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

Painting with Marbles

14/3/2019

0 Comments

 
Painting with Marbles is an art activity for your kids that is super simple to set-up and do - again and again! So it can get a little messy...but the end result - a colourful and abstract piece of art - is totally worth it! 

It's also a fun indoor play idea that combines art with movement, for kids who like to be active! This activity even encourage kids to apply basic creative skills as part of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) concepts into their play - what's not to love about it?!

To learn more about STEAM, go to Fun Marble Runs.


WHAT WE USE:
  • Marbles 
  • Paint in various colours
  • Muffin tin or egg tray - pour various coloured paints into the sections
  • Cake baking dish or cardboard box with a sheet of Paper 
  • Paper (cut to baking dish size)
  • Spoon

LET'S CREATE!
Drop a marble into each section of the muffin tray. Using a spoon, coat the marble with paint and then transfer it to the paper in the shallow dish. Lift the dish and tilt it from side to side so that the paint covered marbles roll around and leave trails of paint, creating interesting and colourful patterns on the paper.

CONNECT & INSPIRE...
Depending on how much the kids are enjoying the marble painting process, more marbles can be added and can be rolled around the paper to blend colours, creating new colours and designs. Or, you can replace the painted paper with a fresh one and create multiple marble paintings for framing, along side each other. A little messy play is sometimes worth all the effort!


I would love for you to share your experiences in the comments section below and any photos you might have taken of your kids cool creations!

For some more creative STEAM activities, go to Amazing Mazes and Sensory Play with Light.
0 Comments

Amazing Mazes!

12/2/2019

0 Comments

 
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.
0 Comments

Sensory play with LIght

11/2/2019

2 Comments

 
 Let your kids play with light! Light is a fascinating subject for kids and a light box can be used to enhance sensory and STEAM skills in playful ways. To learn more about encouraging Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM) play, go to Fun Marble Runs!

We were inspired to create this Light Box from this post on The Imagination Tree - thank you so much Mama Anna for your amazing ideas!
​
WHAT WE USE:​
  • Large clear plastic storage box
  • A string of fairy Christmas lights
  • Baking paper
  • Sticky tape
  • Semi-transparent toys and things such as: marbles, magnetic tiles, water beads, wooden sensory blocks and DIY glitter jars
  • Scoops and cups

LET'S CREATE!
I put together a simple DIY light box by spreading out the Christmas lights, inside the box. The lead wire came out from the side of the box which I plugged into a power point. Before putting the lid on the box, I lined the inside with sheets of baking paper and stuck it with tape. This helped to dull the light and disperse it evenly inside the box. After putting the lid on, I turned the room lights out and turned the power point connected to the Christmas lights on. The boys then loaded the box with the semi-transparent toys that they had scavenged around for their observation. 

CONNECT & INSPIRE...
The kids had fun looking at the light through the various coloured shapes. They learned some great science, math and motor skills using all the senses such as adding, pattern making, sorting, stacking, balancing, scooping, filling and emptying. Plus, they learned how
 shadows and silhouettes work. In particular, they enjoyed playing and observing the luminous colours through the wooden sensory blocks we had borrowed from our local Toy Library. 

What sensory play do your kids engage in? 

Go to Amazing Mazes and Painting with Marbles 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