When is a good time to begin teaching kids STEAM concepts? The truth is for some kids, day one seems to work. I know my nephew had a board book about numbers my mom read to him when he was young and he took the knowledge from it and began to add, subtract and multiply on his own before he was three. There are many concepts that can be explored with young kids and today we are sharing the two newest STEAMWORKS books that will help get you started on these concepts with your little ones. One is a board book, and one is a picture book! We love STEAMWORKS books! They are all available in English and in Spanish and all of them have activities to extend the lesson in them. We will start with the new board book. It is Sort, Wash, ROAR! by Songju Ma Daemicke and illustrated by Sian James. It is recommended for ages 0 to 3.
Publisher's Summary:
Dark, light, dark, light—sorting laundry is fun!Our narrator and her twin brother, Anton, love to help Auntie Kate with laundry at the laundromat. They start by sorting the laundry into piles of lights and darks. But what about items that are multicolored, like the kids’ hooded unicorn and dinosaur towels? Those get their own machine!
Extend the learning beyond the story with expertly crafted back matter, including additional information about sorting and classification and fun STEAM activities.
STEAMWORKS features children of all backgrounds and abilities using scientific and mathematical thinking to solve everyday problems and answer questions that matter to them. Playful stories and extension activities ignite excitement for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) and empower children as thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators.
From Me:
In this board book the young twins are helping their aunt wash the family's clothes at the laundromat. They are helping sort the lights, darks and colors as well as sorting the clean clothes into piles for whom they belong. There is so much to love in this book. Kids are helping with a household chore and enjoying it. They are learning the idea of sorting by different attributes. Sorting is an important life concept. It comes up in everyday life with laundry, food and so much more but also in math and science classes as well as writing techniques. Beginning at such an early age is a wonderful start for future classrooms! After the finishing the laundry they put on their hooded towels and "Roar!" After the story the book explains sorting and introduces words like attributes and characteristics. It then talks about sorting starting with the child's toys and then going further with a scavenger hunt for things that are red and even thinking about how the food is sorted at the grocery store (giving them something to do on another chore). It goes into similarities and differences as well. These are important concepts for young ones to learn and it helps develop their thinking!!
Our next book is a picture book. It is recommended for ages 4 to 7. It is Ramp It Up! by Katrina Tangen and illustrated by Wendy Wen. The picture books go into the STEAM concepts more at an age-appropriate manner. All of the books tend to be diverse with various races and abilities. This one is no different.
Publisher's Summary:
Let's ramp this party up!Time to party! Zoe is planning a pool party on the roof of her newly constructed toy house. There is just one problem—some of her toys use wheels to get around, and there is no accessible way to the pool! Zoe knows how that feels, so she's determined to figure out a safe solution for everyone to have fun. After some trial & error and a trip outside to look at her own ramp for inspiration, Zoe and the toys are ready to ramp up the fun!
Extend the learning beyond the story with expertly crafted back matter, including additional information about simple machines and fun STEAM activities.
STEAMWORKS features children of all backgrounds and abilities using scientific and mathematical thinking to solve everyday problems and answer questions that matter to them. Playful stories and extension activities ignite excitement for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) and empower children as thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators.
From Me:
Zoe is building with her building bricks (think LEGO). She has made a castle with a rooftop pool. She wants to have a pool party for her toys, friends, and friends' toys. Her toys help her realize some issues with her building. First there is no way to the roof. She finds some stairs but then realizes her car and other toys with wheels cannot get in, and she knows her own frustration when places are not accessible with her wheelchair. She makes a ramp however the ramp makes it hard for the car to get up and then it ends up flying when it goes down. Zoe is a smart girl and goes and looks at her own ramp into her house. She notices how the length and height are very different. The book talks about slope, steepness, length and tallness. She keeps trying and it takes more than a couple of times to get the ramp correct for it to be safe for her toys. I love that she doesn't fix it in just one try! Learning is in the struggle and perseverance!
As a math teacher I love this book and how it talks about slope! I love that her drawings are on graph paper so if I read this to a middle or high school algebra class, they could actually calculate the different slopes of her ramps! She keeps finding problems and ways to solve them. She pieces cardboard together to create something long enough for her toy ramp in the end. Then her friends show up for the party! At the back of the book are words to know, things to think about and information on accessibility and ramps as well as information about forces at work and simple machines and finally some ideas on how to explore the slope of ramps and how they work. The only piece missing for my algebra class is calculating the slopes but that can be added in class since the illustrations are on graph paper so I could actually use this book there. However, it is also amazing for the recommended age group. Understanding the idea of slope and steepness having to do with length and height is huge!! It is a fun book that is teaching concepts as well as good experimenting and learning skills!
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