Creative Mama
  • Insights
  • Arya's Flying Dreams
  • About

Welcome to Creative Mama, where mamas can have fun connecting creatively with their kids and find meaning in mamahood.​

SIGN UP TO ​CREATIVE MAMA

Creative STEAM Play

1/1/2020

2 Comments

 
Artist and Engineer, Leonardo Da Vinci once said, 'Learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else.' He demonstrated this by creatively combining and connecting science and art to make important discoveries.

Why does this matter? STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) focused on science concepts. Kids who learn creative methods with STEAM (including Art within the acronym) make connections between concepts, learn to inquire and problem-solve in new and exciting ways. 

Today, creative methods are acknowledged more than ever as vital for future-ready employees and as a life skill. One way I incorporate STEAM into play for my three kids is with marbles - encouraging creativity and challenging their engineering skills. 

The kids and I were inspired to create our own version of Marble Runs and Trampolines from this post on Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls - thank you so much Mama Sarah for your amazing ideas that helped to grow my kids basic understanding of physics concepts.


WHAT WE USE:
  • Building toys – wooden blocks, wooden bridge train tracks and paper towel rolls
  • Marble trampoline(s) - Cut the neck off a balloon, with scissors, and stretch it over the top of a plastic or steel cup or bowl
  • Marbles
  • Masking tape

LET'S CREATE!
Try dropping a marble on a balloon to see it bounce! Then get to work creating marble runs that include your trampolines!  Our first track was simple, and we used wooden blocks to support the wooden bridge train tracks.  We also used masking tape to attach the paper towel rolls to the blocks.

CONNECT & INSPIRE...
Not only is this a great collaborative and engineering activity, but a great way to learn physics concepts and observation skills for older kids. My sons enjoyed tackling the following challenges I gave them:
  • How high does the marble bounce if you increase the height of the track over the trampoline?
  • Will the marble bounce higher if the track is longer?
Khan Academy and Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls are a great source for discussing the high-level physics concepts applied here: There is potential energy in a marble before it is released at the top of a track. When the marble is released onto the track, it has kinetic energy. As the marble rolls down the track, it gains momentum and it continues to roll faster because of acceleration and gravity which means it's velocity increases as well. 

I would love to hear what you think in the comments section!


Go to Amazing Mazes, Painting with Marbles and Sensory Play with Light for some more creative STEAM activities.
2 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Activities
    Art
    Arya's Flying Dreams
    Books
    Boys
    Building
    Charity
    Christmas
    Colouring
    Community
    Drawing
    Dreams
    Dummy
    Emotional Intelligence
    Engineering
    Food
    Fundraising
    Ideas
    Insights
    Learning & Development
    Lego
    Light
    Mandala
    Marble Maze
    Marbles
    Math
    Mealtime
    Messy Play
    Mindfulness
    Motherhood
    Nutrition
    Pacifier
    Painting
    Patterns
    Physics
    Playdough
    Rainbow
    School
    Science
    Sensory
    STEAM
    Stories
    Toddler
    Writing

    RSS Feed

    © 2019 Creative Mama
    All photos, images and text are copyright protected. Not to be used without permission. ​
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Insights
  • Arya's Flying Dreams
  • About