(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Guthrie County ISU Extension & Outreach received a $2,000 matching grant from the Guthrie County Community Foundation, during the 2022 grant cycle. The funds will be used to assist in closing of the education gap, by providing the three daycare centers in Guthrie County with various educational STEM Kits to give youth a head-start on learning. The centers that received a kit are Little Panther Daycare and Preschool in Panora, Little Chargers Early Learning Center in Guthrie Center, and Exploration and Learning Station in Stuart. Each kit will have various directions for the teachers on how to use the kits with different age groups.

Officials say the goal of the project is to combine literacy with STEM education by encouraging reading books with hands on activities. Since COVID, the largest impacted areas in a youths learning are math and literacy. According to the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Students Progress test from 2021, less than half of the first graders were able to read at their respective grade level.

Mollie Clark, Youth Development Coordinator, & Brooke Ramsey, Asst. Dir. of Little Panther Daycare

Make-do Invent kit supplies

Science Kit supplies

Bee-Bot Coding Kit supplies

Mollie Clark, Youth Development Coordinator, & Sydney Henderson, Director of Little Chargers Early Learning Center. (All photos & information is courtesy the Guthrie County ISU Extension Office)

The kits can incorporate various materials to complement and grow the kit. Mollie Clark, Youth Development Coordinator, says “Each kit has multiple activities within it with ample supplies. We have also compiled an easy-to-use set of directions for the kits so anyone at the daycare should be able to pull out the kit, read through the directions, and implement the activities with the youth.”

The kits consist of a Coding Kit with bee bots and their accessories which are ideal for helping kids understand cause and effect, directional language and early programming. A Make Do Invent Kit with tools to help bring out the engineer in everyone, these are a simple to use, open-ended system of tools for creative cardboard construction. The last kit is a Science Experiment Kit with hands-on activities and projects that cover a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, and math. Krista Downing, Guthrie County ISU Extension Program Coordinator, says “We want to thank the Guthrie County Community Foundation for awarding us these funds, this project would not have been possible without their support.”

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Guthrie County ISU Extension office at 641-747-2276.