, like&nbsp;football,&nbsp;basketball, and&nbsp;baseball, much of soccer science comes down to physics.

Soccer Science

spring

nature

Spring is a time for longer days, flowers blooming, and baby animals. But did you know there’s actually a lot of science behind all these lovely signs of spring? This is a great time to help your kids connect with the world around them and explore the science of spring. Encourage your kids to be observant and ask questions about all that they’re seeing!

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Spring is a time for longer days, flowers blooming, and baby animals. But did you know there’s actually a lot of science behind all these lovely signs of spring? This is a great time to help your kids connect with the world around them and explore the science of spring. Encourage your kids to be observant and ask questions about all that they’re seeing!

The Science of Spring

maker profile

ask an expert

engineering

<a href="http://www.resquared.com/leadership-team/jorgen-pedersen">Jorgen Pedersen</a> is a professional robot designer! He is the CEO and founder of <a href="http://www.resquared.com/">RE2 Robotics</a>, a company whose robots can defuse bombs and perform other dangerous tasks. Check out our interview with him below

Meet a Maker: Jorgen Pedersen, Robot Designer

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Jorgen Pedersen is a professional robot designer! He is the CEO and founder of RE2 Robotics, a company whose robots can defuse bombs and perform other dangerous tasks. Check out our interview with him below

Garner Holt was inspired to make animatronics his career at age 14, during a family trip to Disneyland. After seeing the amazing effects in the new <a href="https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/magic-kingdom/haunted-mansion/">Haunted Mansion ride</a>, he was hooked. On the ride home, he told his parents that one day, he was going to design and build animatronics for theme parks.

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Garner Holt was inspired to make animatronics his career at age 14, during a family trip to Disneyland. After seeing the amazing effects in the new Haunted Mansion ride, he was hooked. On the ride home, he told his parents that one day, he was going to design and build animatronics for theme parks.

Meet a Maker: Garner Holt

Christmas

Hanukkah

The holidays are almost upon us (can you believe it??), and things are heating up here at KiwiCo HQ! We have just launched some really&nbsp;fun and exciting new projects, and we’re thrilled to share&nbsp;what’s new at KiwiCo this holiday season!

What’s new at KiwiCo this holiday season?

KiwiCo news

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The holidays are almost upon us (can you believe it??), and things are heating up here at KiwiCo HQ! We have just launched some really&nbsp;fun and exciting new projects, and we’re thrilled to share&nbsp;what’s new at KiwiCo this holiday season!

arts & crafts

art how to

activities at home

<h2>Robot Art That Creates Itself</h2>
Can a&nbsp;robot&nbsp;be an artist? What about a&nbsp;wind-up toy, or a&nbsp;vacuum cleaner? When you think about art, you might not think about computers, robots and machines. But many artists use&nbsp;technology&nbsp;in all sorts of crazy ways to create amazing&nbsp;works of robot art!

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Robot Art: Creating with Computers

book list

Celebrate National Reading Month by reading with your kids! Reading is a great way to explore new worlds and characters, and create lifelong memories. Reading to children, whether or not they’re able to read themselves yet, creates a feeling of closeness and comfort for them, and it promotes early reading comprehension skills. Did you know that every crate in a KiwiCo subscription includes a magazine that explores the crate theme in more depth?

Book List

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Celebrate National Reading Month by reading with your kids! Reading is a great way to explore new worlds and characters, and create lifelong memories. Reading to children, whether or not they’re able to read themselves yet, creates a feeling of closeness and comfort for them, and it promotes early reading comprehension skills. Did you know that every crate in a KiwiCo subscription includes a magazine that explores the crate theme in more depth?

March is National Reading Month!

slime

Often, some of the most interesting things we make happen completely by accident. That was certainly the case for James Wright, the accidental inventor of Silly Putty.
Silly Putty is awesome for lots of reasons: it’s very stretchy, it bounces, it forms a puddle if you leave it alone for long enough, but it can hold its shape for a little while. Also, if you flatten it against a newspaper or comic-book page (anything with ink printed on it), it will pick up a perfect copy of the print it touched.

Maker Profile: The Inventor of Silly Putty

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Often, some of the most interesting things we make happen completely by accident. That was certainly the case for James Wright, the accidental inventor of Silly Putty.

Did you know that the inventor of Post-it Notes,&nbsp;a convenient office supply&nbsp;that we take for granted, created them completely by accident?
Much like with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2019/04/15/maker-profile-the-inventor-of-silly-putty/">our exploration of the invention of Silly Putty</a>, the original inventor of Post-its was trying to make a better version of something that already existed. In this case, he was working on a better adhesive–something like tape or glue. Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M, was trying to create “a better, stronger, tougher adhesive.” And guess what?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/tech/post-it-note-history/index.html">He totally failed!</a>

Maker Profile: The Inventor of Post-it Notes

Engineering

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Did you know that the inventor of Post-it Notes,&nbsp;a convenient office supply&nbsp;that we take for granted, created them completely by accident?

atlas crate

travel

As parents, we really want our kids to see themselves as citizens of our global community: to develop an appreciation for other cultures, and to grow their understanding of – and empathy for – communities and customs beyond their own experience. But it can certainly be a challenge to help our kids gain that perspective – especially since their lifetime orbits generally extend not much further than 5 miles from home!

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As parents, we really want our kids to see themselves as citizens of our global community: to develop an appreciation for other cultures, and to grow their understanding of – and empathy for – communities and customs beyond their own experience. But it can certainly be a challenge to help our kids gain that perspective – especially since their lifetime orbits generally extend not much further than 5 miles from home!

Introducing Atlas Crate!

Have you heard of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flat_Stanley_Project">The Flat Stanley Project</a>? It was created in Canada by Dale Hubert in 1995 as a way to engage his 3rd grade students in literacy, geography, and social studies. Kids cut out and color a fictional character named Stanley, then mail him to a friend. One may have arrived at your house from a friend who lives far away… or you may have supported your kiddo in finding a distant friend or relative to ship her Flat Stanley off to.
Stanleys have traveled all over the world this way!

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Have you heard of The Flat Stanley Project? It was created in Canada by Dale Hubert in 1995 as a way to engage his 3rd grade students in literacy, geography, and social studies. Kids cut out and color a fictional character named Stanley, then mail him to a friend. One may have arrived at your house from a friend who lives far away… or you may have supported your kiddo in finding a distant friend or relative to ship her Flat Stanley off to.

KiwiCo & the Flat Stanley Project

The holidays can be an especially difficult time for thousands of foster kids away from family and friends. Together we can help these children find joy, laughter and spark their creativity by receiving a Kiwi Crate just for them. Not only are these crates packed with fun and tell them someone cared about them but they also spark creativity and can bring joy back to learning, giving them confidence to find their strengths in the classroom.

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The holidays can be an especially difficult time for thousands of foster kids away from family and friends. Together we can help these children find joy, laughter and spark their creativity by receiving a Kiwi Crate just for them. Not only are these crates packed with fun and tell them someone cared about them but they also spark creativity and can bring joy back to learning, giving them confidence to find their strengths in the classroom.

We donated $25,000 to foster kids!

birthday

birthday party activities

Birthdays

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Birthday Celebrations Around the World

March Madness is upon us! It’s a fun time to guess which college basketball teams will win, but did you know that basketball actually has a lot of science behind it? Physics, friction, probability, and more! So what better time to take a look at some basketball science? First, let’s look at the ball itself.

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March Madness is upon us! It’s a fun time to guess which college basketball teams will win, but did you know that basketball actually has a lot of science behind it? Physics, friction, probability, and more! So what better time to take a look at some basketball science?

Basketball Science

space

Astronomy is the study of the sky above us, and everything in it. When we think about astronomy, we might just think of the&nbsp;night&nbsp;sky. But did you know that the stars and moon are always up above us? We just can’t see them during the daytime because the sun is so bright. It’s amazing to think that stars are so far away that they appear as tiny pinpricks of light, when in fact, they can be as big as the Sun, or even bigger!
But before we started to explore&nbsp;the science of stars, we simply sat back and observed them.&nbsp;Observation is the first step to any exploration.

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Astronomy is the study of the sky above us, and everything in it. When we think about astronomy, we might just think of the&nbsp;night&nbsp;sky. But did you know that the stars and moon are always up above us? We just can’t see them during the daytime because the sun is so bright. It’s amazing to think that stars are so far away that they appear as tiny pinpricks of light, when in fact, they can be as big as the Sun, or even bigger!

Astronomy for Kids

For tens of thousands of years, people have harnessed the laws of physics to throw projectiles far and wide. Slings, spears, and bows and arrows may have been used for hunting, fighting, and competition even before written language was invented! A whole mess of mechanical weapons were on the battlefield around the same time — here are just seven of them.

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For tens of thousands of years, people have harnessed the laws of physics to throw projectiles far and wide. Slings, spears, and bows and arrows may have been used for hunting, fighting, and competition even before written language was invented! A whole mess of mechanical weapons were on the battlefield around the same time — here are just seven of them.

7 Amazing Ancient Weapons

Challenge yourself to a fun kitchen game while dinner cooks with these magnet puzzles! <h2><a href="https://www.kiwico.com/diy/Arts-and-Crafts-Ideas/1/project/Geometric-Refrigerator-Magnets/2924">Geometric Refrigerator Magnets</a></h2>

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Challenge yourself to a fun kitchen game while dinner cooks with these magnet puzzles!

January 29th is National Puzzle Day!

engineer week

Did you know that today is National Inventors’ Day? This day was chosen in honor of Thomas Edison’s birthday. Thomas Edison is most famously known as the inventor of the lightbulb, but he invented lots of other things, too, that didn’t necessarily catch on! One example is <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/7-epic-fails-brought-to-you-by-the-genius-mind-of-thomas-edison-180947786/">The Edison Home Service Club</a>, which was similar to Netflix! Subscribers received 20 records (used to listen to music) every month. They would pick 2 to keep and send the rest on to other subscribers. Pretty cool!

February 11th is National Inventors’ Day!

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Did you know that today is National Inventors’ Day? This day was chosen in honor of Thomas Edison’s birthday. Thomas Edison is most famously known as the inventor of the lightbulb, but he invented lots of other things, too, that didn’t necessarily catch on! One example is The Edison Home Service Club, which was similar to Netflix! Subscribers received 20 records (used to listen to music) every month. They would pick 2 to keep and send the rest on to other subscribers. Pretty cool!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving crafts

family activities

The Thanksgiving holiday is one of our favorites here at KiwiCo, because it brings space for quality family time without the pressure and stress of gift giving (which will be here all too soon!) There are so many wonderful ways to spend that time together as a family, reflecting on what we are grateful for (see some of our previous posts on <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2019/11/13/creative-gratitude-traditions-for-kids/">creative gratitude</a> and <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/blog/2019/11/07/10-creative-thanksgiving-traditions-for-kids/">Thanksgiving traditions</a>). This week is also a great time to help your kids connect with the world around them. Whether it’s the wonders of nature or mathematics in everyday life, or – if you’re lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving with extended family – older generations with (perhaps) a different perspective on life. All you need to do is encourage your kids to be observant and ask questions about the world around them. Here are some fun & easy ways to encourage STEM thinking (curiosity and creativity!) with your family this Thanksgiving:

5 Ways to Encourage STEM Thinking This Thanksgiving

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The Thanksgiving holiday is one of our favorites here at KiwiCo, because it brings space for quality family time without the pressure and stress of gift giving (which will be here all too soon!) There are so many wonderful ways to spend that time together as a family, reflecting on what we are grateful for (see some of our previous posts on creative gratitude and Thanksgiving traditions).

Katherine Rea

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