The littles’ school hosted a fun-filled-barely-realize-you-are-learning STEM (science technology engineering math) night last week! I really didn’t know what to expect, but ended up so very impressed with the night. There were ten (or so) different activities hosted in classrooms throughout the school, under supervision of teacher volunteers. When you went in you received a map of the activities, and on completion of each one you received a punch on your map. A completely filled out map gave you an entry into a raffle. The activities were to be completed as a family or individually and we did both depending on what was involved in each one.
We learned how arches make for a sturdier bridge…
The baby literally BLEW us (and the attending teachers) away with his domino diving board building skills. They proclaimed it one of the best they’d seen. This became a theme throughout the night. He is definitely our out-of-the-box, problem solver, engineering minded kid. And we thought he was just cute all these years :-)
We used money to build towers to support more money. Whit out-thought big brother with a tower twice as strong :-)
We constructed tin-foil boats…
We designed roller coasters out of tubing and marbles…
We took turns playing a sort of “telephone” game and building a lego creation…
We built towers of cardboard and then removed supports one by one to see how few we could end up using. Again, Whit had a pretty incredible design for a first grader!
There were additional activities I didn’t photograph, as well as special events going on in the computer lab, math lab and science lab! And, we enjoyed a pizza dinner to boot!
It was really a wonderful event and Honey and I both were very impressed that these kids are being exposed to things like technology and engineering at such a young age. I’m thinking we missed the mark putting Whit in chess and will be looking for something more STEM related STAT. Here’s to hoping we’ll have a couple of ramblin’ wrecks down the road one day!!
xoxo
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What a fun idea for a family night! My youngest is a more out-of-the-box thinker than his big brother as well – Ryan seems to be too much of a straight-laced “rule follower” to come up with those types of solutions. Good job, Whit!
Very impressive, Whit! You did a great job and really captured my attention. You should be very proud of yourself for learning so much and being able to share it in such interesting ways. Georgia Tech has a shining student heading its way. :-)
You should see if Challenge Island has any classes/workshops in your area.
http://challenge-island.com
My friend created it and it’s all STEAM activities. They’ve added in the A for art. I know I’m biased because she is my friend, but they really do great projects and activities.