Full STEAM Ahead: Building Baby Bears Chair

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears: Building “just right” chairs for baby bear

Lesson Plan for Preschool

Prepared by Mrs. Davis

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

Preschoolers recently read “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and continue to talk about the book. Building off their excitement for the story, we are going to have the preschoolers create “just right” sized chairs for baby bear. Students will learn how to interpret size needed based on size of the bear.

EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. Introduction to engineering
2. Introduction to building
3. Introduction to problem solving
4. Critical thinking and transfer

OBJECTIVES

1. Students will compare and contrast size of chairs to size of “bear”
2. Students will learn through trial and error the basics of creating sound structures
3. Students will work to create a structure that best fits the baby bear’s body

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Baby bears
2. Playdough

VERIFICATION

• Did you compare your structure to the size of baby bear?
• Does baby bear fit into the chair easily?
• How did you make sure your structure would stand up?
• What did you do?
• What did you learn?
• What questions do you have?

ACTIVITY

Students will watch a baby bear be placed in two different size chairs (Daddy Bear and Momma Bear) to compare and decide which chair best fits the bear and talk about how they still don't fit well. Each student will then be given a bear and playdough to create their own chairs for their bear. Teachers will work the room to help students create good chair structures by asking questions to help them process what needs to be done.

(adapted from https://www.lovestemsd.org/fairy-tale-steam-goldilocks-and-three-bears)

Recap written by Julie Davis

Students received more than enough clay to create their chairs and each child received one bear. We talked about how big the seat should be and that there is a back to chairs. Then we talked about creating legs and how tall the legs needed to be. Students then started creating their chairs. Some students quickly understood the concepts and others needed a little extra help to understand the size needed. As some students finished early, we then had those students create beds that would fit baby bear. Students seemed to enjoy learning the concepts of sizing and engineering through this activity.