Idea Sheets

Students will have a great time decorating scrap envelopes to create these wonderful gift bags. Use them for Valentine's Day, birthdays, or any other holidays you choose.
Subjects: Earth/Space Science, Math, Art

Make a kite to explore the wind, lift, and stability from an envelope or sheet of paper.
Subjects: Earth/Space Science, Math

This activity provides a fun, non-threatening way to help students develop important estimation and mathematical reasoning skills.
Subjects: Math

"Everybody talks about the weather..." Adding weather observations to a classroom calendar will allow students, measure, and describe the weather as they experience it and to record and evaluate data they collect.
Subjects: Earth/Space Science, Math

Simulate evolution with some colorful "critters" and carnivorous "beaky birds". Simulations are helpful to demonstrate processes like evolution that take place over many years. Observe how adaptations such as camouflage help organisms survive and pass on traits to offspring. Recognize evolution happening simultaneously in both the predator and prey (bird and critter) populations.
Subjects: Life Science

Model the magnetic bands found beside the mid-ocean ridges and analyze the data, which was an important piece of evidence supporting the theory of plate tectonics.
Subjects: Earth/Space Science

Use a bulk CD container to model parts of the eye and their functions.
Subjects: Physical Science, Life Science

A piece of stretch fabric and a small ball can illustrate how an object in motion will follow the curvature of space.
Subjects: Physical Science, Earth/Space Science

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide, which is a relatively dense gas. Dense enough to cause air bubbles containing air to appear to levitate.
Subjects: Physical Science

People will do a double take to notice that these bamboo stalks are not the real thing.
Subjects: Life Science, Art

Celebrate Lunar New Year and scare away the evil spirits with safe "no fire" firecrackers.
Subjects: Physical Science, Social Studies

In this activity, creative thinking and artistic expression combine with magnetism to create a cool teaching tool.
Subjects: Physical Science, Art

Student artists of all ability levels can use this flexible technique to create dramatic effects. Their creations will "shine from within", adding a unique dimension to cards, bookmarks and other decorative objects.
Subjects: Art

Use a heat lamp to sense the changes in concentration of light and heat energy.
Subjects: Physical Science, Earth/Space Science

This simple model of a car can be used to experience and to explore the science of motion. The low friction wheel and axle combination, one of the six simple machines, can be used with an inclined plane to collect data on the distances traveled by the car. Use different materials to cover the inclined plane or vary the weight in the cars to serve as variables for the experiments.
Subjects: Physical Science

In this cooperative game, children develop their numerical thinking skills by counting objects. They also practice number recognition as they use a spinner or die.
Subjects: Math

Creating frames from file folders is an easy and inexpensive way to add the finishing touch to a photograph or piece of student artwork. File folders come in a wide variety of colors, which makes them an excellent option for creating seasonal gifts.
Subjects: Art

Folder games are quick to create, inexpensive, and easy to store. They provide an engaging, developmentally appropriate way to practice skills. Games can be customized to teach any subject and feature seasonal themes.
Subjects: Physical Science, Life Science, Earth/Space Science, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts

Learn about wheels, hubs, and axles, while making a vehicle that can really move!
Subjects: Physical Science

Like so many traditional tasks, weaving can be much more difficult and challenging than many people realize. Teachers can use weaving activities in a classroom to teach patterns, scientific method, observation skills and history.
Subjects: Math, Social Studies

This version of the classic game Battleship(R) will help your students to master coordinate systems. Easy to set-up and fun to play, this is a great enrichment activity to have available in your classroom.
Subjects: Math

What better way of understanding Pi than discovering it for yourself? In this activity, students measure a variety of circular objects, derive the ratio for themselves, and own the concept.
Subjects: Math

Young students can improve their balance and movement skills with a low and sturdy balance beam apparatus.
Subjects: Life Science

What a fun way to illustrate some basic physical science concepts: pressure and kinetic/potential energy!
Subjects: Physical Science

Create a musical instrument in minutes to explore the science of sound production!
Subjects: Physical Science

Using a simple ink stamp pad, students can solve a classroom mystery by exploring how each person has unique fingerprints.
Subjects: Life Science

Fingerprint reading is a fun way to strengthen observation and classification skills.
Subjects: Life Science

Use this optical illusion as a "hook" when studying physical science, anatomy, or art. When students stare at a colorful fish, they can see an afterimage of the fish upon looking away... but it's a fish of a different color!
Subjects: Physical Science, Life Science

Fishin' For Colors reinforces color names for young children in a fun and interactive way. Students use a magnetic pole to catch "fish"! How many can they catch?
Subjects: Language Arts

Fishin' For Numbers reinforces number recognition, counting skills, 1:1 correspondence and simple addition or subtraction for young children in a fun way. Students use a magnetic pole to catch "fish"! How many can they catch?
Subjects: Math

Complete a puzzle by surrounding its center piece with playing pieces that are factors of the number written on the center piece!
Subjects: Math

These rockets enable students to use design thinking and are effective demonstrations of Newton's laws of motion. The liftoff power of the rocket is produced by a common acid/base chemical reaction that creates carbon dioxide gas; making this activity an ideal tool for teaching students about chemical reactions and how pressure can do work on objects.
Subjects: Physical Science, Earth/Space Science

Students can race against each other, themselves, or the clock to see how many wells they can fill!
Subjects: Physical Science, Math

Marionettes are puppets controlled by strings from above. This activity helps you create a simple marionette puppet in the shape of a bird.
Subjects: Art

Marionettes are puppets controlled by strings from above. Marionette puppets are prone to getting their strings tangled when they are set down, so a puppet stand displays the puppets and helps keep them usable. This puppet stand is meant to go with the RAFT Idea Sheet Flashy Phoenix activity.
Subjects: Art

Experience these "cool" heat producing, cold producing, and gas producing reactions that are safely contained within nested plastic bags.
Subjects: Physical Science

Study the physics of launching a projectile at a target with a small scale catapult.
Subjects: Physical Science

In this colorful activity, players use "bricks" to build "fraction walls". In the process, they master equivalent fractions and gain problem-solving and creative thinking skills. This activity can be used by individual students, or turned into exciting opportunities for teamwork and competition!
Subjects: Math

The floating compass is a useful tool for detecting the magnetic fields of magnets and of the Earth. Make a simple compass with a magnetized needle that demonstrates the properties of magnetic materials and shows that magnets have north and south poles. Using the floating compass provides a visual example of how like poles repel each other.
Subjects: Physical Science, Earth/Space Science

Magnets floating in water move easily and adjust their position based on changes in the number and location of other magnets around them. Beautiful designs emerge as magnets float to find their positions in the pattern. This activity demonstrates the effects of magnetic fields and also illustrates how crystal molecules form.
Subjects: Physical Science

Create these wonderful spirit drums to celebrate Chinese New Year and then use all year long.
Subjects: Physical Science, Social Studies

Make and use a blowgun to model a hunting technique used by many cultures in the past and still used by some peoples today.
Subjects: Physical Science, Social Studies

Young artists will enjoy building and using these economical art brushes.
Subjects: Art

These easy to make dolls have many uses beyond just art! Calling them action figures will increase the likelihood that boys will play with them.
Subjects: Art

In this activity students will model the 3 main types of faults and examine the terrestrial movement that occurs along the fault lines.
Subjects: Earth/Space Science

Estimate and measure how much water can be transferred in 30 seconds using a piece of foam!
Subjects: Physical Science, Math

Make a foot powered rocket that will shoot out and upward with surprising force!
Subjects: Physical Science, Earth/Space Science

With a fog ring launcher students can explore waves, energy, extreme weather and how sound waves travel through the air.
Subjects: Physical Science, Earth/Space Science

Explore an art technique where everyone - both children and adults - can be successful. The color pulled from new or used printing foils can create striking patterns for making cards, bookmarks, and other art projects.
Subjects: Art

Shiny greeting cards for sparkling greetings
Subjects: Language Arts, Art