I have to admit, I was not a big fan of the recent trend to add "Art" to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. When I was in college, art and dance were my outlets to take a break from engineering classes. I wanted a separation and distinction between them. But the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco has enlightened me to the errors of my logic.
We just visited this museum with our 2 and 5 year old. We had not taken my son when he was younger, because he was not into craft projects, but I know now that this museum has something for every kid.
There are small motor skill activities like clay, cutting, gluing and coloring (Perfect for my perfectionist two year old). But there are also plenty of large motor activities like giant blocks, outdoor obstacle course and Legos (just enough to balance the energy of my 5 year old). Some of the stations were free play, while some of them had themes or suggestions, like creating a "nature" collage or using alien figures for an animation video. One of my favorites, from an engineering perspective, was the Mystery Box Challenge. Each family or group gets a box of random scraps of material (string, paper, foam, etc) and a "challenge." Ours was "Playground for elephants." My son immediately started gluing things together. I wanted to brainstorm, create a plan and split up tasks, but I eventually let it go and embraced the random building.
My daughter's favorite? Princess dress up and Frozen karaoke. I have the video to prove it. You can actually choose from a number of kid songs, but "Let it Go" was on heavy rotation.
My son's favorite? Programming robots. Seriously, my 5 year old was programming.
They had a really kid friendly setup with different robot stations that played music, rolled through an obstacle course or made drawings. They use child-proof iPads to control them, with either a simple interface or preset programming blocks. Made me wish I could be a kid in this generation, rather than being stuck with Oregon Trail and Basic functions on my TRS80.
So I am now a believer in the power of combining Art and STEM. It is all about creating something to solve problems, emphasis on CREATIVE.
Bring on the STEAM, especially when robots and princesses are involved.
The Children's Creativity Museum is at 221 4th Street, San Francisco. Walking distance from the Powell St. Bart station. Admission is $12/person; Open 10am-4pm Wed-Sun (www.creativity.org). Look for discount tickets through your local library Discover & Go program.
There is also a Carousel ($4/2 rides, discount with museum admission) and free outdoor playground next door. For older kids, there is an ice skating rink and bowling alley in the same complex. Plenty of food places are in the nearby Metreon and along 4th street.
I struggle with STEAM too, like why don't we just add an "L" in there for Language, and "P" for Physical Education, and every other subject or profession. However, I do recognize a well rounded engineer usually makes for better engineer. Also, there's jobs that use both art and math, like interior designer, graphic artist/designer, sound engineer etc. So I try to keep that in mind and not get mad when the Art professions want to join the STEM professions (who knew we'd be so cool that other professions would want to tag along on the STEM acronym).
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