Now that families are back to school, what does that look like in the classroom? From tech and curriculum, to educational toys, fashions and masks, what to expect, and ways to come alongside your kids when it comes to learning.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING X STEAM = ME AND MINE
From as early as 3 years old, the foundation of a child’s social-emotional development is built into the architecture of their brain. Social-emotional development is proven highly correlated to the development of problem-solving skills that contribute to a child’s fulfillment in life.
From Coral-laboration/ Teamwork to Journey Down the Belly/ Digestion, Fish Out Germs/ Healing, iCalm Galaxy/Tantrums and iLuv Colored Gears/Emotions, these are just a few of the MEandMine award-winning kits designed by pediatricians and psychologists to make a child’s self-discovery journey the most fun, mind-blowing and inspiring hands-on adventure.
MEandMine was built out of a belief in the importance of developing resilience. The kits are built with a scientifically proven method that starts with reading and layers on play and practice as a surefire way to help kids discover what they’re made of. First there is an imagination-powered story, then there are 2-5 hands-on STEAM-backed projects, and lastly a mission-based game shaping healthy habits or developing social-emotional learning.
They help kids discover all the marvelous ways their bodies and emotions work to help them grow. This helps them face the wild road of life ahead with excitement, confidence, creativity, and resilience.
As parents, the best gift we can give to our little ones is to empower them to have fun with challenges, make friends with uncertainties, and discover the magic hidden inside them. Plus MEandMine has so many FREE Fun Printables and Projects for families!
PHYSICS AND ENGINEERING: HUBELINO MARBLE RUNS
One of the challenging things about science is helping your children translate lessons like they are learning in a book or in the classroom like physics and engineering to real life application. Our families love roller coasters and amusement parks. Our kids also love creating and building things. The Hubelino sets have quickly become a new favorite. Hubelino works with both sizes of the well-known brick brands. Kids can create ball and marble runs similar to their favorite rollercoasters or use their imagination to create something new.
Hubelino is geared for ages 4-12 and works with larger bricks and Hubelino Pi is great for 8+ and works with the smaller bricks. The sets come with directions to make marble runs or kids can create their own. Hubelino is great as it encourages children to critically think as they plan out their course, have perseverance when things don’t work out and teamwork as siblings work together to construct runs. This can be great for a rainy day activity or when you want to help bring those physics problems to life.
LET’S GET ELECTRIC AS WE SCOOT TO SCHOOL WITH JETSON
Keeping up with kids is both mentally and physically exhausting! From carpool to the playground, sports practices and events, most parents would love an extra boost when it comes to activities. So when we found the Jetson Eris Electric Scooter we were thrilled!
This electric scooter has a sleek frame, a 250 watt rear wheel motor with 12 mile range and max speed of 14 mph, so moms and dads can scoot to school while their kids ride bikes or scooters, or if you have a middle-schooler or teen, this could be a way for them to get to school in style. It’s so simple to use and more fun that we anticipated!
We love that we can attach our smartphone for hands-free easy navigation or listening to music plus the upgraded folding mechanism makes bringing, or storing, the scooter a breeze.
ADAPTIVE FASHIONS AND MASKS WITH APPAMAN
Whether we like it or not, going back to the classroom and large gatherings often requires us to have our children wear masks. But who said they have to be boring? From pizza slices and camo to stars and hearts these masks from Appaman are just as fun as their clothing. They can match many of the fun graphic shirts from Appaman.
Our kids love expressing themselves with Appaman. We start with one of their graphic tees then pair it with one of their plaids, parkas or puffer vests. From rose gold to more classic colors, they have so many great styles for keeping your kids warm. We find it easier to pair a flannel shirt or thermal with a vest or jacket. That way if they get warm, they can take off the layering piece. The Turnstile Jacket is a favorite because you can remove the sleeves as the day warms up, or if your classroom temp varies considerably from the outside temp.
We also love that Appaman has a line of adaptive clothing that features many of the popular items from their line. From shirts to jeans, there are added VELCRO brand closures to help with ease of dressing and to accommodate prosthetics, orthotics, braces or any other medical devices.
We were given items by Appaman, HABA USA, Jetson and Me and Mine. All of our thoughts and ideas are our own.
