5 - 7 Years STEM

Host a STEM-tastic Playdate to Celebrate November 8!

Invite the whole crew over for National STEM Day this November 8th with a science-, technology-, engineering-, and math-themed playdate!National STEM Day began in 2015, as our nation began to recognize that STEM-centered careers were growing 70 percent faster than other occupations. Research has shown the introduction of STEM concepts to children can improve their social and emotional development, as well as their rational thinking skills.

STEM really goes beyond conveying knowledge from teacher to student. Kids learn problem-solving, critical thinking skills, and collaboration with their peers. Connections are made between school, community, and home that seem to stick. The real-life implications of STEM pull together ideas that teach children that what they learn, as well as the ideas they share, benefit our world as a whole.

Let’s bring together all these concepts into a big, fun playdate. With the help of Learning Resources’ STEM-centered products, we engineered an engaging afternoon with our friends, completely screen-free.(And another beauty of STEM? It knows no age. If little brothers and sisters want to join in on the fun, the more the merrier!)We sent out invites, had our friends over, and made an afternoon of activities!

STEM Station #1: Botley

Spread out on the living room floor for our first STEM Station was Botley. This little coding robot lives up to its reputation for out-of-the-box fun. From the first moment Botley lit up and began chatting with our friends, it was love at first code.

With just a quick skim of the directions, the friends were coding in minutes. Before we knew it, Botley was pushing around blocks and racing toward the finish line.

A solid 45 minutes was spent at the Botley station, as the friends took turns sending Botley backwards and in circles. (It was hard to tear the kids away to move to the next station, but our playdate clock was ticking.)

STEM Station #2: Beaker Creatures

Our friends moved from the floor to the kitchen table to discover the fizzy, funny wonder of the Beaker Creatures Reactor Pods. Each mysterious pod is filled with an alien traveler. Who were they going to discover?Each individually wrapped pod comes with a classification card that will help our friends figure out who is who.Time to drop in our first discovery.

As they waited and watch the water foam, the friends tried to figure out which alien could be lurking in the inky waters.

All set! Who did we get?

Filling out the identification card made the friends feel like they were classifying new species from out of this world.

And soon one bowl was not enough. Let’s dissolve more! Who can we add to our collection?

STEM Station #3: Coding Critters

We set up an additional folding table in the family room to accommodate all our scientists, technicians, engineers, and mathematics for more STEM-tastic discoveries. Station #3 included the Rumble and Bumble, the adorable Coding Critters. Similar to Botley, Rumble and Bumble are screen-free, coding fun. The Coding Critters come with a storybook. First things first, the older friends read to the younger ones about with whom they were about to play.

Rumble and Bumble’s playset was fun to set up, but even more fun to knockdown. Once the friends figured out how to get Rumble moving, the crashing began!

The Coding Critters have a “code mode” and a “play mode”. In the play mode, our friends began to interact with Rumble like it was a real live pet! There were even challenges in the storybook…one was how to teach Rumble to have a snack with Bumble.

Like all awesome playdates, our time had to end. But the afternoon of STEM-centered fun will not soon be forgotten!Happy National STEM Day!

Save it for later!

Fall is here! Which means I get to put together one of my most favorite sensory bins of the year.  Who can resist the smell of apple cinnamon and pine cones mixed with the texture of corn kernels, right!?

Every year I try to add in components that align with the developmental stage my daughter is in.  Being almost 3, she is refining her fine and visual motor skills every day, so we added in lots of fine motor challenges and visual perceptual options this year. Toddlers also seek independence in everything they do, so sensory bins are always a great task to get them involved when putting it together.

Sensory Bin Materials

First, we gathered all of our goodies.  For this bin, we are using corn kernels, play apples, pine cones, flat marbles, and play leaves as our main “ingredients”.  You can control the amount of scent you include in your bin by sprinkling apple pie spice, or adding cinnamon sticks.  My daughter does not have any aversions to scent, so we went with pre-scented apples and pine cones (you can often find these in the fall section of your local craft store!).

Next, I had her scoop and pour the corn kernels into her bin, and add in all of the goodies.  I let her play for a while and explore the different scents and textures.  She loves to explore using kitchen utensils (spoons, bowls, funnels, cups, etc) – she made our whole family some apple soup with a side of leaves and pine cones for dinner!  All of this is working on their imagination skills which is fantastic for this age.

Then, the fun begins for me! Here are some fun challenges I incorporated into our purposeful play!

Fine Motor

Corn kernels are awesome because when a toddler plays with it, they are naturally practicing their pincer skills just picking them up and moving them around!  I also love to incorporate various tongs, tweezers, and clothespins for her to use while she picks up apples or “catches” leaves.

Visual Motor

Sorting tasks are always a big hit.  I had her sort out red apples, green apples, yellow leaves, and green leaves.  You can also work on patterning or visual model copying.  For my daughter, I lined up a couple objects (red apple, green leaf, pine cone) and had her find the matching objects in the bin and line them up in the same order.

Stereognosis

This is a high-level perceptual skill that I love to throw in when planning activities.  Stereognosis is the ability to perceive an object from touch – sensory bins are perfect for this because you can hide a pine cone underneath the corn kernels, have them dig in, and see if they can find the pine cone only by touch. I can’t tell you how intrinsically motivating and fun this is for them, all while working on some amazing developmental skills.

The thing I really love about sensory bins is that they are easily adaptable to any age group.  If your little one is younger, try adding the corn kernels to a clear bottle with some leaves and pom poms and have them roll it all around.  Watch them in awe as they see the goodies move all around inside the bottle and hear the sounds of the kernels as they slide!

Save it for later!