Want to maximize in-school STEM learning? Find ways to make science, engineering and math lessons part of your students’ out-of-school routine. From increased attendance and graduation rates to more opportunities to develop social and emotional learning skills, the research is clear: incorporating learning time with out-of-school and family time is a sure way to set your learners up for success.
Integrating STEM learning into family time has countless benefits for family units and learners. By incorporating hands-on STEM learning and activities you can forge stronger bonds and foster open lines of communication among family members. Collaborating on problem-solving challenges and engaging in interactive experiments promotes teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity – essential skills for the future. This kind of family learning also cultivates a lifelong love for discovery, fuels curiosity, and nurtures a growth mindset in both kids and adults.
From families with learners of all ages to out-of-school facilitators, our free EiE Families activities are sure to provide opportunities you need for STEM learning at home and on-the-go.
Anywhere you are, you can turn into a STEM learning moment. With our on-the-go activities, it takes only a few minutes to engineer some fun! Inspired by classic games like I Spy and Charades, each activity is sure to spark family conversations. Use them while traveling or waiting in line to learn about the technologies all around us and the types of engineers who design them.
With at home activities, like Bye Bye Bug and Sounds of Celebration, which require a bit more space and time, you’ll be challenged to design solutions to everyday problems. What will you design? A zip line? A speaker? A slow-drip watering system? These activities are a great way for your family to develop skills like critical thinking, communication, creativity, and persistence while having a lot of fun!
If you’re looking to engage your community in STEM learning, try hosting a STEM event. In “Get Down!”, a free group activity from our EiE for Families collection, you can encourage your learners and their families to help characters Makayla and her dad, Andre, engineer a solution to get down a drone that is stuck in a tree. Participants will step into the roles of the parent-child duo Andre and Makayla as they work collaboratively to engineer their own solutions to retrieving a drone from a tree.
Whether at-home, on-the-go, or at a community event, the benefits of extending STEM learning beyond the classroom are countless, beneficial, lasting, and impactful. Share these activities with your learners and their families and watch them get the most out of STEM lessons the next time you’re in the classroom!
Discover EiE Families today. Available in English and Spanish.
