Design Thinking at Home

I love Design Thinking for learning in every setting- school, home, industry, LIFE! For more about why Design Thinking is awesome for you kids, check out this article. And to better understand what Design Thinking is, check out this site; and to understand how it is different than PBL check out my post HERE.

If you are looking for  lesson plans for virtual learning or ideas for homeschool or summer enrichment, the following can be a great way to keep children ages 4-10 engaged and developing important 21st century skills at home. Here is a crash course for getting started with Making and Design Thinking at home:

Step 1 – Set up your space

Create an enticing space for learning and making. Click HERE to see how I did this for my own two children at home. Consider a closet, a garage, our outdoors for your learning space at home.

Step 2- Provide the invitation

Offer up ideas to get children of any age started. Here is my favorite resource to do this! Keep these invitations out every day for children to access or put a new one out each day to keep learning fresh and exciting. Here and HERE are great lists of materials to include for your space. Note:  you don’t have to spend a lot of money- visit a local Dollar Store or start collecting materials from your recycle bin!

Step 3- Offer more ideas

The following is a collection of some great resources for doing Design Thinking at home:

• STEM family : Design Thinking Activities
• Daily Design Challenges to Try at Home 
• 5 Design Challenges
• 6 projects that inspire learners to go deeper 
• Lesson plans for Making 

Want to learn more? Check out Stanford’s D School and all the amazing FREE resources that are available on Design Thinking.