{"id":15089,"date":"2019-11-27T11:19:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T19:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/kids\/?p=15089"},"modified":"2019-11-27T11:33:29","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T19:33:29","slug":"solar-system-preschool-steam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pasadena-library.net\/kids\/2019\/solar-system-preschool-steam\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar System ~ Preschool STEAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preschool STEAM (for children ages 2-6) is all about\u00a0having fun with science, technology,\u00a0math and art!\u00a0 There is no right or wrong way for children to experiment \u2013 the fun and learning comes from the doing!\u00a0 Early childhood research shows us that little hands and minds learn best when at play.<\/p>\n

For our November 2019 STEAM adventure, we explored the Solar System! This program was inspired by a NASA@My Library grant funded by the California State Library.\u00a0 As part of this grant, Pasadena Public Library was awarded a NASA STEM Facilitation Kit which contained curriculum for teaching about sun-earth-moon connections.\u00a0 Although the kit was created with school age children in mind, we were able to adapt the information for preschoolers.\u00a0 Here’s what we did.<\/p>\n

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To give the children a visual and tactile experience, we created a model of the solar system with Styrofoam balls and acrylic paints.<\/p>\n

Interns from the famous ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena did a beautiful job painting\/designing our Styrofoam planets!\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0A special thanks to them for their artistry.<\/em><\/p>\n

The model “planets” were mounted onto Styrofoam platforms with wooden dowels, then\u00a0placed on the ground in linear order beginning with the sun.\u00a0 We also labeled each planet.\u00a0 Although it would have been more accurate to place the planets in a circular configuration to represent them orbiting the sun, we were limited by space constraints.<\/p>\n

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Our first activity was\u00a0Jump to Jupiter<\/em>!<\/p>\n

First, children created space suits from brown paper sacks, cellophane and painter’s tape.<\/p>\n

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After they donned their space suits it was time for take off!\u00a0 Off they went following in the footsteps of astronauts.<\/p>\n

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Children could gauge the “conceptual” distance between the planets based on the number of footsteps they had to travel between them.\u00a0 For example, children had to travel four footsteps from the sun to mercury, two footsteps from Mercury to to Venus and so on.\u00a0 Although we did mention astronomical units as the measurement astronomers use to talk about the distances between the planets, I don’t think that fact mattered as much to the children; they were having too much fun exploring and learning in their own way.<\/p>\n