Preschool STEM: Magnets!

Our final session of Preschool STEM focused on Magnets!

Children learned a little bit about what magnets are and how they work, and they got to try a few hands-on magnetic activities! Missed the program but want to try some of this fun at home? Pull those magnets off your refrigerator and give some of these activities a try!

• Test magnets on all sorts of surfaces and items in your home to see what they stick to. What do the items that stick to the magnet have in common? What types of materials are they made of?
• Have a magnet hunt! Stick a magnet to something in your home and have your child try to find it. Take turns: have your child put the magnet somewhere it sticks, and you find it!
• Place something small and metal like a paperclip in a cup of water, then challenge your preschooler to make the paperclip move without putting anything in the water or pouring any of the water out. Does it work with other objects (that may or may not be magnetic)?

Our craft was a fishing rod utilizing a magnet, and you can make your own out of common household materials. We tied a string onto a straw and then a magnet onto the other end of the string (we reinforced it with tape, because the string kept slipping). Then we made paper fish and clipped paperclips on their noses. Now kids could "fish" with their magnets!

That was the last of our Preschool STEM programs for this season, but we'll do them again so keep an eye on our schedule

And in the meantime, have you visited our HATCH Makerspace yet? It's an amazing space in the Arsenal Project Mall where people of all ages can experiment with hands-on items, many of which incorporate STEM elements! Find out more at our HATCH website!