Homeschooling mom and engineer with a passion for STEM education.
Are you looking for fun engineering activities for middle school students? Engineering activities are a great example of STEM activities for middle school students.
Here are five things every teacher should do for a successful back to school year. In this post, I'll share the top five necessities.
Every once in a while, I create a product for my classroom or my TPT store that I get just giddily excited about. Products that are unique and that I know kids and teachers will both love. I felt this way when I released my escape rooms for early childhood, and I'm feeling it again with my latest project: STEM Safari! I've been working on it for weeks, and I am thrilled that it is finally live! STEM Safari is an organized approach to implementing STEM in your classroom, and so much fun! Each STEM session, a student picks a challenge card to complete. There are 5 different types of cards: 1. Elephant Engineering (engineering challenges) 2. Cheetah Challenge (challenges with specific parameters in place) 3. Rhino Riddles ("How can you...?" challenges) 4. Warthog Wonderings (reflection questions and challenges) 5. Buffalo Building (free choice building). I wanted to prevent students from always picking the same type of card, such as the free choice building, which is, of course, valuable, but doesn't do as well with developing problem-solving skills. To do this, and to encourage my students to try new things, they each have an Animal Checklist. Every time they complete a specific type of challenge, they check it off. When they have completed all 5 of the different challenge types, they color in one country in their STEM Safari Africa map. Then they "journey" to a new country and start again with a new animal checklist! This way, the fun just keeps going, but they have a way to track how many challenges they have completed. There is also a STEM Safari Journal included, which helps build their reflection skills. Any of the Warthog Wondering cards that say "write about it" can be completed in their STEM Safari Journals. There are also a few "design" challenges in the Elephant Engineering cards that can be completed in their journals. As they continue their STEM Safari journey, the reflections they have completed in the journal will help them polish their problem-solving and engineering skills. I love doing STEM projects with my students! It is amazing to see what they can accomplish with a few basic supplies and some open-ended directives. However, storing all of these supplies can be a challenge. Included in the STEM Safari kit are tons of supply labels with photographs, to help keep everything neat. Here's a close-up example of a supply label. I even included some editable labels so that you can customize them for any supplies you have on hand! I really hope that your students enjoy STEM Safari as much as mine do! Click here to purchase in my shop, or here to purchase in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. There's just something about open-ended, hands-on learning that gets kiddos excited. I would love to hear how you use STEM in your classroom; drop me a comment below! Happy teaching!
Fun STEM activity for outdoor play and makes a great science lesson! (Includes a printable rocket template).
If you have middle school aged students, these STEM projects for middle school will be great additions to your collection of STEAM activities for kids.
Challenge your kids to this engineering project and build an Eiffel Tower that's as tall as they are using building materials from around the house!
Digestion experiment for kids! An easy science experiment from at-home materials about how the stomach breaks down food. Anatomy science for kids.
STEM is so much fun for students, so why not try some back to school STEM challenges? Click to see how these challenges will fit into your grade 2-8 class!
STEM challenges are the best way to begin building classroom community and teamwork at the beginning of the year. They are also a great way to introduce problem-solving skills and get students thinking creatively and outside the box. The best part is students LOVE them, and they don't eve
Discover some fascinating, no prep, STEM activities and challenges you can do with your students using paper! Engineering, math and science.
Get ready to create some fun this Halloween with an exciting flying bat craft that's perfect for little hands! This STEM craft uses string and a straw to make the bats' wings flap...how fun is that?!
You and your kids will love putting together these simple helicopters and watching them fly! *Video below
The best beginning of the year STEM challenges have 3 things in common: 1.) They help students get to know one another and start building teamwork and collaboration. 2.) They allow students to start practicing classroom procedures. 3.) They are incredibly fun and get students excited about STEM!
Ready to build your STEM library with the best picture books? Start Here! Check out my Top 10 all time favorite read alouds for elementary STEM
Fine motor activities are the perfect way to engage your students with interactive and educational activities. As a teacher we are always looking for fun and hands on ways to enhance your kindergarten students' fine motor skills and it's a bonus when you can also incorporate math. Spring Fine Motor Activities Pattern Block Mats Spring Pattern Blocks are an excellent tool for developing fine motor skills and teaching math concepts such as shapes, symmetry, and fractions. In this activity, children can use pattern blocks to create pictures and included are different ability levels. Students can build the pictures, identify the shapes and count how many of each shape is used in the picture. A great way to incorporate math and fine motor activities. Also included are small easy to store task cards that work well for morning work or early finishers. And also a design your own version, which can challenge your students and beneficial to your visual spacial leaners. I love these more opened ended tasks which are so great for differentiation. Students are able to come up with so many different ways to make the same picture. Snap Cube Activities Spring Snap Cube Activities are another hands on and engaging resource for teaching math concepts and developing fine motor skills in your classroom. In this activity, children can create different pictures using snap cubes, sort by color and count how many of each color. This does require counting up to 20 and is a great way to reinforce that kindergarten standard. You will also fine simple to build mats that are to scale for students and a great fine motor activity and does not involve counting. As well as small task cards and can really challenge students and are great to help develop visual spacial awareness. These are small and easy to store and a great activity to keep for morning bins or early finishers. Geoboard Activities Spring Geoboards are also a great tool for developing fine motor skills and teaching math concepts such as symmetry, shapes, and patterns. In this activity, children can use geoboards to create different spring shapes like butterflies, flowers, and and birdhouses. As an extension activity, students to practice identifying shapes they may see in a picture and record on the mats. Each picture includes both and simple and more difficult version with 10 different pictures included. The small geoboard task cards are included as a freebie at the end of this blog post. Spring Building Brick Activities Spring Building Bricks are another fun and engaging fine motor activities to use in your classroom. Your students will love using Legos or other building bricks to create spring themed pictures such as rainbows, ladybugs, butterflies and bird houses. Included are 10 different spring themed pictures with both small easy to store task cards as well as large to scale cards where students can simply build on the mat You can all of these activities in Spring Fine Motor Bundle which includes a variety of templates for Snap Cubes, Pattern Blocks, Building Bricks, Geoboard Boards, and Pom Poms at a 40% discount. Each set contains 10 different spring themed picture for your students to create. You can fine the Free Spring Geoboard Task Cards here
Alright, it's mid-July! I know you are thinking about back to school time. You can't go shopping without seeing school supplies on sale or displays of new shoes and clothing, and I know you are getting excited. It's a fun time of year, isn't it? But... it's also stressful. You have ten tons to
Fun STEM activity for outdoor play and makes a great science lesson! (Includes a printable rocket template).
Every once in a while, I create a product for my classroom or my TPT store that I get just giddily excited about. Products that are unique and that I know kids and teachers will both love. I felt this way when I released my escape rooms for early childhood, and I'm feeling it again with my latest project: STEM Safari! I've been working on it for weeks, and I am thrilled that it is finally live! STEM Safari is an organized approach to implementing STEM in your classroom, and so much fun! Each STEM session, a student picks a challenge card to complete. There are 5 different types of cards: 1. Elephant Engineering (engineering challenges) 2. Cheetah Challenge (challenges with specific parameters in place) 3. Rhino Riddles ("How can you...?" challenges) 4. Warthog Wonderings (reflection questions and challenges) 5. Buffalo Building (free choice building). I wanted to prevent students from always picking the same type of card, such as the free choice building, which is, of course, valuable, but doesn't do as well with developing problem-solving skills. To do this, and to encourage my students to try new things, they each have an Animal Checklist. Every time they complete a specific type of challenge, they check it off. When they have completed all 5 of the different challenge types, they color in one country in their STEM Safari Africa map. Then they "journey" to a new country and start again with a new animal checklist! This way, the fun just keeps going, but they have a way to track how many challenges they have completed. There is also a STEM Safari Journal included, which helps build their reflection skills. Any of the Warthog Wondering cards that say "write about it" can be completed in their STEM Safari Journals. There are also a few "design" challenges in the Elephant Engineering cards that can be completed in their journals. As they continue their STEM Safari journey, the reflections they have completed in the journal will help them polish their problem-solving and engineering skills. I love doing STEM projects with my students! It is amazing to see what they can accomplish with a few basic supplies and some open-ended directives. However, storing all of these supplies can be a challenge. Included in the STEM Safari kit are tons of supply labels with photographs, to help keep everything neat. Here's a close-up example of a supply label. I even included some editable labels so that you can customize them for any supplies you have on hand! I really hope that your students enjoy STEM Safari as much as mine do! Click here to purchase in my shop, or here to purchase in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. There's just something about open-ended, hands-on learning that gets kiddos excited. I would love to hear how you use STEM in your classroom; drop me a comment below! Happy teaching!
30+ engineering STEM challenges with simple materials. Kids can tinker with bridges, catapults, boats, and more using recycled and inexpensive materials.
Outdoor math activities for kids from preschool to high school. Engaging way to prevent summer slide with fun active STEM activities to learn numbers, shapes, angles, time, algebra, geometry using materials in nature.
STEM activities are a great way to engage children as they learn. This huge collection of 60 Best STEM Activities kids are sure to love.
If you love STEAM activities for kids but hate having to buy a ton of extra materials and tools, you are going to LOVE these free STEM activities.
"It was like herding cats!" That was my answer to my husband the other day when he asked how my day had gone. Seriously, the days I have first and second graders are just hard - fun, but exhausting. That is until I found the SECRET to STEM and the littles! Are you ready for
STEM teaching integrates the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics with a unique learning approach, presenting hands on and
Halloween potions science activity for kids. A fun STEM experiment for children who want to make their own bubbly cauldrons this October.
Looking for some fun middle school activities to incorporate in your math lessons? Trying to come up with fun ideas that fit your curriculum? Here are 20 great activities and project ideas! There are three main themes to the activities listed below: real life, food (perfect for those hungry pre-teens!), and creativity. The instructions for all activities can be easily modified for students in Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8. If your child is home-schooled, or you are just looking for additional home learning tasks, then these activities are perfect for you! All of the materials can easily be found in your home.
The first week of school sure is a busy one! I work hard to balance the mandatory paperwork with games, hands-on activities and team-building fun. Even with bigger kids, it’s important to keep them moving throughout the day and providing a variety of activities. 1. Marshmallow Tower For this activity, you’ll need the following materials […]
Try this fun pollination STEM activity for students to make a craft stick model bee then simulate pollination using mac and cheese powder!
STEM Bins for Elementary Students “I’m finished! What do I do now?” How many times during our teaching day do we hear these words from our students? Oftentimes, it is much too often, and students are provided a handful of the same options to keep them busy until our next transition. Sometimes students are instructed...
Reading about the explorers to America and doing hands-on activities helps us too explore. This time, we're exploring the explorers!
International Dot Day is celebrated on September 15th. It is a day meant to encourage students to be creative, curious, and brave. The inspiration for the day comes from the book, The Dot , by Peter H. Reynolds. The story of The Dot centers around the main character, V
4 easy STEM challenges for 3rd grade that are cheap, easy to set up, and engaging for students. Get started with the engineering design process, and have FUN, with these hands-on science challenges!
I love using interactive lapbooks in the classroom. They are fun to create, engaging and can be used throughout the year to review skills taught. I finally completely my Lapbook Bundle and I am happy to share the lapbooks included with you. Whether you think your learners will enjoy creating all of the lapbooks, if you
Make your own baking soda volcano with only a few ingredients from your kitchen! You only need baking soda, vinegar and water!
Teach Force and Motion to Kindergarteners with this simple STEM Challenge designed to connect to the Read Aloud Book, Ricky The Rock that Couldn't Roll.
Celebrate the spooky season with spine-tingling Halloween STEM Activities! We've got over 31 amazing ideas to keep kids engaged through October and beyond!
Classroom team-building games are a must at the start of a new school year! Here are 16 of my favorite icebreakers and classroom team-building activities!
FUN Turkey Game that is both Thanksgiving activities, Fall STEM, and a physics science experimetn too! Try Turkey Races in November!
