Make Pipe Cleaner Constellations

Here’s a cute idea for your space-obsessed kids from STEAM Powered Family.

These pipe cleaner constellation models use the actual shape of the constellation on printable cards to help kids see how the stars make the shape.

You can get the printable cards when you sign up for their emails. Then all you need are some basic materials you probably already have around the house. Kids will love this as part of a science unit if you are learning from home this year, or just as a chance to play with and talk about constellations (and maybe even design their own!).

There are some cool ideas in the post for how to work these in different ways to make them more fun and enhance the learning opportunities, too, so be sure to check it out.

[Photo: STEAM Powered Family.] Looking for Space-themed Books? check these out on Amazon

Check out this article on the best STEM gifts for kids.

Check out our Online store for special buys on Educational gifts We find bulk items and end-of-stock supplies to bring you heavily discounted items. (make sure you check our store often so you don’t miss out on new stock). We also have some free printable files, including a Science PDF for learning about Microscopes.

There’s something great about every state, and Clive Gifford has collected fun facts, trivia and firsts from every state in Record-Breaking USA: Celebrating America’s Biggest, Brightest and Bravest.

Each state gets a one or two-page spread, with facts scattered around the page and illustrations by Paul Hammond. The page lists a state nickname, the capital, state mammal, a fun fact and some famous residents, as well as firsts and record breaking events that happened in each state.

You’ll learn that Alabama is home to the biggest unclaimed baggage center in the world, that Florida is home to the most toxic tree (the manchineel tree, which has sap that can burn the skin and make people go blind, and its fruit is toxic) and that Iowa is home to the largest model of a strawberry, to name a few facts. Loma, Montana, holds the record for the largest temperature range in a day (from -54 to 49 degrees F, which is a 103 degree difference), while Ohio’s Geauga County once employed the smallest police dog on record, an 11-inch-tall chihuahua/rat terrier mix.

South Dakota has the world’s biggest Bigfoot statue, the cotton candy machine was invented in Tennessee, and a car that was 91 percent cake was driven (and eaten) in Washington state in 2021, now holding the record for the fastest moving mostly edible car.

As you might guess from these sample facts, kids will find this book funny and probably learn some things, too. In addition to the states there’s a page for Washington, D.C., where President Theodore Roosevelt broke the record for the most hands shaken in one day (8,513, a record that’s held since 1907), and the US territories, as well as records that cross state lines and span the globe.

Readers will also learn about records set in space and read what it takes to be a record breaker. There are even a few records listed that you can try to break yourself.

This fun and colorful book is sure to engage kids who love facts, and would be a great one to take along on your next road trip.

About the book: 96 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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