Liz Lee Heinecke - STEAM Lab for Kids: 52 Creative Hands-On Projects for Exploring Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math

STEAM LAB FOR KIDS is the type of resource that no home, library, or camp should be without. Every adult who spends time around young learners knows the sound of restless footsteps, the fidgeting, hovering, and often slumped shoulders that all precede the question, What can I do? While many of us know these as the doorways to exploration and possibility, we dont all have the time or know-how to design the perfect experience. STEAM Lab for Kids improves every parent or educators chance of capitalizing on What can I do? moments with over 50 well-curated projects that can help make downtime into do time.

The place for reframing how we introduce what STEM ( s cience, t echnology, e ngineering, and m ath) looks and feels like is right at home. The value of the A in STEAM ( a rt) is to help us realize the critical relationship between creativity and each of the subjects of STEM. Passing are the days where math and science are confined to sterile labs and classrooms. These subjects are alive, theyre all around us, they express and emote, and they unfold in myriad and sometimes messy ways at the kitchen table. When STEM subjects emerge as expressions of our curious minds, the atmosphere is painted with enthusiasm and possibility. A STEAM approach encourages exploration and a new mindset about the upside of failure.

Adults take note: Supporting STEAM does not require you to be an expert. In fact, your learners may benefit even more from your willingness to learn together. Show them that learning is about taking risks, trying things, and diving back in when your first try breaks. STEAM Lab for Kids can easily become a guidebook for all to concepts and phenomena that adult learners mightve missed the first time around.

My favorite parts of this book are the math projects in unit 5. The irony is that Im one of those parents who could easily identify to their kids as not a math person, but the real story is that Im still learning and becoming the math person that traditional classroom approaches to math never afforded me.

One of the projects in the technology unit of the book originates from my learning design team at Mouse, where we are constantly testing experiences that close the gap between Americas students and the leading edge of technology and engineering. We work to help a new generation to know STEM as a set of tools that can help each of us to express our ideas and improve our world.

I hope you enjoy digging into STEAM Lab for Kids. Resources like this one help all of us play a part in the high-stakes endeavor to engage a generation in their learning. Have fun!

Marc Lesser, Senior Director of Learning Design, Mouse

STEAM LAB FOR KIDS introduces 52 art-forward projects to help kids explore the relationship of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).

While art is an emotional interpretation of what we experience, science is an analytical pursuit based on experimentation. Both are children of observation and go hand in hand with technology, math, and engineering. A group of artists called the Cubists didnt consider themselves mathematicians, but they created masterpieces of geometry by deconstructing and re-assembling familiar objects in new ways, allowing the viewer to observe a single object from many angles at the same time.

Ada Lovelace may have been inspired to see the future of computers as the result of her understanding of how looms create patterns in textiles. Louis Pasteurs love of art and experience in printmaking probably played an important role in his breakthrough ideas about mirror-image molecules, and Katherine G. Johnson applied mathematics to aerospace engineering to create a trajectory that carried the first humans safely to the moon.

While STEM education emphasizes critical thinking through problem solving using math and science as a basis for engineering and technology projects, STEAM Lab for Kids brings art into the equationfront and center.

Hands-on creative projects such as paper marbling help kids explore the concept of density. Colorful stained glass made from crushed hard candy teaches kids about melting temperatures. Cut up fruit is a hands-on way to learn about fractions and understand how the Ancient Greeks came up with the concept of the atom. STEAM Lab for Kids makes it easy for kids to explore technology by making simple robots, sewable circuits, and graphite drawings that carry enough current to light an LED.

This art-forward approach to STEM welcomes every kind of learner. Each project is designed to illuminate the concepts behind the fun in an engaging way that encourages young minds to pursue what interests them most. The labs can be done individually, in a classroom, or with friends and family. So put on some music, get out the paintbrushes, and charge full STEAM ahead into creative learning.

THIS BOOK PROVIDES 52 art-forward science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) projects perfect for countertops, desks, grass, and sidewalks.

Each lab contains an easy-to-understand explanation of The STEAM Behind the Fun to introduce vocabulary and other ideas related to the topic you're exploring. The labs are set up to make exploring STEAM as simple as following a recipe, with sections detailing the following:

Materials: lists all the ingredients you'll need to conduct each project

Safety Tips and Hints: provide common sense safety guidelines and hints for making things go smoothly

Protocol: (a scientific word for instructions) takes you step by step through the lab basics

Creative Enrichment: gives you variations or ideas for taking the project a step or two further, ideally inspiring curiosity, invention, and problem-solving

The STEAM Behind the Fun: offers simple explanations and cross-disciplinary related topics

Whether youre exploring art or biology, experiences and ideas are made memorable by immersion. Kids should be encouraged to get their hands into a project, creating a physical connection. The processes of experimentation and invention are as important as the results, and its essential to allow kids the freedom to dive in without fear of failure. Measuring, scooping, stirring, making mistakes, and troubleshooting should be part of every STEAM experience.

Many of these labs utilize items you probably have on hand, but the technology labs may require some advance planning. All of the supplies can be ordered online and most are relatively inexpensive. Duct tape, kitchen twine, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, rubber bands, paper, markers, paint, and glue will all come in handy. Tech projects may require small toy motors, alligator clip test leads, AA battery holders, battery snaps, and LEDs, so we've included a resources section in the back of the book to help you find what you need.