6 Easy Ways To Incorporate STEAM Activities Into Your Summer
6 Easy Ways to Incorporate Steam Activities into Your Summer
Summer can be both fun and educational. Check out these 6 Easy Ways To Incorporate STEAM into your summer fun!
Summer is the perfect time to relax without schedules or the stresses of school. But just because your kids are on a break from class doesnโt mean they have to stop learning this summer.
There are a variety of fun ways to keep your kids learning throughout the summer months. Incorporating STEM and STEAM activities into your schedule is a fun way to educate your kids by putting science, engineering and math into action.
What are STEAM Activities?
If youโve never heard of the acronyms STEAM or STEM, you may be wondering what it means. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art and math, while STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.
These are all educational concepts that are vital for young children to learn. And while these subjects can be taught through books and worksheets, they can also be applied to a variety of fun activities.
In fact, STEAM activities are some of the best learning experiences for kids. These fun projects and experiments help make learning fun by putting the concepts your kids read about in their textbooks into action. And with so many options for learning fun, you can easily incorporate a variety of STEAM concepts into your kidsโ everyday activities.
But not all STEAM activities have to be science experiments or engineering projects. There are tons of great ways to incorporate STEAM concepts into your summer fun. These six simple activities are easy ways to incorporate the concepts of STEAM into your summer fun.
Building Blocks
Using blocks to build structures, vehicles, and other designs is a fun way for your kids to practice their engineering skills this summer. Younger kids can have fun trying to build the tallest possible tower with traditional wooden blocks.
And older kids can take on a big Lego project by creating their own engineering design or simply following the instructions on the setโs package. In addition to helping your kids practice their science and engineering skills, playing with blocks is also great for letting your kids flex their creative muscles by using their artistic skills to create unique designs.
Check out these fun LEGO ideas
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Nature Activities
With the amazing weather that comes with summer, your kids are going to want to spend time outside. Make their time outdoors a learning opportunity by using outdoor play time as a time to incorporate STEAM concepts into their day.
There are so many great opportunities to learn about science in nature, from watching bugs in their natural habitat to finding different types of leaves in the yard and matching them to their trees. Your kids can even collect pieces of nature from the yard, like sticks and leaves, to create cool crafts and art projects when they come back inside.
Check out these great Nature activity ideas:
Kitchen Experiments
Get your kids cooking this summer and teach them about science and math at the same time. With all the measuring that happens as you bake and cook each day, your kids can work on their fractions every time they help out in the kitchen. And watching the reactions different ingredients have with each other is a fun way to observe science in action.
On top of being a great way to teach your kids about science and math, letting them help out in the kitchen also helps them learn valuable life skills theyโll use forever.
Related: Great gifts for the aspiring Kid Baker!
Water Play
Playing with water on a hot summer day is so much fun for kids! And it can also be a great learning experience. You could experiment with the different states of water by seeing what ice does when itโs placed on a hot sidewalk. Or experiment with inertia by seeing which water gun has the strongest force behind it when it squirts. No matter how you choose to play with water, itโs easy to make it a learning experience this summer.
Great Science Experiment ideas you will want to check out!
- The Best Electricity Science Experiments
- 20 Science Experiments that are basically magic
- 4 Fun Kitchen Science Experiments to Conduct This Summer
Gardening
Planting a garden is a great way to provide your family with fresh veggies all summer long. And it can be a great learning experience for your kids. A garden allows your little ones to watch a plantโs life cycle from seed to fruit. And theyโll learn about other science facts as they tend their garden, like the elements a plant needs to grow and the types of bugs that are beneficial and harmful to plants.
Make Slime
Thereโs no way your kids would pass up a chance to play with slime this summer. And while that sticky stuff is always a hit with kids, it can also be a great way to reinforce those STEAM concepts. Talk to your kids about the reactions that happen when you mix the ingredients together to practice some science concepts this summer.
And your kids can incorporate art into the project by allowing them to get creative with the colors they use and the decorations they add to the mix as theyโre making their slime.
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