STEM Tale - The Three Little Pigs Fairy Tale Activity

Fairy Tale STEM Activity for The Three Little Pigs

UPDATED POST! Please find the updated post for this activity here on STEM Activities for Kids! 

 

The wolf needs a new house. Why? He isn't as bad as the pigs think. He doesn't really want to eat them after all but is just suffering from a bad case of seasonal allergies. No, really. 

Materials Needed for this STEM Fairy Tale Activity

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• cardboard boxes, recyclables, tape 
• weights (pennies, wooden blocks, etc.)
• cereal box to make the testing station
• a fan to mimic the wolf's sneeze at the testing station (one that can be tilted to blow straight up is desirable for this challenge)

Watch the video (or continue reading):

Before Getting Started with the STEM Tale

STEM tales work best if you read the original fairy tale first or do your own storytelling. What is the same or different about this story? 

You will also need to build a testing station. Cut a small rectangle out of both the front and back of a box. You will then attach this to the fan as the testing station. Scroll down to see the finished testing station in action.

Use either the wolf printable provided in the resource I've created (linked below) or a figurine.

Fairy Tale STEM with the Engineering Design Process 

I have designed STEM tales so that as students read the story, they will follow the engineering design process. The new house for wolf needs to be large enough for him to get in and out of, and it must withstand the force of his allergic sneeze.

Designing a House

After brainstorming house design ideas, the students will then choose one to create. They will need to take measurements to make sure that the wolf will fit in the house and that the house will also fit on the testing station. Then they need to test out the house to make sure it doesn't blow away. Depending on the materials used, this is easier said than done!

Test and then modify as needed!

The design above now works! There are many possible house designs for this challenge. Here are some samples:

Note that they don't have to be fancy to work, but they do need to meet the design constraints.

Problem Solve with STEM!

STEM tales are a great way to foster teamwork and problem-solving. They are also the perfect way to model a growth mindset. It is rare for an engineering design to work perfectly on the first attempt, so students will likely experience failure at some point. In improving the designs and working together, they will work through the issues and solve the problem.

To find the full resource, which includes an 8-page booklet, check list for self-evaluation, and tips, visit this link:

Pin the idea for later:

To read more about how to conduct a STEM challenge, visit this post:

To see all posts in this series, click here:

STEM Tale - Rapunzel Engineers an Escape

Fairy Tale STEM Activity for Rapunzel

Rapunzel can escape the tower with a little help from your students!

Materials Needed for this STEM Fairy Tale Activity

• cardboard tubes
• printable character
• various recyclable materials
• other crafting supplies (craft sticks, pipe cleaners, pompoms, etc.)
  

Before Getting Started with the STEM Tale

First your students will craft a tower. This is a fun standalone activity. You don't even have to let your kids know there will be another part to the challenge after this. Use long cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls (or tape TP rolls together). Cut out a window near the top. Decorate as desired. Washi tape is always fun for this activity!

STEM tales work best if you read the original fairy tale first (or do your own storytelling!). This also leads to great discussions during the engineering process, as kids love to compare the original story with the new version.

Fairy Tale STEM with the Engineering Design Process 

I have designed STEM tales so that as students read the story, they will follow the engineering design process. First, they need to identify the problem (Rapunzel needs to escape from the tower). Then they need to think of some ways she could get down. Allow their imaginations to soar! I have had kids think of everything from a water slide to a parachute to a zip line and even a hang glider.

Design an Escape for Rapunzel 

After thinking of some ways Rapunzel can escape, the kids will then choose one they can build. They will plan out the materials and design, and then construct their escape route based on the plan.

After the prototype is built, the kids then test it out! If something didn't work right, it's time to go back and improve the design.

STEM tales are a great way to foster teamwork and problem-solving. This STEM tale usually inspires amazing creativity and excitement from the littlest engineers.

To find the full resource, which includes an 8-page booklet, printable characters, check list for self-evaluation, and tips, visit this link:

Pin the idea for later:

To read more about how to conduct a STEM challenge, visit this post:

To see all posts in this series, click here:

A nice, quiet week

The nice thing about school vacation weeks is that a lot of our homeschooling classes are on break too. These weeks are so important for us as introverts to recharge our batteries and reconnect with each other. It's also just nice to be HOME! So what did we do? Well on Sunday, we did something unusual for us. We went to Monster Jam. Of course the kids were underwhelmed, but it was better than some other "new experiences" we have tried. They always enjoy watching a YouTube video or two about Monster Jam but it was very showy and gimmicky...and not nearly enough time seeing the trucks. When we did see the trucks, it seemed like most of them broke down before doing much of anything. D'oh!

There was a lot of imaginative play going on, generally involving the beloved Angry Birds. I know they aren't as popular now as a few years ago, but you'd never know that if you were in my house! Both my 7 and 9 yos play with these little figures (and we have an obscene number of them), but the characters all have their own habits, likes and dislikes, and true personalities. It's great, and just this morning big brother tricked little brother into playing Equate by using the Angry Birds as the players. Haha, go math nerds! In addition to playing Equate and actually cracking open a math book once (highly unusual over here, even though both my kids love math), we played with Montessori square beads and Playstix to work on multiplication facts.

We also did some directed drawing on YouTube (Minecraft inspired, top left) and digital learning (bottom left)! I am so excited to start creating more digital interactive learning resources. I HATE making copies, printing, wasting paper, and so on, and although I worry a bit about too much screen time, it's just too nice to use digital learning resources. Plus, the screen time doesn't bother me as much if it's just text on a screen or not continuously changing/flashing/blinking sights and sounds of video games.

Yay February vacation week for homeschoolers! I know this is a regional thing but it's been a pretty good week around here for reconnecting.

Wordless Wednesday: Colored Pencils Dominate This Week!

Apple page from Jenny K, who was featured here on the Minds-in-Bloom blog.

Lego Sandbox

Tuggy the tugboat had a good life as a sandbox when my oldest, now almost 8, was a toddler. We also used it as a baby pool! It's been sitting in the yard for years now, mostly because I've been too lazy to do anything about it. I needed an easy day at home after yesterday (details of that to follow) so we went outside and hosed off Tuggy and the boys helped me get it up to the deck and clean it up. We then brought it inside and they emptied out all of their Legos inside. The Legos had been sorted by color, but they wanted to mix them up, so we'll leave the Legos in Tuggy for a few days until I get motivated to list it on Freecycle.

So far they have been playing in it for over an hour, so that's good enough for me!

What happened yesterday? Mr. Big-Emotions-Six-Year-Old slammed the French door, then kicked a pane, and what a pain it was to clean up all that glass!

There was glass at least 10 feet from the door on both sides, and in his and my feet. Of course he did this right after I sat down to eat lunch, which did not get eaten until at least an hour later. I am proud to say I kept my cool and quietly cleaned everything up and waited to speak with him about it until after the cleaning was done and I'd eaten my lunch. Why do we even have a glass door inside the house with two energetic children? My husband thought they were old enough to be responsible around it (I had him remove the door right after we moved in and it had been in the garage until a few months ago). Sigh. What this picture doesn't show is that there were Legos all over the floor as well, which I had to pick up one by one, and then clean.

Week in review: March 29, 2014

This week marked the real transition to spring! The temperatures warmed, we had some rain, the birds were singing, and the smell of spring was definitely in the air. We wrote spring haikus to celebrate:

This is the last week my baby is 5! He will be turning 6 on Monday. I can't believe he's been my sweet boy for 6 years already. It's gone by way too quickly and I so wish I could freeze time and enjoy the ages my boys are at currently. They continue to build elaborate structures and act out stories with their toys, which has definitely improved their storytelling and conflict resolution skills. It's so neat to listen to the situations the toys find themselves in.

We went to homeschooling game day yesterday, which is always fun. I got to catch up with other homeschooling moms and the kids got to play Stratego, Sorry, Set, and Battleship with other homeschooling kids.

Tonight is the end-of-session performance at music school, where both boys participate in a homeschooling music program. It meets for 1.5 hours each week and they absolutely adore it. I am hoping F likes the ukelele we got him for his 6th birthday since they will be starting ukelele lessons next session at music.

A day in our homeschooling life (7.5 and almost 6yo)

5:30 - 6am: Wake up time. The kids used to eat right after waking, but for the past six months or so they will play for a bit before breakfast. I get up and eat right away so I can get dressed and go to the gym or for a run. When I get home from the gym, they are magically fed, and most often dressed and ready to start in on the day. I am very thankful to my husband for this; especially after many years of hard/grumpy mornings, they are now quite pleasant. I often come home and find elaborate structures built around my living room, or a story in progress (these are all pictures from the last week or two):

A domino tower.

I know. That's a lot of cars and angry birds. Mostly bought with their own money.

7:45 - 8am: I return from gym/run, and get out some kind of morning work for the kids. Once I get them started on it, I go shower and get dressed. It often looks like this:

9-10am: The kids continue to work on everything from math to handwriting, spelling, reading, or First Language Lessons. This is our only formal "school" time each day. It happens on weekends, during the summer, and on most holidays. Sometimes we do science experiments or geography. I think if they were further apart in age I would have to structure our day more, but there is a lot of overlap since they are only 21 months apart.

10 or 10:30-11:30am: After that, the kids will generally play, either imaginatively or games. Games are everything from chess and checkers, to Yahtzee, Yamslam, or Fluxx. I generally get some chores done during this time, like vacuuming/mopping, emptying the dishwasher, etc. I then make lunch (hot, every day). At 11:30 they can no longer wait a second more for lunch! If they are playing well I try to delay lunch. Of course, all this goes out the window if we are meeting up with friends or heading out to one of the many museums we frequent. We are so very fortunate to have access to a bunch of amazing museums.

12-1pm: Computer game time. This is the kids' screen time for the day. Even though it isn't always educational, this is when I get to sit down for a few minutes to eat lunch and check email. I might work a little as well.

1pm-3pm: If it's Tuesday, we're at music. If it's Thursday, the kids are at a farm program from 1-4 where they get to do fun things like milk a cow, collect eggs, make butter, and learn about the habits and habitats of local animals. Other days might be filled with a library, zoo, or museum trip, or a few hours of reading or listening to Story or the World or music, or painting. We don't follow a strict schedule but we do seem to get a lot done. I have a dedicated blog page for favorite curricula we have used. Here is a picture one of the kids took on one of their farm days 2 months ago:

3-5pm: More play time for the kids, and dinner planning for me. The kids will often help with chores in the afternoon. If it's nice outside, I will send them out for awhile while I prepare dinner. Some days my 7 year old will sign on to mathletics.com, duolingo, or do some geography quizzes on seterra.net. Other days my 5 year old will do some Reading Eggs, or they will both play a computer chess game together. The other day they played with slime for at least an hour.

5:30-6:30pm: Dinner and clean up! The kids and I usually eat around 5 or 5:30, and their dad is generally home sometime around 6. After the kids have eaten, they put away all of their toys and get their pajamas on, which they need to do by 6:30 or 6:45.

6:30-7:30pm: Stories. This is another one we stick to. My husband reads chapter books to our 7 year old and I read to my 5 year old. Right now they are reading the 4th Harry Potter book. I trade off reading with my 5 year old so that he gets some extra practice reading. We will often do I-Spy type books, and read nonfiction.

7:30 - 8pm: Kids brush teeth, get ready for bed, get songs sung to them, and go to sleep. The goal is that they are asleep at 8, though in the summer this tends to lean toward 8:30.

8-9pm: I catch up on email, work, and try to stay awake a little bit longer. We might watch Game of Thrones or House of Cards. Generally I don't last much past 9pm because my energy is really crappy. Reflecting on our day has made me realize that most of our time is about reading and play! That makes me terribly happy and grateful. I feel so lucky that my kids are curious, bright, and excited about learning, and they are often the ones pushing me to show them more, more, more. Last week after dinner my 7 year old begged me to "do more spelling" with him, and my 5 year old still just brings books over to me, and jumps up on my lap for a story. Lucky am I to have these kids who just want to learn all they can.

9-10pm: Somewhere in here I crash for the night. My husband has a whole night ahead of him since he needs a lot less sleep than I do to be a decent human being, but that is just the way it is.



Thanks to Simple Homeschool for the link up of a ton of amazing Day in the Life posts! Definitely check out these other homeschooling blogs!

"Build" is the word of the week!

Though pretty much every week here can be summed up with this word, I thought I would share some recent creations!

exploring drag

Today we started our Aeronautical Engineering unit from the Engineering is Elementary curriculum Designing Parachutes. After reviewing the storybook and completing the worksheets that correspond to the first lesson, we went outside to get some hands-on exploration of drag!

Running with a parachute.

Cycling with a bag.

Running with different bags.

 In addition to our engineering fun, we also learned about George Washington and then the boys had a grand time playing with all of the magnets! There was some serious imaginative awesomeness going on today!

just another ma(g)n(et)ic monday

 

 We love our Tegu blocks!What fun.

This is one of the sets we have.    The kids combined it with this awesome magnet set:

fairy house

It has been an insanely busy spring for us! There is so much to catch up on but I'll start with this sweet fairy house we built outside when the weather was summery one week in March. We gathered up sticks from around the yard, and one was bent, according to F, "like a rainbow!" With that, and some rocks we had painted previously, we started our fairy house. I asked what a fairy might need and got lots of responses - a bed, some food, shelter from the sun, and a doorway were just some of their ideas. I used some string to bunch some of the straight branches together. It has held up quite well!