Some of you may have heard of the acronym STEM: Science Technology, Engineering and Math. A respectable, geeky term in it’s own right, but probably a little stuffy for us over here at GeekCraft.

Recently, however, there has been a lot of talk about STEAM, which takes the stuffiness of STEM and adds an “A” for arts, injecting all sorts of coolness and excitement. In all seriousness, advocates of STEAM argue that arts provide school-aged children with a lot of skills valued in the world like design, problem solving, creativity, stick-to-it-ivness, etc., It is in that spirit of STEAM that I wanted to take this Friday round-up to focus on activities that you can do with young people in your life that promote this important intersection of art, science, engineering, and craft:

First up, just in time for those of you celebrating Easter, we’ve got egg geodes from Tinkerlabs. It’s some good chemistry (my favorite) and can lead to a nice conversation about geology. AND..and…it is colorful and fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In keeping with good chemistry and demonstrating solubility and (if you want to get fancy) molecular polarity, how about some home-made lava lamps?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get crafty with some paleontology, paper plates and paint to make dinosaurs. (Don’t read this out loud, you’ll get spit all over your screen).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Help children recognize the lovely shapes of spring and get plant literate by making nature prints with clay from The Artful Parent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ve got material science, physics, and chemistry over at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas, where they are making their own bouncy super balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do a little astronomy with a planetarium made of an oatmeal carton from Deceptively Educational.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, make some plastic! Yes, exciting, thrilling plastic (hey, when you make your own, it kind of is) out of milk and vinegar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Tinkerlab
• Hands on as we Grow
• Iheartcraftythings
• Artful Parent
• Mom to 2 posh lil divas
• Deceptively Educational
• Austin Kids