Air is invisible to the human eye, as it is impossible to feel until it is moving, but it is powerful when it reaches the form of wind. If you are a preschool teacher looking for wind ideas or a parent whose child seems fascinated by the wind, there are games
Wind Challenge with STEM Power—Learn all about the power of the wind with LEGO Rescue and a little inspirational reading! As an added bonus, there's a fascinating connection to social issues and the power of education. Curious to learn more? Get ready with reading!
Wind Energy
It's a powerful and wonderful force, but it's also gentle and soothing. Everything around us is affected by the wind, and many people are working on ways to harness wind power to create environmentally sustainable energy sources.
Learning about wind energy is a great unit study, and to celebrate, we've created the Solar Power STEM Challenge. It's an eco-cultural project that will leave a lasting impact.
To introduce children to the life-changing impact of wind energy.
Read the story of William Kamkwamba. William grew up in a small village in Malawi ravaged by famine and drought. Forced to drop out of school, he used donated books from the village library to teach himself how to build a windmill and generate electricity. The first electricity we ever saw in his village. Oh, and did I mention he didn't speak English and had to use a translation dictionary the entire time he was reading? He was only 14?
To say that William's story moved, motivated, and inspired my children would be a huge understatement. Reading his story was the perfect way to begin our study of wind energy. They now understand how wind energy can change their lives.
There are two versions of his story available: a picture book for young children or a full-length novel for older children and adults.
Inspired by William
My boys were excited to build their own windmill. I knew I wasn't ready to tackle full-blown electricity generation with my young children, so we decided to start with mechanical power generation. After some discussion, our challenge was titled: Wind Powered STEM Challenge – Mission: Lego Rescue! The goal was to lift a Lego MiniFig to the top of our rocket using wind power. There was a complicated backstory, but I'll leave that for your kids to create their own rescue story for their creation!
Here's how you can do your own Wind Powered Challenge – LEGO Rescue Mission!
Supplies:
- Supplies Fixer Table - Lots of random items to encourage creativity and experimentation!
- milk carton or carton (like a shoe box)
- skewers
- cork
- string
- Cardboard
- ribbon
- a pair of scissors
- Ruler
- Assembly games
- Fearless LEGO MiniFig
Have the children brainstorm problems they might encounter during a guided discussion.
We discussed things like, what would happen if a gust of wind hit our milk carton rocket? The answer (after testing it by blowing on it) was that it would blow off. So we thought of ways to counter that. Our original plan was to fill the bottom with clay to stabilize it, but we forgot to fill it before it was finished decorating and sealing, so we created a LEGO base to hold it in place. It worked and was a great problem-solving experience!
We also tested different types of paper for windmill blades.
Along with different shapes and lengths, we experimented and played with them until the kids found the combination they thought would best capture the wind. I recommend having the kids look at pictures of windmills for inspiration for this step.
Building a Mini-Fig Capsule
Even building the Mini-Fig capsule was a fun engineering challenge. I was actually pretty nervous about having the kids design it, thinking it would be too heavy to lift. But I wanted the boys to learn by designing and experimenting, so I kept it to myself. And boy was I wrong! I actually love it when the boys can prove me wrong with a little engineering, physics, and science!
Creating wind was interesting. We tried using a fan, but the wind was too strong. We discovered blowing on the blades created more force and lift for our mini-fig hair.
When our drive shaft was turned (aka skewered through two corks), the string would wrap around the drive shaft, shortening the chain and raising our little fig, but there was another problem: the chain wouldn't slide down the circular drive shaft and wouldn't start wrapping. The boys solved this with a strip of tape that secured the chain to the drive shaft. Yay for creative problem solving!
When doing this challenge, encourage kids to experiment with different designs and patterns. This is a great engineering activity. If you have a large group, divide them into teams to see what different designs they come up with.
This was an unforgettable project. From learning about the inspiring story of William Kamkwamba, to our final mission to save the solar-powered wind, the boys had a lot of fun and learned a lot!
Although this is a wind-powered challenge where we spent time decorating our rocket, we feel it qualifies as a STEAM challenge. Your mileage may vary depending on the direction your young scientist takes with this challenge. If you do this challenge, I'd love to see the results. Tag us on social media with your creations - Facebook
