S.T.E.M. PROJECTS FOR TWEEN GIRLS
Introducing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects and activities to your tween (and teen) girls is a great way to get your pre-teens excited about math and science! These two STEM Projects for your tween / pre-teen are making a DIY HOME MADE LAVA LAMP and a DIY HOME MADE SENSORY BOTTLE that will empowers girls to create.
This shop has been compensated by an advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #InsideOutEmotions
As soon as I heard Inside Out was available for purchase, I rushed my girls over to Walmart to purchase the DVD, and if you haven't picked up your copy yet, you should.
My daughters and I loved Inside Out so much! Our favorite part of the movie was finding out we need all our emotions - every single one of them. Even when some of them are confusing.
My daughters are still very much little girls(even though they are technically tweens), but some of their friends are very much tween-tweens. It is sometimes hard to navigate between this fine line. My daughters still like to play with all their toys, but I notice when they are at school, this little girl behavior completely disappears.
I decided I would create some S.T.E.M projects to help my daughters with these emotions that sometimes can feel quite intense for them. That is part of being a tween. Something that may be no big deal to me, but can be hugely important to my daughters.
S.T.E.M. Projects Mirroring Emotions
I want to raise my daughters with a wide repertoire of healthy coping skills. S.T.E.M to my rescue. Since my tween daughters brains are undergoing an extensive re-wiring, which can make them emotionally volatile, I thought to create some amazing S.T.E.M. projects mirroring emotions from Inside Out. I received a bit of help from the Inside Out toy small figures, Joy and Anger. These small figures come with small memory spheres that aided me in our project.
HOME MADE LAVA LAMP INSTRUCTIONS
The girls created a lava light project and sensory bottles with absorbent sphere polymers.
Using oil, water, food color, glitter, and effervescent tablets, the girls made a lava lamp to express and mimic the character emotion of Anger from Inside Out. Sometimes my girls find themselves in a full-blown tantrum and I really don't understand how it happened.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Water
A clear plastic bottle
Vegetable oil
Food coloring
Glitter
Effervescent Tablets
LAVA LAMPS
INSTRUCTIONS:
Pour vegetable oil into the plastic bottle until it is around one quarter full.
Pour in water until the bottle is nearly full.
Wait until the oil and water have separated.
Add 10-12 drops of food coloring into the mixture.
Add glitter to the mixture.
Break an Effervescent Tablet into four pieces and drop one of them into the bottle.
Once the bubbling stops, you can add another Effervescent Tablet and the fun will begin again.
We used the Anger character to aid in making a lava lamp erupt in anger. I explained to my girls that I do see how upset they are at times and I want to give them time to pull themselves together so we can discuss any issue. I told them the next time they feel angry enough to erupt, they should get the lava lamp out and pop in an effervescent tablet.
Joy helped us make some sensory bottles filled with joy. Using jars, water and colored absorbent sphere polymers, the girls made sensory bottles to express and mimic the character emotion of Joy from Inside Out.
HOME MADE SENSORY BOTTLE
SENSORY BOTTLES
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
Water
A clear plastic bottle or jar
Colored Absorbent Sphere Polymers
INSTRUCTIONS:
Pour Colored Absorbent Sphere Polymers in bottle or jar.
Pour in water until the bottle is nearly full.
Watch.
These polymers start out as hard crystals, but they are actually made from a super absorbent polymer that absorbs 300 times its weight in water!
My daughters still look like little girls to me, but they are growing up into young women before my very eyes. They do have a lot of growing up to do emotionally and I want to model great emotions for them. I know if I show joy instead of being too busy to be filled with joy, they will model this behavior. These sensory jars are perfect for bringing smiles to all our faces and filling our hearts with joy.
Each colored absorbent sphere polymers is supposed to represent a joyful memory. In Inside Out, Riley's brain is filled with memory spheres and I was trying to replicate that for my daughters to show them they have so many joy-filled memories in their brains as well. Even in tough times, the joyful memories / spheres are still there!
It’s my job and my privilege to support my daughters as they navigate their emotions through their tweens. These Inside Out S.T.E.M. Emotions projects were the perfect time to strengthen my relationships with my girls before they head into their teenage years.