Pitsco Education Elementary STEM Explorer Pack Review and Giveaway!

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I have one very STEM-oriented child, but I've never though of any of the others as particularly interested in STEM activities. When we were given the opportunity to try out the Pitsco Education Elementary STEM Explorer Pack, I could tell right away that this would be a blast for all our children, from K-5th grade!

Inside each Elementary STEM Explorer Pack box are five different complete kits, complete with materials, instructions, and extension activities. The older five children divided them up and mostly did them independently, although Peter (age 5) needed a little help with his, and Edith (age 3) insisted on tagging along.

Peter and Edith both worked on Exploring Large Structures, and practiced drawing different shapes and then building them out of pipe cleaners and cardboard tubes, both in two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. This activity was popular with all the children, actually, and we all had a lot of fun with the thick pipe cleaners! The kits are intended to be consumable, so eventually the cardboard tubes were so beaten up that we had to recycle them, but not before they had been played with for several days in a row.

Elizabeth (7) chose Exploring Musical Instruments, and ended up bring her twin Mary Claire along with her! They both had fun making kazoos and maracas and trying out different containers to stretch rubber bands over to make guitar-like instruments.

 

Exploring Parachutes was a little trickier for everyone, which *might* be because our least patient child is the one who chose it for her activity? But they had lots of fun making parachutes and tying different toys to them to see which would float best! 

John Paul (almost-11) chose Exploring Mazes, as I knew he would - this kid has been a maze junkie for years! He used plastic straws to create a maze on a piece of cardboard, and has been having fun "solving" the maze with different marbles or puff balls.

 

 My very favorite project was Cecilia's - she chose hers last, and wasn't particularly excited about being "stuck" with the Exploring Bird Feeders project. But the activities in the instruction manual really appealed to her - she got out a field guide and started researching which type of bird she should make her feeder for, drew a diagram and a beautiful drawing of a Black Capped Chickadee, and was so incredibly proud of her finished project the next day!

 We have used a lot of kits for crafts and science before, and I think this one from Pitsco Education definitely offers a lot of bang for your buck! If we were to do this again, I think I would spread the projects over several weeks and let the kids work on one all together before moving on to the next project. As it was, they demolished everything over the course of a few days, but I think there's a lot more depth one could go into. If you're looking for a way to supplement your homeschool STEM studies this summer or school year, this Elementary STEM Explorer Pack makes it easy!


Pitsco Education is generously giving away an Elementary STEM Explorer Pack to one of you! Enter here. 
 
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