It’s that time of year. The sun is out longer, the end of school is in sight, and flowers are blooming everywhere. It’s time to GET OUTSIDE and get your Outdoor science on! Where do you start?
Head to your bookshelf!
That’s right, inspiration for how to imagine, invent and discover great outdoor science is right there among the books.
What are you interested in? Bugs? Moths? Birds? Cool!
Check out a few of these books.
What about doing some FUN activities while you’re outside? Then check out the entire Outdoor School series!
Or perhaps you have more of a technology bent and want to understand how animals and technology go together.
Don’t forget to notice all of the cool engineering around you! In fact, do some of the activities in these awesome books to experience it!
Finally, what if you are just inspired to invent something? Try out these fun books
For MORE great ideas of how to use STEM/STEAM books to enhance fun outdoors,
check out our STEM Tuesday Blog, which has almost FIVE years worth of activities for kids/parents/teachers —
and also STEAMTEAMbooks website which highlights new STEM/STEAM books from 2020 to 2022!
Listen to an Expert and Go On a Water Walk
Dr. Kelsey Leonard, of the Shinnecock Nation gives a talk on the award-winning podcast, Solve It for Kids!
CHALLENGE:
Go on a Water Walk! Pick a body of water near your house and go with your parents on a walk safely along the water. Take time to notice things about the water. Does it flow? Is it still? What color is the water? Does it look healthy? Are there a lot of plants around it, etc? Also, spend time just breathing and thinking about the water. Listen to it, too.
Now that your interest has been piqued, it’s time to DO something with your new knowledge.
Your challenge is to observe, draw, and get outside to explore! Here are a few suggestions:
- Come up with a new type of animal– one that doesn’t exist but you think it should
- Design a new type of bionic robot that mimics the way an animal moves or reacts that would be helpful to humans
- Draw a picture of a car or building that would be awesome to drive or live in
- Write a story about your creation and share it with your friends and family
- Make a game or puzzle for others to try to guess what you drew
- Turn your backyard or living room into a new type of ecosystem and take everyone on a safari
Science really IS all around you. It starts with your imagination. Time to let that imagination and inspiration SOAR!
I’d love to see what you come up with.
Enjoy the outdoors and Happy Science-ing!
Fun it up! You can’t read Superpower Field Guides – Ostriches by Rachel Poliquin and illustrated by Nicholas John Frith without enjoying the humor. I challenge you to find a single spread that doesn’t make you smile or chuckle.
Follow an Individual: In Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, Phillip Hoose gives readers a case study. Sure he presents technical information on data collection, life history, and conservation, but he does so through the lens of an observer (himself) spying on the life of one bird (B95). This does double duty, sucking readers in and letting them migrate with the birds, further supporting the scientific concepts.
Make it high concept: If listeners “get” your project with a single sentence pitch, it is high concept. Rebecca Hirsch’s Where Have All The Birds Gone? Nature in Crisis presents a problem that readers care about. Couple that with a sensory-filled opening scene, shocking examples, plus tips to empower young readers, and you may just get that acceptance letter.
Tell a Tale to Build to a Big Idea: In The Triumphant Tale of The House Sparrow, Jan Thornhill starts with a shocker: “Behold the most despised bird in human history.” Throughout the book, she uses storytelling devises like a trail of doors open just a crack to lure readers deeper and deeper into complexity: “At first, American was house sparrow heaven. At least for a while.” She builds tension: “A battle cry arose. The house sparrow had to be stopped.” She tells a tale that leads to an idea which will stick with readers: The power of resilience.
Get Personal: Sy Montgomery takes a personal approach when writing Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur. This unique approach appeals to readers who might not appreciate the same information presented in a more traditional expository fashion. Great writers experiment with different approaches to reach more readers.
Get Graphic: Sure Kyla Vanderklugt’s Crows: Genius Birds takes advantage of kids’ love of visual storytelling for the narrative, but it maximizes on that approach by using it to present expository information such as a family tree of corvids. When an author or illustrator can use one device to serve two purposes, that’s gold!