STEM is Hopping With Easter Stations!

Time for a much needed break after testing? Need to find a way to let off some steam with STEM? This is a perfect time to add some Easter STEM stations to your day. All you need is 30 minutes set aside for building, creating, teamwork and some "HOPPY" students!

These are some of my favorite quick STEM activities! The kids love to create a way to pick up jelly beans and with a little competition it certainly is "egg"citing! Love to add a bit of candy fun for everyone...I love having the kids make peep towers, too!

Jelly Bean Picker Uppers! 

Another quick way to add a bit of area and perimeter into your lesson is to build baskets! I love watching them try to fit as many eggs in their basket so that they can walk the eggs down the bunny trail! 

Easter Egg Baskets!

In intermediate classrooms, students love to make something to protect their eggs as they build an egg drop! Perfect for integrating science concepts such as physics with laws of motion, fluid science, and properties of matter. 

Add some fun Easter Themed Science and STEM! Find both packs HERE!

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Sunshine Where Have You BEAN...Adding Jack and The Bean Stalk STEM

The sun has not come out for days...it has been cold here in Wisconsin and indoor recess is killing them! (and the teachers...) Time to pull out the fairy tale STEM packs to save the day!  Here are some quick and easy ways to add fairy tale STEM to your lessons!

Get a variety of fairy tale books that cover the theme you are trying to cover. 

For example, Jack and the Beanstalk. I use Epic Books for mine. It's a free site for teachers when you sign up.

Tie it into what you are already doing.

Using Jack and the Beanstalk can be used during a sound unit if you choose to  make a harp. We make a harp/stringed instrument using cardboard and rubber bands. We cover pitch and vibrations and volume.

I also love to use Jack and the Beanstalk with my plant unit in spring. We grow beans in our school garden and add the STEM activity of how tall of a beanstalk can you build using just masking tape and green bulletin board paper. We add leaves and jack to the vine.

You can also add activities such as building a parachute to get Jack safely to the ground. We use different types of materials to test to see which one has better air resistance. We set up a bull's eye for the parachutes to land on to see if Jack gets safely down.

Add a twist...discuss how Jack did not do the right thing by taking something that didn't belong to him.  Have them build a safe way for the giant to get down to get his harp and goose back. You can have them create the biggest giant out of a certain amount of paper and measure each of the giants and compare. This adds a little math to the equation.

If you want to save yourself time...get these activities all in one place. Find the whole pack HERE.

Bean there....done that and the kids loved it! Add a great version of Jack and the Beanstalk...a fractured fairy tale...a fun comparison and contrasting connection along with measuring how high each beanstalk is and you are set to go!

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Bean There, Done That

We tried bean and kale soup during our Garden Club Wednesday meeting. Holy moly... all but one student tried soup that had 5 types of beans, squash, celery, and kale in it. Take a look at the graph we had to extend because they loved it! Awesome!!!!! We went out to pick the rest of our kale and the kiddos took it home to share. This garden stuff really does make kids try new things! I will include the recipe for you to try yourself. Be brave, friends, veggies are good for you!

 We used this book with the little ones. It shares the process of growing a bean from seed. We sent home baggies with a bean wrapped in a paper towel and a piece of masking tape to watch them grow.

We made a graph to show what we thought of bean and kale soup. I was surprised as to how many kiddos actually liked it and even tried it. Yea! Take a look at how excited the kids are about picking kale and bringing it home! A lot of the kale didn't even make it home, they ate it right away!

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