by Annie Savinon

Welcome to Annie’s STEM Lab! I hope you had a very restful and enjoyable holiday season. This month is a great time to complete some simple and fun science experiments at home. Below is a fun experiment you can put together with objects you already have at home, while answering, will it sink or float? 

We all know that objects either sink or float. But your little one might ask, what makes an object sink or float? When an object can float, it has buoyancy. Buoyancy is the ability to float in water. An article from Britannica explains, if the object in water displaces an amount of water equal to its own weight, the buoyant force acting on it will be equal to gravity, and the object will float! 

A sink or float activity is a wonderful experiment to do with your little ones at home because it promotes scientific thinking, such as cause and effect, observations, comparison, reasoning, data gathering, experimentation, and evaluation. The Global Montessori Network also shares that this experiment can aid in better-developing order, concentration, coordination, and independence skills! Also, this is a wonderful activity for Kindergarten teachers to complete for their students to understand NGSSK-2-ETS1-3, Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs. 

Time to experiment! 

This lesson will be best with a 3–6-year-old, under the guidance of a caretaker. To begin, you will need to gather a few items.  

This includes: 

-Large plastic bin filled with water 

-Prepare two signs: Sink or Float  

-Gather some objects around the home that can get wet!  

Now that you have your set up complete, it is time to run our tests and ask the question, does it sink or float? After you test an item, place it in the sink or float category. Throughout this process, be sure to answer any questions your little one might have, and reflect on your results together, and talk about why the objects either floated or sunk! 

By Mara Gordon

Did you know that the calendar we use in the United States is named Gregory?

Most of the world today uses the Gregorian calendar to keep track of the days and months as time passes. The Gregorian calendar got its name from Pope Gregory XIII who helped make the system popular in the 16^th century. Calendars fall into four types: lunisolar, solar, lunar, and seasonal. The seasonal calendars rely on changes in the environment like the “wet season” or “dry season.” The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar which means its days are based on the position of the Sun relative to the stars and along the equator. 

Since the gyrations (or rotation & spinning) of the universe is always changing, there is no perfect calendar system. That’s why the Gregorian calendar uses has a leap day, February 29, every four years. Not every calendar system has a leap day though and instead some like the Ethiopian calendar and International Fixed Calendar have 13^th months. 

Whichever calendar you use or however your family marks the passing of time, it’s important to remember that each day has its significance, and each day is an opportunity to grow and explore and play into endless possibilities. 

Have a happy new year and be sure to take some days to play and grow as a family! 

Dear Friends,

Like many traditions that have endured over the years, making New Year’s resolutions serves a valuable purpose for me. It creates room for reflection and for refocusing myself on living with intention. My youngest child is 14 years old, however in the whirlwind of raising small children, this was especially hard to do—and especially needed (then and now). 

I know firsthand that days with little ones can feel so very long, yet the years feel all too short, and living them mindfully helps with both. To aid you in thinking about your values for the coming year, one thing strikes me as how important it is to “make time.”

Time is what every parent of young children feels they have the least of … and it’s the one irreplaceable gift to our kids, and ourselves, that really matters in the long run. But the funny thing about time is that it’s not absolute. Instead, it’s malleable, stretching or compressing on experience and memory. 

Just like hours in pleasant company of friends and family can disappear at breakneck speed while minutes at the DMV stretch like hours, truly meaningful moments will loom larger in memory than the days or weeks surrounding them. Focus on creating those meaningful moments with your little one this year and give yourself a break about the rest of the time.

Fantastic ways to construct quality time together include sitting down to do a DIY craft or activity with your child, cooking a kid-friendly recipe together, cuddling over a shared book, or playing an old-fashioned board game. Why not take a few minutes to brainstorm what you’ll do together, so you have something up your sleeve when a window of time opens up? Spending quality time at Explore & More is always an option, too!

Hope to see you at the museum soon,

Lisa Chrapowicz
Director of Strategic & Community Initiatives