Ashcraft Afterschool

Gargamalian Orbs

2012-01-24T12:59:00.002-07:00

Fun, Funky, Fungineering!

Each week, in Mike's new Fungineering class, we give kids a mission - an engineering challenge. In this week's episode the "fungineers" are challenged to build a model of structure that could protect peaceful aliens (the Tranquilians) from the evil transforming orbs of the not-so-peaceful Gargamalians!

Here is the script for the mission...

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New Tech: Prezis

2012-01-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool new tech to share our story!

Swap Knots

2011-12-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite team-building games from our workshop.
This is a fun variation of the old classic Human Knot. Group up in teams of 8, 10, or 12. Give a bandanna or three-foot piece of rope to ½ the group (give a team of 12 six ropes, team of 10 five ropes and a team of 8 four ropes).

Lay the ropes out in an asterisk-like shape. Players grab one end of the rope. Allow each group 6 to 8 minutes to tangle the ropes as much as possible. Two rules: players may not let go of the ropes, and may not tighten the knot by pulling on it.

After completing their knot, they place the tangled ropes on the floor so the ends of the ropes can are visible.

Each team moves to another team’s knot, and players grab the end of one of the ropes and the try to untangle the ropes until they are standing in pairs back in the asterisk shape.

When debriefing ask: How are we connected to each other? How can we solve problems and remain connected to each other?

Bumpity Bump Bump

2011-11-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

Here is one of our Name Games from our popular team-building workshops.

Bumpity Bump Bump

Circle Up. Choose an IT. IT goes up yo someone in the circle and says, “left,” “right,” or “yours.” That player must say the name of the player to the right, left or their own respectively before IT says, “bumpity bump bump.” If the player in the circle fails to say the correct name in time, they are the new IT.

Science of Halloween

2011-10-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

Spooky Science of Halloween

Science Standards Addressed:

Know that when substances are combined they may create a new substance with different properties (Monster Drool, Gross Worms).
Know that matter is composed of parts too small to be seen with the naked eye (Monster Drool, Gross Worms).
Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter (Boo Bubbles and Crystal Bubble).

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also provided links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played songs like Ghostbusters, Monster Mash, and Spooky.

Spooky Science Snack: for the color alone we had blackberries and orange carrots.

We also made a Spooky Halloween punch which contained: walrus pee (apple juice), nuclear waste (pineapple juice), blended beetles (grape juice) and bats blood (cranberry juice). Then we added some glow sticks and some dry ice that carbonates the drink with the carbon dioxide gas that is sublimating from the dry ice. - bubbling and burping.

Serve after all the bubbling has stopped and the dry ice is completely gone. Dry ice in the esophagus – not a good thing.

The scary looking guys in the suits threatened that if we didn’t include this,… they would be back. Dry ice must be handled with caution. It is -110 degrees Fahrenheit. It must be handled using gloves or tongs. It will cause severe burns if it comes in contact with your skin.

Best Practices for an Afterschool Program Indoor Environment

2011-09-22T12:21:00.002-06:00

The indoor space needs to be clean and colorful, interesting and inviting, and should reflect the children, their varying ages, cultures, and special interests. It needs to be broken up into different areas, providing a variety of activity choices. It needs to be labeled, clearly communicating what privileges and expectations children have in each area. It needs to be homelike and contain at least one very homelike area.

Planning and preparing the environment can be an activity in which the children can and should be involved. Children can generate some discussion and design suggested floor plans. This will give them the feeling of ownership, while teaching them citizenship and a sense of community. Involving all of the children will help the environment to reflect the group of kids and what they like.

Construction Zone

See our incredible staff setup the environment
in only 2 minutes and 27 seconds.

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The activity space should be divided up different areas. One area can contain some Legos, Lincoln logs, craft sticks, wood blocks, construction straws or dominoes. This area should display a sign that says something like "Construction Zone" for the kids, and in smaller letters "Manipulatives/Fine Motor Area" for the educators' and parents' understanding.

Science of Sunshine - UV Detection Beads

2011-09-17T18:33:00.001-06:00

As we were getting ready to begin, Madison snuck in some English and SPANISH language arts when she read them a poem that she wrote about our topic of the day!

SUN

Hot, Bright

Burning, Heating, Energizing

Sol, Fire, Space Light

Shining, Twinkling, Sparkling

Estrella, Bright

STAR

To sneak in some MORE literacy, she read Bear Shadow, by Frank Asch - a story about a bear who was outside all day trying to do everything he could think of to get rid of his shadow because it scared away the fish when we went fishing.

Sneakin' in Some Literacy!

Habit #7 is Communication

2011-09-07T11:32:00.005-06:00

Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something.—Plato

Dynamic and highly-effective afterschool programs are places for generative discussion and intensive action. Language functions as a tool for bonding, innovating, coordinating, and cooperating. People can speak from their hearts and connect with each other in the spirit of dialog—from the Greek dia + logos, moving through.

Dialog is an essential element of organizational learning and highly-effective leaderhip. Peter Senge identifies three conditions that are necessary for dialog to occur: all participants must suspend their assumptions; all participants must regard one another as colleagues; and there must be a facilitator who holds the context of the dialog.

When people talk and listen to each other, they create an alignment of purpose that produces incredible ability to invent new possibilities in conversation and bring about these possibilities in reality. There must be sufficient meeting time scheduled into people’s professional calendars to step back from the day-to-day operations and reflect on what is happening in the program. It is important for highly-effective leaders to understand that ideas can be developed best through dialog and discussion. Through dialog, people can predict and solve problems, replace obsolete systems, and create new systems.

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Habit #6 is Community Building

2011-08-17T17:49:00.002-06:00

Community Building is a habit that is a paradigm shift away from “activity-led” programming, which creates a curriculum centered on the activities – activities to keep kids busy and out of our hair. Activities without attention to purpose or ethical dimension of community building miss the opportunity to facilitate the child’s social development.

We believe in an afterschool program all the activities should have a purpose.

In autumn when the leaves fall we see leaf crafts o-plenty! Afterschool program leaders have children making leaf prints, leaf collages, leaf mobiles, leaf placemats, and preserving leafs between sheets of waxed paper. Now… there is nothing wrong with leaf crafts in and of themselves. But often these projects are all about making the final product – a piece of refrigerator art for parents to attach to their refrigerators with magnetic fruit. These projects miss an opportunity to teach leadership, sharing, caring, altruism, and empathy.

ABC's of Powerful Programming Practices

2011-08-07T13:30:00.000-06:00

“Learning and development are interrelated from the child’s very first day of life.”
– Lev Vygotsky

The ABC's of

Powerful Programming Practices

Habit #5 is Influence

2011-07-27T13:04:00.001-06:00

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.—Dwight D. Eisenhower

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.—Tom Landry

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.—Ken Blanchard

Leadership is about influence, not power. Highly-effective leaders know how to tap into the hearts and minds of their followers. If you stand and look over the shoulders of those you supervise, you’ll never get people who care about their jobs. We do not preach the old “carrot and stick” approach to influence. Rather, we will teach you how to get intrinsic, true, inner motivation.

According to the old-school organizational cliché, what gets rewarded gets done. So, many organizations offer rewards such as profit-sharing, bonuses, employee of the month programs, prizes, and special parking spaces to influence employees. These are classic examples of extrinsic or token rewards. Extrinsic rewards can significantly lower intrinsic motivation and can create reliance upon the rewards. In situations that are already intrinsically rewarding, the addition of extrinsic rewards may reduce the effectiveness of the intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are effective in teaching a rat to run a maze, but are not effective in influencing staff performance.

Rewards fail to make deep lasting changes because they are aimed at affecting only what people do and not at what they think and feel. If employers want to do nothing more than induce compliance in employees, then rewards may be a valid practice. If employers want staff members to be self-disciplined, self-motivated workers, then rewards are worse than useless; they are counterproductive.

Science of Oobleck

2011-07-19T10:58:00.000-06:00

Every week, Madison (my 11-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used. We learned a lot of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Science of Oobleck

Science Standards Addressed:

Identify and compare properties of pure substances and mixtures.
Know that changes to matter may be chemical or physical and when two or more substances are combined, a new substance may be formed with properties that are different from those of the original substances.
Describe properties of materials in different states – solid, liquid, and gas.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

As the children arrived we played the songs Green River, by Credence Clearwater Revival; and Stuck on You, by Elvis Presley. Green, sticky hints about the theme of the day!

Next we had a green snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow.

Systems Thinking and Cutting Quality

2011-07-09T14:27:00.002-06:00

In tough economic times, non profits struggle to survive. Leaders often consider cutting quality during these times. But this ignores the systems involved. In the long term cutting quality hurts non-profit organizations. We use the classic illusion of the Magic Arcs as a metaphor to describe the counterproductive reasoning in which afterschool leaders decide to cut quality out as a response to falling profits or budget surpluses. This is an excerpt from our workshop - Learning to Lead: Leading to Learn based on our book available Summer 2011.

Swimmy Noodle Games

2011-07-07T17:13:00.001-06:00

We don't just use our noodles in the pool, we use them for team-building games!

Click here for a FREE big GIANT list of team-building games!

99 Red Balloons Each person in the team blows up and ties off a balloon (red if you plan on playing the song). On “GO” the challenge is for the team to work together to keep all of the balloons up in the air using only their noodles. You can add in a balloon or more as an added challenge.

8 Habits of Highly Effective Afterschool Leaders

2011-07-04T16:42:00.000-06:00

Habit #4 has 4 Parts: Knowledge, Information, Power, & Control - & "the way things are done around here."

See the YouTube video snippet of our 8 Habits workshop!

Habit #4 is all about organizational cultures – it is all about “how things are done around here.” Our organization was built on a leadership philosophy that many refer to as a “learning organization.”

This is our organizational chart. The foundation - the BOSS - are the values, mission, and vision. The people normally depicted at the top of the human pyramid are considered support staff for the "power staff" - those who interact with the children, families, and schools. A learning organization is a non-hierarchical organization where all stakeholders are involved in deciding how the organization will conduct itself.

Science of Electricity

2011-06-30T16:15:00.000-06:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Science of Electricity – see our YouTube Video Here!

Science Standards Addressed:

· Describe how energy produces changes.
· Understands that light is a form of energy.
· Know that energy and its changes can be measured.
· Know that some forms of energy can do useful things (light up a light bulb).
· Know how electricity flows through a simple circuit.
· Know that materials are made of atoms and molecule (helium atom models)

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

As the children arrived we played the songs Electric Avenue, by Eddie Grant; Shock the Monkey, by Peter Gabriel; and the Electric Slide by the Hit Crew.

We had a very electric snack – we played with our food – against our Moms’ instructions – and made apple batteries and orange powered clocks!

Science of Density

2011-06-12T20:06:00.000-06:00

Lesson 20

Science of Density

YouTube Video: Propensity for Density

Science Standards Addressed:

Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter (solid, liquid, gas).
Describe how matter is ordered in solids, liquids, and gases and the changes that occur to them when heated.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

As the children arrived, to go along with our density is like kids packed into a school bus analogy, we played the songs Don’t Stand So Close to Me, by the Police; The Wheels on the Bus, and My Name is Cheech the School Bus Driver, by Cheech Marin.

This is what we put out in the snack area. It was pretty much one of everything from the produce section of the grocery store plus diet and regular sodas. We pretended this was a normal snack. We let the kids be confused for a bit and then brought out a normal snack.

All of this stuff was for some fun experiments on density (below).

Ashcraft Afterschool Training Montage

2011-06-04T17:34:00.000-06:00

Check out our training montage video on YouTube.

Chelsea Ashcraft and Mike Ashcraft custom design keynotes, workshops, full-day, and multi-day adult learning experiences for entry-level thru administrative-level staff. Our learning events are unique – living examples of “brain-compatible” teaching - a mix of research-based theory and real life practical applications. We know that when learners have fun, the learning sticks in their brains, so we intentionally and masterfully incorporate novelty, relevancy, movement, activities, humor, and music into every event!

8 Habits of Highly Effective Afterschool Leaders

2011-06-03T11:58:00.002-06:00

Habit #3 has 3 Parts: The Great Afterschool Programming Triad – the ERE

See the YouTube video snippet of our 8 Habits workshop!

When intentionally designing an afterschool program, three basic programming tools to consider are the Environment, Relationships and Experiences (ERE). We have an influence on children through the Environment we create, the Relationships we develop, and the Experiences we provide for them. This theory reflects current brain research and afterschool quality research.

Environment

When you walk into a gymnasium, you behave differently than when you walk into a library. When you walk into a funeral home, you might behave the same as if you walked into a government building, but you might feel differently. You see, the environment says things to people about the way they should behave and feel. Similarly, the afterschool environment tells children some important things about the way they should behave and feel, so it is important that leaders provide an environment that encourages desirable behavior. The space should say "Play with me!" in a way that clearly defines how to play with it. The way you arrange your space tells children what types of behavior are expected in that space.

Dramatic Play Area

Highly-effective afterschool leaders initially provide an environment, which meets the basic biological needs of children, taking into consideration safety, nutrition, and water. They then add novelty and stimulation to the environment by creating a variety of areas in which children can be involved in diverse ways: art, construction, fine motor, manipulatives, quiet conversation, food, science, strategy games, and outdoor play. Afterschool leaders can provide novelty and enrich the environment through new colors, posters, child’s art, and music.

Science of Magnetism

2011-06-02T14:44:00.001-06:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 18 & 19

Science of Magnetism

See our YouTube video – Mission Magnetism: Opposites Attract

Science Standards Addressed: Students can describe the properties of magnets.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

5 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Stuck on You, by Elvis Presley; and Magnet and Steel, by Walter Egan.

Cow Magnets

We explained that when cows are grazing, they eat EVERYTHING! They eat hay, grass, dirt, staples, little bits of bailing wire, even nails – they call it “tramp iron.” Then we showed them a super strong cow magnet. Link to COW MAGNETS.

We explained that ranchers put these magnets down a cow’s throat, so that any iron that the cows eat gets stuck to the magnet. If this iron goes through their digestive tract it can get lodged and cause irritation and Hardware Disease, which causes cows to loose their appetite, and not gain weight (meat). Hardware Disease also reduces milk production in dairy cows. One magnet stays in the cow for it’s whole life. Before eating snack we showed them an iron nail. We asked if THEY would ever eat such a thing? NO WAY JOSE!

Then… we gave them some iron to eat!

We snacked on some iron-enriched cereal with prunes and bananas, which both contain iron.

Habit #2 has 2 Parts: Vision & Values

2011-05-15T16:48:00.001-06:00

See the YouTube video snippet of our
8 Habits workshop!

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. —Reverend Theodore M. Hesburgh

If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision that’s positive for them, that taps important values, that gets them something they desire, and it has to be presented in a compelling way. That way, they feel inspired to follow. —Martin Luther King Jr.

Vision

“Without a vision the people will perish.” – King Solomon

Vision is about charting the course, steering the ship. You have to know where you want to go before steering the ship. You’ve gotta know how you want things to be before attempting to lead. By definition leaders must know where they are going if they hope to lead. Leaders who don’t know in which direction to go succeed only in leading people down an aimless and meaningless path. Developing a vivid picture of the future is an important part of creating a future that is better than today. Having a clear, motivating image of a desired future provides meaning and context to daily tasks. Focusing on a vision for the future can inspire people to reach higher and overcome challenges. Once created, a vision will help to structure decision making and policy setting in an organization.

Visioning is a common, but effective strategy proven useful in many endeavors. Olympic athletes visualize themselves performing their specific feats, and this visualization is effective in helping them to perform better. Albert Einstein imagined himself traveling through the universe as a “man in a box” on a ray of light. This vision helped him develop the theory of general relativity.

Future-focused thinking is the one attribute that a leader must possess to create and shape an “intentional organization.” An intentional organization is purposeful, created and led with a specific goal in mind. An intentional organization is grounded in specific objectives and it has a plan of action designed to accomplish these objectives. The culture of an intentional organization reflects a deliberate focus on a specific end result. In order for the organization to be purposeful, goal oriented, grounded in specific objectives, and focused on an end result, the leader must be able to see and articulate a vision—to chart a course for the future.

A good vision is ideological, but possible; challenging, but realistic. It is not a wishful fantasy, but an attainable picture of the future. A good vision should be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, flexible, and communicable. A good vision depicts an image of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future. A vision can be a mental picture of the “ideal” organization, community, or youth program. Studies have shown that people are more likely to reach a goal if they can envision it and can imagine the steps to reach it.

Clarity of purpose and direction, and the ability to envision the future are paramount to effective leadership. Whether we call this a vision, a dream, a calling, a goal, or a personal agenda, the message is clear: leaders must know where they’re going if they expect others to willingly join them on the journey. Vision is the magnetic north that provides others with the capacity to chart their course toward the future.

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Habit #1 of our 8 Habits of Highly-Effective Afterschool Leaders

2011-05-14T12:08:00.005-06:00

8 Habits of Highly-Effective Afterschool Leaders

YouTube video snippet on our 8 Habits workshop.

Habit #1 is Safety. Because… Safety First!

It is kind of like Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. At the bottom of the pyramid are the basic needs – food, water, security, and SAFETY.

These needs must be met first in order to address the more psychological needs of esteem, belonging, and love.

Highly-effective afterschool leaders keep kids and each other safe – physically safe and emotionally safe.

Leaders ensure there are NO safety or health hazards in the area. They protect kids from even potential hazards like caustic art materials, cleaning agents, medications, sharp knives, hot liquids, etc. They check equipment for active play, and make sure it is safe.

Afterschool leaders ensure the program community works together to keep the facilities clean. They make sure there are adequate hand-washing facilities and supplies and that we ALL wash our hands frequently.

Leaders create or maintain systems that are in place to protect the children from harm, when they move from one place to another or use the rest room - systems to keep unauthorized people from taking children from the program.

Afterschool leaders carefully supervise children according to their level of responsibility. They note when children arrive, when they leave, and with whom they leave. They know where the children are and what they are doing at all times. And they increase the level of supervision even more when they are engaged in higher risk activities.

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BOOST BREAKFAST CLUB

2011-05-14T11:51:00.000-06:00

You can also follow Mike's blogs and other afterschool blogs at... BOOST BREAKFAST CLUB

Steve Spangler Blog on our Afterschool Science Club

2011-05-12T12:51:00.000-06:00

Steve Spangler blogged about our blog and now we're blogging about his blog about our blog.

Ashcraft Afterschool – Doing it Right, Making it Big & Giving it Class

National AfterSchool Association: 2011 NAA Convention Invitiation

2011-04-05T09:41:00.000-06:00

National AfterSchool Association: 2011 NAA Convention Invitiation: "NAA would like to personally invite you to the 2011 NAA Convention. April 16-18 in Orlando, FL at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Ce..."

Science of Polymers

2011-02-20T13:27:00.001-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 15 & 16

Science of Polymers

See our YouTube video: Punctures, Potions, and Polymers -

Science Standards Addressed:

Describe the characteristics of the three states of matter (solid, liquid, gas).
Describe what happens when substances (solid, liquid, gas) are mixed – water gel & instant snow.
Know that materials are made of atoms and molecules – polymer science.
Describe how heat is made and how it travels. – unburnable balloon.
Know that living things have basic needs (food, water, air, sunlight) – radish experiment.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

As the children arrived we played the songs Everything Grows, by Raffi; Alligator Hedgehog, by Pete Seeger; and Cool Clear Water, by Marty Robbins.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow.

Science of Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T13:22:00.003-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 17

Science of Valentine’s Day

See the YouTube video!

Science Standards Addressed:

Identify human organs and their function (Heart).
Know that when substances are combined, they may create new substances with different properties (Carnation and Secret Valentine Messages).
Observe that magnets attract and repel each other (Kissing Bears and Stick it to Me).
Know that bacteria and viruses are germs that can be transmitted (by coughing or KISSING!)
Describes ways of spreading germs (Simulated Germs & Mono).
Know that air takes up space and exerts a force (Heart-Shaped Peeps).

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

Snack – The heart is the image, the icon of Valentine’s Day. So for snack, we snacked on a human heart.

Don’t freak out, we didn’t go all Hannibal Lecter or anything. We found this cool gelatin mold of the human heart, and whipped up a batch of peach-flavored gelatin with some evaporated milk and food coloring to give it the disgusting look of flesh!

Link to Heart Mold.

It looked gross, but we sure enjoyed dissecting and eating it!

As they ate we played the song, Take Another Piece of My Heart, by Janis Joplin; and Achy Breaky Heart, by Billy Ray Cyrus. We’re so funny.

I Heart Science!

Hearts are an obvious theme for Valentine’s Day. We were surprised how many kids were surprised to see the shape of a real heart.

We heard one of the kids say, “Wow that (model) is NOTHING like the
shape of a REAL heart!”

We created a model to demo the pumping action of a heart by putting red colored water in a clear balloon. We put a straw in the balloon and gently squeezed to see the “blood” pump with each squeeze.

Science of GLOW!

2011-02-01T11:54:00.002-07:00

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube video science lessons. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 13

Science of Glow

See our YouTube video on the Science of GLOW!

Science Standards Addressed:

Knows that light is a form of energy, Recognize that energy can be stored in many ways (phosphorescence).
Know that changes to matter may be chemical or physical and when two or more substances are combined, a new substance may be formed with properties that are different from those of the original substance.
Know that materials are made up of small particles that are too small to see with the naked eye (monomer and polymer science).
Know that bacteria and viruses are germs that affect the human body. Describe ways to prevent the spread of germs.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

As the children arrived we played the songs When the Lights Go Down in the City, by Journey; and Party Lights, by Claudine Clark.

10 Minutes

Simulated Germs

As the children arrived, we pumped a little glob of Simulated Glow Germs on their hands. We asked them to rub the “lotion” into their hands making sure to get the backs of their palms and fingernails. Then we asked them to wash their hands the way they normally do before eating snack. Then, we put their hands back under a black light.

You could see glowing “germs” all over their hands – especially in between their fingers and in their finger nails. We taught them how to wash their hands: by scrubbing EVERY surface of their hands for the same amount of time it takes them to sing Happy Birthday to themselves FOUR times!

Then we put their hands under the black light again. It was much better this time, but there were still some germs that did not get scrubbed away. After one more round of hand washing, no more Glow Germ showed up, and we mercifully let them eat snack.

5 minutes

Snack

Our snack was an extra cool hint of the science to follow.

In addition to the healthy stuff, we snacked on GLOWING gummy worms

(don’t be alarmed, only the forceps glowed – and the light shined THROUGH the worm).

Science of Sound

2011-01-17T15:23:00.001-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

See our YouTube video on the Science of Sound:

Good Vibrations.

Lesson 12

Science of Sound

Science Standards Addressed:

Identify human organs and their function (ear).
Observe that things move in different ways (vibrations).
Observe that sound is made from vibrating objects and describe its pitch and loudness.
Knows that sound travels in waves.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

5 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Good Vibrations, and Catch a Wave, by the Beach Boys – little hint about the theme of the day.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow.

In addition to the healthy stuff, we could all choose between
EAR WAX, CHOCOLATE EARS,

or the Noisiest Snack Ever Invented – POP ROCKS!

Science of Fizz 2

2011-01-11T18:05:00.001-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then we write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We have also included links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 10

Science of Fizz 2

Science Standards Addressed:

Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter (solid, liquid, gas).

Know that air takes up space and exerts a force.

Know that when substances are combined they may create a new substance with different properties.

Identify forces that produce motion in objects.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See our FIZZY YouTube video!

10 minutes

Since we planned on using Alka Seltzer (seltzer) to make things go BOOM, as the kids arrived, we played Boom, Boom, Boom, by Jock Jams; Boom Boom Ain’t it Great to be Crazy, and of course the Alka Seltzer jingle – Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh What a Relief it Is.

As a fake-out, we put out some seltzer tablets with the snack
– a hint of the science to follow. The kids thought we were weird.

To sneak in some literacy (and today some Social Studies) Madison read,

Science of Fizz 1

2011-01-05T09:10:00.002-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then we write the blog about what we did.

Lesson 9

Science of Fizz

Science Standards Addressed:

Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter (solid, liquid, gas).
Know that air takes up space and exerts a force.
Know that when substances are combined they may create a new substance with different properties.
Identify forces that produce motion in objects.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See our YouTube video on the Science of Fizz!

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Tiny Bubbles, by Don Ho and the Coke jingle – “I’d like to buy the world a Coke!”

In addition to the healthy stuff, we had a special treat of fizzy soda can candy
– a hint of the science to follow.

Science of Airflow, Motion, and Lift

2011-01-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then we write the blog about what we did.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We also include links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 6

Science of Airflow, Motion and Lift

Science Standards Addressed:

Make observations, predict results and develop questions (Puff Cars).
Know that air takes up space and exerts a force (Potato Launcher, Windbags).
Observe that the motion of an object can be affected by pushing or pulling it (Ping Pong Balls and Wind Bags).
Describe ways to make things move and what causes them to stop (Puff Cars, Ping Pong Balls, Potato Launcher).
Describe how force can change an object’s motion (Puff Cars, Potato Launcher, Ping Pong Balls).

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See our YouTube Video: Bernoulli's Principle and Lift

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Up Up & Away, by the Fifth Dimension, and Leavin on a Jet Plane, by Peter, Paul, and Mary.

To create curiosity and a little healthy confusion, we put out a snack of raw potatoes and juice. The potatoes were really for our grand finale’ activity.

Then we brought out the real snack.

Science of Air Pressure #2

2010-12-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then we write the blog about what we did.

We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We also include links to our YouTube videos and other products that we used. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 5

Science of Air Pressure II

Science Standards Addressed

Observe that things (air) move in different ways.
Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter.
Know that air takes up space and exerts a force.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See our YouTube video on Air and Pressure!

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs In the Air Tonight, by Phil Collins, and The Air that I Breathe, by the Hollies.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow.

In addition to the healthy stuff, we snacked on
marshmallows (full of air) and AIR Heads!

To prime their brains, as they drank their juice (with straws) we taught them that they weren’t actually sucking juice into their mouths.

They were decreasing the air pressure in their mouths (partial vacuum), so that the atmospheric pressure could push the juice up the straw and into their mouths.

While we ate, Madison read

Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon by Margret and H.A. Rey

a book about George the monkey who, because of curiosity, accidently unhooked a hot-air balloon and sailed away. He flew past George Washington’s nose on Mt. Rushmore. In the end he saved a stranded worker; George was a hero!

It also contains an accurate depiction of how they use Bernoulli's Principle to inflate a hot-air balloon.

10 Minutes
Mysterious Water Suspension To really engage the kids, we started with a really exciting demo. We asked them to watch carefully and to predict what might happen next. We filled a glass jar to the rim with water. Then we placed the card over the rim like a lid. Keeping pressure on the card, we turned the jar upside down and asked the kids what they thought might happen if we released the pressure we were applying to the card and removed our hand. Some of the kids predicted that the water and card would fall if we removed our hand.

Some of them had already seen this demo (or so they thought) and predicted that the card would remain in place because of the atmospheric pressure pushing up.

We asked for a BRAVE volunteer that wasn’t afraid to get soaked! Everyone volunteered. We picked one and asked him to come stand under the upturned jar. I removed my hand and he did a little “I told you I wouldn’t get wet” dance. We asked him to look up at the card and read what it said. He read it aloud for the group, “DO NOT REMOVE THIS CARD.” We asked him to predict what would happen if we removed the card. Everyone agreed that he would get soaked. We asked him if he was STILL feeling brave. When he agreed to stay, we removed the card! A little bit of water leaked out, but the rest of the water remained in the jar!

Link to Mysterious Water Suspension jar with “DO NOT REMOVE THIS CARD” card.

How could this be? The secret is a little circle of window screen spanning the jar opening. It’s all about water molecules and how they cling to each other forming "surface tension" – just enough cling, combined with atmospheric pressure to keep the water above the screen.

10 Minutes
You’ve Got Me Under Pressure To get the kids excited and to demonstrate atmospheric pressure; we brought out an old classic - the pressure mat.

Link to Pressure Mat

You just place this rubber mat on a clean flat surface and ask a volunteer to lift the
mat by the handle – straight up – no sliding it off the edge!

It is almost impossible, but YOU can pick it up easily (by the edge – be sneaky).

The science? Ever heard the expression “light as air”?

Air isn’t light at all. The air surrounding our planet weighs a lot.

This heavy “sea” of air exerts a LOT of pressure.
The atmospheric pressure at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch of surface area.

That’s roughly the weight of 2 gallons of milk resting on 1 square inch! So, the mat has about 1,620 pounds of atmospheric pressure pushing down on it!

45 Minutes
Honey, I Shrunk the Marshmallows

For this experiment, we used a Fizz-Keeper. Fizz-Keepers are the little pressure pumps designed to keep the fizz in PLASTIC bottles of soda that have previously been opened.

We filled empty baby soda bottles and 16 oz. bottles about half full
with marshmallows, and screwed on the pumps.

Link to Marshmallow Masher

As we began pumping, we quickly noticed how the marshmallows seemed to wrinkle and shrink as the pump forced molecules of air (that pushed on the marshmallows) into the bottle.

Since marshmallows are mostly pockets of air, the increased pressure compacts the air molecules and the marshmallows shrink.

Then we released the pressure by unscrewing the pump. It was really cool to see the marshmallows poof back up. When we unscrewed the pump, the air pressure inside the marshmallow bubbles was greater than the pressure pushing on the marshmallow from the outside, so the marshmallows proofed back up.

Safety Notes: This requires adult supervision – preferably a responsible adult! Use only plastic soda bottles that are in good shape. Do not pump more than 40 strokes (pumps) into a 16 oz. bottle. Never leave a soda bottle in a pressurized state.

Apply only enough pressure to allow you to see the shrinking effects.

You think that was cool? We kicked it up a notch by reversing the process.

My dad bought a nice (expensive) a vacuum packing food saver
on the way to school just for this experiment. My mom rolled her eyes.

You can find cheaper models that will work just fine on the Internet. They are great for exploring the properties of air pressure.

We filled the storage container with marshmallows and removed a lot of the air.

Honey, we blew up the marshmallows!
Please note: No actual marshmallows were harmed during the making of this experiment.

We brainstormed other experiments we could do with the food saver. We could use a small balloon or a bag of potato chips in place of the marshmallows. What if we put in soap bubbles, shaving cream, or silly string? If a Fizz Keeper keeps sodas fizzy, will the food saver make them flat?

20 Minutes
Shrink Wrapped Kids

This also needs adult supervision – try to find a mature one.

Never EVER put a bag over anyone’s head (we said this over and over again, but the kids all knew never to do that)!

We asked parent and child volunteers to step into a BIG plastic bag. We asked them to cup their hand around a vacuum cleaner nozzle that we inserted into the bag (this keeps the bag from being sucked into the nozzle). We tried to create as good a seal as we could just above their shoulders.

We turned on the vacuum, and in a few seconds the unsuspecting victim…
err, I mean volunteer gets shrink wrapped. It feels CRAZY!

We explained to the kids and parents that there is no suck thing as suction. Prior to turning on the vacuum, the bag was filled with air. The vacuum cleaner removed some of the air, so that there was more air pressure on the outside of the bag. This allowed the atmospheric pressure to push and mold the bag around our bodies.

We snuck in a little social studies when we talked about how this science helps to package and preserve food by cryovac or shrink-wrap packaging.

Steve credits Wayne Goates with this demo – the guy who invented the shrink wrap your sweaters as seen on TV. Reference: Wayne Goates. NMLSTA Level Line. "Shrink Wrap With A Vacuum," Winter, 1996.

Science of Air Pressure #1

2010-12-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then we write the blog about what we did.

We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. We also include links to our YouTube videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

Lesson 4

Science of Air Pressure #1

Science Standards Addressed:

Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter.
Know that air takes up space and exerts a force.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See our YouTube video - Pascal's Pressure Principle and Cartesian Capers

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Something in the Air, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Love is Like Oxygen, by Pilot.

We had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow.

We snacked on Sponge Bob yogurts. Get it? He’s a sponge – filled with air bubbles & he lives under the sea! OK … we were stretching it with that one.

Madison read the Pearl Diver, by Julia Johnson.

- a story of a little boy, Saeed, and his father, and what happened when for the first time Saeed accompanied him on one of the long diving expeditions aboard a sambuk - one of the great pearling boats. It describes the often hazardous world of the pearl divers. It is illustrated by Patricia Al Fakhri. Great watercolor illustrations!

10 Minutes Ye Olde’ Egg in the Bottle Trick We began the lesson with something guaranteed to engage their emotions and elicit squeals and cheers. We found a high-quality glass milk bottle
and replicated a favorite demo from my childhood, but with a new twist we learned from Steve. See the full experiment!
- An egg-cellent and egg-citing egg-speriment and demonstration of air pressure!

We peeled a hard-boiled egg, stuck 3 birthday candles in it, lit them, and stuck the lighted end of the egg into the INVERTED bottle.

Some people think the fire burns the oxygen creating a vacuum that sucks the egg into the bottle. Really the fire warms the air – expanding it – forcing air out of the bottle. This is what scientists refer to as a “partial vacuum.”

When the flame goes out, the molecules of air in the bottle cool down
and move closer together.

The air pressure outside the bottle is higher than that inside the bottle. Normally the air outside the bottle would come rushing in to fill the bottle but, the egg is in the way!

The “push” or atmospheric pressure of the air molecules outside the bottle is so great that it literally pushes the egg into the bottle (defying gravity) to equalize the pressure.

See our YouTube video of the Egg in the Bottle Demo!

Now how do we get the egg OUT of the bottle? We could stick a knife into the bottle and chop the egg into pieces small enough to fall out – but that would be MESSY! So by applying a little scientific reverse psychology, we can push that egg back out.

We blow air into the bottle, so there is more pressure inside than outside.

The air inside cleanly deposits the egg right back into my waiting hand.

10 Minutes
The Plunger Demo It is simple. Stick your plunger on a flat surface.

Be prepared for giggles because it might make a FARTING noise!

It's atmospheric pressure in action. When you force air out of the plunger, there is less air pressing back from inside than there is pushing from the outside. A great way to show that suction cups stay stuck because of the pushing force of air, not from a pulling "suction" force.

1 Hour
Cartesian Divers – Meet Hook and Squidy

We found some cool Cartesian diver kits that double as fun toys!

The youngest kids required a LOT of help getting their divers just right. We were so busy helping everyone, we forgot to take good pictures of them playing and having fun with science.

So what IS the science behind this? The classic Cartesian (Ren Descartes, a French scientist and mathematician who used the diver to demonstrate gas laws and buoyancy) diver experiment is set up by placing a "diver"—a small, rigid tube, open at one end, such as an glass eyedropper into a larger container (2-liter bottle) filled with liquid (water). The "diver" is partially filled with a small amount of water, but contains enough air so that it floats at the top (just barely) while being almost completely submerged.

The "diving" occurs when the flexible part of the larger container is pressed inward, causing the "diver" to sink to the bottom until the pressure is released, when it floats again. When the container is squeezed, the pressure is spread through the liquid.

Pascal's Principle - pressure on a fluid is transmitted unchanged throughout the fluid.

This presses on the air bubble, compressing it and allowing more water to enter - SINK. Reverse – Float.

Science of Animals

2010-12-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

Lesson 7

Science of Animals

Science Standards Addressed:

· Identify major parts of living things; describe their functions and observe their differences (arms, wings, and legs of animals)
· Observe and describe similarities and differences in appearance of animals and how they resemble their parents.
· Observe life cycle patterns of animals.
· Observe differences within animal families.
· Observe inherited characteristics in animals (type of fur, number of legs, type of eyes).

My dad was doing a Halloween Science Show at another school, so Mrs. Sanchez was there to help out.

15 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Animal Fair, by Laurie Berkner, Five Little Monkeys, by the Learning Station, and How Much is that Doggie in the Window, by Patti Page – hints of the science to come.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow –
Animal Crackers!

During snack, we talked about how nutrients meet specific needs of our bodies (carbohydrates provide energy, milk has calcium for bones and teeth).

Madison read The Caterpillar and the Pollywog, by Jack Kent

– about a caterpillar that is always bragging that she will turn into “something else.” This impresses the polliwog. He wants to turn into some thing else too. He watches the caterpillar turn into a butterfly, but does not notice that he in turning into a frog at the same time.

and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle

– about a caterpillar who eats and eats until he is too full and too fat to eat any more. The caterpillar builds a cocoon and turns into a butterfly. This book teaches a little bit about the life cycle of a caterpillar.

10 minutes

Animal Name Game

Each person in the team thought of an animal whose name begins with the same letter as his or her first name, or ANY animal if that was too difficult. Then we went around the circle, introducing ourselves by our animal name and first name. Anteater Annie, Monkey Mike, Cobra Conner etc. We played again, but this time the challenge was for the first person to say their own name, the second person says the first person’s and their own name, the third person says the first two people’s name and their own name, and so on…until the last person says everyone’s name in order ending with their own name.

That was too hard for the youngest kids, so the group decided to
say everyone’s name in order out loud – success!

15 minutes

Mission: Classification

We gathered plastic animals from the self-directed science area in the afterschool program: sea life, reptiles, forest animals, snakes, polar animals, Australian animals, farm animals, insects, African animals, spiders, Asian Mountain Animals, even PEOPLE!

First we asked the kids to divide the pile of animals into only two piles based on only one characteristic that they observed. That totally didn’t work. Instead, the kids just made their own piles with lots of combinations of traits. So, it worked out OK.

We kept asking them to divide piles into smaller piles – every time based on similarities and differences that they observed. We discussed the similarities that animals from the same family have and their differences from other animal families (sharks vs. whales – reptiles vs. insects). We kept playing until all animals were divided into small animal groups.

Some of the piles included:

Sea Animals

Animals with 4 Legs

Insects

Humans

and even black and white-colored animals.

15 minutes

X-Rays & What’s Inside Animals Cards

We gave them these cards that looked like normal pictures of animals...
until they held them up to the light!

We explored and observed these cool "x-ray" cards by holding them up to the window and letting the light shine through.

We gave them pieces of an x-ray of the human body and asked them to put it together.

There were a bunch of broken bones x-rays – ouch!

15 minutes

Life Cycle Game

First, we talked about the life cycles of plant and animals and looked through some life cycle books. The kids knew the egg developed into a caterpillar and the caterpillar developed into a butterfly, but couldn’t remember that the butterfly lays a caterpillar egg to make a CYCLE - Egg, Larvae, Pupa, Adult, Egg - repeat.

We gave each child a plastic or inflatable animal as part of a life cycle. Their challenge was to form a CIRCLE that correctly represented the life CYCLE of the animal they were given.

Then we all switched animals and played again.

15 minutes

For the last 15 minutes of class we did more work on Sharpie Science t-shirts.

5 minutes

Clean Up

Science of Christmas

2010-12-21T15:25:00.002-07:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2nd graders. Each week she helps plan the lesson and then write the blog about what we did. Then I add my 5 cents worth and we post the blog.

We have provided links to the books we used to sneak in some literacy. We learned most of the science experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). We have included links to his science supplies, experiments, and videos. These links take you away from the blog and to external websites.

This week’s theme was Madison’s idea – linking science activities to ideas associated with Christmas – making science more FUN!

Science of Christmas

Science Standards Addressed:

Describe what happens when substances are mixed (instant snow and dissected glow stick).
Know how energy can be converted into different forms and describe how energy produces changes (dissected glow stick and bounce no bounce balls).
Identify human organs and their function (ear - reindeer calls and sound).
Know how electricity flows through a simple circuit (Rudolph’s nose).

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

5 minutes
As the children arrived we played the songs I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas and Let it Snow, by Andy Williams; and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, by Burl Ives. Hints about the theme of the day! We drew the line with the one about how “Grandma got run over” even though it fit so well with the reindeer calls and reindeer nose activity we planned.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow. Not too subtle today!

10 Minutes

To sneak in some literacy standards, while they ate snack we read them

Froggy’s Best Christmas, by Jonathan London

and

The Night Before Christmas, by Clement Moore

5 minutes
Santa’s Secret Supernatural Scientific Solution: Dissected Glow Stick
You know those glow sticks that are popular at Halloween? You crack them and shake them and they glow.

They are made of a plastic casing with a liquid and a little glass vial of another liquid sealed up inside.

Before the kids arrived, Dad carefully cut open a glow stick, poured out the liquid (typically something like a phenyl oxalate ester and a fluorescent dye) into a glass container, and removed the glass vial (typically contains an activator like hydrogen peroxide).

If your kids play (roughly) with glow sticks, you might have experienced one that breaks and leaks glowing liquid all over your house. It is funky stuff that you don’t want to spill, so if possible get a mature adult (more mature than my dad) to help with this.

To engage their thoughts and emotions, we created an “Imaginary Situation.” Christmas is a magical time – toys made by elves, flying reindeer, a trip around the world in one night, peace on earth, ...EGGNOG!

We told the kids that reindeer fly because of Santa’s Secret Supernatural Scientific Solution, and because we have been so NICE… he gave us some (the little glass vial). Dad carefully broke the glass vial with a tool, letting the hydrogen peroxide flow into the glass jar - to release the glowing magic!

“Woa!” “That’s Awesome!” “Is that real!?”

5 minutes
Bounce No Bounce Balls
I told the kids that when the elves make bouncy balls, at first they don’t bounce (Dad demonstrated by dropping a black ball and it didn’t bounce) but when they add Christmas magic it bounces high. After a quick slight of hand, Dad waved the ball over the Christmas glowing magic liquid, and dropped the ball that NOW bounced high! We paused for the “Wow’s” and then we told them the science behind the bounce no bounce balls. We made them THINK there was only one ball, but there were two, a high-bounce ball and an seemingly identical, no-bounce ball.

Bounce No Bounce Balls

More experiment ideas here.

Objects store energy in many ways. If you roll a rock up a hill it gains potential energy (from gravity) – as it rolls down the other side, it gains kinetic energy of motion. When a rubber band is stretched it has a lot of potential energy. When you release the rubber band, potential energy is converted to kinetic energy and it goes flying across the room.

When it hits your little sister in the arm, it releases its kinetic energy into her, which is transformed into sound waves as the energy travels out of her mouth in the form of a scream.

My dad wrote that! I would never!

When the bounce ball hits the floor, the kinetic energy is converted to elastic potential energy as the ball compresses like it is made of tiny springs. When the ball springs back – it bounces. But the no-bounce ball is made of material that causes it to absorb the potential energy slowly – resulting in almost no bounce. This material is great for car bumpers, but not so fun for bouncy balls.

30 minutes
Reindeer Calls
Imaginary Situation: We told the kids that Santa’s elves use these noise-making reindeer calls to steer reindeer around planes and helicopters. We demonstrated the noise potential by wetting our fingers and letting them stick and slide over the string causing vibrations up the string, into the cup, and then amplified by the cup.

We made Reindeer Calls by first decorating brown cups - gluing on googly eyes, foam antlers, and a red pompom, as a nose.

Then we poked a hole in the bottom of the cup just large enough to thread the piece of string. We threaded the string through the hole and tied a knot or two at the end of the string to hold the string in place. Next we wet our fingers with water and slightly moistened the string. Then by holding the cup in one hand, we pinched the string between our thumbs and forefingers and slid, our pinched fingers down the string.

With some practice and patience, we created loud honking sounds that reindeer could easily hear. We imagined being elves positioned all around the world like airline traffic controllers sending navigation instructions to the reindeer.

We’ve experimented with many different types of string (nylon doesn’t work very well) plastic cups, paper cups, and different-sized cups – all create different sounds!

20 minutes
Instant Snow

We secretly, poured a spoonful of Insta-Snow powder into an empty mixing cup.

We talked about how much Christmas makes us think of snow - the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, dashing through the snow, and dreaming of a white Christmas. We told the kids that we can’t have a proper Christmas theme without snow! We didn’t have any real snow, but we do have Santa’s magic. We waved Santa’s magic glowing solution over the mixing cup (with the Insta-Snow powder) and poured some water into the cup.

We got lots of “Oohs” and “Aahs” as the kids couldn’t take their eyes off the erupting snow. NOTE: if you want the “Oohs” and “Aahs” – make sure and get the Insta-Snow with the little trademark sign and the Steve Spangler logo. The knock-off versions don’t ERUPT!

Insta Snow

Other Insta-Snow Ideas Here

What’s the science of this? This stuff is made from the superabsorbent polymer found in baby diapers – except they don’t just absorb water. The long chains of molecules swell to an enormous size. The polymers act like little tiny sponges. Eventually they dry out and you can repeat the experiment.

10 minutes
Rudolph’s Nose

Energy Ball

The energy ball has two small metal electrodes. When they are both touched the ball glows red and makes a funny sound. We told the kids that in case Rudolph ever got sick and couldn’t do his Christmas Eve job, this little contraption would help a substitute reindeer complete the mission. We touched the electrodes and it glowed red.

Then we got into a circle. Two people touched the electrodes, and the rest of us held hands. When everybody was touching hands Rudolph’s Nose glowed. We explained how electricity was flowing through our simple human circuit and we had them all take turns letting go of hands and being the “switch.” We got all warm and mushy as we talked about how as a community we have energy we can give to each other, how if we stick together we have power, and how if any of us doesn’t participate then the group has no power.

Then, as we prepared to depart for the Christmas Break we held hands and sang, I’ll Have a Blue Christmas Without You.

Dad! We did not sing anything!

Nice way to end the semester!

Science of the Air

2010-11-03T13:38:00.000-06:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. We learned the experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). Most of the links to the complete descriptions of the experiments and the products we used connect you to his website. We are not affiliated with this company, but we are raving fans – www.stevespanglerscience.com .

Lesson 3

Science of the Air

Science Standards Addressed:

Observe that things (air) move in different ways.
Describe the characteristics of the 3 states of matter.
Know that air takes up space and exerts a force.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See a similar afterschool science lesson that we did in 2009 at

You Tube Video on the Science of Air

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Something in the Air, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Air that I Breathe, by the Hollies, and Love is Like Oxygen, by Pilot.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow. We snacked on Rice Krispie Treats (both the rice cereal and the marshmallows have many tiny pockets of air). While we ate snack we asked the kids to “describe the properties” of the treats. They had some difficulty coming up with describing words that didn’t have anything to do with how they TASTE! So, we asked them to pretend that they had to describe these treats over the phone to an alien from outer space that did not eat food and had no sense of taste. Now they started using words like sticky, tan, gooey, bumpy, etc. They described the many bubbles, which led to the question, “What is inside bubbles?” Air! We asked them to predict what the topic might be.

While we ate, Madison gave us another hint and snuck in some English Language Arts by reading Gilberto and the Wind, by Marie Hall – a story about Gilberto and his friendship with the wind. The wind can be mean or nice; it takes Gilberto’s toys away, but also plays with bubbles and gives him an apple.

Then Madison read The Wind Blew, by Pat Hutchins – a story about a town where the wind took an umbrella, a balloon, a hat, a kite, a wig, and even more things. Then dropped them down again.

Waterproof Paper Challenge: We gave the kids the challenge of dunking a wad of paper towel COMPLETELY under water for 10 seconds and keeping the paper towel COMPLETELY dry – using only a small cup and a piece of tape. The kids eventually discovered that if they taped the wad of paper towel to the bottom of the cup and submerged it upside down into the water, the bubble of air trapped inside the cup separates the paper towel from the water and keeps the wad from getting wet – having no way to escape the air kept the water from entering. Now - tilt the glass while under water – what happens? See our afterschool Waterproof Paper Engineering Challenge Video on You Tube

Impossible Bottle: We slipped a balloon inside the neck of a special bottle (Impossible Bottle) and stretched the mouth of the balloon over the top of the bottle. A volunteer tried to blow up the bottle, but the balloon won’t inflate because the bottle is already filled with air and there’s NO room for the balloon to expand. Then we removed the stopper that plugged a second hole in the bottle. This time the volunteer could easily blow up the balloon since as the balloon inflates it pushes the air in the bottle out the escape hole. Then when we replace the stopper, the outside air can’t get back in so the balloon STAYS inflated. LOTS of “Woa’s” and “Wow’s” from the kids at that little trick of science! Full Experiment Description

Huff ‘n’ Puff Challenge: We gave the kids an “empty” 1L soda bottle and a small wad of paper towel. They placed the small wad of paper towel into the neck of the bottle. Their challenge was simply to blow the wad of paper INTO the bottle. Remember the bottle is not empty, but is COMPLETELY filled with AIR (takes up space and exerts force)! This definitely falls into the harder than it looks category! As you blow air into the bottle, you force the air that was already in there to blow out the only place it can escape. This escaping air blows the paper ball OUT! Try blowing hard or soft. Try blowing close to the bottle or further away. What do you think would happen if instead of a loose, pea-sized ball you made a more compact spit wad? What if the opening was bigger? What if you created another escape hole? See our afterschool Huff 'n' Puff Challenge Video on You Tube

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Bubbles are great ways to explore air and talk about the three states of matter: solid, liquid, gas. What is a bubble? A bubble is air or another gas surrounded by a thin liquid film of soapy water surrounded by more air. The thin film of soapy water forms three layers – a thin layer of water sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules. On both sides of the layer of water, soap molecules orient themselves so their water-loving (hydrophilic) heads face the layer of water and their water-fearing (hydrophobic) feet extend away from the water.

What causes bubbles to pop? Among other things, rough edges and the oils in our skin. So we gave the kids gloves to wear so they could actually touch, hold, and examine the bubbles.

Bouncing Bubble Kit

Bubbles form because of the surface tension of water – positively-charged hydrogen atoms in one molecule attracted to the negatively-charged oxygen atoms in another molecule. The molecules cling together to enclose the maximum amount of air with the minimum amount of bubble solution. Bubbles become spheres because it is the shape that requires the least energy to form. But we used the stick and ball connectors called ZOME to construct bubbles with forms in shapes like cubes, pyramids, bananas, spirals, flowers, and even a dodecahedron!

Zome Tools

Vortex Generators. Steve’s signature grand finale is shooting giant smoke rings (See his video and description here), so this was the afterschool science club grand finale too! First we bought a cheap 5-gallon bucket, cut a hole in the bottom and fastened a piece of a cheap clear shower curtain over the top with a bungee cord. We have the kids put Styrofoam cups on their heads and we blow them off doughnuts of air created by this small vortex generator – they LOVE it! Then we kick it up a notch and take things outside with the big smoke ring generator made with a large garbage can and the rest of the cheap shower curtain.

We ignite a smoke bomb (the little ones they sell at fireworks stands) and place the hole in the trashcan over the smoke bomb so that smoke fills the trashcan. Then we gently tap the shower curtain and send cool smoke rings out over the cars of parents arriving to pick up their kids.

Ta dah!

Science of the Sun!

2010-10-17T15:44:00.000-06:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach a 1.5-hour afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. We learned the experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). The links to the complete descriptions of the experiments and the products we used connect you to his website – www.stevespanglerscience.com .

Science of the Sun!
Science Standards Addressed:

· Use observation and questioning skills,
· Uses senses to observe surroundings
· Observe how energy does things (solar energy changes UV beads & sun-sensitive paper)
· Observes that the sun warms the land which in turn warms the air
· Knows that the sun is a star

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See a video of a similar afterschool science lesson that we did in 2009 at http://www.youtube.com/user/CCafterschool?feature=mhum#p/c/78621E57C85DFAAB/10/8nBVtFrXrV8

10 minutes

As the children arrived we played Good Day Sunshine, by the Beatles; Here Comes the Sun, George Harrison, Sunshine on my Shoulders, by John Denver, Walking on Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves; and You Are My Sunshine, by Ray Charles.

We had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow. We snacked on Sun Chips and Orange juice, and the oh-so-subtle solar system centerpiece was another clue. We asked them to predict what the topic might be. Most of them shouted “the SUN” right away. Next week we are going to have to make it MORE difficult to predict the topic!

Madison snuck in some English and SPANISH language arts when she read them a poem that she wrote about our topic of the day!

SUN

Hot, Bright

Burning, Heating, Energizing

Sol, Fire, Space, Light

Shining, Twinkling, Sparkling

Estrella, Bright

STAR

To sneak in some MORE literacy, she read Bear Shadow, by Frank Asch – a story about a bear who was outside all day trying to get rid of his shadow because it scared away the fish when we went fishing.

15 Minutes

Pinch and Mix Gel

We learned about primary and secondary colors, while making true masterpieces. We squeezed these colored gels into zip top bags, and then placed them where the sunshine could shine through the window and through the beautiful bags of color. There were lots of “oohs!” and “ahhs!” as the kids squished and squeezed the bags to mix their colors into beautiful stained glass images. Complete Experiment Description

We also snuck in some literacy by having them spell their names and special messages by drawing letters with their fingers on their bags.

We chatted about the sun. Even the kindergarteners already knew that the sun is a star (a second grade standard). We talked about how much energy the sun produces and how that energy can do so many wonderful things like generate electricity, warm houses, and feed plants! We also talked about how that energy can be harmful when overexposure can damage and burn our eyes, our skin, and even our pets. We snuck in some social studies when we described ways that solar energy can help us conserve natural resources.

5 Minutes

We experienced Rainbow Glasses and learned that white light is made of all the colors in the spectrum. These special glasses have lenses that separate light into the colors of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue Indigo, and Violet. When you look through them, funky rainbows appear. It’s a little bit like when water vapor in the air bends and separates sunlight creating a real rainbow.

15 minutes

Nature Print Paper – this paper is coated with light-sensitive chemicals. These chemicals react to sunlight (undergo a chemical change when exposed to sunlight). When you put things like leaves, flowers, or paper clips on the paper and then expose it to direct sunlight for a few minutes, the objects block the light and create a white “shadow” or “negative” while the paper around them stays blue. Then we rinsed them in water for a few seconds to permanently “fix” the images on the paper.

Complete Experiment Description

20 minutes

Cheap Wal-Mart Beads

Madison said, “I had an idea of doing an art project with you. I thought you could make bracelets. I went to the store to buy you some beads with money from my allowance. The colorful beads were too expensive. I could not afford them, so I could only get these white ones.” We made bracelets, and then we took the kids outside. As soon as we got out in the sun they noticed the beds stared to change colors. “Wow!” They were shocked to realize they had been tricked. We explained to them that the cheap white beads were actually ultraviolet (U.V.) light detection beads that change color when exposed to U.V. rays.

U.V. Detection Beads. These beads are very good at detecting and indicating changes in levels of UV radiation. Madison told the group that brown prescription bottles were colored that way to protect our medicine from damaging UV rays. When we put UV beads in the prescription bottle we could see NO color change. Looks like the little brown bottles do a good job!

After we discovered this, we decided to conduct some experiments.

15 minutes

We discussed some of the things people use to block UV rays, like sunglasses and sunscreen. We decided to compare how two different types of sunglasses blocked the UV rays. We predicted that the $5 sunglasses labeled as 100% UV protection would block the sun better than the free kids meal toy sunglasses. We found that the beads protected by BOTH sunglasses were colorless when we removed the glasses. We concluded that more research would be needed to conclude anything!

Sunscreen Experiment - When it comes to sunscreen, there are lots of SPFs (Sun Protection Factors). We thought, “What if we protected the UV beads with different SPF sunscreens.” Since these beads are very sensitive to changes in UV, we decided to conduct an experiment - using the beads to look for differences in how bright the color of the beads would be when exposed to direct sunlight. To find out which sunscreens work best, we collected four strengths of sunscreen (SPF 2, 30, 50 &; 70). First we coated some zip top bags with the difference strengths of sunscreen similar to the way we would apply it to skin. We labeled each bag with the SPF of the sunscreen we applied. Then we placed the bracelets we made into the zip top bags. We put NO sunscreen on one bag for a control. Then we exposed the bags to direct sunlight and observed and recorded the results. We observed a big difference between the SPF 2 and the SPF 70, but NOT a big difference between SPF 30 &; SPF 50. We also observed that ALL sunscreens let some UV radiation through.

Complete Experiment Description

10 minutes
Nature Prints Experiment: We applied sunscreen (the same sunscreen that we applied to the zip-top bags containing UV detection beads) directly to the sun sensitive paper. Again we found that the SPF 50 & 70 were much better at blocking UV rays than the SPF 2, and 30 and ALL sunscreens allowed some UV rays to get through.

Science of Color

2010-09-25T13:40:00.003-06:00

Every week, Madison (my 10-year old daughter) and I teach an afterschool science club for K-2^nd graders. We learned the experiments and activities from Steve Spangler (awesome speaker and science guy extraordinaire). The links to the complete descriptions of the experiments and the products we used connect you to his website – www.stevespanglerscience.com .

Lesson 1

Science of Color, Polymers, and “Sol”

Science Standards Addressed:

· Use observation and questioning skills,
· Describe the relative size of objects,
· Know that matter is made of things to small to be seen with the naked eye (atoms and molecules),
· Conduct simple experiments.

Plus we snuck in some speaking and listening standards like asking questions, expressing ideas, following multi-step directions, and participating in discussions.

See a similar afterschool science lesson that we did in 2009 at http://www.youtube.com/user/CCafterschool?feature=mhum#p/c/78621E57C85DFAAB/8/sewl8TfUgRE

As the children arrived we played the song True Colors, by Cindy Lauper

10 minutes

When the children arrived we played Color Name Game to get to know each other’s names and build a sense of community. Each person in the team thinks of a color that begins with the same letter as their first name (with younger children, a favorite color or ANY color will do). Then they go around the circle clockwise, introducing themselves by their color name and first name. Blue Billy, Red Rebecca, Chartreuse Charlie, Violet Vanessa, etc. Repeat, but this time the first person says their own name, the second person says the first person’s and their own name, the third person says the first two people’s name and their own name, and so on…until the last person attempts to say everyone’s name in order ending with their own name. Repeat this time going counter clockwise.

10 minutes

Next we had a colorful afterschool snack of blueberries, red cherry tomatoes, and green grapes. We told them the game we played and something observable about the traits of the snack were clues about the science topic of the day. We asked them to predict what the topic might be.

While the kids ate, we snuck in some literacy. Madison read White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker – a book about a white rabbit who dips himself into different colored paints and learns about color mixing by dipping himself into different cups of paint. After a shower he dips himself into all the colors and learns that all the colors together make brown.

15 minutes

Then we began the first step of making “Test Tube Rainbows.”

Directions: We filled small plastic cups ¾ full with water and placed 1 tablet of “True Colors! Fizzing Color Tablets” into each cup. We discussed what the kids were observing, made lots of guesses, and asked lots of questions as the fizzing tablets dissolved and the water became red yellow, and blue. We talked about the 3 states of matter and observed that we added a solid to a liquid and created a gas! Then we added about a teaspoon of “Jelly Crystals” - super absorbent polymer crystals.

We discussed how all matter is made up of things that are too small to see with our eyes (atoms and molecules) and that polymers are long chains of molecules.

Then we set the cups aside for an hour to let the crystals fully absorb the water. (Kids could also experiment with how different types of liquid are absorbed).

15 minutes

Then we began the “Is black really black?” experiment.

We filled small plastic cups halfway with water. Near the center of a round piece of filter paper, the kids made small dots of black using black Vis-à-vis (water soluble) markers. They cut green pipe cleaners in half and dipped each piece in water and shook off the excess. This helps jump-start the wicking action. Then we stuck each pipe cleaner through the center of each piece of round filter paper and placed the filter paper over the rim of the cup so that one end of the pipe cleaner was touching the water.

Then we put this experiment aside and worked on the next experiment. Eventually the water was sucked up the wick and drawn into the filter paper. As the water crossed over the black ink it dissolved the ink, and carried it from the center toward the edge of the filter paper. The bursts of colors we observed on the filter paper proved that black is really a combination of colors. The science of chromatography!

20 minutes

While waiting for the crystals to absorb the water and the black to be separated, we worked on our Sharpie Science T-Shirts - an activity similar to the previous chromatography experiment. We made small designs about the size of a quarter on white t-shirts. Then we dropped rubbing alcohol on the designs very slowly. The alcohol spreads across the fibers of the t-shirt and acts as a SOLVENT on the Sharpie ink – producing nice bursts of color. We talked about the meaning of words like disSOLve, and SOLution, SOLid, SOLubility, and SOLvent. It is a science of SOL – tie dyed t-shirt.

To sneak in a little more literacy, while working on our shirts, my Madison read A Rainbow of my Own by Don Freeman, a book about a boy who day dreams about what would happen if a rainbow could stay and play instead of fading away.

10 minutes

Then we continued our Test Tube Rainbow experiment. We observed and described what happened to the super-absorbent polymer crystals – now fully hydrated. We measured and described the relative size of both a dehydrated crystal and an expanded and hydrated globs and compared the two. Then the kids put a layer of red crystals in the bottom of a Baby Soda Bottle, followed by a layer of yellow, then blue and finally a red layer.

At first there are only red-yellow-blue-red layers, but as the colors mix (overnight) the area where the red touches the yellow becomes orange, the area where yellow touches blue becomes green, and the area where blue touches red becomes purple. The next morning the kids can observe their rainbow tubes that now have distinct red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple layers. Sorry indigo and violet!

Play, Brains, & Emotions

2010-08-25T11:33:00.000-06:00

“Children today are under much greater stresses than were children a generation or two ago, in part because the world is a more dangerous and complicated place to grow up in, and in part because their need to be protected, nurtured, and guided has been neglected.” – David Elkind

6,000 children were kicked out of preschool last year – PRESCHOOL! They are hitting and biting each other at a higher rate than ever before. I think a large part of the reason is threat and stress. Their brains are not prepared for growing academic expectations of the new preschool, and the brains instruct their owners to bite out of anger and frustration.

One of the things we know about the brain is how it reacts to threat. When threatened, the sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear, releasing cortisol and sending the individual into a state of fight or flight. Blood is taken away from the BRAIN and internal organs and is given to the extremities, so the individual is prepared to fight or run away quickly and NOT ABLE TO LEARN (Browder, 1984; Jensen, 1998). So, the first thing to do is eliminate threat (the negatives). Possible sources of threat and stress are nagging, scolding, loss of privileges, parent phone calls, sarcasm, high stakes tests, threat of harsh punishment, poor peer relationships, crowded environments, embarrassment, humiliation, inadequate resources, and language/cultural barriers. Eliminating threat makes it possible to learn and creates a condition where brain enrichment and playful learning will work. Then and only then can we work on the positive potential and power of play!

Educators can also teach children about stress and about how to de-stress themselves through time-management, breathing techniques, useful down time, relationships skills, and peer support. We must apply the research that shows that active playful learning with periods of rest, game play, dramatic play, exercise, discussion, positive rituals, celebrations, physical activity, stretching, dance, walking and creative writing are effective ways to reduce threat.

After eliminating threat, we can intentionally elicit more positive emotions. Emotions drive attention and create meaning out of dry facts and information. The brain is like the clay of the potter - shaped and formed. We know that through playful and enriching experiences, the brain will develop a thicker cortex, more dendritic branching, more growth spines, larger cell bodies, more support cells, more blood supply, more neural networks and more intricate connections between neurons.

While the brain is able to set goals, it takes emotion to build the motivation to accomplish those goals. The emotional “binding” or emotional “seasoning” affects of emotions such as happiness surprise or excitement enhances synaptic connections and provides an additional hook for remembering material. “The close emotional attunement derived from play is critical to healthy brain development” (Gunnar, 1996).

Recently my family took a trip to Hawaii. Before our trip I read travel brochures, watched DVD’s, watched travel channel shows, talked to people who had been there, and even read the novel Hawaii by James Michener. I learned a lot from my research. If we had cancelled our trip, I still would have retained some of that knowledge. But then we went there. We played in the sand, swam in the water, touched the plant life, explored tropical spaces, and experienced the emotions that came out of our playful experience in Hawaii. The amount that I learned through the experience far exceeds what I learned from the books, videos, and people who told me about it.

The emotional state of the children is directly related to student learning, so we must facilitate the positive emotions and emotional development. Humans often abuse substances to get to an immediate emotional state which may be more productively attained through playful experiences, successes, friendships, celebrations, community service projects, clubs, dancing, sports, and building positive relationships with peers and adults. We must create programs that provide the environments, relationships and experiences that promote the nurturing of a positive emotional state – playful learning does that. Learning should be intrinsically rewarding - it should be fun.

Play and Self-Discipline - Self-Direction

2010-08-16T07:40:00.000-06:00

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.
Vygotsky said that in play, children do what they feel like because play is connected with pleasure. Early on, play is more about the imaginary situation than the rules

At the same time, they learn to obey rules. Children learn to renounce what they want - obey rules and delay immediate desires in order to experience maximum pleasure in play.

Play continually creates demands on the child to act against immediate impulse. I’m playing hide and seek and I’m IT. I want to run off and seek at once, but the rules of the game order me to wait and count to twenty. Why do I not do what I want, spontaneously and at once? So that I can have fun! Because following the rules of the game provides greater pleasure than the gratification of an immediate impulse.

The will and sense of self-discipline that people develop originates in, and develops from, PLAY with rules. Children exhibit their greatest self-control in play. They achieve the maximum willPOWER by following the rules and resisting temptations to act impulsively. As they grow up and the imaginary situation is removed, the rules remain, and they behave as they did in play. They follow life’s rules as a choice – self-discipline.

There are famous studies of self-control where researchers have a child in a room with a bowl of marshmallows. The researcher tells the child not to eat the candy yet and then leaves the room to observe from behind a two-way mirror. Many children are unable to resist the temptation and eat the marshmallows, others use strategies like sitting on their hands or looking away in order to resist the temptation.

Now imagine another situation. A couple of kids are playing a game, using marshmallows as game pieces. In this game the children are not allowed to eat the marshmallows because they represent something inedible. In play, these children can exhibit enormous self control, and maximize learning when adults are there to scaffold the learning and help them learn more and make life connections.

Play is the primary source of development in children. Children develop positively through play. Play gives children practice figuring out what they want, coming up with goals and ideas – essential skills in self-disciplined adults. In play, children make decisions and determine the course of what happens in the imaginary situation. Play is the essence of childhood learning, the leading activity that determines the child’s development. Self-discipline, the formation of real-life plans, and decision-making motives all appear in play. Play gives children new forms of desires – to their role in the game and its rules. Therefore children’s greatest achievements are possible in play – achievements that tomorrow will become the basis for their life decisions and their morality. From a child development perspective, play is a means of developing the cognitive POWERS of abstract thought and self-discipline.

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Play and Abstract Thought

2010-08-05T18:27:00.001-06:00

In PLAY children learn to think abstractly!

“Through play the child develops abstract meaning separate from the objects in the world which is a critical feature in the development of all higher mental functions.” – Lev Vygotsky

Vygotsky believed that in play, “thought becomes separated from objects” (a stick becomes a horse) and “action begins to be driven by meaning and ideas, not by the objects” (play is driven by the meaning of a horse not the stick). The ability to separate the meaning of horse from a real horse, transfer it to a stick, and really act with the stick as if it were a horse is a crucial transitional stage toward the POWER of abstract thought, a giant leap forward in cognitive development.

In play, children unconsciously and spontaneously make use of the fact that they can separate meaning from an object without knowing they are doing it. For example, children first separate meaning from objects when they play with a stick like a horse. Unconsciously they are exploring metaphor and simile. As this knowledge is internalized they acquire language and abstract thought (the ability to understand how “love is like a red rose”) because they already unconsciously learned that a stick is like a horse.

When my daughter was five, we played the game “adult talk.” We sat on the porch and had “grown-up” conversations – discussing the weather, the kids, the family, the job according to the rules of how grown-ups talk. She would also ask me if I had any high-interest credit card debt or whether I had any stubborn belly fat (sometimes what they learn is TAUGHT, sometimes it is just CAUGHT, in this case from TV). She was unconsciously making use of the knowledge of speaking formally, acting like an adult and having a grown-up conversation. She did not know that she was learning to speak in prose (formal, ordinary written language) – but she was.

Adult life begins in imagination. Play is fertile ground for the development of imagination, but these days there is little time for exercising the imagination, fantasy, or creativity – the mental tools required for success in higher-level math and science (Elkind, 2007) Piaget said, “Play is the answer to the question, How does anything new ever come about?” Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Thomas Edison said, “To be a great inventor, all you need is a good imagination and a pile of junk. When the greatest minds and inventors of our time were asked, “How did you think of that?” They often respond, “Well I was in my lab PLAYING, when I had a thought…” Children practice their thoughts in play. Through play children learn how to think!

Promoting the Potential of Playful Learning

2010-08-04T18:31:00.002-06:00

Potential

“Without Play – without the child that still lives in all of us, we will always be incomplete. And not only physically, but creatively, intellectually, and spiritually as well.” -George Sheehan

Lately I’ve heard a lot of talk about global warming – an eminent “crisis.” I’m more concerned about another crisis – the withering of imagination and creativity, and the entrance of adult-like stress into the world of childhood learning. I am more worried about the loss of childhood than the loss of the ozone layer. Robert Fulgrum wrote a famous book entitled, “Everything I Ever Needed to Know about Life I Learned in Kindergarten.” Robert might have learned life’s lessons in kindergarten, but not so for the kindergarteners of today. Kindergarteners today learn what Robert might have learned in first or second grade. Life skills are not on the tests, so they are eliminated because they are not essential. With children, we are beginning to do things earlier and earlier that we shouldn’t even be doing later. The elimination of physical education, art, and music; the elimination of project based learning in favor of push-down curriculum, standardized teaching, high-stakes testing and the counter-productive focus on “academic achievement” over LEARNING is a threat to our future of our planet. Playful, social, interactive learning is threatened with extinction. Life skills and social skills can help to solve most of the problems we have on our planet. In the environment of learning, if play goes extinct – we can kiss life skills and social skills goodbye. That’s the “inconvenient truth.”

There are people who believe that play is a slothful waste of time – “Idle hands are the Devil’s playground.” I grew up with one - my next door neighbor. He seemed to be lying in wait for a kids to play, so that he could put an end to it. If a ball went into his yard, we would draw straws to decide who had to go into his yard to retrieve it. At best he would just yell at us to get off his lawn, “You’re crushing my GRASS!” A worst he would take the ball away and destroy it.

Play is not the opposite of work. Together, work and play are pleasurable. Play without work is merely entertainment. Work without play is painful. Play is the essence of childhood learning. Playful learning assists children to develop to their maximum potential. Through play children become bigger than themselves – larger than life. They become kings of their own hills, athletes, heroes, magicians, or fairy princesses – beyond their own limits toward maximum potential.

Recently, I was at the beach with my family. My daughter built a sand castle and was playing by herself when a boy approached and asked if he could play too. She agreed and for a while they both played by her rules. Then the plot changed when the boy announced that the castle was on fire and poured a bucket of water on it – firefighter to the rescue. My daughter was not happy about this turn of events, and the partial destruction of the castle, but she played along. She rebuilt part of the castle and then decided to introduce a person to this situation and took out a Barbie-type doll – the princess. A few minutes later the boy poured water on her doll and announced, “She’s drowning” – once again the plot thickens! My daughter snatched her princess up and clutched her close. At this the boy begged and pleaded her to let the princess drown, promising “this time I’ll save her!” As their play continued I thought about how many things they were potentially learning about in this situation – conflict, pleasure, heroism, love, drama, destruction, construction, and making the best of whatever the tide brings in!

When children are playing at being a fire fighter, they are not learning to fight fires; rather, they are learning how to relate to people in diverse situations, how to adapt, how to think, how to make decisions, how to form relationships, how to generate possibilities, and how to guide their own behavior. They learn how to make decisions and plans – in fact they often spend more time planning the roles of the imaginary situation than actually playing the game. Through play, children become wonderful learners. Through play, children learn how to learn.

Lev Vygotsky's concept of a zone of proximal development (зона ближайшего развития) or ZPD is the gap - the distance between their actual developmental level (what children can do on their own) and their level of POTENTIAL development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers (what children can do with help). It is the level of actual development that a standardized test measures. Two children might have the same level of actual development, in the sense of being able to solve the same number of problems on some standardized test. But, given appropriate help from an adult or another child, one child might be able to solve an additional dozen problems while the other child might be able to solve only three more.

Vygotsky states “… play creates the zone of proximal development of the child. In play a child is always above his average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. As in the focus of a magnifying glass, play contains all developmental tendencies in a condensed form; in play it is as though the child were trying to jump above the level of his normal behavior.”

Speaking of being a head taller…I was at Disneyland a while ago. At the entrance to many rides was a sign that said, “You must be this tall to ride this ride.” I watched as children stood as straight and tall as they could; they poofed up their hair, they put on a hat, they stood on their tippy toes; they tried to be bigger than they are in order to have fun and play. In schools, we do not say you must be this tall – be at this developmental level to start school. We say you must be five years old by September 1st to enter Kindergarten. Imagine two children at the same actual level of development. Johnny turns five on August 31 and Amanda turns five on September1. Amanda starts first grade while Johnny has another year to play and develop. Within a few weeks, Amanda is being tested for dyslexia, developmentally delayed syndrome and a special education program. Johnny starts kindergarten the following year in within a few weeks he is labeled as gifted!

The theory of a ZPD argues that children develop best, not through unaccompanied passive learning (on their own), but through social interaction and collaborative problem-solving (with help). Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone. Playful and interactive learning drives children beyond their actual level of development. Through play children develop MORE - towards a greater POTENTIAL.

ABC’s of professional, purposeful, and powerful programming practices!

2010-08-03T08:28:00.002-06:00

These ABC’s are philosophical foundations. They are new and powerful paradigms. Paradigms are like mental models that we all have about the way things should be done in afterschool programs. These ABC’s might challenge the paradigms or mental models that you might carry in your own mind. We challenge you to consider these shifts and the way you may think about how afterschool programs should be.

Autonomy

Autonomy is the ability to act independently, to be self-governing. Autonomy is a paradigm shift away from “herding.” Many in the afterschool profession view themselves as herders of children. After school, they herd children into an area where they take attendance, then they herd children into an area in which to “graze” on graham crackers and juice, then they herd them into an area where they all sit quietly and work on their homework, then they herd them into an adult-controlled activity or onto the playground for free play until their parents arrive.

In order for kids to build a sense of autonomy, they must feel that the program community values and appreciates them. They must be given useful roles in the program. They must be involved in service to others. Children plan and follow through with activity choices that have meaning for them. Children with autonomy have a strong sense of identity, sense of purpose and personal power. Adults see themselves as facilitators of children’s dreams and ideas. Children with autonomy are not controlled by adults – they are “self disciplined.”

Autonomy is a paradigm shift away from an “adult-controlled” philosophy. When we try to control children through power and punishment, children learn only to avoid our penalties. They become good at being sneaky and avoiding getting caught. The long-term consequences of over-supervision are children who cannot think and make decisions for themselves.

Children must learn to control their own behavior. To develop self-discipline, children must be given the opportunity to take risks without the fear of failure, and they must learn to try things repeatedly in order to succeed. If we do not give children the autonomy to solve their own problems, we cannot expect them to become independent problem solvers. Self-discipline has a positive effect on self-esteem, teaching children that they are significant and have autonomy and control over their own lives.

Belonging

In the past decade children have lost 16 hours per week of unstructured free time. It is no wonder children are suffering from the same stress-related illnesses as busy adults. Children these days are being forced perform well on tests and to grow up too fast, and this pressure makes it difficult for children to build strong relationships. To become happy and successful adults, children need a sense of belonging and membership.

Play fosters belonging. Playfulness is a paradigm shift away from “busy-ness.” Play is more than having fun, more than resting; it is the essence of childhood learning. When children play and have fun in afterschool programs they remember what they learn better. What we learn with pleasure, we never forget. When children and staff play together they develop a strong sense of belonging and a strong sense of community.

Belonging is a paradigm shift away from “activity-led” programming. Activity-led philosophies create a curriculum that is centered on the activities without attention to purpose, to the ethical dimension of community building, thus missing an opportunity to facilitate the social development of the child. Community building must be built into intentional programming in the environment, relationships, and experiences. It involves leadership sharing, teaching caring behaviors, teaching altruism, and teaching empathy. Every decision that children make is filtered through the understanding of who they are and how they fit in to the group. Giving children in our programs useful roles, meaningful work and tasks to accomplish builds a strong sense of community and belonging and membership to the group.

Competencies

To succeed in life, children must acquire adequate behaviors, and skills = competencies. Skills such as planning, decision-making, resistance skills, health skills, social, emotional, intellectual, and physical competencies are crucial. Poor social skills are linked to a number of problems in adolescence and adulthood including delinquency, school suspensions, truancy, dropout rates, and mental health problems.

Afterschool programs have a unique opportunity to facilitate the development of crucial competencies. Building competencies is a paradigm shift away from “sophistication.” People often exclaim how children are “so much more mature now than in the past.” What they actually mean is that children are more sophisticated or precocious. They know so much more about sex, drugs, and the dark side of human behavior or “street smarts.” This is sophistication, not maturity. This sophistication comes from the rapid bombardment of adult information freely accessed through television, the Internet, and developing technology. Adults must help children to develop the skills needed to process adult information and formulate ethical questions. Children develop competencies through interactions with others under the guidance of mature adults.

Social competencies can be taught formally and informally. Staff can sit kids down and describe the skill and provide opportunities to practice the skill through activities, skits, or role plays. Staff can also teach skills informally using the teachable moment in a natural setting – teaching conflict resolution when a conflict occurs, or teaching patience skills when a lack of patience occurs. Be intentional – design the environment, relationships, and experiences of your program in a way that strategically targets specific developmental outcomes for children and staff.

Think about the competencies your children need to learn at their unique stage of development, and design your activities around teaching that skill, OR think about what skills are needed or can be taught through an activity you already enjoy and incorporate specific skill building into the activity. Make the continual development of skills a powerful part of the culture of the entire afterschool organization. Ensure all of your activities have a purpose – building autonomy, belonging, and competencies.

For more information visit: www.childrens-choice.org/training.html