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With the festive season just around the corner, let’s dive into some fun science activities to do over the school holiday break.
Did you know the future is STEM?
The world is changing around us as we know it. With digital advancements happening every day, technology has become a vital aspect in our everyday lives, especially our professional lives. As the fundamental skills gap continues to grow in Australia, we need to start thinking about matching our skills to meet those demanded by employers. These include basic mathematics, critical and creative thinking, complex and innovative problem-solving, and the ability to adapt; collectively, these are widely known as ‘21st century skills.’
It's crucial that Australia stays up to date with technological advancements in the workforce to ensure economic prosperity for our future generation. Without satisfactory STEM skills and comprehension in Australia, there is a danger that organisations looking for these skills will be forced to look elsewhere.
Why should STEM be an important aspect of your child’s life?
It’s important for parents and caretakers to understand what STEM is and why it’s important for their kids. Learning STEM builds a child’s ability to think outside the box and work through problems logically by critically evaluating information and applying knowledge to develop solutions.
STEM-based learning is about creativity and children are naturally curious, and you want to add fuel to this fire. So, we want to help and boost your children’s curiosity about STEM by applying math or science to everyday activities.
Encourage your kids to ask questions and explore or better yet, try the activities below.
Day 1: Math
Make a toy wish-list, find the cost of each item, and determine the cost of your list.
Day 2: Science
Pour full-cream milk in a shallow plate and add food colouring. Dip a cotton swab into dish soap and then into the milk. Watch as the soap reacts to the milk.
Day 3: Engineering
Create a shelf for your elf to stand on by using toothpicks and jellybeans. Carefully combine the toothpicks and jellybeans together, and then stack them up high to create a stand.
Day 4: Math
Research how many kids are under the age of 16 in Australia, if 90% of them are good, how many children will be receiving gifts this year?
Day 5: Nature
Make flower prints by squishing a flower between 2 pages of a book. Can you identify the type of flower?
Day 6: Engineering
Try making a gingerbread house by combining pieces of gingerbread together with icing. Did your house stand up?
Day 7: Science
Make holiday slime. Combine school glue, baking soda, water, and red or green glitter together in a bowl.
Day 8: Math
Let's make some holiday cookies! The recipe requires 175g of butter, how much butter do we need if we want to triple the recipe?
Day 9: Nature
Let’s look up what reindeer eat to prepare for Christmas!
Day 10: Science
Gather all the green and red M&M’s and place them into a shallow bowl with warm water. Observe what happens to the water.
Day 11: Math
Find the distance from your house to the North Pole. How many kilometres would you be travelling going there and back?
Day 12: Science
Let’s create fake snow using baking soda and shaving cream!
We hope you’ve had a STEM-tastic time trying out these activities. Happy holidays!