A Month of STEAM and Manipulatives

I haven't done an open the box, let's look ahead type post in a long while.  But I just have to with this theme.  It's a brand new theme to Mother Goose Time's rotation and I know it will not disappoint.  Mother Goose Time has a proven track record with me.  We've been using it for 3 years and it always exceeds my expectations.

Last year, we were a part of a homeschool charter school.  Our educational guide asked what we would be doing for science and I said "Mother Goose Time".  And that's for 1st grade!  But I knew that MGT would have life science and many other categories of science covered.  Their experiments are always spectacular and save me from searching the internet for hours.  Since we are on the topic, I have to show you one of my favorites.

Vibration Pollination.

Okay, enough looking back, let's look ahead.  It's a whole month of science!!! Here is a glimpse at the theme web.

We've got one full week of chemistry, physics, biology, and then engineering.  If we can't get this all done in August, I might just have to save it for our science lessons this coming school year.  I am sorry friends and family, I will be hoarding this box for myself.  :)


I got out the manipulatives that come with this months theme and let their imaginations run wild.  I did give a little guidance, like when Peter started taking the beakers to the bathroom, I asked that he take them to the hose and rocks instead. 

 He filled each one with a small amount of water.

Then he ran inside to get a spoon and tap the sides for them to make music.  This would be of course the only down side of them not being traditional glass beakers - they make no sound.  But on the flip side, if they were traditional glass beakers I would most likely not let him play with them at all.

Next he started pouring.  He poured all of them into the largest beaker and then poured some more from there.

The cool thing about these "play" beakers is that they actually have ml measurements on the side. The biggest one being 1000ml and the smallest is 50ml.  These are the measurements actual scientist use.  So it's pretty awesome to be introducing young ones.  These things can really grow with my kids too.  I could see us doing math with these down the road.  Two 50ml should fill the 100ml. 

The second set of manipulatives is this months "shape" manipulative.  They are big plastic nuts and bolts that come in a variety of shapes.

 I gave them to Adam to explore first. 

 At first he just stuck one bolt inside the other.  Then I showed him how the nut can be twisted off.

 Sometimes he would flick it to spin it. 

 Other times he would use his whole hand to turn it. 

 But since I had my camera out, he had to stop to give me a "smile".

Grant decided to put both the blue and red triangle nut on the triangle bolt.  I thought that was pretty clever.

 Peter and Cody stacked the bolts and nuts to make "ice cream cones".

 Next he made and offered me lollipops. 

 The red was cherry and the blue was blueberry. 

All in all it's shaping up to be an awesome month.  These manipulatives will be played with A LOT.  I can't wait to jump into the sciences.

Oh, I forgot to mention the acronym STEAM.  There has been an update from STEM which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  Now it is Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.  Now you know!