#babipurSTEM – Periodic Table

It’s 150 years next week since the birth of the Periodic table! We have a passion for science and cannot resist doing a themed challenge to celebrate. This fortnight’s challenge is to simply explore the periodic table with your curious children.

What is the periodic table?

The periodic table is a list of ALL the elements known to humankind organised into little groups determined by their chemical properties. We’ve used the metaphor of ‘family and friends’ to explain this to our boys.

The position of each element in the table is determined by its atomic number, which is how many protons it has. For example hydrogen has 1 proton, helium has 2 and lithium has 3. The periodic table is a good way to reinforce number patterns and understanding of values for preschoolers.

STEMspiration

We’ve got stuck right in to this challenge and had a go at building different elements with Okonorm modelling clay and the Organyc cotton buds. This is a brilliant activity to cover multiple age ranges. It is a nice and simple sensory play experience for toddlers whilst still posing a challenge for both preschoolers and school age children.

Here we have 3 different elements from 3 different ages, this activity can easily be done at home and you could even use cocktail sticks and marshmallows in place of clay and cotton buds!

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 your little ones making learning fun with the periodic table as the theme. Use the tag #babipurSTEM so we can find your entries and on Instagram don’t forget to tag @babipur too!

Multiple entries are always encouraged and we’ll post some STEMspiration for you over the fortnight. The challenge will run for 2 weeks and entries will count from today up to Wednesday 13th March 2019 at 11am. Both the winner and the next challenge will be announced shortly after.

What’s the prize?

This fortnight we’ve chosen the Okonorm modelling clay in your choice of colours (stock dependent) as the prize. This is great for improving muscle tone and fine motor skills. It’s lovely and pliable and is perfect for little hands. We’re also going to add the Organyc 200 cotton buds as they are such a useful zero waste addition to your home and not just for the bathroom either! Cotton buds are great for painting with, crafting and building atoms; the building blocks of life.

You can find a blog post >here< explaining the concept of STEM if you’re unfamiliar with the idea. Please feel free to ask us any questions, this challenge is all about having fun whilst exploring a simple theme in an educational way.

We can’t wait to see what you all come up with for this challenge. We love looking through your entries and seeing how you make learning fun with Babipur!

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