Conversation Starters with the Grandkids: How to Get Them Talking… and Thinking!

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Brainspace magazine, the popular, award-winning, and educational magazine for kids, asks the kinds of questions that inspire wonder and imagination.

In a recent article, Brainspace asked how the toothless seahorse — the slowest fish in the ocean — manages to capture its speedier prey? Any guesses? Ask your grandkids what they think. Hint: the answer lies in the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. Get out a rubber band, and show them how the seahorse’s clever hunting scheme works: if you stretch a rubber band, you store potential energy in it. When you let go of the band, the energy releases, turning into kinetic energy that shoots the band across the room. Let the kids practice storing and releasing energy in the rubber band, and then they will understand how the seahorse creates tension in its neck muscles and tendons that, upon release, cause it to fling its head out at high speed — bringing its hungry suctioning mouth in range of a tasty brine shrimp.

If you have a smartphone handy, why not download the Zappar app to check out a video of a seahorse in action: it’s as easy as pointing your phone at the Zappar icon on the page. There’s plenty of interactive Zappar videos in every issue of Brainspace, each one designed to expand the fun of learning beyond the pages. Ask your grandchild which is their favourite Zappar video. They will delight in showing you what volcanic lightning looks like or sharing a demo on how to make bath snow from soap.

After checking out the Zappar on Snow Bombs (p. 8, in Winter ’21), turn the page to play a neat board game called Hexamath together. Or ask your grandkids if they have ever heard of a Hurdy-Gurdy? Or if they know how sampling played a role in the development of hip-hop music? Or if an asteroid crashes into another asteroid in space: would they be able to hear the sound?

With articles about unusual musical instruments, vibrations in space, the science of seahorse snouts, and much more, Brainspace magazine presents the kinds of topics that spark curiosity in young minds.

For grandparents, engaging the inquisitive minds of young grandchildren is high on the list of must-do activities.

The gift of a subscription to Brainspace goes a long way to inspire a love of reading, start animated conversations and encourage further study.

Thought-provoking. Smart. Well-curated. Brainspace helps you nurture the budding artist, engineer, scientist or astronaut in your grandchild. Brainspace kids explore a wide range of fascinating STEAM subjects: science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.

In addition to informative articles written by a team of educational reporters, every Brainspace issue contains themed craft ideas, experiments, and activities that can be done together, at home, or at the cottage. Brainspace kids look forward with anticipation to find each new stimulating and jam-packed issue waiting for them in the mailbox: What does a planet sound like? What do rainbows and microwaves have in common? Why do female bottlenose dolphins sometimes wear sponges on the tip of their snouts? From the gorgeous, eye-popping covers to cutting-edge content, you are well on your way to exploring the world together with your grandchildren.

 

Brainspace Magazine is

•educational content for kids 8 to 14

•encouraging for the reluctant reader

•timely

•positive, sensitive, and relevant

•a perfect gift for grandkids

•fun!

Brainspace is a quarterly print magazine with extra interactive capabilities that engage kids with science videos, math demonstrations and language quizzes. Inspire a love of learning. Click here to gift a subscription to a child today.

https://subscriptions.brainspacemagazine.com/order/