Think and Rethink {Upbring Schools}

Teaching Children How to Collaborate, Communicate, Plan, Problem-solve, and Create

This fall many families are navigating changes in childcare, school attendance, or homeschool connections, but even in these radically different times, children are still growing and learning. Local nonprofit and a leader in early-childhood education, Upbring Schools has put together some resources for families in this season. These fun activities focus on learning, so you have additional resources to support the children in your life as they learn more about the world each day, growing up as they go.

Are you searching for ways to spark joyfulness in learning for your child? Try an interactive STEAM activity with your family. STEAM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Why STEAM? STEAM sparks curiosity. The goal of STEAM is to create inquisitive and empowered explorers who seek to learn new things and rethink existing concepts throughout their life. Young people learn how to collaborate, communicate, plan, solve problems, and create.  

“Having a research base as your mindset for learning new things is a lens you can use for the rest of your life,” explains Brenda Burdick, Director of Christian School Expansion and Operations with 35 years’ experience in education.“Formulating questions, testing hypotheses, and exploring the world are all parts of the STEAM learning process.” Schools around the world use this learning model, including Upbring preschools. The following STEAM activities fit a variety of ages. Many can be completed with siblings of multiple age groups or a family activity. 

Themed Activities: 

Bats  

• Build a bat cave with blocks. 
• Use a bat template to have preschoolers color their own bats and hang them from the ceiling to show how bats hang together in their caves. 
• Sing the following song to the tune “Frere Jacque.” 
  Bats are sleeping 
  Bats are sleeping 
  Upside down, upside down 
  Sleeping in the daytime 
  Waiting for the nighttime 
  Fly around, fly around 

• Learn about how bats identify using their sense of smell by adding various child safe scents to cotton balls for children to sniff. 
• Read “Stellaluna” by Janell Cannon, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat” by Lucille Colandro or “Bats on Parade” by Kathi Appelt. More advanced readers can check out their own books on bats or research online. If these are books, then they should all be italicized.  If poems, then quotation marks.

Trees 

• Start by asking children a question. What do you think trees are used for? What do you like about trees? 
• Dive into a tree book, like Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert or Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel. More advanced readers can check out their own books on trees or research online. 
• Collect leaves. Use a magnifying glass to study the leaves and bark. Count the leaves, and then sort them by shape and color. Complete your activity by making a wreath together by gluing leaves to a cut out cardboard ring. Or you can trace the leaves on paper. 
• How wide is the tree? Measure the tree trunk with a tape measure or with family members. How many people does it take to surround a tree?
• Explain that the rings of a tree indicate how old they are. 

Food as Energy 

• Tell students they must use the materials to create something, such as a bucket or tray, to carry the small plastic fruits and vegetables from one side of the room to the other. 
• Play “Farmer Says” with the children using different farm animal motions. For example, “Farmer says hop like a bunny!” “Farmer says waddle like a duck!” “Farmer says strut like a turkey!” 
• Plant a variety of seeds and compare how they grow. 
• Wash fruits and vegetables together before eating. 
• Which vegetables grow above ground, and which grow underground? 
• Use thumbprint finger painting to make different fruits and vegetables. 

Singular Activities: 

Homemade Play Dough  

• Measure and mix food coloring, cornstarch, and baking soda.  
• Combine 2 cups of salt with 2/3 cup of water and bring to a boil. 
• Mix the cornstarch with 2/3 cup of cold water and stir until smooth. 
• Combine the two mixtures.  What about the baking soda????
• Sculpt, dry and then paint. 

100 Toothpicks Engineering Challenge 

• What is the tallest free-standing tower you can build with 100 toothpicks and two cups of mini marshmallows? 

Learn fractions outside 

• Draw rectangles outside with chalk and split into smaller boxes to illustrate the concept of fractions. 

Make Glitter Slime  

• Combine 6 oz. glitter glue, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 1/4 tablespoon contact lens solution. 
• Knead the slime.  
• That’s it! Now you have fun slime to squish. 

Use art to explore math and math to create art. 

• Visit this PBS resource to explore connections between math and art. 

100–Cup Engineering Challenge 

• Build a 100–cup structure out of plastic cups. 

Find STEAM role models and mentors to expand your child’s vision of what’s possible in their own lives.  

• Share role models through biographies, documentaries, and fictional TV or movies that feature STEAM role models like Marie Curie, Grace Hopper, Nikola Tesla, Vincent Van Gogh or Katherine Johnson.  
• Talk with neighbors, friends, community members, family – anyone who works in the STEAM fields, and ask them questions about A) what they do and B) how they got there. 

A Sense of Wonder 
“STEAM helps children learn to organize their thoughts and projects into logical answers for real-world problems,” says Leigh Savacool. Leigh has been a teacher for over 18 years and has been with Upbring School of Arts & Sciences since its ordination. She loves teaching early childhood because she knows that is where the big questions and the wonder of learning begins. “The sense of wonder is a key element of STEAM,” Leigh insists. “Why is the sky blue? All of the simple and really big life questions can be tied back to STEAM.”

Contact:
upbring.org
(512) 459-1000

Read more about Upbring Schools.