‘Can we go to the park, it’s a nice afternoon?’ says my child.  

I have already spent 2 hours this morning supervising my kids in the local swimming pool and I have a mountain of chores to do. 

‘Errm, well you have been to the pool already, and I’m not sure I have the time now’. 

‘Aww, so what shall I do?’ says child. 

How much I hate those words. In fairness, my kids are pretty good at amusing themselves, but they always seem to want my attention when I’m short of……..TIME!  Now there’s a thought! 

What to do?

I dig out the list of STEAM challenges that I collect for these very occasions. Some challenges require lots of my time to assist, but others like a good old poster competition are far less intensive.

Do you see the theme that’s emerging? Time. And by happy serendipity, that’s the theme for this year’s British Science Week! 

While still at my desk I locate the British Science Week website and brain dump the theme and guidance to my kid. The website suggests many possible topics on the subject of time: Evolution, seasons and time zones, lifecycles, lifespans, clocks, sundials, engineering, science in the future and lots more. 

After a few minutes of discussion, my kid says, ‘I know, I’m going to do a poster about what my school will look like in the future’. 

‘Good idea, maybe you can show a classroom in the past AND a classroom in the future. Maybe have a blackboard and chalk in the old classroom?’, I suggest.  

‘What’s a blackboard?’ says my child. I am stunned and feel very old. They walk off to get some paper and pens and have a chat with Google. I’m assuming it’s about classrooms of the future. 

I go back to my in-tray and get over an hour of peace and quiet…perfect! 

When my kid comes back, they are carrying a half decent drawing of a past and future classroom complete with flesh and blood teacher in the past and full-on robot educator in the future.  

C’mon I say, let’s go Google for some fun science stuff to write on the drawing.  

Result!

The final result looked like this, and I didn’t think it was half bad considering it was a pretty autonomous activity: 

Thank you, British Science Week! I got some peace and quiet, and my kid now knows what a blackboard is as well as some fun facts about AI, robots, 3D printers and VR headsets. 

As a little extra fun, we asked our AI friend Image Creator to create the same image, and this was the result. We loved it but we thought human generated original was better! What do you think? 

Note that the closing date for entries to the poster competition is 6.00 pm on Thursday 28 March 2024, and there are loads of wonderful resources on the British Science Week website to get you started and to inspire your little ones. 

The post STEAM Challenge – British Science Week Poster Competition first appeared on Conflicted Parent.

For the past few years, during “Biology Week”, the Royal Society of Biology has launched their BioArtAttack 3D competition, inviting people of all ages to fuse biology and art to create biology-themed artworks inspired by the natural world. These can be anything from collages to models, sculptures or animations. 

We only found out about this competition a short while ago, while the Conflicted Parent was trying to find new ways to channel the kids’ creativity into activities that also provide learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and maths. This yielded a whole list of STEAM challenges (the ‘A’, for art, is critical), but we only had a few days left to enter BioArtAttack 3D. What to do? 

Having a naturally expressive creative child helps. Over the past several months, week in, week out, they’ve been attending art classes at our local art-K studio. This has resulted in a huge profusion of artworks using different media, materials and techniques. The theme of the Great Barrier Reef pretty much suggested itself as they had covered it in school while discussing ecosystems and there were already some relevant pieces (a beach/sea scene and a sea turtle).

The process of creating a 3D artwork is a valuable STEAM activity for parents to do with their children. It encourages children to think creatively and critically, while also developing their scientific knowledge and skills. To create a 3D artwork, children need to plan, design, and build their creation, which also involves a range of skills such as problem-solving, spatial awareness, and fine motor skills. It’s the full package! 

The complete vision of how to take all these elements, create and add a few more and then combine them into a 3D ‘diorama’ of the Great Barrier Reef just seemed to spring fully formed into the Conflicted Parent’s child’s mind. This is one of the aspects of creativity that always astounds the Conflicted Parent. Did we all have this ability as children, and if so, how/when did we lose it? 

We spent the rest of the afternoon researching and then recreating the various creatures and plants to add to the scene: sea stars, clownfish, anemones and coral. They repurposed some cardboard out of the recycling bin with some blue paint as the base and put everything together. 

The competition submission needed some labels and lists of materials. We could have done this by hand, but the afternoon was turning into evening and the submission date loomed, so the Conflicted Parent made good use of their ICT skills to do this digitally. 

In conclusion, we all had a fun time researching and building the final artwork, while learning things almost without noticing. I’d say that was a job well done, wouldn’t you? 

The post STEAM Challenge: The Great Barrier Reef in 3D  first appeared on Conflicted Parent.

Endless wonderful organisations fund or run school programs, provide free resources and set up and fund exciting STEAM challenges and competitions to inspire our children – but parents must know that those resources are out there – and, crucially, engage with them. 

Engaging is the tricky part as everyone is time poor, so the important points are that it should be child driven and minimum hassle for busy parents. We’re just trying to stretch our child’s interests, not create a whole new curriculum for us to teach! (Unless it’s AI – but that’s a discussion for a future post).

For example, the Conflicted Parent’s kid loves to paint. It’s their thing, and they’re always asking for drawing ideas. Now, instead of racking my brain for projects, we’ve stumbled upon these awesome STEAM challenges. It’s like a creative boost without the extra hassle. 

My child gets to dive into their art, and I get a breather because there’s already a theme in place. Plus, it’s not just about making art; it’s about making art that means something. The challenge ties everything together, weaving in some learning without them even realising it. 

And the best part? They’re not just working on a piece; they’re part of a whole community. They check out other artworks, get inspired, and even pick up a few tricks. Throw in some certificates, online gallery love, or the wild idea that their art might end up in space, and you’ve got a seriously exciting experience.  

As a bonus, my child is more likely to finish the project rather than abandoning it halfway through. It’s this whole journey that keeps them motivated, engaged, and proud of what they create. It’s like magic—creative, community-building magic. And give yourself a put on the back my parenting friend, you’ve just exposed your child to a whole bunch of those 21^st Century Skills right there! 

In future blogs the Conflicted Parent will put their money where their mouth is and share their experience of engaging with some of these initiatives. 

In the meantime, some of my favourites are listed below – try some and have fun:

• BioArtAttack 3D – Entries- (3D pieces of art using any combination of materials and media) can take inspiration from any part of the natural world or biological concepts.
• Science without Borders Challenge – This annual competition inspires students to be creative while promoting public awareness of the need to preserve, protect, and restore the world’s oceans and aquatic resources.
• British Science Week poster competition – Posters on an annually changing STEM topic showing creativity in approach, while being clear, accurate and informative.
• The European Astro Pi Challenge: Mission Zero – Write a simple program to take a reading from a sensor on an Astro Pi computer on board the ISS, and use it to set the background colour in a personalised image for the astronauts to see as they go about their daily tasks 
• The Big Bang Competition – Create solutions to real world problems using STEM.
• TeenTech Awards – Innovation competition: brainstorm ideas, clearly identify an opportunity or a problem, suggest a solution and research the market. 
• BIEA Youth STEAM Competition – Annual STEM competition with teams of up to 5 kids aged 6-18.
• Young Minds Prize – Essay competition designed to provide students with an opportunity to engage in debate and hone their writing skills.
• Moon Camp Challenge – Education project using innovative learning technologies to challenge students to design their own Moon settlement with a 3D modelling tool.
• Mission X – Train like an Astronaut – Free educational and inspirational project that challenges students to train like an astronaut through physical exercises and scientific investigations, helping them learn the key elements to keeping fit and staying healthy in space and on Earth.
• UK CanSat Competition – Students are tasked with designing and building their own simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can.
• Space Gallery Competition – Every month ESA Kids is looking at a different theme in more detail. Themes include everything from orbits and planets to astronauts and asteroids.

The post Unleashing Creativity: Exciting STEAM Challenges To Inspire The Family first appeared on Conflicted Parent.