"I can help the goats escape that silly, old troll. All I need to do is just make a bridge that is so low to the water there is no room for the troll to hide below. That's the problem with the one in the story. There was enough room for the troll to hide. My bridge won't do that."
Young children are naturally curious about the world around them as they marvel and wonder about what they experience in their daily lives. According to Let's Talk Science this means that every moment has the potential for learning because children desire a deeper understanding of the world around them. STEAM learning in the early years is especially important because it helps prepare children with skills and knowledge for an unknown future. Let's Talk Science explains that STEAM activities can:
- Foster natural curiosity and creativity
- Encourage independent and collaborative learning
- Improve work habits and grades
- Promote confidence in learning and ‘science identity’
- Promote language learning
- Improve social-emotional skills
- Build decision-making, problem-solving and critical thinking skills
- Support inclusion and reduces gender disparity
In our classroom I have found that children are usually very motivated to help solve problems that appear in books we have read aloud and explored together as a class. In particular fairy tales that have likeable characters that need help evading a villain seem to elicit the most excitement and enthusiasm from kids. Sometimes STEAM invitations that are inspired by fairy tales naturally occur as a result of the children reading and discussing the text together in large or small groups. Other times I will invite children to engage in helping solve a problem by asking a question in our whole group meetings and inviting their ideas, or setting up an invitation for learning based upon the text.
One of the most popular invitations was based on the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. After reading the book I asked children to think about whether they could help the goats by building them a new bridge. On a table I created a quick playscape replicating the river by using green place mats for grass and blue paper for water. I offered baskets of different wooden loose parts for them to explore. I also added three toy goats and a troll that could be used as character props to help inspire children to retell the story after building the bridge.
During play time children worked collaboratively to build a number of interesting bridges. It was fascinating to discuss the attributes of each, and listen to the children's rationale for how the goats could evade the troll by using the bridge's features (e.g., close to the water, troll traps, fencing).
Looking for some STEAM inspired invitations for other fairy tales? Here are some easy ideas to get you started:
The Gingerbread Man:
- build the Gingerbread Man a boat to use when crossing the river to avoid the fox
- design a fox-proof water suit the Gingerbread Man can wear when swimming across the river
- create a trap the bakers and animals can use to trick and capture the Gingerbread Man
Goldilocks and the Three Bears:
- build Baby Bear a new chair that will not break no matter how much weight is placed upon it
- design and draw a security system that will alert the three bears next time someone enters their house
- sketch a disguise for Goldilocks so the three bears will not recognize her
The Three Little Pigs:
- draw three new wolf-proof houses for the Little Pigs
- build a wind machine for the wolf that will work on a brick house
- build the setting of the story using various materials (e.g., wooden sticks, tape, play dough) that can be used to retell the story when toy pigs are added
Little Red Riding Hood:
- design an invisibility cloak for Little Red
- build a strong basket for Little Red that can hold many small objects without breaking (e.g., pennies, cubes, marbles)
- create a transportation system to move the basket of food from Little Red's to Grandmother's house
Jack and the Beanstalk:
- build a beanstalk using tubes and card stock as tall as you can without it collapsing
- design, create and test a parachute that Jack can use to escape from the castle in the sky
- create a structure that the hen's golden egg can be dropped into that will keep it safe