STEM with Adventurer Abby

We got our first Adventurer Abby box in the mail today! Only a few minutes before Princess V got home from school too – it was like the stars had aligned. Princess V loves science. It’s been hard for me, only because it’s not a subject I ever really took to. I love science don’t get me wrong, it just wasn’t ever my subject, ya know?

Adventurer Abby is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) subscription service for young girls, between the ages of 6-9. Princess V is 8, going on 9, but has really just found a love for these sciencey things. I give credit to her teacher this year, who challenges her class with STEM activities every Friday. From experimenting with different forms of matter, to building spaghetti towers – it’s easily the favorite day for Princess V at school. 

One thing we really wanted Princess V to learn to love this year though was reading. She struggles with that (loves hearing stories!), but actually reading has been hard for her. For this reason I truly love Adventurer Abby! Before you can do anything, you have to read the story. One tells the beginning of Abby’s story, and the 2nd is more specific to the adventure Abby is going in with this box. 

Princess V and I took turns reading through the stories. I could tell just in the way her voice perked up near the end of the stories, and when we got to the experiment, that reading is not necessarily hard for her – but just not enjoyable. Pairing it with something she DOES love however, made quite a difference. Finally on to the experiment!

In this adventure we learned the catalyst. First we had to create two different mixtures. One is a hydrogen peroxide and soap mix (with food coloring for effect!). The other is a yeast and warm water.

The last and final step, encouraged us to move to a sink. Since I was having too much fun experimenting, the kitchen was a bit of a mess still. So we grabbed a large bowl instead. Princess V’s first question before mixing these was “Is it going to explode Mom?”