Learning Resources STEM Simple Machines review

STEM is the buzzword that parents hear in regards to their child’s education. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. These are the building blocks for the jobs that will be in demand when they’re entering the job force in 15+ years. STEM Simple Machines is a learning activity set from Learning Resources with 10 various STEM things to get their young minds thinking about these things.

The set comes with most everything you’ll need to do each of the activities. The only exceptions to these are the simple things like a small tub (used for water), a bowl, marshmallows or tape measure.

It’s important to point out that this is not a game for the kids to let loose and play with themselves. STEM Simple Machines is designed to be overseen by an adult. There is nothing dangerous in the set, it’s just that the activities require set up, reading, assistance and reasoning that a 5 year probably can’t assist with.

A perfect example of this is our 6 year old. He had done some of these experiments in Kindergarten because he knew what would happen, but he was rough around the edges when it came to actually setting up each one.

The Big Show! proved especially taxing for his mind to get around. This experiment has a wedge, lever board, two light barrels and two heavier barrels with the goal being to lift a heavier object on the other side of the board. It’s tricky because the board has several notches underneath that fit onto the wedge. If the board is only put on the center notch you’ve essentially got a teeter totter and the experiment will never work. Pointing out to a sometimes impatient 6 year old that it requires a balance of the heavy and light barrels, combined with the correct board/wedge placement was difficult.

In Pulley Power we roped in some help from his other toys to illustrate the power of a pulley and what it can accomplish. He got his head around this experiment immediately but still wanted to do it over and over, occasionally pushing his action figures off of the second floor to his great delight.

Pillow Power was another experiment that both of the children like because it involved marshmallows. In our case we used Peeps, again much to the delight of me and the children who constantly faced a diminishing supply of test subjects. This used the wedge and lever board again, but this time had the goal of catapulting the marshmallows as far as possible. It combined the notches and used to fulcrum power to launch them varying distances. Eventually the older one figured out how to throw the Peeps the farthest, using the power of the fulcrum, which I kept reminding him of.

We tried all of the experiments and they all worked well except for Archimedes’ Moving Machine. In that case our Archimedes Screw wasn’t able to move the water, small stones, cereal or small candy pieces-and it wasn’t because we kept eating them. Our kids still knew what the screw should do, thanks to their numerous visits to our local children’s museum that has a large one for kids to play with.

The key to effectively using the STEM Simple Machines is using them more than once and telling younger scientists their real world applications when you see them. This is a natural fit for when you pass a construction site, see an axle or other things that make modern life so much more productive than it was in the stone age.