Stem Bird Blocks - Science and Engineering

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Stem Bird Blocks are designed for young children to help them explore and invent. Using Science and Engineering Blocks they will learn construction ideas using the included screwdrivers, reels, hooks and scoops.   The blocks are excellent for either individual play or in small groups with children co-operating and sharing ideas.  The use of the screwdriver will help children develop fine motor skills.

The kit contains 116 ABS plastic pieces.  There are bright coloured blocks, wheels, screws, hooks and reels.

Included in the box is also project cards to help little minds get inspiration!

All the parts are included in a large plastic container for easy storage.   

The blocks are designed for children aged 4-5 in a preschool STEM environment and are compatible with other popular building blocks.

Suggested Lessons and Outcomes

1. Construction Site

Give the children some pictures of construction sites alongside the project cards.  Discuss the jobs that the vehicles do and how they might work.

Questions to ask - What are these machines? What do they do?  How would you start making one?  How would it move a heavy rock?  What safety rules would the driver need?

Words to use - construction, excavator, truck, screw, wobbly, safety

2. Get Moving

Make a vehicle using wheels and a dump tray. See if the children can make a solution for moving a 'large' load over a distance.  

Questions to ask - What problems did you face when making the truck? Who can make a truck to move the most at once? (count out how many bricks it can fit). 

Words to use - stacking, wheels, truck, movement, balance, estimate, workers, transport

2. Lift it up!

Set the children a goal of constructing a vehicle to lift a block from one location to another.  Ask them to identify how to get the brick off the ground and to swing it to another location or lift it to another level.  

Questions to ask - Can one vehicle do many different jobs?  What happens if you add wheels?  What is the difference between a stationary crane and a mobile one?

Words to use - crane, mobile, stationary, pully, leaver, pull, drop, lift, rotate

EYLF (with Examples) (Early Years)

1.1 Children feel safe, secure, and supported 

1.2 Children develop their emerging autonomy, inter-dependence, resilience and sense of agency 

1.4 Children learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect

4.1 Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity

4.2 Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

4.3 Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another

4.4 Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials.

5.1 Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

5.2 Children engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts

5.3 Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media

5.4 Children begin to understand how symbols and pattern systems work

5.5 Children use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking