Explore play-based STEAM activities based on ocean creatures, land animals, and birds. Discover how to encourage children to ask “What if…?” and “I wonder…?” questions, based on the characteristics, behaviors, and life cycle of an animal or bird. Next, we’ll follow those wonderings to a related, play-based STEAM activity that you can do with materials that you already have or are easily available (such as recycled materials, manipulatives, and loose parts). Sample activities include: Irresistible Anglerfish Lures; What Can You Trap With Your Whale Baleen?; Protect the Sloth! Designing and Camouflaging a Sloth Outhouse; Creating a Flipping Tool to Rescue a Tortoise; and Exploring the Connection Between a Hummingbird and a Nickel (using a simple, homemade balance scale). Activities incorporate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math); 21st Century Skills (creativity, innovation, problem-solving, and collaboration); and purposeful play (with concrete materials, ideas, or both).
