#babipurSTEM – Space

This fortnight we’re exploring the theme SPACE! We know lots of you are in the middle of Easter holidays so we hope you can get creative with your little and not so little ones over the next two weeks.
Space, is a theme we’re going to explore again in the future because it offers so many STEM opportunities as it always seems to capture the imagination with kids (and adults!)
STEMspiration
We thought we’d head straight for the stars with our first activity and learn about the different constellations. We talked about hemispheres first and learned that the UK is in the Northern hemisphere and the set of stars we see differ to those our family see in New Zealand. We picked out the North Star as it’s easy to spot in the night sky and then our children chose their favourites to interpret. We used the Grapat mandala pieces for this, which are ever so handy for little visuals.

We’ve added some graphics to make a pretty flat lay but we’ve had lots of fun drawing these out with crayons and tracing outlines in sand and rice. Lots of opportunities to recreate this one with alternative materials, toys and for all ages too. Our eldest created his on his own and set it up like a dot-to-dot, which was a big hit with his little brother who is learning his numbers!


To the Moon and back
The moon is often the subject of fascination in our house and it’s great for a bit of STEM. Gravity, tides, the lunar calendar, orbits the list is endless.
We got the Okonorm modelling clay out and explored the varying shapes of the different moon phases. Lots of new terminology for older children too; full moon, waxing crescent, gibbous moon. We touched on constellations again and the moon zodiacs. Lots of chat while we fiddled around with clay and it’s great for muscle tone in little hands. We found the small Grapat hoops are a fab size to mould the clay into the desired ‘moon’ shape too!

We couldn’t resist a themed bed time story either or pulling down our beautiful needle felted Moon creation from the lovely Emily Prowse to demonstrate what the full moon looks like in a dark blue sky.
We think the lovely Peepul Moon Phases Peg Doll set would be perfect for this challenge and we hope to see them popping up on our feed!
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 whilst exploring the theme of SPACE. 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 24th April 2019 at 11am. Both the winner and the next challenge will be announced shortly after.
What’s the prize?
This fortnight we’re giving away the lovely Plan Toys Alien Spaceship Spinning top. This is a lovely little toy that’s not just fun to play with but educational too if you want to find out more about force and momentum.
We’re also giving away a set of Okonorm Modelling clay (choice of in stock colours) as it’s great for little ones to build muscle tone in their busy exploring little fingers.

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!
#lovebabipur
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