Tag Archive for: stem

Sadie

LEGO at the Library!

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Do you have a kiddo who loves to build with LEGO? How would they feel about whole room full of them? Well, it just so happens that Youth Services hosts a drop in LEGO Club in the program room on level 1. Floor mats are set up around the room and all the LEGO bricks your kiddos could imagine will be brought out for them to build with. We encourage you to bring your kiddos to meet and build with other LEGO fans in the area. Hope to see you there!

Summer Schedule:

Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
June 15, July 6 and 27

Mondays from 10 a.m. – Noon
June 17, July 8 and 29

Shannon

Winter Break Week!

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Winter Break is almost upon us, which means it’s time to head to the library for tons of extra fun! Kids, Teens, and their families are invited to join us during Winter Break Week  (December 26-30) for a flurry of seasonal activities.  

When you visit the library, you’ll find scavenger hunts, craft activities, and games all week long–just stop by the Youth Services desk (Level 1) for details. While you are there, ask about our Winter Library Programs (December 26–February 29)! Sign up for our Family or Teen program to earn a prize! Click here for full info. 

Of course, we also have some special events happening throughout the week. On Tuesday, December 26, join us for a Color Bash! Together, we’ll brighten up the shortest days of the year with some color. Explore light experiments, prisms, and colorful crafts, no registration required. Details here! 

Or if you prefer icy experiments and snowy crafts, visit us on Wednesday, December 27 for the Ice Bowl! Youth Pre-k through grade 6 will enjoy a cool afternoon excavating objects from ice, testing whether salt melts ice faster than vinegar, designing a snowflake, and more. Click here for all the details. 

Teens will also have a chance to get creative during Winter Break Week. Youth in grades 7-12 are invited to join us for a cozy afternoon of macrame and hot cocoa at Knotty & Nice on Wednesday, December 27. Projects are beginner friendly, and registration is required. For information and to register, click here. 

On Thursday, December 28, kids of all ages (and their grown-ups) are invited to stop in and play Family BINGO for fun and small prizes. This event is so popular, it’s offered twice in one day! No registration is required, please click here for times and details. 

Finally, on Friday, December 29, teens in Grades 7-12 will have an opportunity to make art they can eat at Teen Cookie Decorating! Using icing and sprinkles, teens will create a cookie masterpiece in the library’s cozy kitchen. Registration is required by clicking here. 

And, of course, we always offer books, movies, video games, maker kits, and so much more, so stock-up for chilly weather and family time. Be sure to stop down – we’re always happy to see you! 

Katie H

Make Your Own Oobleck!

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Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid, a rule-breaker in the world of physics. It changes state from liquid to solid based on pressure. When force is applied, the liquid oobleck acts like a solid!

Kids can enjoy learning the science of non-Newtonian fluids, and experimenting with oobleck to discover its properties. Tap it, push it, try to pick it up, squeeze it into a ball, then let it go. Glide your fingers through it, stir it slowly, swish it around, pour it into another container. When does it act like a liquid? When is it solid?

Making and playing with oobleck requires creativity and imagination. The recipe is super simple, with just one main ingredient that you probably already have at home—cornstarch.

Oobleck Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 ½ cups of cornstarch
  • Food coloring or tempera paint (optional)

Preparation

  1. Pour the cornstarch into a mixing bowl
  2. For colorful oobleck, add a few drops of food coloring or tempera paint to your water.
  3. Add the water to the cornstarch slowly, mixing with your hands as you go. Keep adding water until the mixture feels like honey or slime and hardens when you tap on it.
Alisha

Check Out STEAM Resources on Hoopla

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If you’re looking for some fun and interactive experiments to introduce, expand, or enhance your kids’ knowledge in the areas of STEAM (or if you’re simply looking for a fun afternoon project!), check out the links below for a wide variety of STEAM-related e-books through Hoopla.  There are activity books for young children through teen to support Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. E-materials may be checked out from Hoopla with your Eau Claire library card.

Quick Links

Julia

Virtual Performances: Science Tellers

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Hey friends! I just finished watching Dragons: Return of the Ice Sorceress by the Science Tellers as part of the Summer Library Program. What a show! I’m so inspired to try out my own experiments at home now. There are so many great STEAM books in the library catalog and on Hoopla to help me get started.

 

Are you also inspired? Share your photos of your latest scientific adventures with us.

Alisha

Preschool STEM: Resources

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If you’re looking for some fun and interactive experiments to introduce, expand, or enhance your kids’ knowledge in the areas of STEAM (or if you’re simply looking for a fun afternoon project!), check out this great selection of STEAM activity e-books through Hoopla. Look for the “Learning with STEAM” categories. There are activity books for young children through teen to support Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. E-materials may be checked out from Hoopla with your Eau Claire library card.

Quick Links

Alisha

Preschool STEM: Flashlight Assembly

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Engineering is all about finding out how things are built and why. Explore the inside of a flashlight with your kids!

Flashlight Assembly: Activity & Conversation Starters

Sometimes trial and error is the best way to see what works and what doesn’t! Take time to explore the flashlight and all of its parts.

1. Take apart a flashlight and see what’s inside. How do you think this flashlight works?

2. Let’s put the flashlight back together again.

3. Explore! It is ok if the battery isn’t put in the right direction the first time. This allows the chance for problem solving!

4. Time to play! What games can you play with a flashlight? How about flashlight tag or “I Spy” in the dark? Or build a blanket fort (another engineering project!) and read a bedtime story with a flashlight in the fort.

Have fun!

Click for printable instructions (pdf)

Alisha

Preschool STEM: Block Center

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MATH is this week’s feature for our Preschool STEM virtual series. Children learn best through play and preschool math can be as easy as building a toy train. Try out this “math lesson” with your little ones!

Build & Measure Block Center: Activity & Conversation Starters

Materials

  • Ruler or tape measure
  • Building materials, such as Legos, Duplos, toy blocks, or even cereal boxes or empty pop cans!

1. Can you name the numerals on the rulers?

2. Build a tower with your building materials. How high is it?

3. Is a tower built with Lego Duplos or wood blocks more stable? How can you make it more sturdy?
This is engineering!

4. Build a long train by laying items end to end. Measure how long it is. How many pieces did you use?

Share a picture of your towers! Email us at ysstaff@eauclaire.lib.wi.us or share via Facebook. 

Click here for printable instructions! (PDF)

Alisha

Preschool STEM: Volcano

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SCIENCE is back this week for Preschool STEM. Today’s volcano experiment is an attention grabber with kids and an excellent example of chemical reactions.

Volcanos: Activity & Conversation Starters

1. Fill a small plastic cup 2/3 full with water (we’re adding math!). Place the cup in a bowl or on a cookie tray to catch the eruption.

2. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda.

3. Do you want your volcano to erupt with more foam? Add 1 teaspoon of dish soap.

4. Do you want colored lava? Add a small squirt of washable paint.

5. Stir.

6. Pour in vinegar and watch the reaction. What do you observe (see, hear, smell)?

7. Optional: Build a volcano with Legos or Duplos!

What’s Happening?

You’re watching a chemical reaction! When an acid (the vinegar) and a base (the baking soda) mix they form a gas called carbon dioxide.

Share a picture of your volcano experiment! Email us at ysstaff@eauclaire.lib.wi.us or share via Facebook. 

Click here for printable instructions! (PDF)

Alisha

Preschool STEM: Build a Fort

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ENGINEERING is this week’s focus for Preschool STEM, with a great family fun activity: fort building!

Fort Building: Activity & Conversation Starters

Engineering is all about finding out how things are built and why. Sometimes trial and error is the best way to see what works and what doesn’t!

1. Find materials to build a fort. You could try bed sheets, blankets, furniture, a tarp, or a clothesline.

2. What did you find? Are you going to build a fort inside or outside?!

3. What could be used to secure the different parts of the fort so they stay standing? I can think of clothespins, string, chip clips, rubber bands.

4. What else? Does your fort require a secret password to enter?

Share a picture of your fort creation! Send to ysstaff@eauclaire.lib.wi.us

Click here to download instructions (PDF).