Category Archives: Full STEAM Ahead

Newspaper Engineering

Newspaper Engineering

NOTE:  You don’t have to get the daily newspaper to do this mini spark.  Ask your neighbors, ask your teacher and/or EY Coordinator and have fun!

Challenge # 1:  Build the tallest freestanding tower with only 2 sheets of newspaper and 12 inches of tape. No wedging or taping to the table or floor! You can manipulate the newspaper in any way you wish.

Challenge #2: Using 10 sheets of newspaper and 18 inches of tape, build a tower that holds a textbook 6 inches above the table for at least 3 seconds. The tower must be free-standing, which means no taping or holding to the table.

Challenge #3:  Use 3 large sheets of newspaper and 24 inches of tape to make a piece of clothing that you can wear.

When you’re finished with your projects, take a picture and email it to your EY Coordinator.

FOOTBALL STEAM

It’s Fall Y’All and when I think of Fall, I think of FOOTBALL!

For this STEAM mini spark, you will need to…
  1. Build football goal posts out of materials you have around your house.
  2. Fold a paper football (instructions linked below)
  3. Design an experiment, create a competition, or come up with your own original idea to use what you built.  Your project should include collecting some sort of data and analyzing it.
  4. Share your project with your EY Coordinator.

Paper Folding Football Instructions:  https://www.instructables.com/How-To-Make-A-Paper-Football/

Football Image Source: https://openclipart.org/detail/102853/football

Flower Power

Spring is in the air! Learn all about the blooming power of flowers and then do a hands-on activity creating a blooming flower and card to give to someone special.

Step 1: Watch this Mystery Science video about how flowers bloom.

Step 2: Gather needed materials to complete the activity.

  • Crayons
  • Scissors
  • Dot Stickers or Tape
  • Plastic Paper Plate or Bowl

Step 3: In this activity, you will make a colorful paper flower and a greeting card that they can give to any special person in their life. When placed in water, the paper flower will unfold, appearing to move and bloom in front of your eyes! You may want to use this as a Mother’s Day activity, but you choose who will receive the card, so it can be for anyone special.

Click on the image below to print template and view step-by-step instructions.

Once your flowers are complete, place them in water to watch them bloom!

Extension: You can see for yourself how water moves inside a plant. Fill a glass with water and add a few drops of red or blue food coloring. Place a white flower in the glass. Wait a few hours and watch to see what happens. Look closely at the flower petals. What do you notice? Repeat this experiment, but use a stalk of celery or a lettuce leaf. What do you predict will happen?

Ice Ice Baby!

Alright Stop! Collaborate and visit…

These 3 “cool” websites with some awesome ice inventions!

For this STEAM Mini Spark, check out the 3 websites listed below.  Each one has a video and some information to read.

For each website/video, write down:

3 new things you learned
2 things you wonder
1 question you have
  1. Building Frozen Castles with the Master of Ice
  2. The 3-million-year old Ningwu ice cave never thaws
  3. Ice Drumming on Lake Baikal

 

Mystery Bag Design Challenge

Looking for a really fun STEM challenge that you can do at home? This mystery bag STEM design challenge is a blast!

Step One: Gather Materials
  • One bag (you can use gift bags, lunch bags, grocery bags, or even large baggies.)
  • Scissors
  • Tape (scotch tape or masking tape)
  • Various kinds of recyclables (cardboard tubes, cardboard, newspaper, aluminum foil)
  • A variety of other materials (paper plates, plastic cups, string, yarn, pipe cleaners)
  • Mystery Bag Challenge Cards (print and cut these if you can)

Step Two: Fill Your Bag (Tip: it’s more challenging if a sibling or parent fills your bag)

Place about 8-12 items into the bag. You’ll want to be sure the items are varied. Each bag should contain at least one larger item that can serve as a base for the design, and then an assortment of smaller items.

Step Three: Print out the free mystery bag challenge cards. Cut them apart.

Step Four: Draw a challenge card. You could put the cards in a container to draw from or place face down on a table.

Step Five: Complete the challenge on the card using only the materials in your bag.

Bonus: Earn a  badge. If you complete FIVE mystery bag design challenges, you can earn the Mystery Design Challenge Badge. Go for it!!

Here is video I made at my old school where I challenged my students to create an innovative dog toy. Just ignore anytime I say, “Hey Bobcats”

 

 

SNOW + ENGINEERING = FUN

For this challenge, create your best snow person/people, forts, and/or other snow creations!

Learn about the engineering behind snow building by watching the videos below.

Send a picture of your project to your teacher asking them to forward it to your email. Make a pic collage showing what you learned. 

Unicorn Study!

We will celebrate National Unicorn Day on April 9th. Check out these  fun unicorn topics to stretch your knowledge about this mythical beast to get ready!

Free Vector | Silhouette of a unicorn on a hologram gradient background

Fact Page-kiddle.com

https://kids.kiddle.co/Unicorn

Create your own unicorn fact page

Article-Siberian Unicorn Fossils

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/prehistoric-animals/siberian-unicorn-fossil-discovery-humans/

Make a trivia game about these creatures

Video-Unicorns of the Sea

Take detailed notes while watching this video

Book-How to Catch a Unicorn

Make a list of the traps they tried in the book.

Make a drawing of your own plan for a unicorn trap.

History-Find out about the History of Unicorns

National Unicorn Day – April 9

Make a web  diagram with information from the article.

Three blank web graphic organizers to use for any subject! | Graphic organizers, Bubble chart, Charts for kids

In the news-The Unicorn Puppy

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/general-animals/narwhal-the-unicorn-puppy/

Summarize this article in 3 sentences

STEAM-Design a unicorn

Include a description about where it live, what it looks like, what it eats, and its powers.

Include a picture of your unicorn in its habitat

Make a pic collage about your unicorn and its features.