Thinker Tinker Lab: Magnets Push and Magnets Pull

Let's play with S.T.E.A.M.! (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math)

Join us in the Library Puett Room for our last Thinker Tinker Lab of the summer with "Magnets Push and Magnets Pull"!  It's happening on Monday, August 15th, 2-4 p.m.  All ages are welcome to attend.

Dr. Torley's Terrific Trek Through the Universe

Join us for the our final Virtual Planetarium Show Series with Dr. Torley's Terrific Trek through the Universe on Friday November 13th, 7-8 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room.  All ages are welcome to attend as Dr. Roy Torley takes you on a tour in his starship of the imagination to the far reaches of the universe.  Visit galaxies, black holes, double stars, and more! 
This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Tigard Library.

Roy's Royal Romp Through the Solar System

Join us for our next Virtual Planetarium Show Series with Roy's Royal Romp through the Solar System on Friday October 30th, 7-8 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room.  All ages are welcome as Dr. Torley takes you on a tour above the earth, to the moon, Mars, Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and a few other places in our solar system.  The good doctor guarantees you a safe trip home! 
This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Tigard Library.

The Reptile Man

Every one's favorite herpetologist, The Reptile Man is coming back to the library for another annual show!  Come see live reptiles as The Reptile Man educates and entertains on Tuesday January 13th at 6:30 p.m.  It's all happening in the Burgess Community Room and children ages 5 and up are invited to attend!

STEAM Saturday

Can you tell we're starting to focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math here at the library? I like to throw in some STEAM in my story times, and sometimes I test the stuff out with my boys at home. I must say, doing science experiments is one of my favorite ways of spending time with them. Reading Rockets offers quite a list of tip sheets for sharing science with your kids. Check it out!

Mad Science: SPIN! POP! BOOM!

Mad Science is coming back to the library with it's SPIN! POP! BOOM! show on Tuesday August 5th at 6:30 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room. 

How can you tell when a chemical reaction has occurred?  Watch in awe as Mad Scientists create a variety of erupting experiments.  This show is guaranteed to be amazing!

This event is sponsored by Washington County Cooperative Library Services.

Drop-In Science Playtime

This Monday, August 4, we will learn about wind. How does wind happen? What can the wind do for us? We'll make paper windsocks and more at this all ages program. The fun begins at 2pm and lasts until 4pm in the Puett Room. 
See you then!

Drop-In Science Playtime

This Monday we'll be learning about clouds. What is the language of clouds? How does a cloud work? Make a cloud craft and more.
This all ages event takes place in the Puett Room from 2-4pm, July 28
See you then!

Drop In Science Playtime

This Monday, July 14, drop in and learn about volcanoes. Did you know there are 19 volcanoes in Oregon! Let's explore why volcanoes are important and make your very own volcano to take home. 
The fun begins at 2pm and lasts until 4pm in the Puett Room. This is an all ages event.

Sunlight, Paper Action!

The sun has power! Join us for this hands-on program to make works of art from sun-reactive paper, a simple sundial, and a miniature solar oven. Other activities include shadow play and a simple puppet that illustrates the Aesop fable, The North Wind and the Sun.
This program is for ages 5 and up. It's held in the Puett Room and runs from 1:30-2:30 p.m..

Drop-In Science Playtime

The theme this Monday, July 14, is oceans. Commotion in the Ocean! Let's dive into our watery world and learn about its fascinating inhabitants, play some soggy games and create some ocean creatures of your very own.
The fun starts at 2pm and lasts until 4pm in the Puett Room.
All ages are welcome.

Drop-In Science Playtime

This Monday, July 7, we will be experimenting with tunnels. Play follow the leader, go forward in a tunnel, go backward. How fast can you move through a tunnel? Can you build a tunnel? All these exciting interactions and more at this program.
Where: Puett Room
When: 2-4 p.m.
Who: All Ages!

See you then!

Drop-In Science Programs

This year's Summer Reading theme is Fizz, Boom, Read. Science is cool!
As always, our first goal is to help keep kids reading during the summer months. The second goal is to inspire kids by offering interesting programs.

Our Drop-In Science Playtime is a series of programs featuring an aspect of science. 
Join us we play with tunnels; discover things about oceans, volcanoes, clouds, and wind; and wrap of the series with a tactile kitchen science program.

The programs series begins Monday, July 7 and will continue on Mondays until August 11. The series will be held in the Puett Room from 2-4 p.m. and is for all ages.
See you then!

STEAM Saturday

You might have heard that our Summer Reading theme this year is Fizz, Boom, READ! We are highlighting all things science. Don't miss our display cube in the Children's Room. You'll find sea monkeys, an ant farm, a potato clock and other objects to observe.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) is everywhere! You can incorporate more science into your child's life simply by focusing on the power of observation.
When you take time to stop and look at something in nature, practice asking, "I wonder why...?" or I wonder how....?" Then allow your child to make his or her own hypothesis. It doesn't matter if it's accurate or not. The important part is allowing your child to of observe, wonder, and think. Later, if you want to find the answer, there are many books in our collection that help him or her learn about the natural world.

I Heart Felted Beads!

Are you looking for some good clean fun? Do you like to work with your hands? Get tactile as we combine wool, water, a little soap, and a lot of elbow-grease! 
Make a bracelet for mom or a key fob for Father's Day!
This program is Sunday, June 15 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room.
This program is for kids 5 and up.

STEAM SATURDAY

The E in STEAM stands for engineering. He's an E activity you can do with your kids: Make paper airplanes! Until my kindergartner and I checked out paper airplane books, I had no idea that paper airplanes could look so different and do such different things based on the design! Try these:

Best Ever Paper Airplanes, by Norman Schmidt
Paper Airplanes series, by Christopher Harbo
Super Simple Paper Airplanes, by Nick Robinson

Crack an Egg!

Who wants to cook with kids? I do!
I love cooking with my three-year-old. Here are a few ideas about working in the kitchen that will keep your youngster engaged, give them a tactile experience, and provide opportunities for them to learn about math in the process:

• Come up with a fun cooking project! Does your kid like scrambled eggs? Muffins? Or maybe they like to play with playdough. Start with something your child is excited about.
• Make a grocery list together. Find a recipe, then have a conversation about the ingredients you might need to collect. The only thing more fun than writing a list is getting to cross things off!
• Talk about the recipe while you work. After you've gathered your ingredients, talk about the recipe out loud. How many cups of flour do we need?
• Let your child do the measuring. Here is a Tablespoon! Let your child hold the measuring cup or spoon. When it's full, they can tip it into the bowl.
• Watch it cook! After everything's stirred up and ready to go, pop it in the oven, and turn the light on, so your child can watch chemistry in action!

Here are a few tried and true recipes we love:

Popovers! from Pretend Soup, by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson

You can't go wrong with lots of eggs and lots of butter.

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair

This amazing recipe has no eggs (all the better for licking the bowl) & maple syrup instead of sugar. Yum! 

Playdough from Mudworks, by MaryAnn F. Kohl

Make your own playdough. So fun.

And if you really need a belly laugh, watch author John Green whip up some mac & cheese with his tyke.

Enjoy!

Bring Solar Power Home

Home owning parents, are you interested in existing options, including tax breaks, for residential solar electricity and water heating?  Solar Oregon, a local nonprofit organization, will explain how to improve energy efficiency with solar power and what to do to install it in your home.  This informational session takes place on Wednesday January 29th, 7-8:30 p.m. in the Community Room.

In the mean time, check out a Kill A Watt, an electrical usage monitor to see how much electricity your appliances are using. Simply plug the Kill A Watt into an electrical socket or power strip and then plug the electrical device you want to measure into the Kill A Watt.   It makes a great science learning activity for the whole family! 

STEAM SATURDAY

Science is everywhere! It can even be found in fingerplays you sing with your child.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider, for example, is a very simple water cycle song. Through the song, children can learn that rain makes things wet and the sun can make wet things dry. They can also learn that too much water at one time can create a reaction like washing a spider from a gutter or rain spout.
More ideas for science themed fingerplays can be found here.

Science News You Can Use!

Arlene Weible, Electronic Services Consultant from the Oregon State Library has put together this list of online science resources from the U.S. Fedral Government that children, teens, parents, and educators may find helpful.  Take a look!

Science Education
Scienceeducation.gov  connects teachers and students to free, federally-funded Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education resources. Educators, students, and the public can go to ScienceEducation.gov and search via a single query and use (for free) the STEM education offerings of several leading science and technology agencies. Searches can be filtered by grade level and resource type. Another neat feature is the social networking aspect of the site. Members can actively enhance the site by “tagging” with subject terms; providing new content; providing general guidance and comments on the resources and rate the materials on the site. Members also have access to social media resources related to the site.

Science
Science.gov  is celebrating its 10 year anniversary and it is a great time to become acquainted with this powerful tool for locating free and authoritative science information from federal and state government agencies. At its core is the science.gov search tool. It indexes over 55 scientific databases across all science disciplines. The content it searches includes everything from peer-reviewed journal articles to social media sites from 13 federal science agencies. Other features on the site include up-to-the minute science news, the ability to browse science web sites by general subject, and a great site featuring science sites focused on Science Education. There is also a Spanish version of the site.

Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress
http://www.science.gov/browse/w_133A.htm
This index answers questions like “Can it rain frogs, fish, and other objects?”, or “Does your heart stop when you sneeze?” with science facts and other science web resources.

NASA Kids Club http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
Great graphics, games and contests on space topics.

NIH Curriculum Supplement Series http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/WebPages/CSHome
Includes teacher’s guides to lessons on the science behind selected health topics. They combine cutting-edge biomedical discoveries with state-of-the-art instructional practices.