STEM for Preschoolers

A few weeks ago (has it really been that long?) I talked a bit about my experience at this year's WLA conference.  Some colleagues and I were able to give a presentation at this conference all about ways to incorporate science into our library programming for preschoolers.  Oftentimes we librarians get so caught up on incorporating early literacy skills into our storytimes that we forget that there are lots of other things that preschoolers could be learning at the same time.  Our goal with this presentation was to share a few ways that we had incorporated STEM concepts (science, technology, engineering, and math) into our own programs and to prove that it really isn't as daunting of a task as you might think.

You don't need to have an impressive science background to teach basic STEM concepts to preschoolers.  At this age children really benefit from being allowed to explore the world around them, make observations and predictions, and ask questions.  In fact, STEM for small ones often looks an awful lot like play!

We can lay a good STEM foundation by working a few basic concepts into our storytimes.  In fact, many of you librarians are probably already doing this without even realizing it!  Have you ever done a storytime that was focused on colors or shapes?  What about the weather, or a certain season?  Have you ever sang a song or done a flannelboard that involved "five little somethings?"  When you do animal storytimes, do you ever talk about the animal (what it eats, where it lives, how big it is, etc.)?  Do you have puzzles or blocks available for kids to play with?  If you answered "yes" to any of these questions then you are already well on your way.

During our presentation we also mentioned a few other activities that we had tried in the hopes of expanding the audience's repertoire a bit.  The first activity, which my supervisor and I use quite often in our storytimes, is a matching game.

The idea is actually pretty simple.  First, we cut lots of like or related shapes, usually using our Ellison Die machine.  Next, we do something to distinguish different "types" of each shape.  In the first example above you can see that we had trucks of several different colors, simply reinforced by writing the appropriate color word on each truck.  In the second example we added a certain number of dots to each heart.  Usually we have four, sometimes five different types or categories for each game.  Magnets are added to the back of each shape.  When it is time for our matching game at storytime, we go around the room and hand each child a shape.  We ask parents to look at the shape with their child and talk about it.  For example, parents might talk to their children about what color truck they have, or they may count how many dots their heart has together.  After everyone has a moment to observe and discuss their shapes, we begin the matching.  We will place one shape on our magnet board and ask the group, "Who has a [shape] (truck, heart, etc.) that looks like this?"  Children who are holding a matching shape are invited to come up to our magnet board and stick their shape up with the others.  We'll count how many of that type of shape there are, make a big deal out of what makes it special (color, number, etc.), and then move on to the next "type" of shape.  This continues until everyone's shapes are on the board.  This activity is great because it incorporates lots of observation and a basic STEM concept like color or number, plus it gives the kids to get up and move around a bit.

Another fun thing to try is using a parachute:

The parachute is great because it gets kids to exercise their gross motor skills.  You can also work some basic math into your parachute use pretty easily!  If you bounce balls/wads of paper/plastic frogs on your parachute you can, of course, count the items as you add them to the mix.  You can also talk about more and less, fast and slow, up and down, and other similar broad concepts that kids need to understand before moving on to what we picture as the math and physics learned in school.

If a librarian is interested in going the extra mile in their programming, I highly recommend looking at this blog, maintained a librarian friend of mine at the Madison Public Library.  MPL is really getting into the idea of creating makerspaces at libraries, and my librarian friend has begun a related program for preschoolers called WonderWorks.  The WonderWorks program delivers a different STEM concept each week and a hands-on activity for the kids to try.

Want to know more about STEM and how to incorporate it into your library's programs?  There's plenty of good information to be found out there, but I recommend starting with this article from last month's School Library Journal.

Swag

I just returned from this year's Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) conference.  This year the conference was held in Green Bay, WI and as always is was incredible.  I sat in on a few good sessions which gave me ideas for new things to try at the library.  I actually got to work with a few other librarians to present a session about science for preschoolers (more on that later).  I had a blast meeting up with librarian friends that I haven't seen in ages.  I went to a lunch with a great presentation by an author/illustrator that I love and got him to sign a book for me.  I even attended a program called Librarians Rock, where I got to kick back, listen to a band, and watch some librarians sing in a Librarian Idol contest.  I was at the conference for less than two days and attended only a fraction of the planned events, but it was still such a great experience.

One of the fun things about a library conference like this is that there's always an exhibit hall where library vendors come to set up booths and talk to librarians about their products.  The vendors range from book sellers to architects to consultants to database gurus.  There's always a lot to looks at and plenty of people who want to try to sell you something.  Fortunately for everyone, the vendors always come up with some good ways to get you to approach their booths and get you to talk to them.  Namely, there's always lots of good swag to take with you!

This year I actually made out like a bandit when it came to all of the goodies.  Two factors made this year's swag better than usual:  1) I made it into the exhibit hall during a time when many other librarians were attending other sessions/meetings so I had most vendors' full attention, 2) I also visited on the very last day that vendors would be exhibiting, which made them desperate to unload all of their extra stuff to whoever would take them.  Take a look at all the stuff I came back with:

This year's haul includes:  Four tote bags, three galleys from a small press, one audiobook, a preliminary list of titles from the CCBC's annual Choices list, a whistle/keychain, a pizza cutter, four pens, a BrushBot (plus a kit to make four more), a Superman bookmark, a rubber bracelet, five buttons, and lots of candy.  Not pictured:  Dozens of fliers and pamphlets advertising various products and services, business cards, and a few packages of promotional bookmarks.

That's a lot of great stuff!  I was a tad stingier this year than I was last year when it came to taking the bags and pens, but some of the other items more than made up for the difference.  The audiobook alone was a huge score in terms of monetary value, given to me by an audiobook supplier who just didn't want to take all of his display items home.  I'm also hugely excited about the BrushBots (available for purchase here), which I'm sure will turn into a great program next summer.  Everything else just seems like good things to have around - especially the chocolate.

Mars Workshop

Did you know that the theme for this summer's reading program is Dream Big? The theme focuses on nighttime, and many libraries are taking this theme into outer space. And did you also know that on August 6, 2012 the Mars rover Curiosity will be landing on the red planet? (Check out this website for more cool information on that.) That's pretty awesome timing, as it corresponds with the end of most libraries' summer reading programs.

In conjunction with both of these events, I spent some time this week at a very cool workshop sponsored by NASA's Lunar and Planetary Institute called Explore: Life on Mars. The workshop was designed specifically for librarians and other leaders who work with children outside of schools. They gave us a ton of interesting information about the planet Mars as well as ideas for cool hands-on programs that we could use with children.

I have to say, this was probably one of the coolest and most useful workshops I've been able to attend. We were able to teleconferece and meet in person with scientists who work in the field of astrobiology and they all gave great presentations. I got to flex my science muscles as I learned about Mars' climate (dry, dusty, windy, and cold) and discussed exactly what defines life and how we might find it on a planet like Mars. We even got to spend some time talking about the Curiosity rover and past rover missions to Mars.

Best of all were the hands-on activities. Each activity could be replicated with a group of school-age kids and helps to contribute to the scientific discussion about life on other planets. These activities included:

-Planting cactus as a way of talking about what life needs to survive.
-Making volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar, and tracking the lava flow to simulate volcanic activity on Mars.
-Allowing water to flow through a controled mixture of sand and dirt, simulating the way that water would have once flowed and left tracks on Mars.
-Designing our own Mars rovers using craft supplies, equipped specifically to look for microbal life forms on Mars.


I'm so excited to work some of these activities into our library programs! Who knew that Mars could be so interesting?

Seeking Information on Crafts!

I just got back from a meeting sponsored by my library's system about programming for Summer Library Program. Overall, it was a great experience. We got to look at all sorts of cool crafts and got some great recommendations of books to look at for more information about these sometimes-elaborate projects.

My one complaint: Some of the books that were mentioned are no longer in print! I understand how this happens, as the two librarians running the program have been around for a long time so they naturally have some old tried and true favorites. But that doesn't really help the rest of us, who might have trouble finding the books they referenced. So now I'm on a mission to look for more current resources that might be helpful with book/paper-making projects. Anyone have any suggestions? Or know of any other super-cool crafts/craft books?

For those who haven't heard, this summer's theme is "Get Creative @ Your Library." Not a bad theme at all, as it leaves lots of room for librarians to really flex their artistic/musical/dramatic muscles. It will be interesting to see how different libraries approach this theme - after all, every library will be able to "get creative" in their own unique way!