Spring is here! We are enjoying the great outdoors with lot of unstructured play time. It has been quite a while since the kids engineered something. What do preschoolers have to do with engineering? Well, to them, it is just a fancy word for play - to design and build, to explore and understand how structures around them are built in real life. So, I set out a couple of easy STEM challenges to kindle their interest in engineering.
These provocations helped them explore many design challenges, think critically and solve problems.
Here is a short photo journal of the challenges presented to them and how they worked on them.
Challenge 1: Build houses for the three little pigs
The materials used for this challenge are simple. I used cut drinking straws, popsicle sticks, lego blocks and play dough. I later added some air dry clay since play dough was not strong enough to support their straw structures.
The objective of this challenge is also very simple and open ended. Build houses for the little pigs. It may be straw or stick or brick house. It may be 2D or 3D.
Nidhi started to build a tall structure and realized that play dough is not strong enough to build a strong stable structure. So she asked for air dry clay and also changed her design.
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| Nidhi's straw house with air dry clay |
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| Hey Mom! Look it is a mirror for the pig!
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Sid started to build his straw house with a different approach. He glued the clay balls at the vertices rather than inserting multiple straws in same clay ball. Midway, he placed two pigs on either side of the structure and exclaimed, "Mom! I built this mirror for the pig!".
This is Nidhi's straw house complete with a door!
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| Do playdough work as glue? |
Sid tried building a stick house with craft sticks and play dough. He realized play dough didn't act as glue and then changed his design to a 2D house.
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| Building a stick house |
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| Building a brick house |
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| This little piggy sat on a wall! |
Challenge 2: Build a bridge.
Materials used for this are wooden blocks, magna tiles, popsicle sticks and HABA Wigglefants.
The objective is to build a bridge with given materials and balance as many HABA elephants as you could on the bridge.
Here are few pics of their built structures and balancing elephants. I regret missing pictures of some of their best designs.
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| Bridge built with popsicle stick |
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| Bridges with blocks |
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| Tiered bridge with Magna tiles |
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| Building bridge with a ruler |
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| Complex bridge with foam blocks and a measuring ruler |
These challenges were engaging their minds just the right amount and most of all they had fun.
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