FacebookXYouTubePinterestFlickr

Science

Our Blue Planet: EARTH Featured Activity – Polar Bears Go With The Floes

2022-04-25T15:01:44-06:00

STAR Net’s Our Blue Planet: EARTH campaign is a celebration of NASA’s focus on Earth’s oceans, understanding how they are changing and their impact on sea life and our weather and climate systems. Participate in this event during the summer of 2022 by sharing activities and resources with your patrons! This month’s featured activity is Polar Bears Go With The Floes  In this collaborative board game everyone wins, or everyone loses! As they play, groups of three to four participants build an understanding of how human actions impact global change. Facilitate as an in-person program at your library or a Take & Make [...]

Our Blue Planet: EARTH Featured Activity – Polar Bears Go With The Floes2022-04-25T15:01:44-06:00

Our Blue Planet: EARTH Featured Activity – Investigating the Insides 

2022-05-31T10:20:33-06:00

                Photo credit: LPI. STAR Net’s Our Blue Planet: EARTH campaign is a celebration of NASA’s focus on Earth’s oceans, understanding how they are changing and their impact on sea life and our weather and climate systems. Participate in this event during the summer of 2022 by sharing activities and resources with your patrons! This month’s featured activity is Investigating the Insides, an activity to study models of Ocean Worlds.  Investigating the Insides is a 10 to 30minute activity in which teams investigate the composition of unseen materials using a variety of tools. This [...]

Our Blue Planet: EARTH Featured Activity – Investigating the Insides 2022-05-31T10:20:33-06:00

NASA GLOBE Clouds 2022 Challenge: Clouds in a Changing Climate

2022-01-14T16:12:10-07:00

by Vivienne Byrd, Los Angeles Public Library, and Theresa Schwerin, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, GLOBE Observer Team Start the new year with the NASA GLOBE 2022 Cloud Challenge! The challenge is January 15 - February 15, 2022. The GLOBE campaign website has several resources to support your program. How to get started Vivienne Byrd at the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) Neighborhood Science (NeiSci) program recommends doing the following to get started: For fun family activities: Make some clouds in a jar! Follow along with LAPL Librarian Basya Samuels and her little assistant in this Cloud in a Jar [...]

NASA GLOBE Clouds 2022 Challenge: Clouds in a Changing Climate2022-01-14T16:12:10-07:00

Building a science-focused reading challenge? Check out these great resources!

2021-12-07T16:37:15-07:00

Reading challenges are a great way to engage patrons and encourage learners of all ages to read. Reading challenges vary from participating in a national summer reading challenge through the Collaborative Summer Library Program, utilizing reading challenge software like Beanstack or READSquared, or simply providing a list of books and activities to your patrons. To aid you in putting together any kind of reading challenge at your library, STAR Net has assembled a list of resources to help you integrate science readings and activities into your upcoming reading challenges! Check them out in the blog post below. Readings for Librarians Not [...]

Building a science-focused reading challenge? Check out these great resources!2021-12-07T16:37:15-07:00

Look Up! Featured Activity – Life Cycle of a Massive Star 

2021-11-08T12:20:42-07:00

Celebrate the upcoming launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope using a new Toolkit of five interactive activities. This month’s featured activity is Life Cycle of a Massive Star. Explore the life cycle of stars with your patrons! Provide this craft as a library program, Take & Make activity, or send patrons home with a life cycle bookmark. Don't have access to plastic pony beads? Make your own paper beads with an alternate version of the activity here. Time to complete: 20-40 minutes Ages: 5 years and up Shopping and Preparation List Total Cost:  $1-5 and printing   Fundamental Space Science [...]

Look Up! Featured Activity – Life Cycle of a Massive Star 2021-11-08T12:20:42-07:00

Look Up! Featured Activity – The Expanding Universe: Playing with Time

2021-10-04T16:23:20-06:00

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows galaxies from 550 million years ago to 13 billion years ago.  Celebrate the upcoming launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope using a new Toolkit of five interactive activities. This month’s featured activity is The Expanded Universe: Playing with Time.  Patrons use balloons to model the expansion of the Universe! Use stickers and markers to explore how the expansion affects wavelengths of light and distance between galaxies. Facilitate as an in-person program at your library, as an outreach activity, or as a demonstration for a virtual program.  Time to complete: 10-45 minutes  Ages: 12 years and up   Shopping and Preparation List Total Cost:  $5 (as a [...]

Look Up! Featured Activity – The Expanding Universe: Playing with Time2021-10-04T16:23:20-06:00

Look Up! Featured Activity – Make a Pinwheel Galaxy 

2021-10-14T08:28:21-06:00

Celebrate the upcoming launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope using a new Toolkit of five interactive activities. This month’s featured activity is Make a Pinwheel of the Pinwheel Galaxy. Patrons design, cut-out, and assemble their own pinwheel of the Pinwheel Galaxy in a fun STEAM craft!  Facilitate this activity at your library or print out the template and provide the craft materials for a Take & Make activity. Time to complete: 10-20 minutes Ages: 4 years and up, with teen or adult supervision. Shopping and Preparation List Total cost:  $1-5 and printing of the pinwheel graphic Molinete de la galaxia  Make a Pinwheel Galaxy activity in [...]

Look Up! Featured Activity – Make a Pinwheel Galaxy 2021-10-14T08:28:21-06:00

Creating a Perpetual Nature Journal: A Sketchbook With a Twist

2021-05-30T09:10:51-06:00

I've read about artists, especially botanical artists, that take years to finish a work of art, not because they were just super slow, but because they had to wait.  What did they have to wait for?  Nature. These artists would focus on a particular plant while it was in bloom or its fruit was ripe, or it was at some other particular stage in its yearly cycle that they wanted to portray.  Then, when the blooms faded, the fruit was gone, or the plant had moved on to another stage, that painting and its associated sketches were put away until the [...]

Creating a Perpetual Nature Journal: A Sketchbook With a Twist2021-05-30T09:10:51-06:00

STEAM Engines: Da Vinci Bridge

2021-07-20T13:00:34-06:00

A few years back, as the Youth Services department was thinking about programs and play opportunities for the library, I attended this talk about the benefits of nature play for children. Scholarly presentations on the benefits of forest schools, nature preschools, and the importance of nature play were in abundance as well as hands-on activities for practical application in a school or library setting. I love it, and I’m totally on board, but the point that stuck out the most for me was the educator who talked about kids’ play being their work - that they would naturally become builders, engineers, [...]

STEAM Engines: Da Vinci Bridge2021-07-20T13:00:34-06:00

Nature Journaling – Art, Science, Observation, and Fun!

2021-05-28T22:05:55-06:00

Folks know what Nature is. Folks know what a journal is. But Nature can't write... no thumbs, among other things. Sooo. . . what is a nature journal? That depends. If you are an adult, a nature journal is a fantastic way to get away from the hustle, bustle, and rush, and practice patience, observational skills, and art.  It can be an opportunity to get out and have an outdoor adventure.  Keeping a nature journal is a way to become acquainted or reacquainted with the natural world.  It can become the place where an artist or future artist takes notes and [...]

Nature Journaling – Art, Science, Observation, and Fun!2021-05-28T22:05:55-06:00
Go to Top