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Build a Better World – Taking care of our Earth Today we read books about how we can take care of the Earth – or “be green”. Then we created a Lorax planter to remind us to : recycle, reuse and conserve.

Build a Better World Preschoolers listened to stories about construction and guessed what was being built.. K-5th listened to Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson. The Preschool-2nd then built a paper crane while the 3-5th built marble runs.

This Thursday we had the last After School Program STEAM – Magnets. We explored magnetism by making a DIY Wooly Willy, magnetic mazes and a pipe cleaner discovery bottle.

On Friday we had our last Preschool Story Time of the school year. We celebrated by reading about cupcakes, coloring cupcakes and of course eating cupcakes! Thank you Mrs. Susi for making cupcakes! They were delectable!

Today’s After School Program STEAM Campers learned about circuits. Circuits need to be circular – they need to have a complete pathway for electrons to flow through. We needed to have conductive material (we used tin foil) to go from the power source to the light and then back again so the electrons can go out and come back. A battery gave the force to make the electrons move through our circuits. When the electrons got to the Christmas light, they gave it power to make it work. Our circuits also have a switch so that it could be turned on and off – we used brass brads. This weeks circuit was a series – which means all of the parts are connected on the same pathway one after another. Next week we will try parallel circuits.

At STEM Camp #2 — 3D, we learned to use the Tinkercad program to print our initials and followed some of the tutorial on how to make a hole in a shape. Only one set of initials were printed today because it takes time.

In the next couple weeks, the items we made and some chosen from pre-made programs will be printed.

We received the 3D printer from a grant last fall – anyone can come in and use it for FREE!

This camp was a blast! We used card board, tin foil, old Christmas lights, brass brads and batteries to make circuits. This was a lot of fun!

We started with just one light but then added on and on! The Snap Circuit kit was also a lot of fun!

The older girls learned to use the Makey Makey – Inventions Kit and the Squishy Circut Kit! Then they showed us what they learned.

It was pretty cool to see how the guitar worked! These kits will be available for check out at the library soon!

We applied for and received a grant for STEM tubs that will contain all kinds of kits and STEM materials. Circuits will be just one of the theme tubs that will be available! We received the 3D printer from a grant last fall – anyone can come in and use it for FREE!

Today was our last camp experimenting with water beads. We evaluated the beads that were dehydrated and the dehydrated diaper stuffing. Then we tasted some edible beads – tapioca. They pretty much don’t have a taste but they sure are sticky.

For our last experiment, we looked at beads that were frozen at different times today. There wasn’t any discernible difference between the ones put in the freezer at 9:30 am or 12 :30 pm. The ones that were put in at 3:30 pm were frozen hard on the outside but not all the way through. These beads thawed really quickly. All the beads were damaged by freezing. They cracked and were broken.

Finally we got to take beads home as nightlights. The beads were put in water bottles with glow sticks. We tried to make it dark enough in the library to see them. They will probably look better at night.

Thurday, Feb 23, we experimented with the material inside of a diaper. It acts very similar to the water beads but the beads are much smaller.

Looking at how the beads from different solutions are dehydrating, it looks like the beads in the Coke are dissolving and getting smaller. The Coke is not evaporating like the other liquids even though it was poured off just like the others. It also is growing mold and smells “yeasty”. The beads that were in the tonic water are sticky while the beads from the salt water are crusty with salt covering the outside.

 

Then we experimented with the beads is shaving cream. This was a lot of fun! Smashing them resulted in what looked like different colors of jello in whip cream – BUT we didn’t eat it! That will be next week (eatable beads)!

Today at STEAM Camp we compared the hydration of the beads in different solutions; water, salt water, tonic water and Coke. We looked to see if our grass seed was growing – it looked like there were some tiny roots developing but it was hard to see with the green water. We will try this again with wheat seed. We worked together to sort the beads counting the different colors. The beads look really neat separated into their colors – we especially liked the different shades of blue.
Results: Large beads – water 2 inches, 2.7 oz; tonic water 1 inch, .7 oz; salt water 1/2 inch, .2 oz. Small beads (too light to weigh) – water 1 cm, tonic water 3/4 cm, salt water 1/2 cm, Coke 7/8 cm (just smaller than water).

Thursday was our first STEAM Camp here at the library. The kids walked over from the elementary school and then the fun began!

This month we are doing experiments and activities with water beads.

First we evaluated whether there were differences in size depending on when water was added to the beads and whether that water was hot or cold. And yes there definitely was difference in size in respect to time but there wasn’t a difference whether the water was cold or warm.

Next we put water bead in balloons and filled them with water. These will make exercise or stress balls when the water beads are hydrated. We discovered that 1/4 tsp. is way too many beads to add – 1/8 tsp. is optimal.

Then we put grass seed in the water with the water beads. Sadly, the grass was dyed so the water color was changed to green! This could make it difficult to see the roots grown. So we will redo this experiment with wheat seed.

Finally, we were free to experience the water beads on our own. They bounce really well, are a lot of fun to smash and are really neat to look at with a flashlight beam shining through! Some of the water beads are jumbo sized!