This is a sponsored post, all thoughts are our own. As an ex-educator I know that teaching our kids about STEM is incredibly important. All you have to do is look at what jobs companies are hiring for and you’ll see its backbone of science, technology, engineering or math somewhere in that job description. Bayer recently conducted a study, which revealed exactly what parents are thinking and doing when it comes to educating their kids in science outside the classroom. From helping your child’s teacher to tips for the homeschooling parent it’s got at least one insight that proves parents need to embrace science learning and keep kids interested in science.
We are not scientists. However, our children don’t know that. In an effort to surround them with as many building blocks as possible we got these for them when they were babies. For a literal and metaphorical example, check out this toy we got many years ago.
Is it silly? Maybe. Will it do anything to help them in the future? I have no idea (but I think so!). We’ve been helping them pronounce the elements of the Periodic Table since they were 2 years old. We’ve also had the Periodic Table app on all of the tablets in the house, just in case they happened to stumble upon them.
“What? Is he learning the elements?” a babysitter exclaimed once when she saw one of our kids when they were 3 years old casually looking at the Periodic Table. “I hope so,” was my answer.
According to the survey 76% of students have an interest in science outside of the classroom. That certainly agrees with the interest level of our children. Also, only 1 in 10 parents have an extracurricular science activity planned on a daily basis. 38% had some English activities and 19% had a math exercise for their kids to practice daily.
Again, you don’t have to be a scientist to experiment and have fun. These are some crystals that we grew using Epsom Salts, warm water and food coloring. It’s a simple exercise that our 6 year old loved doing more than a month ago and he still looks at them daily to see if they’re growing.
The kids also have fun with our composter. “Feed the worms,” our 4 year old says. But they love collecting the food waste, coffee grounds and then putting it in there. They’ll also help gather some leaves or grass clipping to help the mixture turn into garden gold. Decomposing food and cycle of nature is part of science too and there’s a chance to teach it wherever you turn.
For parents the internet is your best science teaching tool. All you have to do is research what level experiment you want to do and you’ll find any number of projects at various skill levels. Bayer’s Making Science Make Sense program offers many great tips and resources also.
Is there a go-to way that you teach your kids science? It could be a daily activity, personal story or cool website that you can recommend for kids of all ages? If you have one we’d love to see it because we’re always looking for new ideas. I see science as simply being the reason as to why certain things happen. As long as the conditions are the same, the result of said activity will be similar to the last time.
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