5 Favorite STEM Activities for Elementary Kids
Every year I look for more ways to captivate my students’ minds and entice them to dive deeper into their learning content. I have found that STEM has the power to meet my students’ natural inquisition with hands-on accomplishment. Today I want to share with you some of my, and more importantly, my students’ all time favorite elementary STEM activities!
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Over the years of teaching STEM, I found that children are incredibly receptive to anything taught through stories. And what greater story than a thrilling adventure in space? In my classroom, students become a team of astronauts challenged to complete missions centered around a journey to the Moon or Mars. Students launch rockets, design shelters, even create ziplines!
The activities below are my top 5 favorites from our adventures in space! Activities can be completed as stand-alone STEM challenge or can be found as part of our 10-unit Launchpad curriculum. All lessons are aligned to science and math standards, include related STEM careers, and provide a 21st Century skill focus, such as teamwork, resilience, and leadership.
Let’s launch into some of these challenges!
1. Astronaut Boot STEM Challenge
Mission: Design an astronaut boot to keep your foot protected on the Moon or Mars.
STEM Career: Astronaut! Click to watch NASA astronaut Peggy Watson put on a space suit!
Supplies Needed
Bubble wrap
Craft sticks
Masking Tape
Paper: construction or newspaper works well
Art supplies
In this activity, your students will gain team-building skills while building astronaut boots! Start this challenge by asking your class why they think astronauts need to wear boots. This is a sure way to get them thinking. What’s the answer? Click here to find out and discover more about the suits that our astronauts wear.
During this STEM activity, students will learn about space suit design, as well as history and current events of space exploration! Choose the Moon or Mars as the astronaut's destination and use the accompanying handouts to complete the mission!
Why My Students Love this Challenge: Students really love building and wearing the boot. They may even want to make a helmet to match!
Why Teachers Love this Challenge: This is a great beginner activity. It can be done individually or in a pair, but I prefer doing this as pairs. The challenge allows you to access your students’ skill level regarding teamwork, communication and building, before moving onto harder challenges. For example, I took this time to work out any behavioral issues and made note of students who shouldn’t be paired in future projects, etc.
2. Ultraviolet Solar Light Shelter STEM Challenge
Mission: Design a shelter to protect an astronaut from harmful radiation.
STEM Career: Material Scientist! One day, scientists might be 3D-printing lunar bases. Wow!
Supplies Needed:
Pipecleaner
Index cards
Craft sticks
Bendy straws
Cardstock
Paper plate
Paper bag
Masking tape
Scissors
Black light
One of the dangers of living on the Moon or Mars are the harmful UV rays. In this activity, your students will explore how different materials absorb UV light and then use the engineering design process to build a UV safe shelter. There are two versions of this challenge and separate handouts for each: elementary kids and middle school kids.
Why My Students Love this Challenge: Students enjoy thinking about which material blocks UV light the best. And they’re even more fascinated by the UV beads. Everyone wants to wear them when they leave the class!
Why Teachers Love this Challenge: STEM teachers will love the unique and detailed designs of the different shelters their students make. They’re absolutely captivating! From adding insulation to building a 2-story shelter with an emergency hatch, the ideas are endless.
3. Straw Rocket STEM Challenge (Forces & Motion)
Mission: Design a rocket to get to the Moon or Mars.
STEM Career: Aerospace Engineer! Watch this video for a view of The Most Powerful Rocket Ever Built!
Supplies Needed:
Multiple papers for each student
Creating rockets is always a student’s favorite! In my class, we start this lesson by having the students create what they think is the shape of a rocket out of toothpicks. We then discuss the parts of a rocket. Did their shape have fins? A nose cone?
Teachers can then choose to complete a paper rocket to launch with a smaller straw or use the Pitsco Straw Rocket Launcher. Once their rockets are created, the kids will test different variables such as straw length, mass, and angle of launch to complete two missions: hit a target and achieve farthest distance.
There are two versions of this challenge adapted for different grade levels: K-2nd and 3rd-5th. This STEM challenge packet includes a paper rocket activity, straw rocket engineering design challenge, handouts on Newton’s Laws and forces, and extension problems on variable testing and graphing.
Why My Students Love this Challenge: Students love building rockets! It’s as simple as that. Once the students start testing, it turns into a competition of who can build a rocket that can fly the farthest. This challenge will be one that your students will want to do over and over again!
Why Teachers Love this Challenge: Pitsco Straw Rocket Launchers are an absolute classic for any grade level. I’ve used it from kindergarten to college students, and the versatility of the launcher allows for tons of learning. Your students’ rockets can be launched down a hallway or outside, and some launches can reach 60 feet! The launcher is a great asset for every classroom.
4. Zip Line STEM Challenge - Engineering Design
Mission: Using the engineering design process, student teams are tasked with designing a vehicle (the device) to carry a hurt astronaut (the ping pong ball) down a zip line!
STEM Career: Civil Engineering! Show your students this fascinating video about the Moon Village from the European Space Agency.
Supplies Needed:
Craft sticks
Paper
Tape
String
Paper clip
Dixie Cups
Pipe cleaners
Can you save your crew member who is hurt? Teams will need to build a zip line to carry the astronaut to safety! Start with the science of zip lines, including the center of gravity and the forces acting on the vehicle, such as friction and gravity. These concepts help students make informed design decisions for their zip line. Use the handouts in our packet to cover current events of NASA's Mission to the Moon and Mars along with STEM career highlights of soil scientists and transportation engineers. To take this challenge further, we included activities with zip line races and more!
Why My Students Love this Challenge: The testing will be your students’ favorite part of this challenge. Once a student makes a new record of how quickly their zip line device travels, have them write it on the board. This will give the rest of the class motivation to keep building and beat the new record!
Why Teachers Love this Challenge: It’s a great way to test different skill levels of your students. Make the challenge harder by taking away the cups, and students will need to become creative in designing their vehicle. This activity prompts many different ideas to build devices!
5. Space Lander STEM Challenge
Mission: Design a lander to keep astronauts safe when landing on the Moon or Mars.
STEM Career: Mechanical Engineer! Mechanical Engineers design machines. Show your kids this fun video about what engineers do.
Supplies Needed:
Straws
Index cards
Cotton balls
Any other common material in the classroom
Student teams will build a lander to keep two “aliens” or “astronauts” inside a cup as it is dropped from various heights. Your students will absolutely have a blast with this activity! The middle school Space Lander product is one of our best sellers, so we made an elementary version!
If you are in distance learning, use our free space lander challenge video to share with students completing the challenge at home along with the digital activity version in this bundle.
Why My Students Love this Challenge: As always, the students love the testing part! Gather your class in a circle and allow each team to come to the center and drop their lander. Their classmates will cheer and celebrate together! Whenever a lander fails, it becomes a teaching moment and encourages critical thinking and problem solving.
Why Teachers Love this Challenge: Teachers love how adaptable this challenge is to different levels! Once a team is able to successfully keep their astronauts in the cup, you can increase the drop height another foot. The gradual increase allows students to have initial success at the first height and motivate them to keep improving!
I know your students will love these activities as much as mine do! Each activity is sold individually with links listed above. Or save BIG with the purchase of the complete 10-unit Launchpad curriculum!
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