Preschool STEM: Cups & Craft Stick Castles
One of the most beautiful things about preschool STEM is watching your kid's imaginations merge with their science and engineering skills! This Castle Project is the perfect opportunity for that!
Begin by looking at pictures of castles and talking about what the perfect castle would have in it. Have any of your kids seen a castle in real life? What was it like? Conversations like these help connect information and experiences in your preschoolers' brains, which helps them develop memory skills and neural pathways to process new information! Click HERE to learn more about how preschooler brains work!
Next tell your preschoolers that today we are building the tallest castle we can! Give them their building supplies: paper cups and craft sticks! Give them time to see how tall they can build a castle!
It turned out that only one of my kiddos wanted to make a super tall castle...the others had other creative ideas they wanted to explore...and I completely support that!
It turned out that only one of my kiddos wanted to make a super tall castle...the others had other creative ideas they wanted to explore...and I completely support that!
They may try to make a 1-tower castle that is very tall, or they may try to make a broader support to hold up the higher towers. Either method--or any other--is totally okay!
Resist the urge to take over or tell them how to build their castle. This is a chance for them to experiment with engineering with simple supplies!
When they finish, provider rulers and tape measures for them to measure how tall their castle is. You can also take pictures of them standing next to their castle and use relative measurements (taller than, shorter than, equal to your height). Or, you can use non-standard measurements (6 books high, 9 pencils high).
Resist the urge to take over or tell them how to build their castle. This is a chance for them to experiment with engineering with simple supplies!
When they finish, provider rulers and tape measures for them to measure how tall their castle is. You can also take pictures of them standing next to their castle and use relative measurements (taller than, shorter than, equal to your height). Or, you can use non-standard measurements (6 books high, 9 pencils high).
You can also see if their castles will hold up any weight, but your preschoolers may get frustrated if you put a book on the castle and the castle crumples. ;)
Older kids can also join in the fun...their designs are usually a little different than preschoolers, but it still works great! In fact, our baby thought it was pretty a pretty awesome project...
How is this activity STEM? It requires your preschoolers to use science skills (like observing, hypothesizing, experimenting, and analyzing), it lets them experiment with science concepts (like force, gravity, and balance), it allows them to use technology/tools (by placing the craft stick strategically to get a higher, stronger castle), it requires them to engineer/design something (the castle), and uses math skills (like measuring the height of their castles).
Do you love preschool STEM? Do you want to learn more about it? This June I am featuring a Preschool STEM series that includes a fantastic introduction to preschool STEM and nine STEM activities, projects, or challenges that are appropriate for preschoolers! This is the first one--I would LOVE to have you join in and share your own experiences as we move through the next two weeks! You can find the landing page with links to all the activities HERE! You can also join my STEM Activities & Projects for Kids Facebook Group HERE for more STEM-inspired conversations!
Happy Educating,
Carla
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