MotherReader

STEM Friday focuses on books that promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Over the year I’ll be sharing the preschool program I created for the library and that I’m presenting once a month. The concept behind the program is to introduce science topics by combining fiction and nonfiction, songs and mini-experiments, action rhymes and hands-on times. As a preschool program the information conveyed is basic, and intended to encourage a questioning, observational approach to scientific topics. At the end, I leave up the mini-experiments for the kids to explore with me or a parent, and I explain that experiments should be done with a grown-up.

Bubbles

Book: Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler

Action Rhyme: Bubblegum
Bubblegum, Bubblegum
Icky, Sticky Bubblegum
Icky sticky, icky sticky bubblegum
We blow, and blow, and blow and pop!
Oh, no! It’s on my toe!
(Pull, pull and pull until it comes off)
(repeat with different body parts)

Book: Pop! A Book About Bubbles by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Experiment: Lots of Bubbles
Pour some drinks and spot the bubbles in soda, water, and milk. Now take a straw and gently blow into the drink. Now what happens with the bubbles? The water will bubble, but the bubbles disappear quickly. The soda will keep making bubbles, but they don’t stay around either. The milk is stickier than water so the bubbles will stay at the top of the glass for a while.

Book: Bubble Bath Pirates! By Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Experiment: Give the Duck A Bath
Put a rubber duck in a tub with a little bit of bubble bath. The bubble bath solution doesn’t do anything on its own; you have to swish it around. Why? You need to add air to the water which you do by swishing your hand in the water. The more air you move into the water, the more bubbles you have.

Book: Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy

Experiment: Bubbles In The Sun
Blow bubbles, outside if possible, and observe that all bubbles are spheres and see the rainbows that the sun makes on the soap.