Classroom resources
Find elementary STEM activities for designing, building, testing and improving solutions with everyday materials.
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A STEM design-challenge project connected to the novel Because of Winn-Dixie, in which students engineer a pet-friendly shelter for the character Winn-Dixie using the engineering design loop.
A STEM engineering-design-challenge activity in which students research, design, build, and test a model device that lets scientists safely swim with sharks while extending their research capability.
Provide a hands-on home/troop science activity booklet (aimed partly at Girl Scout leaders) teaching kitchen-based science concepts such as density through experiments.
A hands-on STEM/math unit teaching the metric unit 'grams' through a design-build-test challenge: students build flotation devices that must hold a specified metric weight.
A set of hands-on team-building engineering challenges focused on designing contraptions to move items from one place to another or to protect/elevate objects.
A STEAM activity combining art, science, and engineering: students build a coin-based spinner and collect/analyze data on how long it spins.
A STEM design-and-build project tied to the novel Dear Mr. Henshaw, in which students engineer a device to protect a fictional lunchbox from theft, practicing the engineering design loop.
A hands-on engineering design-challenge activity in which students brainstorm and design a new amusement park ride.
Maker/STEM engineering design challenge: design and build a device that lets a user turn a light switch on and off without leaving their seat.
Deliver a cross-curricular STEM project in which students read about alternative/wind energy, design and build a wind-powered car prototype, collect and graph data, and write a how-to explanation, aligned to Common Core reading and writing standards.
A STEM engineering-design project in which students design, build, and test a sailboat meant to travel as far as possible down a classroom 'river' in 10 seconds.
Provide ten hands-on winter-themed science experiments for elementary students, designed to build observation, prediction, and problem-solving skills aligned to scientific-method practice.
A literature-integrated STEM engineering design challenge tied to the novel Stone Fox: students design and build a sled that can carry a load across a block of ice without breaking it.
A set of hands-on team-building engineering challenges focused on constructing and propelling vehicles (cars, boats) from limited supplies.
A simple STEM/craft activity where students build a pretend radio out of a recycled juice box and craft materials.
A set of hands-on team-building engineering challenges focused on constructing towers that meet height, weight-holding, or material constraints.
A STEM labeling activity in which students identify parts of a helicopter and their functions.
A STEM design-thinking activity where students sketch and plan their own roller coaster design.
A five-project STEAM/project-based-learning packet connecting the novel 'The War That Saved My Life' to WWII history through hands-on engineering, art, math, and science activities.
A design-and-build STEM activity where students plan, construct, and test a kite while thinking about the forces (gravity and lift/push) involved in flight.
Science/literacy activity packet teaching students about bridges and bridge engineering, combining informational reading with reading-response and matching activities; catalog also describes an included popsicle-stick bridge-building project not present in the captured evidence.
A hands-on STEM/history project in which students build a mud brick to experience ancient Sumerian brick-building techniques and reflect on the process in a journal.
Hands-on science activity packet teaching students about plant uses (food, medicine, building materials, clothing) and basic plant anatomy.
A STEM extension resource accompanying Raina Telgemeier's graphic novel 'Ghosts', teaching about Cystic Fibrosis via vocabulary, an article, and linked external media.