howtosmile blog


Activity Extensions for the Moon Adventure Game from the NISE Network

Have you ever wondered what challenges astronauts of the future will encounter when they live and work on the Moon? Thanks to NISE Network’s Moon Adventure Game, you can! The collaborative escape room-like adventure game is a fun and immersive way to learn first hand the dangers of long-term habitation on the Moon. This blog post is our way of helping educators currently using the game—or those planning to add the game to their museum programming—to extend the out-of-world experiences of learners.

Nature Journaling- The Ultimate Outdoor STEAM Activity

Whether you live in the heart of a big city, the rural countryside, or any place in between, our backyards and neighborhoods are full of incredible nature for us to explore. Nature journaling is a STEAM activity that allows us to mindfully appreciate all of the diverse life around us. Not only is nature journaling a great way to get outside and have fun, it also can teach us and our learners important science process and creativity skills. And the best part? All you need is a notebook, something to write with, and a bit of curiosity!

At-Home Activities Team Stipends

With support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Children’s Creativity Museum and UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science are updating howtosmile.org to meet the growing needs of informal educators offering at-home STEM educational programming during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will establish a network of 10 new partner museums to expand the howtosmile digital library, which provides high-quality STEM activities to an active community of informal educators through best practices in digital resource management-with almost 3,500 cataloged resources. The project is also updating the digital library's legacy cataloging system to reduce complexity and increase security.

howtosmile and Earth Day, April 22nd



This is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day—one of the biggest science events of the year. 2020 brings new challenges for Earth Day as schools and museums remain closed and many learners and their families are sheltering-in-place. We have put together two new activity lists for learners—divided by the age—to celebrate safety at-home or outdoors with good social distancing practices. Activities use print-outs and simple materials that can be found at home.

2020: 10 years of howtosmile



Launched in 2010, howtosmile was started by a group of science museums dedicated to sharing great science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities with the educators and learners of the world. Given the challenging times we face in 2020, this mission is now more important than ever.

Homeschool Base names howtosmile.org as one the best educational websites in 2018.

The new year brings another award for howtosmile. Homeschool Base, the internet's largest volunteer driven homeschooling website, has named howtosmile.org as one of the top 10 educational websites for math, and included the website in their best 100 educational websites for 2018.