5 - 7 Years STEM

A lot of fun art projects have a specific end product in mind, like the mini piñata craft and bubble wrap craftsI’ve previous shared with our readers. But sometimes it’s wonderful to offer your children a craft that’s open-ended, so they can enjoy the process of creating, without focusing on the finished product.

This craft is a favorite with my nieces and nephews, keeping them absorbed with two distinct, appealing steps. If you want to get fancy about it, you could certainly call this a “mixed media abstract art project,” where children focus their creative attention on shapes, colors, forms, and textures to achieve a beautiful effect. The kids just call it “yarn doodle art” and ask to do whenever they can!

What You’ll Need

• Paper, cardboard or cardstock
• Yarn, ideally in multiple colors
• Scissors
• White school glue
• Acrylic or tempera paint
• Paintbrushes
• Paper bowl and cup
• Optional: plastic spoon
• Newspapers or plastic sheet to cover your work surface

Getting started

An adult should cut 5 or 6 pieces of yarn, approximately a foot long each. You can cut shorter pieces for toddlers, which will be easier for them to work with. An adult should also pour a little of the glue into the bowl. You can add a very little bit of water to the glue to stretch it out. We also like to keep a cup of water on the table to dip the yarn in first. This just keeps the yarn from absorbing too much glue so we don’t run out.

Kids begin by dipping a piece of yarn in the bowl to fully cover it with glue. They can hold one end of the yarn as they swirl it in the glue, “smush” it around with their fingers, or use a plastic spoon to push the yarn around, depending on your tolerance for mess. Whichever way you choose, kids love this step since it feels to them like they’re getting away with doing something they shouldn’t!

Ready, set, doodle!

Holding the piece of yarn by the end, drape it onto the paper then move your wrist and hand to make squiggles, swirls, spirals, or “loop-de-loops.” Toddlers can literally do a dry run by practicing with their yarn before they dip it in the glue, but most kids get the hang of this very quickly. Alternate colors of yarn for added visual interest. There’s no wrong way to do this step, so simply have fun and create! As a bonus, kids build their fine motor skills and eye hand coordination as they doodle.

Once all areas of the paper have some doodles, you can take your plastic spoon and gently tamp down on the yarn to make extra certain it sticks to the paper. Don’t worry if the glue looks messy at this point, it will dry clear in a few hours. Pro-tip: If you’re the kind of adult who enjoys the relaxing appeal of adult coloring books, go ahead and doodle some yarn on a paper yourself so you can join your kids in the next step, painting.

Paint with all the colors

When the yarn dries, it’s time to break out the paint and paintbrushes! Now is a good time to have a look at the doodles and ask the kids what kinds of shapes they see. Do those shapes remind them of anything? In our example, the circles look a bit like swimming pools, and the spiral looks like a whirlpool, which suggests using various shades of blue for these shapes.

Another way to choose which paints to use is to talk about contrasting colors. In our example, in the upper right hand corner there are 2 loop-de-loops made by yellow yarn. Green makes a nice contrast to the yellow, so the yarn really seems to pop. Below, the bright orange paint has the same effect. You can encourage kids to see the different zones created by the yarn and alternate contrasting colors. Or simply let them choose their own favorite colors!

Variations

This project can be scaled up or down as well. If you’re pressed for time, you can have the kids just scribble their doodles with a thick marker or jumbo crayon, then color in the shapes with paint, crayons, or colored pencils. Feeling more ambitious? You can create a leaded, stained glass effect by substituting a piece of clear plastic acrylic for the paper and using black yarn for the doodles. Fill in with translucent paint or make your own clear “paint” by adding food dye to white school glue.

Though yarn doodle art really isn’t about the finished product, the paintings always seem to come out just beautiful. So make a little time to create…then make a little space on your fridge to display these kid-crafted masterpieces!

Summer means school is out (for most of us). That makes it easy for the summer slide to happen. Summer learning loss where students lose academic skills over the summer break is a real issue. We can help prevent the summer slide by encouraging learning throughout the summer. Continue to read to our kids and encourage them to read as well. Incorporate math into their day. Set up simple activities that will engage their minds and practice basic skills. The volume and measuring activities I'm sharing today are great examples to try. They are easy to set up, kids will have fun with them, and they will be learning, too.

Learning about volume

Volume is the amount of space an object takes up or surrounds. It can be a challenging topic for young children to understand. The activities below introduce the concept of volume and address some common misconceptions.

Which Has the Greater Volume?

Pose this question to your children to pique their interest: Which container has the greater volume? (In more kid-friendly terms, you might ask: Which container can hold more water?)

What you'll need:

The Primary Science Mix and Measure set is perfect for this activity. Grab the following items from the set (or something similar).

• Tall 2-cup measuring cup
• Short 2-cup measuring cup
• Bowl
• Other measuring cups and spoons
• Water

For this activity, we're comparing the volume of the two 2-cup measuring cups. Ask your child: which container has the greater volume - the tall one or the short one? A common misconception among young children is that that a taller container will have a greater volume than a shorter container. They only consider one dimension (the height).

Let's design a way to find out which one holds more water. Ask your child to think of a solution. How can we test this?

Solution 1: Fill the tall container with water. Use the 1-cup measuring cup to determine how much water it holds. Repeat with the short container. How many cups of water does it hold? Both containers hold the same amount of water (2 cups).

Solution 2: Fill the tall container with water. Pour the water from the tall container into the short container. Does the short container overflow? (Then, the tall container holds more.) Does the short container have more room for water? (Then, the short container holds more.) In our case, the two containers are equal. They hold the same amount of water.

My very observant soon to be second grader noticed the numbers on the containers. I asked him which container had the greater volume and he immediately said the tall container. I asked him why and he said because it is taller. I asked him how we could test his answer. That's when he noticed the numbers. He said they both are 2 and the the bowl is 4, so they both hold the same amount and the bowl holds more. I told him that was a good observation, but we still needed to test it to see if he's correct. He came up with solution 2 above.

In our investigation above, both containers had the same volume. They held the same amount of space. Even after seeing that both containers hold the same amount, some children will still maintain the taller container holds more. It may take measuring the water a few times before they get it.

Repeat this investigation with other containers – larger bowls, smaller bowls, etc. Have your child predict if the new containers will hold more or less water than the 2-cup containers.

Make predictions with different containers

Pose another challenge using the measuring cups in the Primary Science Mix and Measure set. How many of one measuring cup will fit into another? Have your children predict how many half cups will fit into 1 cup and how many quarter cups will fit into a half cup. This is a good math review for fractions or just a cool way to practice counting and measuring.

You can also make predictions using other shaped containers. We had fun using the Primary Science Jumbo Test Tubes. These test tubes come in a set of 6 with a stand. They have lines on the test tubes, so it's great for measuring practice as well. I asked my son to predict the volume up to one line of the test tube. I asked, "How many measuring cups or tablespoons will it take to fill the test tube up to the first line?" My son predicted the 1/4 cup measuring cup would reach the first line. He tested it out. That was too much, so he tried again. This time with the tablespoon.

Find containers that are of similar sizes and predict which one holds more. I found a sprinkles container that was about the same size as the test tubes. We love using containers like these as a part of our simple science lab. After pouring the water from a test tube into the sprinkles container, we found the sprinkles container still had room for more. This meant it had the greater volume.

Remember it's all about having fun while adding in some learning opportunities. That's how we'll stop summer brain drain!