Emerson Exchange 365

I believe children to be natural scientists; they are inquisitive, energetic, and are naturally drawn to experimentation and observation. However, on average, less than 10% of instructional time is spent on teaching science in the early grades. This is why I believe parents must take the reins in inspiring the thrill of discovery.

When my wife and I were raising our daughters Kristina and Larissa, now both in their late twenties, we gave them a craft supplies box with a plethora of crayons, pencils, and paint brushes. I went one step further and equipped them with the occasional screwdriver and wrench. My wife, Gabriele, taught them to paint, draw and explore with their imaginations. While we wanted to keep them safe and out of harm’s way, I also wanted to give them the opportunity to explore and know that everything was within arm’s reach if they asked. Which is why I eventually gave them old appliances to take apart and put back together. We didn’t realize the effect of this type of parenting until the questions began. I remember my daughters' voices quite clearly, "Dad, why do these things stick to this thing?” and "Mom, why do the colors change when I do this?" In short, what we stumbled upon as parents is that we were teaching them how to be active learners.

Over the next 10 years of their life their thirst for knowledge grew. We ended up teaching them everything we knew about science, biology, mathematics, reading, writing, machines, electricity, radio, woodworking, metals and they loved it. My wife also continued to teach them how to cook, sew, knit, design, paint, draw, and sculpt. We thought it was important to incporate the sciences and the arts for a well-rounded education. Today, this is often referred to as STEAM.

As the holiday season approaches, you’ll likely have plenty of time to fill with the kids who are home from school. What a perfect opportunity to inspire the thrill of learning with some hands-on projects. Here are three holiday-themed projects that are guaranteed to solve the common “I’m bored...” conundrum.

Build a Gingerbread House

Age Range: 4+ (with adult supervision)
Time: About 2 hours with a kit or an all-day event, if making from scratch
Skills: Physics, Basic Chemistry

Tools:

Gingerbread kit or (Recipe) 
Decorations (gum drops, sprinkles, etc.)
Large work surfaces (easy to clean)
Aprons (this can get messy)

If you’re less of a chemist and more of an engineer or architect, try building a gingerbread house from a pre-made kit. Here is a wonderful source on how to engineer the perfect gingerbread house. If you're more adventurous, you can make the materials from scratch. From experience, I can tell you it requires quite a bit of time to prepare the dough and make the patterns. Here is one of my favorite recipes.

Ask your kids questions like:
• Why do houses look the way they do? (four sides and a peaked roof)
• Could you build a real house in the same way as a gingerbread house? Why not, what would the issues be?
• Would an architect ever build a scale model of a house before building the real one? Why and what purpose would it serve?

Make Paper Snowflakes

Age Range: 4+ (with adult supervision)
Time Frame: 30 minutes
Skills: Geometry, Chemical structures

This was one of the first art projects our girls did at school during the holiday and we continued the tradition at home. Snowflakes are fun and easy to make once you master the skill of folding the paper. We used heavy white, gold, or silver paper squares, no more than 4” a side. This keeps them small enough to be used as ornaments. Traditional snowflakes can be cut from flat square sheets of paper that are folded three times through a center line. Cut a design that still allows for the pattern to remain intact when unfolded. Your first attempts are usually a surprise. Follow this link for instructions on how to make a 6 Pointed Snowflake. Once they’ve mastered the 2D snowflakes, offer a more challenging version of the activity with 3D snowflakes. 

Ask your kids questions like:

• Why do snowflakes have six points or sides?
• What are real snowflakes made of?
• Is it possible to have two or more identical snowflakes or are they all different?

Grow “Ice” Crystals

Age Range: 4+ (with adult supervision)
Time frame: One to two days for the crystals to start forming
Skills: Basic Chemistry

Tools:

Stove top
2 cups water
6 cups white sugar
Extra ¼ cup sugar
Straws, skewers, or string (for growing the crystals)

This was a favorite for our kids. As they sat and waited for the crystals to form, I explained to them that if you looked closely at powdered sugar with a magnifying glass you could see that sugar was a crystal. If you mixed sugar into water, it would dissolve and if you heated the water more sugar could be dissolved into the same amount of water. The point where sugar no longer dissolves in boiled water is when it becomes a supersaturated solution. And at this magical point, you can grow your own sugar crystals! For more, check out these instructions for growing "ice" crystals.

Ask your kids questions like:

• Where does the sugar go when it’s in the water? 
• What makes something soluble?
• What is a saturated solution? 
• Why are your sugar crystals you grow so big and the ones in the sugar bag so small?

Our girls are now older and both are starting their careers in STEAM. Kristina is a teacher of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. She runs the "Make Space" at her school and helps encourage learning outside of regular school hours. Larissa is pursuing nursing where she educates elderly patients and provides care for them. There are many more things you can do to teach your kids to be active learners, but it ultimately starts with you to inspire them to explore outside of the classroom curriculum. 

Did you perform any of these activities or have favorite activities of your own? Please share your experiences in the comments below.