Activities to do with The Dot for International Dot Day

International Dot Day Activities

The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, has turned into more than just a read aloud about overcoming frustrations and encouraging others. It's an entire movement now! For any child who feels as if they are "not enough," this story will hit home.

Two quotes that came to mind when reading this book:

"The best way to get things done is to simply begin."  - Unknown

"Believe you can and you're halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt

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Warm up the Brain for Creativity on International Dot Day

Not only does drawing wake up fine motor skills, it allows an emotional connection and creativity to blossom. Start drawing or painting with a dot!

Move on to STEM Activities with The Dot
All budding artists need proper tools to draw and paint with. They also need an appropriate place to do it! Vashti would appreciate a desk just for art! Why not make it a "Dot Desk"?

Design and Create an Easel

Sometimes a desk won't cut it. Why not create a tabletop mini-easel?

Easels gained popularity as canvas paintings became more common. You can view your artwork more easily from a distance when it's on an easel, and it gives you a different perspective than a desk view. Easels are also great for displaying finished works of art!

Design and Create a Painting Tool

If you haven't tried these painting methods with kids, you're missing out:

• sponges
• painting with bubble wrap
• painting by rolling marbles
• finger painting
• spin art

There are SO MANY fun ways to paint! Have your students design their own unique painting device using pom poms, sponges, rollers, cardboard, etc.

Read The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds

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Download this Resource

I created this resource to use with The Dot book on International Dot Day. 

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Bird Beak STEM - Animal Adaptations STEM Adventure

STEM Activities for Elementary Students to explore Bird Beaks and Pollination

STEM That is Easy to Implement

This is the fifth installment of the "Pick the Path STEMventure" series. This story is about a budding ornithologist, Beth, as she visits a nature sanctuary and learns about various birds. Students decide how they want the story to progress; in completing the story students will complete 3-4 challenges. The story not only guides them through the engineering design process, it includes design constraints and areas for them to fill in their thoughts, plans, and testing data.

If you are studying animal adaptations, pollination, or even ecosystems, these are some engaging hands-on activities that your students will enjoy exploring!

Pollination STEM Challenge 

Pollination is a concept that can be difficult for kids to understand. In this challenge, they will transfer "pollen" (which can be chalk dust, flour, etc.) from one flower to another.

A bonus in the resource I created is a page all about pollination. Students learn the basics and can color in the flower diagram to get a better idea of how plant reproduction takes place.

Another Bird Themed STEM Challenge - Eating

Do you know how hummingbirds eat? They don't use their long beak like a straw, but use their tongues to lap up nectar much like a dog does. In this challenge, kids will have to try to grab the food at the bottom of a tube. They will be glad this isn't a requirement for their own meals because it's harder than it looks! The food can be anything that can be picked up, but I use pompoms. In addition to grabbing the item (such as with chopsticks), students can "hook" onto the food. If you are learning about magnets, you could absolutely work this in. Have the magnet be the food, and students will need to use an item in their "tongue" that is attracted to magnets in order to pick up the food.

My favorite challenge in this story explores wading birds and different types of beaks. Can you pick up the food but allow the water to drain out? Can you stab the food?

There are other types of bird beaks to explore as well, and this is a great time to talk about the food chain, the environment, and being a good Earth citizen. What would happen if a bird's food supply goes away? Would they be able to adapt? Would their beak work well to eat another kind of food? These are big questions but I find most kids are ready to tackle them.

Find this STEM Resource on Teachers pay Teachers

If you would like to use the story and printables I've created, you can find them on Teachers pay Teachers at this link, Bird Beak STEM:

or save these ideas for later by pinning this on Pinterest:

Garden Planter STEM Challenge for Spring

STEM Challenge for Spring: Garden Planter Box

A math-intensive STEM challenge that can be useful when planning out a school or home garden.

Practical Skills with STEM

Why try this challenge? In addition to creating something that is useful, students will be honing their spacial reasoning and mathematics skills while designing and creating their garden box. It may even inspire your students to create a full sized garden bed where they can plant their favorite flowers, plants, or vegetables.

Gather Materials for Garden Planter STEM

First, gather all materials needed for the challenge:

You can use items like card stock, paper, and tape, or have students use building bricks or blocks. If you want to have them make a scale model, set a scale for them that make sense based on the materials you have. You can even procure seed packets or find directions online for the appropriate spacing of their seedlings and how many they can fit in their box.

Go Deeper with Math in this STEM Challenge

Have your students explore using a fixed set of materials. Is there an optimal configuration to support the number of seedlings and garden planter box size? Are there configurations that would make more sense in real life? A square is the most efficient area you can get with a fixed perimeter, but would that make it difficult to rid the garden box of weeds or harvest vegetables? These are all considerations your students can think about.

What skills do students work on? In addition to following the Engineering Design Process to complete this challenge, they will see that math is important and helpful outside the classroom, as well as work together with patience and perseverance.

Add more rigor into this activity with the STEM challenge resource (or get the pack of Spring STEM challenges) on Teachers pay Teachers:

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St. Patrick's Day STEM with a Leprechaun

Fun STEM Activities for Elementary Students on St. Patrick's Day

STEM That is Easy to Implement

This is the fourth installment of the "Pick the Path STEMventure" series. I wrote a short story about a leprechaun called Larry for St. Patrick's Day. No, we are not trapping the leprechaun! That has been done enough. In the story, Larry the leprechaun gets the opportunity to earn gold coins on St. Patrick's day by successfully completing various STEM challenges. Students choose how they want the story to progress; in completing the story students will complete 3-4 challenges. The story not only guides them through the engineering design process, it includes design constraints and areas for them to fill in their thoughts, plans, and testing data.

A Few of the Challenges Included 

Up first, is a rainbow challenge. If you are studying light, this is a great time to do this challenge. In addition to the stories requiring students to design and test structures, they will be exposed to various science and technology concepts, such as dimensional constraints, malware, and the color spectrum.

Another St. Patrick's Day STEM Challenge - Unplugged Coding

Not all kids love coding, but it is still great to expose them to simple logic problems that are the basis of coding. Creating a path is a simple way to have kids think ahead and plan out a set of directions.

This challenge has two versions, plus I included extension options in the digital download for additional challenges. The other challenges include:

• a slide
• a musical instrument
• a bank that holds gold coins
• two bonus challenges, including a gold coin flipping device!

You can do several of the challenges mentioned above (aside from the coding one) without the resource I created, though if you would like it for the story and guided design process, keep reading. Here is an example of the slide challenge:

Watch a Video Overview of St. Patrick's Day STEM

Find this STEM Resource on Teachers pay Teachers

If you would like to use the story and printables I've created, you can find them on Teachers pay Teachers at this link St. Patrick's Day STEM:

or save these ideas for later by pinning this on Pinterest:

Novels with STEM and STEAM

Novel Studies that Incorporate STEM and STEAM

I know it's not always easy to make time for STEM. That is why it's so beneficial to integrate STEM and STEAM into other subject areas you already have time allocated to. If you do read alouds with your students, why not really dive into the book and make the story come alive with STEM challenges?

Why Reading and STEM?

Maybe you aren't sold on STEM and STEAM education or you want to just stick with the novel studies you have done in the past. Maybe you want to try STEM but don't know where to start. So, where should you start? Start with a novel you love that integrates with STEM. In addition to needing strong literacy skills to succeed in STEM fields, you will also be able to reach kids who may not be all that interested in reading or books.

Stories Come Alive with STEM

Some of the lucky ones have a fabulous imagination and can picture anything in their heads. Others are a completely blank slate up in the old noggin' until they can touch it, feel it, experience it first hand. If you have any tactile learners, they will benefit enormously from hands-on STEM challenges where they can observe a physical manifestation of part of the story.

Teamwork and Growth Mindset with a Story

If you are reading a story where the character experiences a trying situation or there is room for improvement in some way, why not "choose your own adventure" by altering the story with a STEM challenge. Have the students brainstorm a way the character could have approached the problem differently in order to come out with a better solution, or how they might approach the problem differently in the future. How might the character benefit from a new perspective your students offer?

Some Novel STEM Ideas to Get You Started for 2nd - 5th Grade

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - create a wardrobe with a working latch

Charlotte's Web - create a spider web out of string

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle - design and create an upside-down house

The One and Only Ivan - design and create a domain for Ivan

Flora & Ulysses - design and create a comic strip or a stop motion animation film about Incandesto!

The BFG - design and create a suitcase

I have also created more in depth Novel STEM studies which I would love for you to explore. Blog posts about them can be found by clicking on the images below (The Wild Robot, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Hatchet, and Holes):

Do you have a favorite read aloud you keep coming back to? Let me know at meredith@momgineer.com and I will see what STEM challenges I can come up with for it!

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