Need some fun and educational activities to engage in together with the kids? Spend a couple of minutes browsing YouTube or Metacafe and you’ll discover lots of educational “how to” videos of experiments that’ll make time pass quickly for both kids and grownups.

Following is a few of my favorites.

Bristlebot- The little toothbrush robot

One of Evil Mad Scientists videos on Metacafe, “How To Make A BristleBot” , shows you how to make a small robot that drives around by itself, by the use of the head of a toothbrush, a pager motor, two copper treads, foam tape and a watch battery. It’s a simple experiment with lots of educational value. It can keep your child occupied for quite some time. A more detailed description on how to make the Bristlebot, and what you need to make it, can be found at Evil Mad Scientist.

How to Make Slime

Good video on how to make toy slime, in any color you want, in an easy, low cost way.

How To Make Hot Ice

This is weird, and so cool. Small as well as big boys will love this one. Liquid becomes ice when you touch it!! Could make hours of fun! Have a look at the video.

Balloon Hovercraft

D3stiny at Metacafe shows you how to make a balloon hovercraft. It’s quite easy.

Unbelievable Origami Toys

It is incredible what you can make with just a piece of paper, a bit of tape and a few crayons! Following are a couple of videos showing you how to build little paper toys for/with your children. The first one is the good old Jumping origami frog toy. One piece of paper becomes a frog that jumps when you pat it on the back. The second one is The twisting hexagon, very difficult to describe, so it’s better you just have a look at the video! If you find these fun you should keep an eye on all the related videos that appear in the right side when you play the videos as well!

Have fun!