STEM Night

Last night was Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathmatics family night at school.  They had students from NCSU working with the kids on various hands-on activities.  Compared with other family nights, it was super-crowded.  While I'm glad so many people got to participate, it was really hard to move around in the cafeteria so in an hour we were only able to do 3-4 of the activities.  Here were some of our favorites.

Catapult Kits

They passed out little baggies with popscicle sticks, a plastic spoon, rubber bands, and a cotton ball.  There were no instructions, but you were supposed to figure out how to build a catapult with it.  It would have been nice to have some instructions for kids who were really stuck and frustrated.  But Madeleine and I were able to work it out together and launch our cotton ball about 4 feet.

Foil Boats

This was Lily's favorite.  Kids make boats out of foil and see how many marbles will float before it sinks.  Lots of kids spend a lot of time making little perfect boats, but Lily learned quickly how surface area and spreading them out works better.  She was the record holder at 30 marbles when we left.

 Pattern Necklaces

3D Shapes

They had boxes you made with cubes, pyramids, etc.  Then you put beans in them to see which shapes held more.  Surprise!  All the same volume.

Below is Madeleine with her 3D animal project for school.  It's an emu.