Taking STEAM To The Next Level With Fort Magic

Posted October 1, 2019 by Fort Magic

A growing trend in the educational system is to incorporate STEM skills into the learning environment. However, educators are also starting to realize how important adding the arts into learning is and how STEAM skills can set your kids up for success.  Now, you can incorporate it into your day with Fort Magic.

What Is STEAM Learning?

STEAM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. It’s a way of learning that incorporates hands-on learning to teach problem-solving skills and encourage critical thinking skills. The “art” part of this educational system encourages creativity, which is becoming a vital skill for a successful career.

Why Is STEAM Learning Important?

STEAM learning is becoming a popular concept among educators. We’re starting to understand the importance of teaching these skills to our children. STEAM skills can set them up for a successful future by building their confidence, empowering them to change the world, and by preparing them for a career.

Careers in the STEAM field are increasing by about 10% per year, which is double the average for all other fields. Even if your children don’t go into a STEAM field as an adult, teaching them these skills will prepare them for life. It doesn’t matter where life takes them, they’ll always use the skills they built to know how to collaborate and work with others.

How You Can Teach Collaborative Learning

Coming together to work on a project encourages the collaborative learning experience. When students work together, they can quickly learn who has strengths in certain areas. Maybe one person is better at design and can be the person who designs the fort.

Then, maybe another person is better at manipulating things in their minds and have more of an engineer’s mind. They would be better at making sure the design of the fort comes to life and doesn’t fall apart. Then, maybe someone else is a good leader and can find people’s strengths and direct everyone so they can work together cohesively on completing a project.

How It Encourages Critical Thinking Skills

One of the great benefits of using a Fort Magic building kit is that we make it easy to take apart. If your kids are busy putting their fort together and they run into a structural problem, they can easily twist and pull apart pieces. This encourages critical thinking skills as they put new pieces in place to see if it fixes the problem they’re having.

Maybe they have a straight stick where they need to put a curved stick. Or, maybe they need to put a different connector type in the middle to achieve what they want. It’s important, as your kids work through this process, that you don’t step in and try to fix it for them. They’ll only learn important problem-solving skills if they are left to do it on their own.

Fort Building Is Appealing to Girls and Boys

One of the biggest problems in STEAM fields is the disparity between males and females in the jobs. Most programs in the past have drawn in mostly boys. Fort building appeals to both boys and girls and will give girls a love for STEAM.

It’s a great way to introduce girls to this type of learning and get them excited for a future in a STEAM-related career. Even though women account for about half the workforce, they only account for 25% of jobs in these fields. Prepare girls for a successful future with a stable and growing career by teaching them STEAM skills.

How Fort Building Encourages Creativity

Fort building can get your learner to think creatively in a variety of ways. First, they can brainstorm to come up with their own fort designs. If they encounter a problem, it’s going to require creative thinking to figure out how to fix it. This is another way they learn problem-solving skills because they are learning by trial and error.

Another way fort building can get your kids to channel their creative side is by what you do inside of the fort. They can host a tea party or fly off into imagination land inside of their fort. You can also encourage them to decorate the outside of their fort with paints and markers to encourage the artist inside each one of them.

How Fort Building Uses Project-Based Learning

A Fort Magic building kit is versatile and can help out with most learning projects. Let’s say your student wants to learn about NASA. You can spend time online researching everything on the NASA website.

Then, you can build the rocket ship fort design and cover it in paper using the fabric clips that come with every kit. Next, have them use the knowledge they gained while searching online to draw all the buttons and screens on the inside of the rocket ship. If you want to make it even more fun, they can blast off into space as a segway to learn about the moon and what the moon does.

Photo Credits:

Fort Magic Customer Photos via Facebook: Visit our Fort Magic Facebook page to see our customer creativity shine with fun pics and videos of families enjoying their Fort Magic kit during playtime.

Fort Magic Customer Photos via Instagram: Visit our Fort Magic Instagram page to see our customer creativity shine with fun pics and videos of families enjoying their Fort Magic kit during playtime.