It was one of those days…dark, cloudy and raining all day. I had been saving a package of glow sticks for such an occasion.
My six-year-old son loves to build, as evident by our previous engineering activities like LEGO boat engineering or our build a cave challenge.
So after having time to wave around and pretend the glow sticks were light sabers it was no surprise that he began trying to build with the glow sticks. And his two sisters quickly joined in.
Together they brainstormed ways on how they could connect the glow sticks to design bigger creations. They decided to use play dough (maybe because it was still out on the counter from our Spring STEAM challenge) to connect the glow sticks together.
Child-led investigations lead to highly engaged activities for your child. I receive many questions from parents or educators asking how to keep children engaged in activities. The simple answer is to let your child lead the activity.
As the parent or educator, my role is to encourage my children to dig deeper by extending their thinking with open-ended questions.
What really captivated my children was the reflection of the glow sticks on the floor. Suddenly, three glow sticks became six!
This observation led to us adding a mirror to work on and produce more symmetrical designs.
Below is a list of challenges to help you get started but I encourage you to let your child led the activity and see what happens.
Materials: Glow Sticks, Play dough, Mirror (optional)
Step 1: Lay out materials
Step 2: Build!
Glow Stick Engineering for Kids:
Who can build the tallest tower?
Who can make the longest bridge?
How many shapes can you create?
How many colors can you use to build a rainbow?
Create a symmetrical design.
What other materials can you add to extend your building?
Turn your next rainy day into a child-led investigation with glowsticks!
This post is part of the Saturday STEM Blog Hop. Be sure to check out more STEM/STEAM activities below.
Magic Hidden Treasure Molds from The Science Kiddo
Patriotic Science Discovery Bottles from Little Bins for Little Hands
May Science Calendar from The Homeschool Scientist
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