A Peek Inside Our Playroom: STEM/STEAM Cart Inspiration

With our first snowstorm and official snow day behind us, we are about to embark on Winter Break here. I look forward to the time with both boys at home and it is also an adjustment for everyone. I spent a bit of time each day this week working on small household projects to get Winter Break ready here. One of those projects was a much needed make-over to our STEM/STEAM Cart! This was an addition to our playroom set up just about a year ago and since then, it has housed many activities, toys and materials until, more recently, it became a bit of a storage space and dumping ground, abandoned in its little space beside our toy shelf. It also became the temporary home of our Chanukah menorah and each night, as I watched the oil cups glow, I was reminded again (and again, and again) that I really wanted to revamp our drawers and infuse the life and light back into them. I wanted them to be accessible to both boys. I wanted them to be a bit more open-ended and contain a variety of loose parts they could use either on their own or in conjunction to build, create and tinker. And I wanted this project to be as quick and easy as possible...so I gathered some ideas and materials from the ever inspiring face behind Pocket of Preschool and set to work stocking our Winter Themed STEAM Cart. Are you ready for the grand reveal?

Drawers are stocked with pattern blocks, winter straws, cotton balls, small building blocks, recycled cardboard tubes, wooden craft sticks... I'm big on using what you have on hand, whether it's small manipulatives, recycled materials or craft and household items. These particular drawers are more "open-ended." While some materials (like the pattern blocks or wooden blocks) might be used on their own to build, create and design, the boys are encouraged to use more than one material at a time if and when they choose to engineer things of their own imagining or to work with ideas from Pocket of Preschool's Winter themed "I Can Build" book (a small version is provided in the pattern blocks drawer and I have a larger laminated book in our "Read, Write and Record" drawer). 

Our playdough drawer houses the boys' silly putty and kinetic sand, but also is home to our new batch of snow white sparkly playdough (I'll share a recipe along with activities for this in the future) and some basic playdough tools we always use, like rolling pins, cookie cutters, plastic knives and trays. If the thought of having playdough and messy sensory activities within child reach is utterly terrifying to you, know that both of my boys can reach this drawer and both also know that the activity needs to be asked for first and taken to a table space. It is also OK not to include your playdough and sensory activities in an accessible set up like this and to substitute in something else.

Math activities are often kind of left out of many STEM/STEAM setups. Why are we so frightened of math? Goodness knows I had my own baggage with math classes coming out of my school years and into adulthood. Now I have a preschooler who is quite fascinated by number concepts and quite talented with them. I'd love for his self concept with math to stay as positive as it is now, so I include creative and age appropriate play and learning opportunities to explore and expand on these concepts at home. This unifex cube activity is an adaptation from Pocket of Preschool's Winter Math & Literacy Centers. It encourages measurement using a variety of tools including rulers, unifex cubes and printed/laminated snowball rulers. That being said, S's favorite activity right now with unifex cubes is building "shooters." All building and playing is learning...

 Literacy is not a target included in the STEM/STEAM concept (STELM just doesn't have the same ring, I guess...) but it is an element of learning and development I include in all play areas of our home. Our "Read, Write and Record" drawer houses a larger format "I Can Build" book with pictures and text to inspire projects and ideas (not shown), a selection of printed templates to draw/dictate and/or write about buildings and ideas, some blank graph paper for "blueprints" and a tray of pencils and colored pencils. The boys can also bring in art and writing materials from our Art and Writing Center shelves if they'd like. Printed templates can be a great resource (I will link to these resources further down) but you certainly don't need to create these or purchase and print them. You can also simply provide blank graph paper or a clipboard and paper or a notebook or journal for these purposes. You can make your own "I Can Build" books using photos and pictures of actual buildings and objects or photos taken of your children's creations and buildings. How cool would it be to have your own family book or poster of child-created work? Drawing about buildings and creations made with the loose parts and materials in our STEAM cart also incorporates the art element of "STEAM." It is a great way to preserve the work and creativity of play even past the time that something needs to be deconstructed and put away for later use. I've found that both in my classrooms and in my home, an option to take a photo of or to draw about a creation helps a child to move through the difficult transition of having to put away the materials at clean up time.

Loose parts come in all shapes and sizes. We think about building with children on kind of a medium sized scale much of the time. Wood blocks, Duplos/Legos, Magnetiles and so forth... But what about loose parts on a larger or smaller scale for use in STEM/STEAM activities? Small drawers are not a space suited for larger items, though I currently have a large wicker basket stocked with some incredible recycled tubes that were gifted to me by an early childhood educator friend and little hands do love lifting and maneuvering large objects! Y in particular loves activities that involve heavy lifting and rearranging so I try to have a larger scale building option out (so we can spare the furniture). And on the other end of that spectrum are small loose parts for tinkering and designing. Inspired by this great "Build a Snowflake Tinker Tray" from What Can We Do with Paper and Glue, I set up our Invitation to Build a Snowflake drawer. I stocked the bottom with some cool colored shades of felt rectangles and squares that can be used as both a background and work mat. I raided my medicine cabinet, toolbox and craft drawers for the rest. A dollar store muffin tin is now stocked with hexagon nuts, glass gems and mosaic tiles, sea glass, q-tips and cotton rounds. The boys could stop there and create or design to their heart's content. They could also work with these materials on the light table or include materials from some of the other drawers (like the straws or wooden craft sticks).

A completely new setup like this does require some introduction and instruction. I let the boys discover the drawers on their own (which conveniently also caused that night's bedtime tantrum because they were discovered ten minutes before it was time to go upstairs and get into pajamas). I also use the drawers individually or in combination for Morning Work/Table Time activities. I show the boys how to take the whole drawer out and carry it with two hands to the rug or table. I show them how to put them away when they are done. When materials are used in a way I didn't predict or expect, I try to be open-minded and supportive. If they need something to add, I try to assist. If they dump out the contents and use the drawers as hat (yes, this happened) I try to redirect to our hat collection and steer the activity back toward a more functional outlet.

When the drawers begin to get a bit stale, it's time to shift gears. This might mean engaging in play and exploration with the materials to reignite interest. It might mean demonstrating and modeling novel activities with the materials already there. It might mean changing out a few of the drawers and swapping parts. You can assess burnout and loss of interest in a few ways. Either children will stop playing with what is there or they may begin to play with it in dysfunctional ways (dumping, being silly/rough with materials). While I did do a complete overhaul with our drawers this time, I almost never do that in any play area or set up. I prefer to shift things in and out more gradually as, in general, this is more conducive to the flow of creativity and exploration in my home and classrooms.

If you'd like to set up your own STEM/STEAM discovery area, here are a few things to consider:

• Don't break the bank: There are so many toys and manufactured products (even subscription programs) to encourage STEM activities in schools and at home. It's a great era to live in. However, these can be pricey and many of them are limited in their functionality. While building manipulatives are great for so many areas of development, they often can be used in only one or a few ways and while some are always loved (in this house that includes Magnetiles and Legos), some get stale more quickly. Secondhand shops are great places to find good quality building manipulatives and toys if you do wish to incorporate those. Recycling bins are also a great place to look for loose parts to include. And don't forget nature! Rocks, pine cones, sticks and stones are all fabulous in play and learning.
• Short on space or don't have the drawers? You do not need to have a set up identical to this one. You can store materials in baskets or shoeboxes or small bins. You also don't need to have 10 drawers' worth of materials out! Just a few will do. Check out a more comprehensive list of ideas for loose parts to use in play and STEAM activities on this post I published for Fantastic Fun & Learning.
• The Art of Timing: Having royally missed the mark here this past week, I will make a note of timing when it comes to introducing a new setup and on STEAM exploration in general. Make sure you have allotted enough time for your children to engage in their activity. S having discovered this right before bedtime was a recipe for disaster. You want to allow for enough time for children to discover and explore the materials. And, that said, if they lose interest after a few minutes or want to move on to something else, that's also OK. Different days and energy levels and moods dictate different play styles. When it is time to transition, I try to provide adequate prompts and reasonable options for cleaning up or writing/recording along with reminders that the materials will still be there later and can be used again. One of the greatest aspects of loose parts play in STEAM activities is that the materials are not "used up" through the process, but rather are available again and again to create and explore. 

For the printable resources I used in our STEAM cart, visit teacherspayteachers.com and check out these materials from Pocket of Preschool:

• STEM I Can Build Cards and Anchor Charts
• Winter Math & Literacy Centers
• Winter STEM I Can Build Anchor Chart and Books

You certainly do not need to purchase these (or anything) to set up something similar in your home or classroom. Many times I create or make my own printables and activities. There are also many free resources online or at your library. Sometimes I want to save some time and cut some corners and when I do, I love to support another educator in the process. TpT shops frequently offer sales on products as well, and I take advantage of this.

Stay tuned as we get Winter Break ready here for a post on updates to our Writing Center, a great new Wintry playdough recipe, some snowy day fun  to take outdoors (or inside) and a grand reveal to our Winter Story Stretchers Playcamp, featuring 10 of my very favorite Winter themed children's books and fun play and learning activities to go with them. Until then...

Happy Playing!