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Classroom Activities

These educational and engaging activities are designed to assist educators in preparing children for a Museum field trip or extending the learning into the classroom.

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¡Buscar y Encontrar! ¡Mirar y Dibujar!
Estudiantes desarrollarán herramientas para observar su entorno
¿Cuánto Cabe?
Explorar la capacidad de diferentes recipientes.
Absorb & Repel
Investigate how different materials repel or absorb water.
Airplanes: Let's Fly
It’s time to tinker! Become an engineer by creating your own flying machine.
Arte Absorbente
Investigar la reacción del agua contra diferentes materiales para grabar si el agua se absorbe.
Assemblage Art
Combine various materials together to explore the concept of assemblage art.
Baking Soda Rocket
Your rocket will fly up, up and away with vinegar and baking soda!
Bats!
Did you know there are at least 12 species of baths found throughout Illinois?
Blueprint vs. Monoprint
We can represent the buildings in the world around us through printing magic!
Boating Brigade
Let’s go sailing! Build and test your own boat. Can you get yours to float?
Bubbleology
Have you ever looked closely at the different colors of a bubble?
Cartography Cars
Discover how to make maps and drive around your neighborhood.
Cool Tool Creations
Create a tool that helps perform a job more effectively.
D-I-Y Puffy Paint 
Create your own puffy paint at home! 
DIY Toy Car Wash
Use recycled materials to build a car wash!
Drying it Out
Investigate and compare the rate of drying in different conditions.
Earthworm Investigations
Investigate how worms burrow in the ground and make tunnels.
Estructuras Fuertes
¡Usar materiales de todos los días y materiales reciclados para crear puentes !
Fabric Counts
Create your own bar graph by sorting and graphing colored fabric squares.
Floating Sculptures 
Create your own  floating sculpture  and test it out! 
Fly Swatter Painting
Discover unique patterning and express yourself through painting!
From Trash to Treasure
Create art from recycled materials while understanding the need to eliminate litter and be kind to
Funky Brushes Kitchen Painting
Ready to paint but don’t have any brushes? No worries, anything can be a brush, even forks and spatu
Generating Geoboards
Explore how recycled materials around the house can become a space for geometric and literacy explor
Homemade Paper
Explore how used paper can be recycled into new paper.
Ice Cream in a Bag
Explore the chemistry of states of matter and freezing while making edible ice cream!
Just a Little Bit
Grab some of your everyday items and discover which weighs the most or the least! 
Kinetic Sand Construction Site
Use materials from home to mix up your own kinetic sand for construction play!
Kitchen Jamboree
Observe, explore and investigate vibrating instruments in everyday places.
Lego Ziplining
How can you get your Lego to travel from the top of a zipline to the bottom?
Let it Roll
Design a ball run by setting up cardboard tubes to make the balls roll at different speeds
Make a Healthy Menu
Explore a variety of healthy foods to make a menu.
Marker Cars
Explore force and motion and make your unique mark with toy cars!
Math About Me!
Use your own name and attributes to explore measurement.
Mathematizing Weather
Explore how we can use math to investigate the weather
Measure it with a hop, skip and a jump
Explore measurement through how we use our bodies everyday to move and cover distances
Movement Sticks
Exercise and use creativity to move like words/pictures.
Natural Vibrations
Discover sounds around us and how they are created through vibration.
Newspaper Super Structures
Children will build structures using newspaper and other materials.
No Hands!
Investigate through role play animal behavior without the use of hands.
Olympic Track Treadmill
Increase your heart rate by running and understand how running fast vs. walking affects your pulse.
Paper Strip Sculptures
Don’t throw away all your extra scrap paper! Turn it into art!
Patrones Perfectos
Como identificar que es un patrón y como formar un patrón usando movimiento.
Pésalo
Estudiantes exploraran medidas usando diferentes materiales  
pH Art
How do we know if something is acidic or basic?
Poder de la Torre
Explorar figuras en 2D Y 3D usando los diferentes atributos de cada figura
Puppeteer Engineer
Combine various recycled materials together to become a puppeteer engineer.
Ramp it Up Racetrack!
Use household materials to explore how angles can change how objects roll down ramps.
Rampas Altas y Rampas Bajas
Usar materiales de casa para construir rampas
Recycled Towers
Collect household items to create the tallest or the widest tower you can!
Refrescarse Con Paletas
Explorar la transformación de sólidos y líquidos en la cocina
Scented Dough
Develop olfactory distinction.
Shadow Puppets
Explore light and shadow while creating your own puppets!
Soap Cloud Painting
Let’s make paint like clouds!
Spotting Simple Machines
Discover that simple machines are used every day in the world around us.
Strike Up the Band
Combine materials to discover the different sounds you can make with your own constructed instrument
Strong, Sturdy, Structures
Use every day and recycled materials to create bridges and towers to support different weight sizes!
Sunny Day Painting
Explore properties of water and watch evaporation happen by “painting” with water in the sun.
Textured Sensory Collage
Go on a hunt for items with different textures and use them to create your very own masterpiece!
The Wheel Deal
Explore how wheels help move objects and reduce friction.
Vamos a Contar en Nuestra Cuidad
Explorar como organizar una cantidad de algo usando un grafico
Vroom Vroom Vehicle Prints
Record motion with toy cars as you express yourself through painting!
Water Xylophone 
Use water to play music in a jar! 
What Pet Should I Get?
Design and construct the best way to carry animals to and from a shelter.
Where Does the Wind Blow?
The children will investigate through comparing the force of wind in different locations.