The Community Helper I chose for E is Engineer; mainly because that is what their Daddy is. He is a computer engineer though, and I couldn't think of much to do with that! However there are many, many other types of engineers! To me an engineer would be someone who applies scientific and mathematical knowledge to design something with a purpose. That may be a bit simplified, but it works pretty well.
We did a few activities that would address a few of the engineers. First we were Electrical Engineers exploring Static Electricity.
Then we were Chemical Engineers changing one of our favorite chemical reactions with different ingredients (Controlled Fizz).
And last we were Structural Engineers. For this I gave the girls a task, to build the biggest tower they could out of blocks. First they were to try single blocks; I had to specify this because they immediately started putting them in square shapes, and I wanted them to see the effect of no support. Of course the first tower came crashing down!
Then I had them try different shapes to see if they could find one more sturdy. They tried pyramids, 2 stacks of blocks beside each other, and also squares of four blocks. All of these were sturdier then the first tower, but the squares of four were the sturdiest by far!
They added a tower of single blocks on top of it, and then we shook it a little. The single blocks fell, but most of tower remained.
They also helped their Daddy put together Eli's wall tracks, so I am sure that fits into engineering somewhere.
Those are great activities - your family must be really good with scientific experiments with your backgrounds so I look forward to following your blog and finding some more ideas.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy hands on science activities, so I am sure you will saee a lot of them! Thanks for visiting!
DeleteThis is AWESOME! My kids would love this...thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI hope they have a great time with it! Thanks for visiting!
DeleteI don't know if you ever let your kids watch any television but there is a great program that had a good engineering episode.
ReplyDeleteI only allow my daughter a miniscule amount of tv time and I monitor it very closely, we really enjoy Sid the Science kid and the lessons we see there. Alice and I have since tried some of the experiments on there and done some additional exploring of our own. Alice is almost 3 and is even using some of the language (explore, compare, similar, elasticity and investigate to name a few)I usually don't advocte tv for little ones but I feel that this show is really well done, they use the correct language but bring the experiments to the level that is with in the understanding for the preschool/preK/ Kindergarten crowd.
My girls really don't watch a lot of tv, but I may see if I can find specific episodes if they go along with a topic. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteI love that you are including all different kinds of "community helpers" in this series. I think it is so wonderful to expose kids to all sorts of careers as they grow up. Gives them so many interests and options to explore!
ReplyDeleteThe girls are so interested in what other people do all day, so this seemed appropriate! Thanks for visiting!
DeleteThat wall track is so awesome!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Nicole! All the kids and the kitten love it!
DeleteOh, how fun!! My husband is an electrical engineer so that is immediately what I thought of when I saw your title. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!
ReplyDeletelol So many engineers! It is so difficult to describe what engineer even means! Thanks for visiting!
DeleteReally cute ideas! Thanks for sharing on Monday Kid Corner (www.mondaykidcorner.blogspot.com).
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and hosting!
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