Building blocks are excellent for helping toddlers and preschoolers develop engineering skills as kids learn to manipulate the blocks to build towers and as kids get older games like Jenga help reinforce these skills.
Video games and board games are also helpful in actively engaging kids in STEM activities. Think about it. While playing video games kids are using problem solving skills to navigate throughout the game and multi-tasking with the controllers.
Several preschool cartoons help little ones develop STEM skills. Nick Jr. has a full schedule of programs such as Blaze and the Monster Machines, Wallykazam and Doc McStuffins. Super Why airs on PBS and it actively engages kids and helps develop reading skills.
There are some really good books to help get kids excited about STEM. Ellie, Engineer is one of our faves and recently, we checked out The Acadia Files: Book Two, Autumn Science by Katie Coppens.
Both books are perfect for young readers and help kids with their problem solving skills. Ellie is all about building and making stuff.
Ellie is an engineer. With a tool belt strapped over her favorite skirt (who says you can't wear a dress and have two kinds of screwdrivers handy, just in case?), she invents and builds amazing creations in her backyard workshop.
Explore science through adventure! The Acadia Files: Book Two, Autumn Science (9/2018; Hardcover $13.95; ISBN: 978-0884486046; Grades 4-7; 88 pages) presents five stories of fall, each one followed by Acadia’s science notebook pages with her simple explanations and lively, whimsical drawings of natural phenomena. The Acadia Files is a fun introduction to the wonders of science, using real-world scenarios to make scientific inquiry relatable and understandable. Parents and educators can use The Acadia Files to let kids discover for themselves what it’s like to be curious about the world and to satisfy that curiosity with scientific thinking.
Acadia Greene wants answers. What happened to the frogs she used to see at her favorite local pond? Why do leaves change color in the fall, and why don’t evergreen needles do the same? What is the water cycle, and what is transpiration? How do time zones work, and why does the sun set at different times in different places within a single zone? How do germs infect us? Acadia doesn’t mean to do science, but she has questions and her parents refuse to simply give her the answers. “Conduct an experiment,” they tell her. “Use the scientific method.” So Acadia makes hypotheses, designs experiments, analyzes data, and draws conclusions. Acadia does science.
The author, Katie Coppens writes a recurring column for NSTA's middle school magazine Science Scope on science and literacy called "The Integrated Classroom.”
The Acadia Files has some fun experiments you and the kids can try at home plus it reinforces the scientific method.
We get a little creative in our ways to sneak in some extra learning in our home. What about you?
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