Babipur STEM: Magnets
#babipurSTEM
New Challenge
This fortnight’s challenge is Magnets and there is lots to explore. As usual you can use a mix of Babipur goodies, natural treasures or even raid your recycling bin! We love seeing how creative you get.
This theme can be tailored to suit any age frame and there are plenty of Babipur toys to help you along the way. We stock a wide range of magnetic toys. We’ve got the beautiful Grimm’s Magnetic Puzzles, a huge range of Tegu, Alphabet animal magnets and the fabulous Wodibow Woonki to name a few.
Simply put, magnets work by attracting and repelling. These forces push and pull all around us creating invisible magnetic fields. From fridge magnets to MRI scanners to the Earth itself, they all follow the same basic principles.
We love using the Grimm’s tunnel pieces as its versatility is brilliant. We used ours (pictured above) to show Gauss’s Law of magnetism. The Tegu block in the middle represents a bar magnet and we’ve highlighted the North and South Poles with coloured yarn. Then we’ve used tunnel pieces from the Grimm’s natural and Gwawr rainbows to show the magnetic fields created.
STEMspiration
An idea to start you off is to set your little ones a challenge to find what is magnetic in and around your house. Radiators, fridges, washing machines might seem fairly obvious once they figure it out but there’s lot more to explore pretty safely! You can discuss why some metals attract and others do not.
Another idea is to make beautiful mandalas representing magnetic fields and get really creative with some STEM themed art! There’s a huge crossover where science meets Art and it’s lovely to get little and not so little ones thinking artistically whilst learning through play.
How do you enter?
All you have to do is post a picture or video on your public Instagram account or in the Babipur Hangout Group on Facebook showing you and your little ones making learning fun with STEM exploring the topic of magnets. Use the tag #babipurSTEM so we can find your entry and on Instagram don’t forget to tag @Babipur too!
Multiple entries are encouraged and we’ll post some more STEMspiration for you over the fortnight.
The challenge will run for 2 weeks and entries will count from today up to Wednesday 21st November 2018 at 11am. Both the winner and the next challenge will be announced later that day.
What’s the prize?
The prize this fortnight is the rather dashing Wodibow Woonki. A lovely magnetic figure which can be dismantled and reassembled with ease. Woonki is also incredibly strong and will stick to anything magnetic, make sure to keep it out of your cutlery drawer or away from your toaster!
We look forward to seeing what you all get up to with this fortnight’s challenge and hope you can make learning fun with Babipur!
#loveBabipur
Love this, however field lines don’t make that shape outside a magnet. They should form closed loops. Don’t want kids to get a misconception, turn the rainbow up the other way.