If you're looking for STEM activities for older students, you will love this collection of easy STEM challenges for middle school.

Learn how to make both a basic homopolar motor and a tiny dancing motor! Great science fair project for older kids!

This post may contain affiliate links.We did a craft this week that was a build your own catapult. We made it from a catapult kit, and it involved placing pegs in holes and putting the pieces together. It would be a great activity for older kids to follow directions and work on putting together an...

How high can you build? Your kids will love this STEM challenge and it requires little to no prep from parents/teachers. Start building today!

Follow our easy step-by-step instructions to build a Newton's Cradle and explore physics and engineering with a fun, hands-on project.

The best kind of kindergarten STEM challenge is one that has children working together to find a solution to a fun, engaging problem using simple supplies that don't take lots of prep time. Enter The Floor is Lava STEM activity for kindergarteners. It's so simple, you can do it with preschoolers too! Don't forget to

How heat affects things is sometimes difficult to understand. This simple heat experiment shows how heat causes molecules to move faster. {Plus kids think it looks cool.}

Plastic Cup STEM Challenges Your Kids will Love Spoiler alert - there is no basic tower challenge in this list. Building towers is a great way to start off any cup STEM challenge, but I have a list of a few some fun and engaging challenges using primarily plastic cups. Some are oldies but goodies, and others you may not have seen or tried before. Get Started with Plastic Cup STEM - Materials Although you can use inexpensive plastic cups for these challenges, I recommend using a sturdy variety. You do not need to get the brand name, most expensive cups, though. I used my local grocery store's version of a heavy duty brand name cup. Create a Plastic Cup Telephone A really easy challenge to get started with is a plastic cup telephone. Many kids will have done this before, however try to supply them with a variety of string and/or wire types for the line, and have them test out different versions to see which works best. Make it easier for little ones: Have a variety of telephones already put together. Use different string types or different lengths of string and have them try to speak messages to each other. Make sure the line is pulled tight for best results. Another Sound Challenge - Create a Plastic Cup Sound Amplifier (shown above, top) Smartphone speakers just not loud enough to share your favorite jams with your students? Have them create a sound amplifier! Not only is this a really great hands-on STEM activity to explore sound principles, it is actually useful. The roller, also shown above is included in the plastic cup STEM challenge pack I have linked below. It is simple but includes a hands-on way to explore torque and friction. Plastic Cup Anemometer This one is a bit tricky but the result is absolutely worth it. Create your very own anemometer to measure wind speed. Use five cups, some towels, and tape or a push pin and you can create an anemometer! Try These STEM Challenges with the Engineering Design Process If you want to add more rigor to these challenges by following the engineering design process, please visit the following resource I put together to support these plastic cup STEM challenges. With this guided STEM resource, students need to meet the design criteria specified to complete the challenge. Add it to your STEM Friday or Maker Monday rotation, or save it for a sub. You can find Plastic Cup STEM Challenges here: Pin these Plastic Cup STEM Ideas for Later:

Science can be loads of fun. From creating contraptions and models to learning about the inner-workings of life...science experiments meant for older kids.

5 best STEM products for kindergarten students. Educational STEM products are reviewed for educational value, cost, and student engagement.

Botany, biology, physics, astrology, and chemistry, oh my! Check out this super fun collection of hands-on Montessori science experiments for kids!

Here’s a fun STEM project – make a paper horse that walks on its own! A few months ago, I saw this really interesting project on Pinterest where you can make a horse out of paper that really walks on its own down an incline, and I’ve been wanting to try it. Well, our mandatory […]

Learn about fingerprinting for kids & play detective! Fun ideas for a CSI or spy party or science activity for preschool & elementary ages!

Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It’s a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love. Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys. The first time we got them out, Owen (almost 7) spent well over an […]

How strong is spaghetti? Challenge kids to invent a way to find out! This STEM challenge is a lot of fun, and you won’t need much in the way of materials! Here are the materials we used: 1 package of spaghetti 2 sheets of styrofoam – purchased at Hobby Lobby Books Wooden blocks We started our […]

Tessellations are a fun, hands-on way to explore STEAM, whether you are in art class, math class, or in a STEM or STEAM classroom. Certain basic shapes can be easily tessellated:

Build a Heart Model - STEM activity about heart rates and how blood flows through the body. Engineer a functioning model of a beating heart.

The egg drop challenge is a classic STEM activity that is a hit with kids of all ages. It can also be used as a Dr. Seuss activity with older students -- making a perfect Horton Hatches the Egg activity.

You have over 600 muscles in your body! Kids can try this muscle anatomy word search featuring 14 important muscles.

I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various …

With the Superbowl coming up next weekend, here's a fun little brain teaser you can use to stump your older kids (or husbands, coworkers or...

Although catapults (catapulta, in Latin) had been used earlier than the Romans, the Romans loved using them to defeat walled and fortified c...

Learn how to make both a basic homopolar motor and a tiny dancing motor! Great science fair project for older kids!

Great science/art activity for students! Learn about the major lobes of the brain while utilizing multiple intelligences. I use this activity to explain the structure of the cerebrum and cerebral …

Learn how to make both a basic homopolar motor and a tiny dancing motor! Great science fair project for older kids!

nervous system experiments for kids, neuron model, nervous system experiments, solagratiamom

Looking for a fun way to teach 2D shapes? This marshmallow geometry activity will do the trick - and fill your tummy!

Getting kids excited about math and science often comes down to finding fun ways for them to interact. When they can get hands-on, they learn the lesson better, and it’s more fun to learn. As students get older, they may need more challenging hands-on activities to help them remain engaged. This is where STEM resources ... Read More about Our Favorite STEM Activities for Tweens

Over 100 really fun STEM ideas to add to your classroom, homeschool...

A fun STEM activity for kids with a geography twist: learn about the Great Wall of China with this hands-on project!! Fun for preschoolers to do with older kids or a parent helper!

Hi friends! This is the first of many new posts about teaching STEM and the Expanded Core Curriculum together. I started running a STEM camp two years ago and have immersed myself in learning about the relationship between STEM & ECC. Good news--there are ton of ways you can teach the Expanded Core and STEM. I'll keep sharing tips, lessons and ideas. I use STEM lesson plans for my STEM side of things. My favorite place to hit up is Teachers Pay Teachers. I used this lesson plan from TPT: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-STEM-Challenges-January-2231074. Pay attention to the terms of use when making copies or sharing. The lesson plans for this lesson are only $4 and you can buy digital extras for a good price. There are 3 different STEM lessons in this bundle. Below is a picture of my STEM lesson plan and my ECC plan (we added Braille labels using Braillables when we did the lesson). The first part of my lesson focused on the Expanded Core areas. We spent some time digging in to learning about winter and sledding. We brought in several different types of sleds/tubes and had students check them out. Students climbed on the sleds, checked out their details and learned how they worked. Then we discussed the special clothing needed for winter (independent living skills), how to access weather conditions (use of AT) and how to get on the sled (orientation & mobility). Social interaction skills are always an important piece of community instruction. We had single person and two person sleds to discuss social pieces. We also addressed social communication (the type of language/words they may hear to need to know) and nonverbal body language. Below are pictures of the students checking out different types of sleds/tubes. Discussion & hands on learning: · What is a sled? · What is a sled ramp? · Tubing vs. sledding · Where can you go sledding? The STEM activities were pretty fun. The sledding lesson went well with the ECC part. The lesson asked for card stock paper to make the sled but we had plenty of Braille paper hanging around so we used that. We swapped standard font sized rulers for our LP/Braille ones. We did a few practice rounds so that our students who had no vision could get the hang of sending their sled (bottle cap) down the sledding ramp. We used tape to mark the sled distance. This makes it possible for our students to measure with their ruler. Note: we followed all of the lesson plans for learning the concepts covered in the STEM lesson. I like to use meaningful terms for our students so we are hands on as much as possible. For example, we rubbed our hands together and then palms on the table to learn about friction and we discussed units of measurement that students know for distance. Here's how I incorporated ECC areas in this lesson: Expanded Core instruction: Students will strengthen their understanding of sledding. · Compensatory skills: concept development of sledding · Social interaction skills: people go sledding together; social vocabulary, social etiquette · Independent Living Skills: what type of special clothes do you wear for sledding? · Orientation & Mobility: body & spatial awareness; directionality, mobility in the snow · Sensory efficiency: how does being outside in winter affect your senses? · Recreation & Leisure: exploration of sledding as a recreation activity · Career Education: understanding the rules or etiquette of the hill; who works at resorts? · Use of AT: how can you access weather reports and other information to find out more information about sledding? · Self-Determination: developing new skills; making preferences for different types of sledding (tubes vs. sleds/going solo or with friends) SSTEM is a growing area for all students. Students with vision impairments do not need to be left behind! There are so many ways our students can have meaningful STEM experiences. I love that it also a great opportunity to extend learning by incorporating the Expanded Core.

WOW your kids with a super EASY air pressure science experiment for kids! This simple rising water experiment uses a burning candle in water!

Don't give up! Use this fun object lesson to help turn negative experiences into positive ones! Perfect for preschoolers and older kids too! #sponsored #BeInternetAwesome #ItsCoolToBeKind

Introduction to the scientific method and a printable scientific method worksheet for kids.

Can Cats See in the Dark? Explore Cats Eyes with this fun & easy Science Activity! Demonstrate why cats eyes appear to glow!

It's Engineers week! STEM in our classrooms is a powerful way to help students learn how to think critically and learn to problem solve...two important life skills that will only help them as they get older. Allowing even the youngest learner to engage in hands on learning through STEM will help them cope with the world around them as they learn to think outside of the box.

Edible igneous rocks model science experiment! This science project is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th grades...and older kids too!

STEM activities are a lot of fun and educational, but the best kind of STEM activities are open-ended, allowing children to think for themselves. In this paper plate maze STEM challenge, kids are challenged to make a marble maze using household materials. They must follow all elements of a real design process, including brainstorming, blueprints,