Understand that living things rely on the environment and/or others to live and grow.
When people hear the word engineering, they usually picture middle schoolers building robots or teens deep into coding projects. It’s easy to imagine big science labs or intense STEM competitions. But honestly, engineering starts much earlier than that. It actually begins in the small everyday moments of play. When we see Marion sitting on the floor with […]
"I found an empty nest! Can we keep it?" Owen's joyful discovery captures everyone's attention. Three-year-old Daniela comes running. "Are there eggs?" she asks her older and wiser five-year-old friend. "Can I see it?” "No eggs, just an old nest," Owen tells Daniela before looking up at me imploringly. "Can we please keep it?" He handles the […]
“What are you doing?” asks four-year-old Declan, who has been watching me with growing curiosity as I measure out a distance of eight feet in our outdoor play space and mark the distance with two rocks from our rain garden. “Well, you know how we have been watching that Eagle-Cam?” I answer. “I did some […]
”If the squirrel comes down from the tree this way, we can trap him under here!" exclaims six-year-old Elliott. The playground equipment sits empty as Elliott, Harper, and their fellow "squirrel trappers" gather at the base of a towering oak tree in our neighborhood park. The children have long been captivated by this venerable old […]
“Would it be okay if I took this sunflower apart?" asks Mia, pointing to a vase of week-old cut flowers. "It's kind of droopy anyway." “Sure," I respond, remembering that Mia is our "Concoction Queen" with a penchant for creating potions packed with flower petals. "Are you going to make another one of your magic […]
In this lesson, children will work together to cross the flooding river as it grows wider and wider.
In this lesson, young children will learn about STEM concepts such as velocity, speed and wind as they blow on dandelion puffs to disperse the seeds.
In this lesson, children will use their engineering skills with loose parts to create nests to hold their eggs.