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Tools

As an educator, I always want to have as many tools as possible available for my students, their families, and myself. Looking for tools to help with learning engagement, fun ways to learn, or some STEAM learning ideas. This is the page to be on! 

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Here are some of my favorite tools to use for formative learning assessments:

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STEAM Activities and Websites:

When the minds of young children are being shaped by today's educational society, it is important to incorporate in STEAM education. Here are some steam activity ideas and websites!

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Science STEAM Activities:

Skittle Rainbow 

Materials:  

  • Plate that Angles Down 

  • 1 Bag of Skittles 

  • Liquid Measuring Cup 

  • Warm Water 

Instructions: 

1. Put skittles in a circle around the outside of the plate.  Try not to have two skittles of the same color touching! 
2. Pour warm water into the center of the plate until there is enough to touch the skittles. 
3. Watch the skittles create a rainbow! 

Color Changing Flowers 

Materials: 

  • White flowers 

  • Liquid food coloring 

  • Water 

  • 6 mason jars  

 

Instructions: 

  1. Fill each jar with about 6 ounces of water. 

  1. Place one color of the rainbow in each jar. 

  1. Use about a whole container of liquid dye in each. 

  1. Cut each white flower stem at an angle and place in the water. 

  1. Put your flowers in a sunny place and wait!  

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Technology STEAM Activities:

Binary Coding Bracelets 

Materials: 

  • Small beads of different colors 

  • Elastic string 

  • Binary letter chart 

Instructions: 

Decide what colors you want to use. Each bracelet will only use two colors, but you can use a third color for the elastic. 

We used pipe cleaners as our arm bands, but if you want bracelets that the child can wear over and over, use elastic string so it is easy to take on and off. 

If your child doesn’t want to wear a bracelet, these can also be made into keychains or backpack pulls. Follow the binary pattern to make your words. Tie the ends of the string together, and wear with pride! 

Salty Crystal Leaves 

Materials: 

Instructions: 

Fill your jars with water (we put 2 leaves in each jar) and fill a saucepan with that water. Boil the water on high heat. While the water is boiling, poke a hole in the center of each leaf and thread a pipe cleaner through to make a long leaf stem.  Suspend the leaves from a plastic fork placed over the mouth of the jar. Once the water boils, add enough salt to create a sheet of salt crystals across the surface of the water. Turn off the heat. Pour the water into the jars, covering the leaves. Wait three days to one week for the crystals to form. Remove the crystals from the water and dry them on a paper towel. When the crystals are dry, examine them with a magnifying glass to learn about salt, ionic bonds, and how crystals form. 

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Engineering STEAM Activities:

Robotic Hands Challenge 

Materials: 

  • Small pieces of plastic straw cut up 

  • Strings 

  • Cut out of a hand on cardboard 

  • Tape  

Instructions: 

  1. Place the small pieces of plastic straw onto the fingers of the hand with spaces in between 

  1. Thread string through each straw 

  1. Tape the string to the top piece of the straw at the tip of the finger 

  1. Pull the different strings for each finger to show your robot skills!  

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Egg Drop  

Materials: 

  • Egg 

  • Any material child wants to use to secure the egg 

 

Instructions: 

  1. Place the egg inside of something 

  1. Allow the child to create a safe box or structure for the egg 

  1. Take the egg and drop it from a high location to see if it will stay in tact 

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Art STEAM Activities:

Autmn Leaves 

Materials: 

  • Leaves 

  • Black paper 

  • White paint 

  • Colored pencils  

Instructions: 

  1. Gather leaves outside  

  1. Place paint in a tray 

  1. Dip leaves flat into paint and lay on black paper 

  1. Use multiple different leaves and place however you like on the paper 

  1. Let paint dry and then using the colored pencils make your leaves full of color 

  1. For fun leave one leaf white as a “ghost leaf” 

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Coffee Filter Paintings 

Materials: 

  • White coffee filters 

  • Water color markers 

  • Spray bottle of water 

  • Scrap paper  

  • Paper towels  

Instructions:  

  1. Fold a pain white coffee filter into fourths 

  1. Fill the coffee filter with dashes, dots, or any mark with the water color markers 

  1. Make the marks slowly the ink sinks in, you can leave white spots  

  1. Spray the coffee filters with water  

  1. Let dry 

  1. Open up and see your creation  

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Mathematic STEAM Activities:

Paperclip Math 

Materials: 

  • Paperclip  

  • Popsicle sticks 

  • Black sharpie  

  • Magnets  

Instructions:  

  1. Take popsicle sticks and write a number 1-10 on the stick 

  1. Attach a strip of magnet to each popsicle stick  

  1. Set out paper clips for the child to place them onto the popsicle stick 

  1. Make sure they place the correct amount of paper clips on each popsicle stick 

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Pumpkin Math  

Materials:  

  • Old stale pumpkin candy  

  • Play- Doh 

  • Magnetic numbers  

Instructions:  

  1. Place the materials in front of the student  

  1. Have them pick a number and whatever number they get they have to use the pumpkins and Play-Doh to stack them 

  1. The Play-Doh acts as glue to hold the pumpkins together  

  1. Let them create and learn what each number looks like  

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STEAM Websites:

Here are some websites to look into to engage children into taking part in STEAM learning experiences!

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Circuit Mess

STEM Learning

Udemy Online STEM Activities

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