Starting a Science Club: Initial Supplies

Most of the materials used in our Science Clubs are readily available household items.  However, in my initial preparation for our Science Clubs, I approached our Friends of the Library group to purchase a few supplies for the program.  These are items that will be used in many different capacities, across the different groups.


 First up, Goggles .

Safety's important! I don't plan to use anything stronger than vinegar, but I think it's important to form good habits.  And, kids love the goggles and the autheniticity they add to the experience!

I got 10 of these, based on past attendance.  If we need more, we'll order more.





Magnetic Wands
Lots of fun and great to have on hand for a variety of activities!

We purchased a set of 12 wands.




  Set of Timers
So many uses in so many settings! These are great for working with younger kids because the buttons are big and it's easy to refer to them by color.

We have a set of 6 timers, as they're a bit more expensive than some things and most of my activities that use timers are done in groups




  Thermometers

We have a set of 5 thermometers as I anticipate that any activity using them will be performed in groups.  We can easily get more if the need arises.

Starting a Science Club: Initial Plan

Our library recently started a group of "Science Clubs" that meet monthly, March - June.  

Our motivation to start these groups came in many parts:

1.  Science is my specialty, so it's actually been on our list of possible programming ideas for quite some time.
2. Everyone is a little STEM-happy right now.
3. The science programs we've run in the past (one-time deals) have been some of our best attended.

I decided to offer three different clubs - each one meets once per month.

• Preschool Science Club
• K-5 Science Club
• Young Engineers

The Preschool group will explore some basic science concepts: magnetism, colors, water, etc.

The K-5 group is a hypothesize and experiment group.  There will also be some hands-on demonstrations to learn more about the world around us. 

The Young Engineers group is aimed for ages 10 and up.  Yes, there's some overlap with the K-5 group, which is fine, and we don't get a whole lot of the "and up" attending our programs.  That group is centered around engineering challenges; things like using the provided supplies to create the boat that hold the most pennies or the tallest tower. 


Many of the ideas I use in the Science Clubs come from my past experiences in education.  I'll share the activities we do at the library on this blog, including how I set it up for these groups, but you can find LOTS more ideas on my Science Matters blog.