![]() You can simply read the explanation together. Science Buddies STEM activities always give you the expected results and the explanation behind them, so you don't need any prior knowledge. (Your strategy might be a combination of these approaches based on how your kids react to not knowing and maybe to being wrong, where they are in their science education, and even how much time you have.) What is important is that you do spend a bit of time talking about the science that explains what happened in the activity. Or you can simply tell them the scientific explanation. Note: You can always lead kids to the scientific answer by asking leading questions. It is perfectly fine if a child's answer isn't right - analyzing the available information and synthesizing an explanation is a skill one has to practice, and sometimes it requires knowledge they don't have yet. Once she'd made her observations, it was time for my favorite question: "Why do you think that is?" Asking this question allows kids to stop, gather all their knowledge and observations, and then try synthesizing that information into an explanation. "How far can you fling the bunny? Does it matter if you push down harder? Which travels farther, the bunny or the aluminum ball?" It didn't take her long to figure out that pushing harder on the catapult meant that things flew further, and the aluminum ball always traveled farther than the bunny. We settled on a small toy bunny and some balls we made out of aluminum foil - another example of making do with what you have! I sat back and watched as she tried out her homemade launcher and occasionally tossed out prompts. She started by looking around for things to fling. ![]() Within ten minutes, she had the catapult built and ready to fling things. One run-through of the video for the popsicle catapult, and she was all in: So, I chose the Build a Popsicle Stick Catapult activity.Īs you may recall from our adventures with the cotton ball launcher and the toy parachutes, my daughter has a fondness for making things fly through the air. Carving out space to set up the chain reaction would take more parenting energy than I have left. Check out the videoand you'll see why - it looks so cool! But, our floors are covered in a Lego village connected by wooden train tracks. I confess, I was sorely tempted to choose the popsicle stick chain reaction activity. My Pick of the Day: Popsicle Stick Catapult
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