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 is a great source to discuss the high-level physics concepts applied here. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls describe it well and I have paraphrased 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.

Here's a Lego maze that will amaze your kids! Mazes are fun and a great creative activity to encourage kids to apply basic Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) concepts into their play. To learn more about STEAM, go to Fun Marble Runs!

Mazes are also great for improving fine motor skills. They can be crafted, for example, out of a large cardboard box lid and straws or built from Lego. The boys raided their Lego box for some of the mazes pictured above.

WHAT WE USE:

• Lego flat board 
• Regular sized marbles
• Variety of Lego (1 block wide or 2 block wide) pieces – different lengths

LET'S CREATE!
Making sure that the path remains about 4 studs wide to comfortably fit a regular size marble, let your kids experiment with how they construct their selected lego pieces on to the lego flat board. Use different length legos shapes until they're happy with their completed maze. Then place the marble at the start of the maze and tip the flat board in the angle that the marble path is constructed to enable the marble to roll towards the finish line.

CONNECT & INSPIRE...
This is an opportune activity for the kids to work together and collaborate on their ideas of how to construct the maze, what blocks to use or how complex they want to make it. They can even devise how tall the walls should be in order to prevent the marble from falling out!

Go to Painting with Marbles and Sensory Play with Light for some more creative STEAM activities.