summer STEAM activities

It's always nice to keep up some learning over the summer to avoid that summer brain drain - and extra learning in the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art & math) areas is especially welcome, in order to promote problem solving, creativity, and analytical thinking. Important skills for life beyond school! Also welcome in this particular summer are extra activity ideas in general, when many in-person camps and other activities have been cancelled. So here are a few ideas for elementary school kids that are both fun activities and STEAM learning opportunities - AND that also are very doable in the age of physical distancing!

Make a self-portrait from nature: for a great chance to incorporate the "art" portion of STEAM and to explore the colors and textures in nature, plus get a little physical activity, take a walk in the woods or a park, or even your back yard, to collect some natural materials that could mimic the textures and colors of a person's face. Then back at home, get out a big sheet of paper and some glue, and create a self-portrait with what you collected!  

Take an online course from Snapology: this company offers many virtual STEAM enrichment class options for "socialization through online play"- lots of the classes involve Legos, which Hendrik is of course super into, in order to explore engineering and science and such. The limited class size allows for real interaction among the instructor and participants, and I love having a way to get some peer interaction this summer, when we haven't been getting together with other kids. In the photo, Hendrik is doing an "all about airplanes" camp in which he learned about airplanes and flight with hands-on Lego activities. The instructor was really good at engaging with the kids, and it got Hendrik so jazzed about building on this theme that he even kept tinkering for a while after the call ended. Bonus that it is only $10 for the hour-long class! (And good to note: as we get into the school year, with some of us considering keeping our kids home, or being forced to by changing shut-down situations, I noticed that they also offer customizable classes for homeschool pods, as well as options for virtual play dates or birthday parties. May have to look into that for Hendrik's birthday in October...)

Help scientists study birds: download the eBird app from the Cornell Ornithology Lab and go out in your back yard or neighborhood to do some bird watching. When you spot birds and record them on your eBird checklist, you'll actually be helping conduct real scientific research, getting information to ornithologists and conservationists about about where birds are living and migrating, and how many of them are in a particular area at a given time. You can also check out the Merlin app for identifying the birds that you see - super useful, and fun for kids to use too.

Try no-recipe baking: I love this idea from Kelsey, to let your kids just have at ingredients in the kitchen, mixing together their own proportions of ingredients and picking the baking temperature, and seeing what happens. You can learn plenty about chemical reactions discussing how baking soda makes things rise, eggs make things bind, and so on, and it's a totally out-of-the-box way to let kids explore scientific analysis and creativity in this way. Check out Kelsey's post for lots more info!

Listen to some kid-geared podcasts: aaaand sometimes we all just need a break, especially this summer. Kids need to veg out a bit if they get overheated, parents need to have some alone time that is not hiding in the bathroom - but you can make it science and fun! Our favorite science-y podcasts for kids are Brains On!, Tumble, and But Why. (Bonus: if you want to try the no-recipe baking, there's a series from Brains On! about the science of cooking that they could listen to first, to learn about elements of cooking like heat, etc.)

Thanks to Snapology for offering us a free one-hour class enrollment for Hendrik to try out; all opinions are my own.