Full STEAM Ahead

Here’s a riddle, What do bubbles, pennies, maple syrup, string, marshmallows, empty shampoo bottles, grocery bags, and plastic pigs all have in common? If you said all of these words are plural nouns, you would be correct, and should perhaps consider a career in teaching English. If you said all of these things sound like fun to play with, you would also be correct, and should go round up some of this stuff right now, and see what you can create before your mom finds out you are raiding the kitchen cabinet.  If you said that all of these things can be used in the name of scientific discovery, you would ALSO be correct, but you clearly have a unique way of processing things.

Over the month of July, the kids of Shepherd Park had a blast making crazy bubble prints, building and tossing parachutes made from grocery bags, mixing all manner of strange household liquids, assembling water crafts for plastic pigs, and designing outlandish constructions from marshmallows, string and spaghetti.

Did all of our experiments turn out precisely as we had predicted. Well, not exactly. But did we learn from our failures? You bet we did. We learned that when you mix just about every color in the universe together, you get a color resembling greenish mud.  We learned that when a paper plate carries too much water on top, the yacht-ride you just promised your plastic pig turns into a brisk swim.  We learned that big marshmallows are better than small marshmallows for holding sticks together, and that they are also slightly tastier.  We also learned that when you use up all the bubble solution and try to disguise having used up all the bubble solution by pouring a bunch of water into the container, you’re not fooling anyone. 

But if you missed out on all the marshmallow madness and flotation frenzy in July, never fear. Our August line-up promises to be just as mesmerizing, amusing, messy, and packed with opportunities for scientific discovery, both intentional and accidental.        
Here’s the August lineup. Drumroll please…..

The Science of Sound, Saturday, August 2 at 3:30 p.m.
Chemical Bounce, Saturday, August 9 at 3:30 p.m.
Tornado in  Jar!!!, Saturday, August 16 at 3:30 p.m.
Make and meet the amazing Dancing Oobleck, Saturday, August 23 at 3:30 p.m.

Looking for awesome and hilarious picture books about the trials, challenges and rewards of the scientific process?   
Check out these new titles, available through DC Public Library!