NH-DI Weekly Roundup (April 27, 2020)

Hello everyone!

Every week, NH-DI is going to publish a newsletter for families, which we hope will be full of educational resources and inspiration during this challenging time.

We will feature a hands-on educational activity, which will be developed by our volunteers. We hope these will vary quite a bit from week to week, but they might take the form of an instant challenge, a mini-lesson, an experiment, an art project, or a game.

Additionally, we will collect and share other online resources that have inspired us! Each week, we’ll curate a list of cool activities, performances, and more.

In case you missed last week’s Weekly Roundup, we’ve added a link to the bottom of the Weekly Roundup main page.

Making Masks!

NH-DI volunteer Sandra Hardy put together this workshop on making masks! 

You’ll learn about everything from ceremonial masks to festival masks to theater masks. And there are even instructions for making a few different types at home!

Creating Colors: Part 3

(Click here if you missed part 1 or part 2)

This multipart workshop, created by NH-DI volunteer Craig Richardson, is all about color!

  • How our eyes make it possible for us to see in color
  • How new colors can be created by combining light sources, or mixing paints and dyes together
  • The different ways in which animals (and some people) see color

In addition to learning lots of fascinating information, we’ve included a fun hands-on activity!

In addition to learning lots of fascinating information, we’ve included a fun hands-on activity!

Some websites we recommend:

StoryCorps
StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. StoryCorps gives people of all backgrounds, typically two at a time, the opportunity to record meaningful conversations and archives the recordings at the Library of Congress. Head to their website, listen to some stories, and learn how you can participate!

National Geographic Education
Their website has tons of educational resources and activities, including some designed to be completed at home! 

California Academy of Sciences Learning Resources
They’re an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park—and a powerful voice for biodiversity research and exploration, environmental education, and sustainability across the globe. Check out their extensive online resources, including a list of activities sorted by age! 

TeachRock
TeachRock is a standards-aligned, arts integration curriculum that uses the history of popular music and culture to help engage students. All for free! Check out some examples of what you can learn about:

  • What is synesthesia and how might sound be reflected through art?
  • Math with The Beatles
  • Greta Thunberg, Music, and the Climate Crisis
  • The Evolution of Sound Recording

Free Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Classes
It might be some time before you can head to your favorite art museum again, but in the meantime, check out these free classes offered by MoMA through Coursera. We think their course on Fashion as Design looks pretty cool!

Some more STEAM activities to try:

DIY Toilet Paper Roll Construction Set

Magic Milk

Juice box balloon car

DIY bouncy ball

Art with Shadows
Vincent Bal is a Belgian artist who draws inspiration from shadows. He was first inspired after noticing the shape his teacup’s shadow made, and since then has worked with ordinary objects. It’s art in a brand new light. Check out this video, his Instagram, and try to create some shadow art yourself! 

Some activities created by DI headquarters

Indoor Scavenger Hunt
These days, we’re all spending most of our time indoors. And as a parent, it can be difficult to find more and more ways to keep our kids engaged and their curiosities piqued. So, why not send them on an indoor scavenger hunt? To help, we’ve rounded up 25 clues. Kids will need to find an item in the house that matches each clue.

Virtual Instant Challenge: Keep My Boat Afloat
Create a boat that will float while holding as much weight as possible!

Share what you’ve created!

Were you inspired by any of the activities or resources in this Weekly Roundup? What did you build or create? We encourage you, with a parent or guardian’s help and permission, to share your creations on our Facebook or Instagram pages! (Just add your photo as a comment on our weekly post!)

And please share NH-DI’s Weekly Roundup with your friends! Ask them to sign up for weekly emails (if they’re 13 or older), or send them a link to our main Weekly Roundup page.

That’s all for this week, but we look forward to sending you more soon! And as always, if you have ideas for the Weekly Roundup, email Emily Richardson at emily.richardson@nh-di.org.


Published weekly by New Hampshire Innovation and Creativity Connection (NHICC), the nonprofit organization that operates New Hampshire’s Destination Imagination, Camp Gottalikachallenge, and Girls Engineering the Future programs. Learn more about us…