Science Buddies STEM activities always give you the expected results and the explanation behind them, so you don't need any prior knowledge. (Your strategy might be a combination of these approaches based on how your kids react to not knowing and maybe to being wrong, where they are in their science education, and even how much time you have.) What is important is that you do spend a bit of time talking about the science that explains what happened in the activity. Or you can simply tell them the scientific explanation. Note: You can always lead kids to the scientific answer by asking leading questions. It is perfectly fine if a child's answer isn't right - analyzing the available information and synthesizing an explanation is a skill one has to practice, and sometimes it requires knowledge they don't have yet. Once she'd made her observations, it was time for my favorite question: "Why do you think that is?" Asking this question allows kids to stop, gather all their knowledge and observations, and then try synthesizing that information into an explanation. "How far can you fling the bunny? Does it matter if you push down harder? Which travels farther, the bunny or the aluminum ball?" It didn't take her long to figure out that pushing harder on the catapult meant that things flew further, and the aluminum ball always traveled farther than the bunny. We settled on a small toy bunny and some balls we made out of aluminum foil - another example of making do with what you have! I sat back and watched as she tried out her homemade launcher and occasionally tossed out prompts. She started by looking around for things to fling. Within ten minutes, she had the catapult built and ready to fling things. One run-through of the video for the popsicle catapult, and she was all in: So, I chose the Build a Popsicle Stick Catapult activity.Īs you may recall from our adventures with the cotton ball launcher and the toy parachutes, my daughter has a fondness for making things fly through the air. Carving out space to set up the chain reaction would take more parenting energy than I have left. Check out the videoand you'll see why - it looks so cool! But, our floors are covered in a Lego village connected by wooden train tracks. I confess, I was sorely tempted to choose the popsicle stick chain reaction activity. My Pick of the Day: Popsicle Stick Catapult Design a Back Scratcher: got an itch right in the middle of your back? A popsicle stick contraption can solve that problem.Make Your Own Harmonica!: with a few well-placed sticks, rubber bands, and straws, you can make your very own simple musical instrument.Design a Cell Phone Stand: need something to hold your phone while you video chat or watch YouTube videos? Build the perfect stand yourself.Build a Popsicle Stick Catapult: this small-but-mighty machine can send anything from pom-poms to toys to popcorn flying.Popsicle Stick Chain Reaction: a carefully laid network of popsicle sticks results in an awesome display of kinetic energy as the sticks fly apart.So, for today's STEM fun, I started with the fact that we have popsicle sticks and went hunting through the Science Buddies library of STEM activities for fun activities to do with popsicle sticks. What do we have at my house? Popsicle sticks (aka craft sticks) - we have lots and lots of popsicle sticks, which turns out to be great because they're quite handy for all sorts building and science projects. But that approach is not an option right now, so I'm getting better at making do with what we have at home. I like to decide what I'm making and then go gather the things I need - even if that involves a trip to the store. Are you the kind of person who starts with the end product and then figures out the list of things you need to make that happen, or are you the kind of person who looks around at what you have and then uses that to inform the end product? The last two months have taught me that when it comes to cooking, crafts, and science activities, I tend to be the former.
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