12D

Explore concepts of force and motion.

Posts

Building the Brain With Grains of Sand

“I can’t get my sandcastle to stay up," moans four-year-old Juan to his older friend Rokia. "I fill the bucket all the way to the top and I pat it down just like you did yesterday. But when I flip the bucket over, the sand just pours out! Can you help me make a sandcastle […]

Investigating Nests

"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 […]

Fort-Building Fun!

"Come and look, come and look!" screams four-year-old Maggie. She is waving frantically, summoning us over with such joy that we know it must be something special. Our gang of early learners rushes over to see Maggie's discovery. Almost in unison, as they behold her "found treasure," they come to a complete standstill—literally frozen in […]

Lessons

HEXBUG Maze Design

In this lesson, the children will observe different HEXBUGS to predict how they might move through a block maze.

Friends Across the River

In this lesson, children will work together to cross the flooding river as it grows wider and wider.

Lifting With Levers

In this lesson children will experiment with a simple lever setup to see if they can lift a heavy object off of the floor with just one finger.

If I Built a House

In this lesson, children will use a variety of open-ended materials to create engineering designs of houses and then construct and test their designs.

Easy Pipe-Cleaner Tower Challenge

In this lesson, children will take the Pipe Cleaner Tower Challenge and compete to see who can build the tallest freestanding tower with 15 pipe cleaners.

Discovering Design With a Skyscraper Challenge

In this lesson, children will learn that designing a skyscraper involves choosing the best materials and arranging them in the best way to keep the structure stable as it grows taller and taller.