STEAM ACTIVITY

STEAM stands for Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics

Young children are avid STEAM investigators, eager to explore and invent.They are also the earliest adopters of technology. Grabbing for cameras, smart phones and other tools as soon they are able to.

 STEAM proficient students are logical thinkers, effective communicators and are technologically, scientifically, and mathematically literate.Supporting and guiding this natural desire to explore STEAM ideas and phenomena can have lasting benefits. 

           I     IMAGINE   DESIGN    PLAN      CREATE      TEST     

         IMPROVE   and  COMMUNICATE   

In my Kindergarten I had to incorporate 'STEAM' and the theme of the month was 'Transport'.

I wanted my kindergartners to use their innovation and creative thinking skills, hence picked up a topic which was a little different. I decided to read them the story of 'The Three Billy Goats and Gruff'.' Now I am sure you will think, Where on earth it is related to transport? It has nothing to do with the theme? Well, it is! So just be patient and see how my kindergartners could think out of the box and share their ideas.

 Day 1 

 The day began with the circle time. After doing their daily routine, I read the story to my kindergartners from the big book with attractive and colorful illustrations. Children were thrilled with the story and enjoyed every bit of it. Then the challenge started and I said, ”Children let’s bring some twist in the story and make it a little challenging and innovative”. They accepted the challenge and after five minutes, I was totally taken aback at the way they started sharing their out of the box ideas one by one. The experience was very enriching, that we now had almost ten new stories and i must say all of them were simply so very unique. One of them is here.

I IMAGINE

Ananth one of my high achievers had this story to tell. He said, “The bridge is broken and the three Billy goats want to go to the other side of the river to eat fresh green grass in the meadow.”  I asked all of them, if the bridge was broken, how can the Billy goats go to the other side of the river to eat grass? 

I was amazed by the replies. One of them said, Billy goats will go by a paper boat, the other said by a leaf boat, bicycle boat, burger boat, feather boat and so on.

Now, isn't that innovation and Creative thinking?

Yes it is, I must say. Kids have much more to our expectations. They just need the proper guidance and right challenges!

Making the innovative design of boat

Day 2        I DESIGN

My kindergartners were ready to start. The blue print, of the types of water transport suggested by them for the Billy Goats to cross the river was already in their minds. We made them sit in groups and they drew their ideas for water transport and colored them beautifully. They also gave a brief description about them.

Day 3     I PLAN and CREATE

My little challengers wanted to create their planned water transport. We provided the recycle material to them, as what other better way we could find to make them understand the 3 R's - REDUCE REUSE  RECYCLE.  The children helped each other. Hence a wonderful example of team work ! To my surprise, they were able to create such amazing boats. We were astonished by the way they were engaged into their projects. It was a happy and fulfilling environment. This helped them in doing collaborative work followed by the discussion.

                       

         

ART brings colors alive & kindergartners love it!

Art activities and art education in Kindergarten and beyond are more than important. Art is an expression of human experience and kindergartners enjoy expressing themselves through art projects. Art plays an important role in the development of the fine motor skills, personal development, Creative imagination and social development of the children.

 Day 4     I TEST and ESTIMATE

It was the most exciting of all the days. Kids wanted to test and do the estimation of their beautifully designed boats, whether their boats could float and carry the weight of the three Billy goats on them?

 It was a wonderful activity indeed. We arranged for a big tub, filled in with water. Excitement was at its high! Each and every child took turns and did the experiment. All the other kids stood very patiently waiting for their turns and observing the activity!  

The children enjoyed and learnt about estimation by their own practical experience. It was great fun along with  learning.

We did not stop here!!

QR CODES

"Creativity is intelligence having fun." - Albert Einstein

As it is rightly said by Albert Einstein "You do not really understand something unless... you scan."  We made their video clips while doing all the activities from the day 1 and created QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) from them. The print out of the codes was attached to their learning journeys. I believe, Parents have all the right to know, how the  learning and development is happening n my kindergarten.

          
                     

 Day 5 

Discussion plays an important role

 It was the day of discussion. How to improve their projects? Each child had a different opinion. It sparked a wonderful discussion among them and led to creative thinking!

Hence, the objective of the lesson was wonderfully fulfilled. It was a great experience for me as well as my kindergartners.

We decorated our class display board with our STEAM activities in a systematic way as they were done. 

IMAGINATION

PLANNING 

DESIGNING & CREATING

TESTING & IMPROVING

KINDERGARTEN 2  DISPLAY BOARD

Kindergarten students love hands-on and interactive STEAM activities. Kids have a natural interest and curiosity in exploring how things work. The kids easily jump into the activities, work together, and share ideas with one another. Kindergarten students express joy in doing the activities. They find them fun!

I hope you liked this activity ! Don't forget to drop a line.