SummerSTEMActivitiesA Resource Guidefor Parents of Students in Grades K-5

Fun Ways to Keep the Summer Brain in Gear & Promote STEM-Based Learning

Summer is upon us. While the school doors may be closed for a few months, that doesn’t mean that learning has to stop.

More and more educators and parents are realizing the impact that the summer months can have on academic achievement. Over 100 years of research con!rm that children experience learning loss when they are not actively engaged in academic activities over the summer. Speci!cally, students can lose up to 3 months of progress during one summer and that gap increases year over year. Stud-ies indicate that two-thirds of the 9th grade achievement gap is attributed to unequal summer learning opportunities in elemen-tary school. Additionally, children who are not involved in positive learning experiences during the summer months are more likely to make poor social choices, demonstrate poor attendance, and have lower graduation rates in high school.

Summer is a great time for parents to discover what their children struggle with and what they enjoy academically. Parents who !nd ways to reinforce skills in out-of-school time demonstrate that learning is not con!ned to

the classroom and give their children a signif-icant academic advantage. STEM-based learn-ing activities can provide a fun and easy way for parents to promote reading, science, math-ematics, and hands-on creativity when school is out of session.

STEM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Young children are quite capable of engaging in all of these content areas. When they have a variety of opportunities to do so, they also develop essential problem-solving and crit-ical-thinking skills. Studies show that young children who have a strong foundation in making things - tinkering, building, creating, and experimenting - are better able to make cognitive connections between content and skills in the upper grades.

This activity guide is designed to provide par-ents with some fun ways to keep the summer brain stimulated and learning, nurture the natural curiosity of children in grades K-5, and promote opportunities for them to ask ques-tions, look for answers, and design solutions to real-world problems.

Introduction

The Bene!ts of Reading Together 1

Science 3

Technology 5

Engineering 7

Mathematics 9

5 Tips for Parents 11

Pulling It All Together 12

The bene!ts of reading to and with children cannot be overemphasized. In fact, educators, researchers, and pediatricians agree that read-ing aloud is the single most important activity that parents can do to help children develop literacy and language skills.

Parents who read aloud to and with their chil-dren create a rich and powerful experience with language that sets the foundation for future academic success. Seeing, hearing, and discussing a book is one of the most e"ective ways children can build the neural connec-tions in their brains that control language. Rou-tinely reading to and with your child promotes a longer attention span, a larger vocabulary, and better listening skills. But sharing a book

does more than build knowledge and skills. It combines a variety of elements to spark a posi-tive attitude so vital for learning and academic success down the road.

Building your child’s personal library can pay dividends. Because you know your child better than anyone else, choose books that build on his or her interests and meaningful experi-ences. By incorporating reading together into your routine at home and giving your child access to a variety of books, he or she will begin to connect reading with positive emo-tions and well-being. In addition, a child who has his or her own collection of books is likely to engage in more independent reading for pleasure.

The Hands-On Science Fun series is a great collection to help you share some fun and easy science experiments with children ages 3-8. The safe, simple instructions lead you through the steps to make bubbles, build a !zzy rocket, make a bouncing egg and more.

The Science Exploration Book Set will engage children ages 3 and up with everyday science topics.

The Bene!ts of Reading Together 1

The Science Solves It® set gives children ages 5-9 an opportunity to observe, investigate, predict, experiment, and draw conclusions about life, earth, space, and other exciting science topics. The sto-ries and illustrations combine science and mystery and are perfect for independent reading as well as read aloud experiences.

If bugs fascinate your child, tap into his or her curiosity about but-ter#ies, ants, bees, grasshoppers, and other living things with the Backyard Books series. The colorful illustrations and clear text teach children ages 4-8 how creatures hatch, develop, and live in their environment.

Children ages 4-8 will enjoy learning about how fossils, rocks, and minerals are found in the earth as well as why volcanoes erupt and how mountains form with the Rocks, Minerals & Fossils book set.

Summer often brings some wild weather with it. Turn weather events into teachable moments with the What Will the Weather Be? book set. Perfect for children ages 5-10, each book covers a spe-ci!c weather topic including temperature, humidity, tornadoes, the wind, and more.

While we’ve recommended some great titles for you to explore, this is just a starting point. Check out your local library for summer learning activities and events. Many libraries have free or low-cost activities. Consider spending a few hours at the library once in a while to give your child the time and freedom needed to explore a wide variety of books. The more a child reads, the better he/she reads. The better a child reads, the better he/she will perform in other learning experiences.

Don’t forget the library!

The Bene!ts of Reading Together 2

The skills and processes of inquiry and investi-gation are essential to all of the sciences. Chil-dren who have opportunities to explore the sciences begin to understand how systems, natural forces, and living things work and grow. The study of science in the elementary grades is divided into earth and space science (the earth, ocean, atmosphere, and universe), physical science (natural forces and basic ele-ments), and life science (the study of living things and ecosystems).

It’s important to expose children to a variety of scienti!c processes and principles, and that

can begin with a look around. Science a"ects all of us every day. The weather report on the television, the #owers you see, and the toys that #oat in the pool are all examples of real-world science. Having conversations with your child about these common examples demys-tify science and make learning relevant. There are many simple activities that you can enjoy together to foster young children’s natural curiosity about the world around them, build prior knowledge, and make later classroom science learning more meaningful.

Try it!On a sunny day, explore sunlight and shadows. Use sidewalk chalk to outline the shadows you observe, and then return a few hours later to observe the changes. Talk about what happened and how the earth’s rotation causes night and day.

A small pool creates the perfect “outdoor laboratory” to conduct a simple “sink or #oat” activity. Explore the concept of buoyancy with a variety of objects that the child can place in the water. Let the child make predictions about which will sink or #oat and then test them to !nd out if they are right. Discuss why some #oat and others sink. Extend the learn-ing experience even further by designing a boat that will support weight but not sink. Encourage your child to get creative and use common household items (e.g., such as alumi-num foil, popsicle sticks, drinking straws, corks, etc.) to construct the boat. Test the strength of the boat by placing it in water and adding weight.

Science 3

Go on a nature walk and investigate the di"erences between living things and nonliv-ing things. Have a conversation about what things need to live and survive. Plant a herb garden, #owers, or vegetables and talk about the process of planting the seeds so the roots will grow down and the plant will grow up. Continue the discussion about plant life as you water them and watch them grow.

If you don’t have a great outdoor space for planting, consider the Sensory Dome. This kit includes soil, two kinds of gravel, stone, color stakes, color stick-ers, and planting mixture to help you create a minia-ture garden with over 10 plant varieties from around the world. The easy-to-grow kit starts sprouting in less than a week and can grow for years with mini-mal care.

For a more in-depth explanation of buoyancy and water displacement, check out The Discovery Channel video “Let’s Talk Buoy-ancy” at http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/lets-talk-buoyancy.htm

Science 4

Technology activities include computers, tab-lets, and smart phones, but this aspect of STEM also refers to the relationship among science, technology, society, and the individual. This means giving children the opportunity to !nd out how things are constructed, how things work, and how they can work better.

Children should understand that people design and make objects and systems to solve a problem or make life easier. Technology includes a variety of things that we use every-

day beyond computers, such as our water and heat systems, bridges, tunnels, airplanes, and many toys. Exploring things with gears, pul-leys, wheels, blocks, ramps, and other simple machines can be a great way to foster a deeper understanding of the di"erent forms of tech-nology and help children apply that under-standing to other areas of science, engineer-ing, and math.

Try it!Have a conversation about all of the things that are automated. For example, many vending machines use automation to select the item you want and drop it into a box where you can retrieve it. Encourage your child to design his or her own robot using common household items, such as card-board boxes, aluminum foil, paper towel tubes, yarn, buttons, etc. This promotes basic skills such as cutting, gluing, alignment, creativity, and analytical thinking. Ask your child to describe the functions the robot might perform. If this is a special interest for your child, extend the learning experience with the Snap Circuits® RC Rover. All of the colorful gears and parts snap together with ease, and once completed, your child can drive the rover with a remote control.

Technology 5

Make a string phone to explore the principles of sound waves. A few paper cups, kite string, and a few paper clips will give kids an opportunity to investigate the way in which sound waves travel through solids, such as the cup and string. Poke a small hole in the bottom of a paper cup, feed the string through the hole, and tie it to a paper clip to secure it. Stretch the string taut, make sure it isn’t touching anything else, and whisper into the cup. Can your child hear you? Talk about how you create sound waves when you speak. They are converted into vibrations which travel along the string and then converted back into sound waves at the other end of the string. The book How Cell Phones Work by Nadia Higgins explains sound waves, radio waves, and other key science ideas behind the technology of cell phones.

Give children various opportunities to iden-tify simple machines in the world around them. Inclined planes, wheels, levers, and pulleys are all part of children’s lives in #agpoles, doorknobs, window blinds, and more. The Hanz™ Genius Kit is a way to extend constructing and building experi-ences for your child.

Technology 6

Children naturally develop engineering con-cepts as they design, build, and test things they create. From sand castles to block cities, they engage in engineering through play, but they may not realize that is what they are doing. We see examples of engineering designed to post questions, look for answers, and develop solutions every day. For example, when civil engineers design bridges, they must consider the purpose of the bridge, the strength nec-essary to support the weight of the load, and the anchors for the bridge. Other factors like

balance, motion, and force also impact the design.

Parents can make children aware of engineer-ing processes and designs within the context of everyday life. Talk about the purpose of the bridge you see, call attention to the house under construction, or ask them what they know about solar energy. Your child is a nat-ural engineer. With a little guidance, you can tap into that.

Try it!Set up a simple solar energy experiment to demon-strate how some people heat their homes. Get two glass jars and cover one with black paper. Fill both with water and place on a windowsill or table in the direct sunlight. Ask your child which jar he thinks will heat up faster. Ask him how you might test his theory. Place a thermometer in each jar and leave the jars undisturbed. After a short time, encourage him to check the temperature of the water in each jar. Talk about some of the other ways we use energy from the sun, such as drying our clothes, growing food, heating pools, and lighting solutions. You can extend learning experiences with solar energy with the Solar Science Kit for children ages 8 and up.

Engineering 7

Experiment with a variety of common household items to create towers and bridges. Don’t limit your child’s imagination, but let her look for safe and unbreakable materials that she can use to build structures. Present the challenge such as “create a bridge from the porch to the driveway” or “build a tower that measures at least 4 feet tall.”

If your child is a natural “builder,” foster that creativ-ity with activities that require !ne motor skills. More advanced children will gain an early understanding of physics and engineering with the KEVA Contraptions Plank Set. Through the construction of tracks, funnels, ramps, and chutes without glue or connectors, they have opportunities for experimentation and problem solving with balance and structural stability.

Have a conversation about how things work and the role that engineers play in creating things that make our lives easier. A great book to enjoy together is Engi-neering the ABCs: How Engineers Shape Our World.

If you !nd that your child really enjoys building models and designing things, consider the ZOOB® Challenge Kit. Kids can create their own simple models in minutes or spend hours constructing the challenges provided in the kit.

Engineering 8

Mathematics relates to the ideas and concepts of quantity and spatial relationships. Math is all about counting, classifying, matching, measuring, comparing, and patterning. STEM-based learning experiences use a variety of strategies in the problem-solving process, and build strong brain connections through music, organization, and predicting. Sorting, classify-ing, and ordering are great ways to help chil-dren develop logic and set the foundation for strong math skills. In addition, math can easily be incorporated into play and creative art proj-ects.

Learning math doesn’t have to mean boring drill sheets or workbooks. Parents who look for opportunities to share real-world math with their children facilitate their ability to grasp and verbalize mathematical concepts. When you think about all of the daily activities that require math, you’ll realize how easy it is to share those experiences with your child. The more children practice math in a relaxed way, the more con!dence they’ll have with apply-ing mathematical concepts down the road.

Try it!One of the easiest ways to incorporate math into your child’s daily routine is to make him or her your sous chef. Cooking involves a variety of skills, such as reading the recipe, measur-ing ingredients, fractions, conversions, nutrition, etc. Get creative with that time together and become “food engineers.” Create your own recipe for something simple like granola bars, fruit popsicles, or healthy snacks. Take it one step further and create a cookbook together. With a basic spiral-bound notebook and a camera, you can self-publish your fami-ly’s culinary creations.

Mathematics 9

The grocery store is also a great place to reinforce concepts of money. Young children can practice identifying dollars and cents. Older children can practice rounding, estimating, and computing. Challenge your child to estimate the total bill as you put items in the cart. Round to the nearest dollar and keep a running count. Make it a game and see how close he/she can come to the actual total. Another real-world example of math at the grocery store is to determine the best value for two similar products. For example, ask your child which can of beans is the best value - an 8 oz. can for $1.19 or a 12 oz. can for $1.39. Explain that the lowest price isn’t always the best price.

Summer schedules are usually hectic schedules. Take advantage of this to reinforce con-cepts of time. For example, if you have to be at the soccer !eld for practice at 4:00 and it is 2:30 now, ask your child how much time you have left. Make the car ride a challenge for more advanced children. If you have to drive 20 miles and the average rate of speed is 40 miles per hour, how long will it take to arrive at your destination?

Family game night is another great way to reinforce math skills in a fun way. Games that involve counting dots on dice and moving that many spaces forward are great for young children.

Buy It Right Money Game is a great game to reinforce money recognition and making correct change through interactive play. Players can price items, buy and sell them, and learn about the value of money.

Tri-FACTa™ Operations Games (Addition and Subtraction and Multiplication and Division) can help children build essen-tial math #uency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Designed for 2-4 players, this is a great game to enjoy while also reinforcing basic facts.

Mathematics 10

1. Ask open-ended questions – lots of them! What do you think will happen? Why do you think that happened? How do you think we could !nd out? What did you notice? You don’t have to have all of the answers to the questions to create mem-orable STEM-based learning experiences. The focus is on the questioning, experi-menting, and exploring rather than the answers. When you ask the questions – even those that you may not be able to answer – you’re exploring right along with your child and modeling the process of discovery.

2. Promote the process of investigation and experimentation to learn more. Provide opportunities to pursue a topic of inter-est online, at the library, or at museums. If your child shows an interest in rocks, make sure that there are a variety of ways for him or her to dig deeper and learn more.

3. Model your own curiosity for your chil-dren. Share things that you wonder about or want to learn more about. Reinforce the idea that wonder and curiosity are the basic elements of learning. When you model your interest in learning for plea-sure, your child will embrace their learn-ing experiences rather than fear the risk of being “wrong.”

4. Look for opportunities to talk about sci-ence, technology, engineering, and math-ematics in everyday activities. I wonder why that happened! How do you think that was built? Can you imagine an inven-tion that would do that? Simple conversa-tions can encourage children to use their imaginations and promote the kinds of innovative thinking essential to 21st cen-tury skills.

5. Don’t panic! You are your child’s !rst and most important teacher. You don’t need a teaching degree to help your child observe and make sense of the world around him or her. It’s all about being aware, asking good questions, encouraging exploration, and enjoying it together.

5 Tips for Parents to Promote STEM-Based Learning 11

Pulling It All Together

The STEM activities in this guide are designed to give you direction and to demonstrate that learning is not con!ned to the classroom. While the activities are categorized by sub-ject area, the key is to make learning fun and promote conversations with your child using real-world examples of science, technology, engineering, and math concepts. Unlike a typ-ical school day that is segmented by di"erent classes, the reality is STEM-based learning inte-grates problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity in real-world applications. Research indicates that meaningful project-based learn-ing experiences can increase children’s inter-est in STEM-based careers when they focus on the real world.

Don’t get hung up on the “right answers,” rather focus on the process and enjoy the activities together. Real-world problems are often complex with no clear-cut solution. Through exploratory experiences, children can make connections between the problem and the process. Understanding what doesn’t work and why is as important as !nding the solution. The primary goal of integrated STEM experiences is to provide students with oppor-tunities to construct new knowledge through the hands-on process of design.

You are your child’s most important teacher, and simple activities such as these can provide a valuable foundation for their school experi-ence.

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K-2 Next Generation Science Standards Alignment:

K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observa-tions, and gather information about a situa-tion people want to change to de!ne a simple problem that can be solved through the devel-opment of a new or improved object or tool.

K-2-ETS1-2: Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

K-2-ETS1-3: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

3-5 Next Generation Science Standards Alignment:

3-5-ETS1-1: De!ne a simple design problem re#ecting a need or a want that includes spec-i!ed criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and con-straints of the problem.

3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.