Wonderful Objects of Wonder WOW!

Observable & Measurable WOWs (Wonderful Objects of Wonder) to use as inspiration for STEAM Activities

 The following list is only a few of the millions of things you can share with children to inspire scientific observation and questions, alert the senses, and nurture creativity. Remember to provide simple age appropriate observation and measuring tools.

FOR INFANTS (Note: Infant should be under adult supervision at all times with these materials. All materials should pass the choke and poke test – longer than 2″ in length and 1″ in diameter with smooth rounded ends)

Bottles, all sizes and shapes

Boxes

• Empty
• Filled with interesting things like large bells, laminated photos of familiar people, pop beads, plastic bracelets, rattles, scarves, stones, small toy animals or cars or dolls
• With holes big enough for hands to reach in or to drop objects inside. Or if big enough, so child can crawl inside

• Cardboard
• Thin corrugated
• Thick corrugated
• Tubes

Bubbles and large blowers

Bubble wrap

Clay, firing

Cloth, Lace, Trims

• Small pieces such as handkerchiefs
• Long scarves and pieces of fabric
• Quilts
• Textured—burlap, brocades, basket weaves, chenille, netting, satin, velvets, fake furs
• Translucent and opaque
• Trims such as rickrack, ribbon, and seam binding

Containers, small and large, lidded and unlidded, clear and opaque

Ice

• Colored with food dye on sticks to “paint” with
• Large pieces made in milk cartons or plastic container—plain, with food coloring, with leather, flowers, rocks, inside
• Chipped

Instruments

• Cymbals
• Bell blocks
• Drums
• Rainsticks
• Tambourines
• Xylophones

Metals

• Washtub, buckets, bowls and pots to drop things in or drum on
• Funnels, kitchen utensils, tools
• Bolts, large enough to pass choke test

Mirrors, unbreakable

• Attach to the floor with clear contact paper
• Attach to wall at infant’s height
• Join two together with strong tape so that they can stand upright
• Join three together to form a prism and place over pictures to see kaleidoscope images.

Nature

• Animals, live
• Bones
• Evergreen branches and pine cones
• Flowers
• Fruits
• Leaves, fresh, dried, autumn (make sure plant is nontoxic)
• Snow
• Stones
• Tree slices—thin sections of logs in varying sizes
• Vegetables
• Water – clear and with color added

Paint, finger or washable tempera or homemade recipes (corn syrup & food color, cornstarch and food color, whipped soap, etc.)

• Put a bit on paper remove everything but diaper and let child explore

Paper, large sheets or rolls

• Construction
• Foils
• Freezer
• Kraft
• Tissue paper
• Wall paper, small patterns and textures
• Wax
• Wrapping paper in metallic, solids, and small patterns. Avoid ones with stereotypic images for events and holidays.

Photographs

• Attach to floor with clear contact paper
• Laminated and hidden under cloth or in boxes

Pompoms

• Fuzzy, round 1 inch diameter of larger
• Cheerleader type in plastics and metallic – hang on a wall, in front of a mirror where child can reach them, or stuff in boxes

Play dough

Rings

• Hula hoops
• Plastic bracelets
• Lids with center cut out

Tubes

• Clear plastic 2 to 3 inches in diameter and 1 to 4 feet long.
• Cardboard paper towel tubes (Not toilet paper for sanitary reasons)
• Offer beads, cars, balls, and so on (1 inch in diameter or greater) that fit inside
• Then mix in items that are too big to fit inside
• Add boxes and pillows to prop tubes on

Wood

• Bowls
• Beads over 1 inch in diameter
• Logs with and without bark
• Spoons and utensils
• Wood scraps, sanded
• Wood shavings
• Wooden toys

FOR TODDLERS, PRESCHOOLERS & KINDERGARTEN

All of the above alone, and in combination, plus the following:

 Boxes

• With ropes attached for pulling
• To paint
• Containers, plastic, clear and opaque
• With a choice of objects to put inside and make sound shakers
• With things hidden inside to entice opening and closing
• With peep holes

Construction Materials

• Blocks – solid wood, clear, colored, all sizes
• DUPLOS/LEGOS
• Clothespins – all designs
• Flat stones
• Wood scraps
• Chenille stems
• Tubes of all sizes
• Broken machine parts
• Plastic gears
• Plastic pulleys and ropes

Electric & light

• Flashlights of different kinds including wind up and shakers
• transparent color paddles and other transparent and translucent materials

Eye droppers & syringes

• With colored water to squeeze on to absorbent papers like coffee filters, tissue, paper towels, or on sand or soil or into large test tubes to see color mixes
• Plastic syringes of different sizes

Instruments, Musical/Sound Makers

• Electric keyboard
• Computer keyboard programs
• Gallon and 5-gallon plastic buckets for drumming
• Rhythm band instruments
• Graduated hand bells
• Large whistles and flutes to blow
• Piano, strings, xylophones

Leather, strips, and laces, fur

Machines

• Wash line plastic pulleys and rope
• Large plastic gear sets

Magnets

• Magnetic wands
• Horseshoe magnets
• Large magnets

Metals

• Bottle caps
• Large nails and bolts
• Pennies
• Thimbles
• Washers

Mirrors

• Full length
• Unbreakable
• Mirror trays
• Bendable silvered plastics
• Mirrored blocks

Nature

• Beans
• Bones
• Dirt
• Nuts
• Pea gravel
• Plants
• Rocks
• Seashells
• Seeds
• Small animals and insects in appropriate habitats
• Plant materials – pine cones, leaves, twigs, pebbles
• Sand

Paint, washable tempera

• after an introduction using one color and brush, offer a choice of colors and brushes, large and small, bristle, hair and foam, and other objects to experiment with—sponges, blocks of wood, stones, feather, twigs, leaves, whisks, and so on

Photographs

• Laminated and hidden in sand and sensory bins.
• In sorting sets.
• Showing processes to be sorted

Ramps and rolling objects

• wood planks
• sturdy triple ply cardboard
• balls
• plastic bottle
• toy trucks and cars
• round stones and large marbles

Squeeze bottles

• Look for clean shampoo, detergent and spray bottles that can be filled with colored water and spritzed on to absorbent paper.

Streamers

• Cut strips from fabric or from plastic tablecloths. Knot several together and then move around.

Toys

• Safe broken toy parts, especially wheels
• Small animals and people
• Marble races

Wire

•  Thick and thin
• Telephone
• Chicken wire
• Electric wire
• Springs

FOR PRIMARY AGE

All of the above plus:

Construction

• Architectural Blocks
• LEGOS, mixed pieces, not kits – especially wheels, gears, pulleys
• KNEX
• Color pattern blocks

Electric

• Batteries and testers
• Electric wires with end clips
• 1.5 volt mini-lights, buzzers, switches
• Simple solar models/kits – fan, pin wheel, etc.

Lenses

• concave & convex
• simple binoculars
• simple telescopes
• lens stands
• prisms
• color filters
• diffraction gratings

Machines, simple

• Pulleys and pulley stands
• Gears (LEGO is a good source)
• Levers (sturdy wood rulers will do)

Magnets, round and rectangular

Mirrors, Unbreakable

• Hinged – double and 3 way
• Mirror stands
• Kaleidoscopes and parts to make kaleidoscopes

Nature

• Owl pellets
• Skulls and teeth
• Tree ring slices
• Mealy worms

Small Things

• buttons
• bread tags
• fish gravel
• Styrofoam packing materials
• glass “jewels” – small flat-sided glass pieces found in pet stores
• marbles
• small shells
• centimeter cubes