Easy Family STEM by Carrie Robinson @ CEN

We usually associate STEM programming with school aged kids and up. But believe it or not, there are plenty of ways to engage the 5 and under crowd in STEM activities, and you don’t have to be some kind of rocket surgeon to do it.

“What?!” You may be asking, incredulous. “What can you possibly teach a preschooler or a toddler about something so abstract?”

That’s a great question, which you may or may not have asked! Last October, Central Kids started a biweekly family STEM program called Little Explorers, which we alternate with Toddler Yoga. Little Explorers is a hands-on, interactive discovery program that delves into different STEM themes, and it is geared towards toddlers and preschoolers.

The key is to ditch the jargon, focus on one abstract concept and demonstrate that concept concretely in a variety of ways. This month, I decided to use light and shadow as my Little Explorers theme, which would be an opportunity to explore both earth science and physical science. I got the idea from this website, which is from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

First, I die-cut a bunch of different shapes, laminated them, and taped them to jumbo popsicle sticks. I saved as many of paper outlines as possible (rather than throwing them away) and laminated those as well.

Then, I made a big shadow theater. All you have to do is cut off the flaps, top and bottom, of a regular old cardboard box, leaving you with a cardboard frame. Then, tape white butcher paper or tissue paper over one of the holes. If you use butcher paper, this will stabilize the box; if not, you’ll need to use something to support it (two bookends should work nicely.) I also found some really sturdy smaller boxes lying around, so I decided to make mini-shadow boxes (I had six, and we usually get around six kids and their parents who come). I also cut out 6 sets of 3”x3” red, green, yellow and blue cellophane that I found in Create HPL. Finally, I went out and got a 10-pack of flashlights from Wal-Mart for $9.82 and I was ready to go!

Little Explorers is set up in interactive stations rather than serial, guided activities. This keeps the younger kids engaged and allows the older kids to work at a more advanced level. I start each program with a group introduction to the concept we are covering that day, usually on the storytime rug, followed by an explanation of the different stations, and then set the rugrats loose to explore.

On the morning of the program, I set up a projector in the program room, against a blank wall, with our storytime rug in front of it (note: to get the projector to show a white screen instead of blue, I had to hook up a computer and project a full-screen white picture onto the wall, which I made in Paint...technology, am I right?). Against an adjacent wall, I laid yoga mats out in a semicircle, like the rays of the sun. No one noticed, but I like to think it added an ineffable, thematic ambience to the room. Each yoga mat had a mini-shadow box, a flashlight, a cellophane set, and 4-5 laminated shadow puppets/outlines. I set the big shadow box up in the center of the semicircle on a chair. Now I had three stations: the yoga mats, the big shadow box and the wall with the projector.

As 10:30 rolled around and everyone arrived, I flipped off the lights and asked all the kids and parents to stand on the rug, facing the wall, away from the projector. We talked about the sun during the day, the moon at night, how the sun shines and casts shadows, etc. Then I asked all the kids to point to their shadow on the wall, wave, point to mommy’s shadow, make their shadow jump and so on. Then we got started.

My time during the bulk of the program is spent making rounds from child to child, encouraging them to try different things along with their parents, to experiment and hypothesize and all those other fun and fundamental scientific concepts. The kids bounced back and forth between activities and, as always, I was amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of young children. One three-year-old pointed the flashlight at the wall, started rotating it in his hand, and exclaimed, “Ferris wheel!” Then he, his mother and I talked about the ways it was like a ferris wheel: how it moved, how it had spokes, how it carries people, etc. And so playing with a flashlight became a conversation about ferris wheels, which became an opportunity to teach about simple machines. Cross-pollination like this occurs all the time in Little Explorers, as the kids forge new connections right in front of your eyes.

Before I knew it, 45 minutes had passed and our time was up. At the end, I sent everyone home with a shadow box of their very own.

What can you teach very young children about science and math? Tons, it turns out.

Further Reading
NAEYC’s pages on Math and STEM

Teaching STEM in the Early Years by Sally Moomaw

STEM Play by Dierdre Englehart

Enriching early scientific learning by Jane Johnston

STEM Unplugged

After seeing an ALSC blog post that mentioned a cool-looking unplugged coding program that used a taped grid and paper, I wanted to try a similar program at PLE to introduce the kids at ASZ to coding concepts. I chose a Mario theme for the program because all the Mario games are pretty popular at PLE and the characters and world are pretty easily recognized by most kids.

Also, there are lots of ideas and tutorials for Mario props on Pinterest. I used paper lanterns, pipe cleaners, and paper to make the Bob-ombs and the Chain Chomp. I covered the cardboard boxes with red construction paper to serve as brick walls and used cardboard for the coins and their stands. The flag is made from a cheap dowel rod and a painted Styrofoam ball. For each "playable character," I made a visor hat (or crown) from cardstock and elastic and then made a corresponding flag that attached using Velcro circles to the flag pole.

For the program, the kids partnered up, with one person being the player and the other the character. The player used the printed directional arrows and commands (start, action, stop) to create a program and then read it out loud, having the character move through the grid and interact with the different elements according to that program.

The kids really liked it, though we did run into some issues. For one, I think there were too many elements on the grid, making it too difficult. Only one person actually got their player all the way to the flag pole. The rest of the players hit the Bob-ombs (they did enjoy acting that out) or were bitten by the Chain Chomp. Because it was kind of difficult, it was also a bit time-consuming. A number of the kids got impatient and started doing other activities (video games, coloring, etc.) and lost interest. For future programs, I'm going to find ways for more kids to be involved at the same time, like having them work in teams, or having two smaller grids and having a race between two teams.

And, using the idea of the grid and the printed arrows and commands, pretty much any theme can be applied. Like Minecraft could be a cool one to use. What are some of your ideas?

- Kristin @ PLE

Combining History with STEM

Ariel at YOU hosted a innovative STEM program highlighting Madam CJ Walker, an African American inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who made a fortune with her hair care and beauty products. You can learn more about Madam CJ Walker here.

Madam CJ Walker is one of the first American women to become self-made millionaire.

After learning about Madam Walker and her contributions to science, participants made their own shampoo! Instructions here.

YOU is doing some awesome programming, check out Ariel's fantastic post about her Teen Tech Week program for inspiration!

STEM Ideas from the Lunar and Planetary Institute

The Lunar and Planetary Institute is a really cool place. They are the swell folks that lend out their planetarium. I got to go to a training there last month to try out some STEM ideas with their education coordinator. Here are some cool things from LPI that you could do at your library for STEM programs, including Star Parties!

UV Kid
Mess level: 1
Materials needed: Chenille stems, UV beads, regular pony beads, assorted scraps of tissue paper, aluminum foil, etc (optional: sunscreen)
Basics: Make a person/animal/creature out of chenille stems, decorating with UV beads and regular beads. Take your creation into the light and watch the UV beads change colors. Then create some sort of sun protection out of the scrap materials. Then take your creation back out into the sunlight and see how well you did.

Oreo Moon Phases
Mess level: 4
Materials needed: 6 oreos per kid, paper towels, plastic cutlery, printed calendar
Basics: Subtract frosting from oreos to model moon phases. Place them on a calendar of the current month to show when the phases will be visible.
Note: Here is the PDF of the calendar we used. You’ll have to make your own or do some editing since it’s for December 2017.

Make a comet

Mess level: 10
Materials needed: 5 pounds of dry ice (purchased the day of or the day before the activity and stored well-wrapped in a freezer before use), Mallet, Eye protection, Thick work gloves or insulated rubber gloves, Plastic bowl (large), Paper or cloth grocery bag, 13 gallon garbage bag, Pie pan or flat tray, 1 cup of sand or soil, Dash of ammonia, Dash of organic materials, such as rubbing alcohol or corn syrup, Strong flashlight, (Optional) a printed image of a comet, (Optional) tools for making additional observations, such as magnifying glasses, cameras, scales, an ear thermometer, or infrared thermal cameras that work with smartphones and tablets (such as a Seek Thermal Compact camera).
Basics: Make a comet by mixing fragments of dry ice with sand and water. This is definitely the most involved activity. If you have a larger group, I would recommend having several staff on hand helping to make the comets. Dry ice is something that we have to be really careful with, so please take every safety precaution in the directions. You could also do this as a demonstration.

- Angela @ COL