 Many parents have been placing importance on STEM activities because they’re crucial for developing the skills your child will need in the real world. These activities help develop critical thinking, build essential skills, and improve creativity and problem-solving, and they can support practical application, just for a start. The best part of STEM activities? They can be fun and engaging for your child, making them want to learn. Turn your home into a spy academy, and you’ll be teaching great lessons to your children and earn bonus points by being the cool parent! Break The CodeSpies always have secret codes to communicate, and this is a fun lesson for children. Using paper, pencils, and a key, you’ll create a code. A Caesar code is considered the easiest option because it’s not overly complicated and easy to implement. Once you have your key, write a secret message and then have your child decode it. This is a great lesson in problem-solving and pattern recognition. It’s also easy to get more challenging if you have older children. Write paragraphs or make a more difficult code with symbols instead of numbers. If you want to incorporate additional STEM lessons, ask thought-provoking questions such as: How many times do the same symbols or numbers appear? Do you see any patterns with the key? This will help them begin to understand areas of analysis.  What Do You See?As a spy, you have to learn to notice everything. The smallest thing could escape your eye and change the outcome of the case. As such, the next activity will help your child with critical thinking and memory. Explain to your children that this mission is all about gathering intelligence so they can become top spies. Get a tray and put about five items on it. If you have older children with better memories, you can try more items or build up to more over time. If you have younger children, you can put fewer items on the tray. Have your child look at the tray for about half a minute and try to memorize what’s in front of them. Then have them turn away and take one item off the tray. Have them turn back around and see if they can tell you what’s missing. You can also increase the difficulty of this activity by removing multiple objects or having things that are the same color. Another idea for memorization is to take your child into a room in the house and follow the same rules. Have them look around the room for about half a minute, then turn away. Ask them questions about the room. For instance, what is the biggest thing in the room? Does the room have a hamper? Compare the answers to the room and see what they got right or what they missed. Invisible InkThis one is really fun. You’ll need watercolors, a paintbrush, white crayons, and some scrap paper. Draw a secret message on the paper with the white crayon. Then, reveal the secret message with the watercolor paint. This option is a great lesson for children, and they love watching the message appear. If you’re worried about a mess, you can switch out the watercolors with water-based markers.  Obstacle CourseSo, if you think back on every spy movie you’ve seen, what do they always have? A laser course that they have to maneuver. For this one, I recommend using your hallway. The reason is that it will be harder to get through and more challenging for your child. If you want to make it easier, simply adjust the strings to create more open spaces. You can incorporate the entire area if you like, or make it smaller, making this a versatile lesson that can be easily adjusted. For instance, if your child figures out the first course easily, simply take the tape off, maneuver the yarn, and create another one. You’ll need yarn, which is stronger than string, and some strong tape. Then create a maze with the yarn and tape your ends to the wall. Once finished, see if your child can maneuver around the ‘lasers’ without hitting one. The idea is that your child needs to start thinking more strategically. FingerprintsEach person is different, and so are our fingerprints. Some people have a loop pattern, others have arches. Using scrap paper, regular tape, a pencil, and a sharpener, you can see how your family is different. For this activity, have your entire family use a pencil to create a dark square on the paper. Rub your finger on that spot before using a piece of tape to take your fingerprint off your finger. Then place it on another area of the paper. Compare and contrast the fingerprints of each family member.  Making a PeriscopeYour eyes see objects a certain way, and the light waves bounce off objects in a particular way as well. Using a periscope will allow light to travel differently, redirect light waves, and let your children see objects in a different way. For instance, you’ll see under objects and around corners. Here are two videos that show how you can do this with your children. Because you’ll be using a box cutter, this is a project where the parents should make the periscope to prevent accidents or injuries. Have your child explore with the periscope and make observations about what they see. Can You See Me?For this activity, you don’t need anything except what you already have at home (unless you want to go out and get additional items). Ask your child how a spy manages to avoid being seen and what they would do to ensure no one finds them on a secret mission. After they give you their answer, have them act it out and see if it works. This is great for problem-solving and critical thinking in a more challenging version of hide-and-seek! Additional IdeasIf you want some additional ideas, you can create a tunnel with balloons taped underneath as an agility training exercise, target practice with cardboard targets, and then use rolled up socks to see how your child can hit the target, or even have them create their own spy tools with things around the house such as cardboard, old juice cartons, or other items. Each lesson challenges their mind to learn in a creative and engaging way. Have fun!  Jenifer Dale is an author and writer, who loves reading, and helping others. When she's not writing she's spending time with her family.   Which spy-themed STEM activity do you think your child would enjoy the most, and why? What skills did you notice your child using during these spy activities? How could you adapt these activities for different age levels in your home? What other everyday household items could be turned into STEM learning tools? Please leave your comments below. Your feedback is always appreciated. 
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