Preschool Powol Packets

A hands-on STEM activity for kids + the Great Wall of China = AWESOME fun and learning!!  ;D The Chinese New Year celebration this year starts on Saturday, so I thought it would be fun to focus on China for this week's Geography Club. I knew I needed to include a Great Wall of China activity, and decided that letting the kids actually deal with some of the challenges of building on a mountain would be a perfect STEM activity! I lived and taught in China more than a decade ago, and I still remember being surprised that the Great Wall was actually built along the top of a mountain range! There are places where the wall is only two stories hight, but getting to it would still be a huge feat because it runs  on the tops of  mountains! I showed the kids some pictures of The Wall and we talked about some of the details of its structure and building process. The boys in our group especially loved the watch towers with weapons arsenals along it! Finally I in...

The science teacher in me still thinks that science is the most fun subject ever invented, and that the STEM approach to learning is the most exciting and effective way to discover a subject. I have also always loved to travel, and now my kids seem to have picked up the must-learn-everything-about-every-country-and-people bug too! To tie it all together, I'm bringing you a new series here at Preschool Powol Packets: Discovering Geography Around the World with STEM Projects! How will this work? On this page I will share links to STEM projects that introduce children to a new country or culture! Most of these projects include elements of s cience, t echnology, e ngineering, AND m ath. Most of the projects include a challenge to create or engineer something! The STEM approach is simply one of problem solving and integrating the STEM subjects with your study focus. Most of my projects include an artistic element and could also be considered STEAM (science, tech, engineer...