245: How to Integrate Play-Based Learning with STEM: a Conversation with Karly

In this episode of "Child Care Conversations," hosts Kate and Carrie chat with Karly, an educator and director, about the magic of integrating STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) in early childhood education. 

Carly shares her excitement over new materials from "Play with a Purpose," like pretend food and a dinosaur bone kit, which are transforming playtime into rich learning experiences. They discuss how these tools spark creativity, enhance vocabulary, and even involve families in the fun. From outdoor art boards to fizzy science experiments, this episode is packed with ideas to inspire imaginative play and learning.

Check out our last episode with Karly!

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Transcript

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Marie 00:00:01  Welcome to Child Care Conversations with Kate and Carrie.

Carrie 00:00:06  We are so excited today to talk about, well, Stem, steam and all kinds of really cool stuff that that last part didn't sound very excited. I think Kate just lost some steam there. See what I did there? Okay. Also, we're excited to have our dear, dear friend Carly back on the podcast. It's been a while. we'll go ahead and make sure we put in the link. or in the doobly doo. The link to the last time she was on the podcast. And Carly is an amazing director and educator, and she has been playing with some fun toys, or.

Kate 00:00:47  At least we hope she has, because that's why we asked her to come on and talk about so.

Carrie 00:00:52  I.

Karly 00:00:53  Have not been playing with them. The kids have. They don't share very well. no. I'm kidding. they have really been enjoying these, these different manipulatives and different, supplies that were sent to us from play with purpose.

Kate 00:01:07  Let's start right there.

Kate 00:01:08  So, yeah. So Carly is got some, some, some toys for her school from play with a purpose. And we are going to talk to Carly today about how her kids used these manipulatives. What kind of things? They really maybe that were new or not necessarily new, but just the kids really enjoy because it was something a little different.

Carrie 00:01:29  So where were they toys or was it equipment or some of both?

Karly 00:01:34  the kids call them toys. but it was really equipment, to be honest with you. And materials for our mud kitchen outside, which we really like to take that playful experience outside and have less of, like a typical playground with climbing equipment and swings and all that kind of stuff, and have more of that pretend, experience outside. And so, they sent over the kids call it rock food. but it is different. they're probably a little bit like this big size. you name it, we have it, we have tacos, we have pizza, we have fruits and vegetables, all different ones.

Karly 00:02:11  And they're made out of a really sturdy resin. So, we bought a set from them before, and that was two years ago, and it's still going strong. The color has held really well. the kids play with them all the time in the mud kitchen, and then they end up all over the place. We have balance scales on the playground. And so they're trying to measure, you know, and see if they can make the balance work with, you know, this many apples equals this many oranges or something like that. and then a bunch of.

Kate 00:02:38  Us are comparing apples to oranges.

Karly 00:02:40  I know.

Kate 00:02:40  I know, I love it. And then.

Karly 00:02:42  and then several different little small, bowls and dishes for pouring and scooping. So they use those, we have a water table outside that they use those in there. And then, of course, they end up in the mud kitchen as a cereal bowl, or they end up in the sandbox as someone was building caves the other day, so it really sparks a lot of imagination with them.

Karly 00:03:02  and then one of the things that we were really excited to have is they have a dinosaur bone kit. and they sent that to us, made out of that same really super durable resin. it really feels like they're ceramic. I mean, they are they feel they have a really great texture, really great feel to them, and they have a lot of really great weight. So it's not just a bunch of this lightweight plastic junk. and so the kids really enjoyed that. they came with different task cards where they were having to build certain skeletons and things like that. we buried them in the sand of the sandbox, and the kids went to excavate them and pretend that they, were, I've lost my word.

Carrie 00:03:42  Paleontologist.

Karly 00:03:43  Geologists. I almost had archaeologists, which. Okay, close. And then,

Carrie 00:03:49  Go put your balls into that.

Karly 00:03:51  And then one of the cards that were they also sent that came with the, the kids call it rock food, like I said. But one of the things that came with the rock food were task cards for the pretend kitchen or the mud kitchen.

Karly 00:04:04  And so it was showing like, different recipes that the kids could make, and they could mix together leaves and flowers and use these different, of the play food to make all these different recipes and sort of investigations or, prompts. I guess if you want, for them to be able to use. And so we're excited to use those next week we start a farm and gardening week. so we'll have a lot of those supplies on hand. And that'll make those those cards a little bit more applicable. So we haven't had a chance to use those yet. But the the teachers have already spied some that they're wanting to use back and forth.

Carrie 00:04:40  Awesome. So how many different age groups are using these manipulatives? And did you find that the because you mentioned you had some of these before, so has it been worth having now two sets. Does that?

Karly 00:04:52  Yes, it has been really great. So the set that we purchased before was just the the fruits and vegetables. And so I think it was maybe 12 pieces or something like that.

Karly 00:05:02  And our school is two and a half all the way through pre-K. So some of those kiddos are just turning five. and we have anywhere between 10 and 12 kiddos in each class. And so when they're outside at recess, you know, it just having this extra set that they, furnished for us and supplied for us was so gracious. because now the kiddos can have more than one chunk apiece, right? There's more for sharing. there's more for loading up. and, you know, let's be honest, they don't always make it back to the mud kitchen. And so sometimes that those things are lost. but because they're really super durable, our whole playground is covered in pea gravel. And with those materials being so durable that once they dig them back up again, we just put them back where they go. It's not like they're trashed or ruined or or lost, for good. So, they've really enjoyed having them. And, you know, they do their pretend things where they want to bring you something for you to have a taste of it.

Karly 00:05:58  Or, one of the kits is a shish kebab, which that is a really funny to listen to. These little kids say shish kebab, but it doesn't always come out like that. but, it's a shish kebab set, and it didn't come with the actual skewers or sticks. And so they've just been finding sticks on the playground and using those to make patterns or using those to, you know, they've been putting them on the grill. and so they've, they've really been, lots and lots of pretend, lots and lots of vocabulary coming out of it all. and, I just love listening to them. One of them was playing Top Chef the other day, so I guess they've been watching that show. it's been really great to watch. I did send over some photos, to play with the purpose so that they could see kind of what the kids had been up to as well, and they were excited to see that they were using them for more than just food. And that was really what was great for me, because they can be used for so much more than just, okay, I have a pretend taco in the kitchen center or whatever.

Carrie 00:07:02  Well, I don't want to have those pictures too if you get a chance. So yeah, yeah. So if they're thinking of it, if, if the person buying these is thinking, I'm going to get some Stem materials or some steam materials, that's not the first thing that people think of is pretend food, right? People are like, no, I need a lever, I need a pulley. I need robot cars. Like, why were the the rock food, as the kids call it? why was that part of what you guys selected as items for you to enhance your steam and Stem? Well, we talked.

Karly 00:07:40  originally when we were trying to decide what to choose because they have so many things to choose from. And I got caught up being a Stem girl. I got caught up in all the fancy things and and was like, oh, we need the ramps and we need the pulleys and we need the internet. Well, we kind of already have that stuff. And so, we she sat for it with us for a really long time and had a really great conversation about our program and kind of what we do and being play based.

Karly 00:08:06  We wanted something that it was going to just sort of naturally fit into what we do already here at school. and not be I try and I call it a one hit wonder. You know, you buy some of these kits from other companies or other teachers stores and they just do the one thing you can only build a car ramp with it and roll the car down the hill. And then it's like you can't use the pieces for anything else. They you know, they're plastic. They don't really go well. So I didn't want a one hit wonder. And so she said, well, you know what, if you're already having a really great mud kitchen outside and that water table and the kiddos really use their imagination, why don't we try some of this rock rock food? I know that's not what they call it, at all. So please don't go looking something up for rock food on there.

Carrie 00:08:54  I'll find the real name and we'll put it in the in the. I don't know, I really think that maybe they need to add that as the descriptive term, you know, they should be able to Google.

Karly 00:09:05  They love it. but you know, so originally the play started off very typical. I'm making you tacos. I'm making you a shish kebab, which that is not how they say it. And then, you know, I'm making you some cereal. Oh, I found an apple for you. I like avocados. Do you like avocados? Like. You know. So they started comparing and talking, and, like I said, again, lots and lots of vocabulary coming out of it. but then all of a sudden, I noticed them using them the, like, the round ones, they were using them on the ramps. And does it slide and does it not slide or does it roll. does it go down the slide. Does it not go down the slide? they were sorting them in size. They started filling them up with the buckets. So we do have a, balance scale out there. That's just a piece of wood on a, main beam. And so we have buckets that will hook to it.

Karly 00:09:59  And so a bucket on this end and a bucket on that end. And then they would put the ones in and look to see how that changed the weight. and how that changed the balance scale. So without any prompting of on our end, hardly at all. they just started exploring different ways to use it. And so yes, it is rock food, but they were using it in the balanced scale. They were using it to roll down the slide. they were using it, they were building things in the sand castle. And then instead of being, you know, an avocado, it was.

Carrie 00:10:30  A.

Karly 00:10:30  Boulder that they were having at the base of the mountain. so lots of really great, exploration and child led, play with that, which was so important.

Carrie 00:10:43  So I have a question, because the first thing is you were talking about all of this. The first thing that immediately came to my mind was, you know, home extension because a lot of times this is something that we have as opportunities with our programs, but we kind of forget.

Carrie 00:10:58  And we are in Texas. So we do have the ability already in the spring to be outside and cooking. Have you thought or have you maybe already done this in the past literally sending home shish kebab recipes. Well we encourage them to make those at home with their family. Yeah that would be in certain patterns, you know, go, hey, here's the patterns your kids made this week in the outdoor kitchen. They would love to have this for dinner this week. Send us your pictures of your kid and their little hibachi griller. You know, whatever. You know.

Karly 00:11:31  So we do have. So this week, we have been, you know, talking about Seuss because birthday on, you know, Sunday. And so, I know in our two and a half class today, they made their own snack. Normally at our school, the families provide their own snacks and lunches, but they did make their own snack in there. And so they did the strawberry banana, strawberry banana, strawberry banana for the red and white for, for cat in the hat.

Karly 00:11:57  And so they were talking about that and they a lot of them wanted to take that extra stick out on the playground and use it for the they call it shisha shisha Bob's, the shisha bombs and,

Carrie 00:12:10  Better than I. What? I thought you were going to say. Yes.

Karly 00:12:13  Well, there's they're catching on. so they wanted to take that extra stick out. Oh, I finished my I finished my snack. Can I use this on the playground for the shish kebab? And, you know, they are pointy. And let's not take them on the playground, but. So we found other things that we could do with them. So, yes, I think that would be really awesome. That's a great idea. Thanks for sharing that.

Carrie 00:12:30  Yeah. So I mean, one of the things that I love is that ability to take something non-traditional, which it sounds like you guys have done, and I love the way you pulled that into Stem, because I think you made a great point that a lot of people will go, oh, that's food.

Carrie 00:12:43  That's not necessarily Stem. Even though let's talk about the amount of Stem that goes into making a meal, right? but I think that if we could continue those conversations for those parents to hear their kids talk about shish kabobs and, all those other phrases that they had for that food item. so, but and then it's, trying some of those foods, like, I don't know if the kids get an opportunity to try avocado. So now that you have that next week during your garden phase, you know, avocado pits are always fun to grow, but even trying, you know, like, they may know what guacamole is, but do they know that guacamole comes from an avocado?

Karly 00:13:23  Right? Right. Yeah. So we've been excited. The rock food has been a huge hit. The dinosaur bones were, like I said, amazing. And, the task cards for, for the mud kitchen are going to be great too, because sometimes that mud kitchen just gets to be a place where they're slinging mud pies and swishing around.

Karly 00:13:42  They call it stew. They bring me pots full of water and rocks and mulch. and I can't tell you how much of that I've eaten, up in the year, but, I think to, to have those task cards to kind of prompt them and, and give them some other ideas, it's going to be really great. And then something else and it just hasn't arrived yet, and I'm really geeked out about it. Is there outdoor art part outdoor art boards. And so it looks like a large wooden frame, super durable. and then it has a plexiglass center to it that we will be able to take outside. And some of the examples that she was telling me was like, they can lay them over different plants or sticks or flowers and trace on them, sort of like a, I don't know, like they would with a marker board, but they're going to be able to trace and do things like that. one of the activities that we're really looking forward to doing, is where, like, I would hold it up and the plexiglass would be in front of my face.

Karly 00:14:44  And then as my partner, you trace where my eyes are and my nose. And, so it's an outdoor art board, is what they call it, I believe, on their website. but they got lost in the shipping, and so they're not supposed to be here till next week, I don't think. but they actually sent us two. So we'll have one here at this campus and one at our other campus. and we're really excited about that, especially since the weather's a lot nicer now and we're going to be able to do a lot more things outside. And we do get pretty messy here. So, we're looking forward to that, being able to use it in the garden and tracing the different things that they've planted from Farm and Garden week and, just kind of see where the kids take it. I think it's going to be interesting. one of the other things, too, was like drawing a scene where you can hold it up, vertically like this, and then they can trace sort of like they see the horizon, or here's the big tree, or I see some birds in the sky.

Karly 00:15:35  and then they can kind of add to it, but it makes them feel, you know, little outdoor artists, because sometimes when you take them out and say, let's draw what we see, you get a bunch of squiggly squiggles. So I think it's going to be really, novel for them and, and really kind of bring some of that art outside to.

Carrie 00:15:53  Awesome. Yeah. Well, that and the and the dinosaurs automatically scream to people. Well, the dinosaur bones are like steam stem and the artboards will go with the steam. Right. Because you have the word art in it, therefore it must. That's the only way you can do art is if the thing you were doing has the word art. I've heard this for many people, is that we don't do steam in our program because we don't. We have toddlers and they can't do art. And I'm like, yeah, they can. They can glue stuff on. They have enough. They can do it.

Karly 00:16:33  Yeah. no, I think it's going to be really great.

Karly 00:16:36  We're really excited for it.

Carrie 00:16:39  So, so you've used the products right now with your all the way from your twos up through your. Everybody. Right?

Karly 00:16:46  Everybody. They've been outside for three weeks now.

Carrie 00:16:49  So I'm going to give you one last because I don't know if you guys have done this in the past, especially in the summer, but, taking those bones and freezing them the night before. So putting them in before you, before you, when you leave, putting them in some water and a tray of water. and then the next day, they can they can dig them out. and the one thing about play with the purpose is that that is like, you can beat the crap out. You can, you can, you can dig it up really hard on it. Yeah. And you're not going to break it. And I did lots and lots of paleontology stuff. And you know this is my one plug for national parks. So if you are listening to this and you don't have a national park near you, or even if you do go online to the national parks, look for the Junior Ranger programs.

Carrie 00:17:39  There are about ten national parks that have paleontologists, including Dinosaur National Park and Waco Mammoth National Park. and you can download those Junior Ranger books, and it's a great way to extend it and take it home. And if the kids fill it out and send it in, then they get a little badge or a patch and a certificate that says they did it. And, and that's one of the verifying to the parents that they actually learned something. But I'm going to add something to that. When you freeze the bones. Freezing it with just water is fine. But if you want to uplevel it even beyond that, do it. oobleck or goop or whatever. Cornstarch and water. Freeze it in the cornstarch and water and bring it out. And then it feels like you're really digging through rock. You can even make that some awful color. So put some, you know, green orange in there or something and make it kind of brown ish.

Karly 00:18:36  They did do the teachers did it with, just baking soda and a lot of water and froze it, and then gave the kids vinegar to dissolve it.

Karly 00:18:47  And so there was the whole fizzy thing. and.

Carrie 00:18:49  That's a fun one.

Karly 00:18:51  They call it fizzy eggs because normally we it's a ball shaped, you know, because it's dinosaurs or whatever, but, they that's a big favourite. Like, we smell like vinegar all week that week. around here. but those are some great ideas. I'll definitely we'll definitely try that next time we get those out.

Carrie 00:19:08  I mean, I just love it for summer. I mean, the more things I can freeze and bury in the summer, the better.

Karly 00:19:14  Because it's hot.

Carrie 00:19:16  It's hot. Yeah, you can use golf tees and wooden mallets to break apart, so it's like a chisel. So we're doing simple machines, like there's a whole again, we can geek out a lot and you can. And what's great about golf, golf, tees and stuff is that works great with cardboard and construction as well as, you know, partially melted ice. But again, two year olds can do this. This is not, you know, they don't have to be doing anything fancy.

Carrie 00:19:46  And, you know, chances are, if you ask parents. Hey, do you have, you know, old golf tees, you'll probably get more than you anticipated. Yeah, well.

Karly 00:19:57  They're not that expensive, really. We get them. I think.

Carrie 00:20:00  We ordered. I'm saying is gives the parents an opportunity to feel involved. Or the grandparents, you know, even if it is more than you need.

Karly 00:20:09  And if the community.

Carrie 00:20:10  Yeah, if the community, your school is not a golfing community, you can say, hey, could you go, I've called these three golf courses. Could you go pick them up so it can even if it was a program that nobody golfs, there's still a way to involve the parents in acquiring the golf tees without spending money. Yeah. So, Carly, the question when you guys go out and are trying to do family recruitment or family events, do you guys ever do that out in the community within your program.

Karly 00:20:42  There haven't been a lot of opportunities out here in our area, but when we have done it, like there's usually a big kite festival and we always take some sort of activity, and then extra staff so that, like myself and our owner can talk to families and then the staff can do the thing.

Karly 00:21:01  and so we, we enjoy doing those kinds of things versus just having a table with flyers and stuff. Yeah.

Carrie 00:21:07  Well, I was going to say these are great examples of things that you can pull out into those kinds of events, whether it's just dumping sand on top of your dinosaur bones or, that kind of thing, making a little teeny grid on a cookie sheet and having the kids, you know, work on cleaning up one little space, because that gives a great opportunity for involvement. But I do know that you've done, at least in the past, some like, parent meet and greets and stuff like that before school starts. Again, a great opportunity for those older siblings to see what their little sisters are brothers are doing.

Karly 00:21:42  So yeah, they love it. We've we've been really excited. And now it's hard not to go through their catalog and be like, oh, and now we're gonna buy this, and now we're gonna buy that, and now we're gonna buy, so.

Carrie 00:21:53  Put it out there for the on the parent wish list and let the parents know that you would love to.

Carrie 00:21:58  And I'm pretty sure that if you have enough parents that also want some product, we could probably.

Karly 00:22:03  Yeah, that would be so great. I was really grateful for that.

Carrie 00:22:06  If you guys buy this, I get this kind of a yeah, kind of an incentive.

Karly 00:22:12  No pressure.

Carrie 00:22:16  All right, so, Carrie, how would you like to any last questions you want to ask Carly on, how to use non-traditional? Because that's kind of how I feel like people are going to view this as I wouldn't have necessarily tagged, rock fruit or ceramic fruit or ceramic food as being a stem item. But you shared lots of ways in today's episode on how that would work as Stem, and a lot of times folks forget what age appropriate looks like. So age appropriate Stem. What does Stem look like for a two year old. And patterns is perfect. So I mean, for me, I think one of the things that Carly is really good at is translating what's happening in the classroom to something that sounds fancy to the parents.

Carrie 00:23:09  So what is one thing that you know that pretty much every three years classroom does that the teachers might not recognize as Stem, and that the parents definitely don't recognize as Stem, that you could kind of help people figure out how to explain. We're doing real stuff here. So.

Karly 00:23:33  investigating cause and effect, I think is really huge. So we do a whole week, as a, just as a playlist and sort of theme based, curriculum. We do a whole week of matter, and objects matter. Magnets and and opposites, I think is the name of the week or something like that. but I have seen these kids take the, the materials that we got from play with purpose and, the little nesting bowls that I was telling you about that they were using for different things in the sandbox and in the water table and all that, and they're doing the whole like, oh, it floats and then, you know, but if I turn it this way, it sinks like they are doing their own sink or float activities.

Karly 00:24:12  They're doing their own, does it roll? Does it not roll? I mean, I see all those kinds of activities and classes all the time, and they pop up on every website. When you are looking for different Stem activities for little children and it always says, you know, oh, investigations with cause and effect and does it sink or float? Is it magnetic or not magnetic? Does it roll? Does it not roll? and the kiddos are coming up with it all on their own. The teachers didn't send any of that up just by giving them the materials and letting them do it on their own. So floating those. I keep doing my hand like this because it's literally like this shape, they float those little nesting balls and there's all different sizes of them, the smallest ones about this big, and the other one's a little bit bigger than half of an avocado. And, so they've been floating those making boats out of them. And how many? you know, like I said, our playgrounds covered in pea gravel.

Karly 00:25:01  And so how many pieces of gravel can I put in it before it sinks, you know? Oh, but the other one can hold this many. And that when they're comparing and contrasting and they're doing basic math and, I mean, it's nuts to watch it just unfold in front of your eyes. And all it is, is play.

Carrie 00:25:16  And are you sharing this with the parents in I think we're Kerry was going was with big fancy adult words so that the big family adults know that their kids are doing this investigative science and and learning about those.

Karly 00:25:30  Yeah. So when we are sharing those photos or different things that they've done and they're saying, you know, the children are coming up with their own investigations in science. And today on the playground, they were comparing and contrasting or they were weighing or they were looking at different, you know, sizes and capabilities of the materials that they were using. And does it roll? Does it not roll? if they put it on an inclined plane, does it role does it not role.

Karly 00:25:52  Does a plane need to be higher or lower like so we're using some of those more technical vocabulary, when we're discussing it with parents. And we even say it to the kiddos too. And it's really fun to hear them go home and say, you know, inclined plane. And you're like, you're three. and but it's, it's fancy that they feel fancy, right? And, and that's important too because it sparks more. It just continues to be, something that sparks something else and then curiosity to try something else and to try something else. And then they go home and talk about it, and they want to repeat what they've done at school, at home. And so then the parents can also see, oh, man, this really is a thing. They didn't just play in the dirt and sand all day.

Carrie 00:26:35  I love those stories, and I'm sure that you're pulling those in for websites and testimonies. And what a great way to just think of, you know, new manipulatives or manipulatives in a whole new way.

Carrie 00:26:46  Carrie. Yes. Oh, sorry. I know I'm supposed to do a wrap up, but my brain, when you said testimonies, I was like, you know what? We need to have testimonies on our websites from the children. We always put testimony in the adults. But if a kid is like, I love playing with the rock, folk rock. And then putting that on the website, sorry, that just my brain was like, why do we know that's.

Karly 00:27:13  A great one?

Carrie 00:27:15  That's okay, because right now I really want Carly to go find out how many apples equals how many oranges for me. So I have like this. I'm like, I want to know what is the apple to orange ratio of rock food. So like know. Is it to try it out? Apples to two oranges.

Karly 00:27:34  I have to pry it out of their hands. They. They love playing with it. And when you ask if you can share. That'll be next on my list is the sharing. but they're doing great.

Karly 00:27:43  They're doing great.

Carrie 00:27:44  Awesome, wonderful. Okay, so, guys, if you found something useful in this episode, please share the show with someone else who needs to know and go into your favorite podcasting app and leave a comment. Let Carly know what you think about her rock fruit and in the doobly doo below. You should be able to get the link to Carly's last episode and a link to play with the purpose and especially the rock food. Yes, the.

Karly 00:28:12  Rock.

Carrie 00:28:13  So we'll talk to you next week.

Karly 00:28:16  Thank y'all.

Marie 00:28:17  Thank you for listening to Child Care Conversations with Kate and Carrie. Want to learn more? Check out our website at Texas Director. Org and if you've learned anything today, leave us a comment below and share the show.