October 4, 2022 // by Nicole Muir
A lot of schools are introducing STEM activities in the classroom. Even homeschooling families are including STEM activities in their curriculum. STEM projects have a lot of benefits for students and their learning follows suit. Your children or students can build on their motor skills while learning about chemical reactions, for example. This is the ultimate list of STEM activities for students who are preschool age but children who are a bit older would also enjoy them. Take a look!
Learning about the phases of the moon can also be delicious! When learning about abstract concepts, students often benefit from a visual aid. This idea helps to explain this idea at a preschool level. It also promotes independent learning.
A lot of kids enjoy playing with slime. When students realize they can make their own, they are quick to come to find out about all of the other variations of slime that are out there. This activity for children is hands-on and focuses on science too!
There is no limit to the different types of creations that your children and students can create as they design and construct their very own marble run course. You can utilize materials you already have in your house or classroom.
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Building and constructing is a vital part of STEM. Your students can strengthen their critical thinking skills by you asking them to build a tower and giving them a design challenge like this. It is especially an exciting activity for preschoolers.
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You can often mix science with art and crafting too! This project could be considered a preschool STEAM activity. It is one of the fun experiments for kids that involve candy. It will quickly become one of their favorite experiments.
This fun STEM experiment is an excellent way to make your students into mini engineers as they work on building a strong straw bridge. This activity is inexpensive to put together and does not take a long time to set up.
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Mixing literacy, fairy tales and STEM is a fantastic way to get your students engaged and motivated. Taking this classic story and involving your students in the plot will allow them to feel like they can take some ownership of how the story ends.
Being able to incorporate writing with science is an excellent idea. Having the students write about what they learned and the results of their experiment will promote literacy in your science class. Mix your fun challenges with a little write-up at the end.
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A lot of children have experience with either building a snowman or interacting with snow in general. Taking a look at this experiment, they will be interested to see how it turns out. You can even add a drop of food coloring to make it colorful!
These craft stick shape mats can be used so the students can construct their own self-portraits. This STEM activity can be incorporated into your next growth mindset or kindness lesson. It's one of those awesome STEM projects that your students will remember!
Learning about compressed air has never been so fun! Take a look at this juice pouch stomp rocket. It's one of those amazing ideas that the students will be talking about for years to come! They will have so much fun learning.
There are so many fun ways to customize lava lamps. DIY STEM ideas like this can be adapted to suit your needs, the abilities of your students, or the supplies that you have on hand. Make sure you review the rules before jumping into this activity with them!
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This experiment definitely involves items that you can gather at a moment's notice. Baking soda is often involved in a few different science experiments too. Basic materials like these are usually all you need to create an engaging STEM activity for students.
This is even an idea with toddlers you can introduce. Simply exploring nature, without any rules or restrictions can lead to some incredible discoveries. Unlimited and unrestricted free time to play in nature could lead the students to incredible natural findings.
The possibilities are endless for the other lessons that this idea can be incorporated. Mixing this STEM project with an environmentalism unit about creating less waste is just one example. It also lets them work with hands-on materials. Check it out!
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There are so many household materials that can be utilized in the process of your children doing this activity. After the ramps are built, they can have a blast testing them with LEGO cars, hot wheels, or even dolls they own. They can let their imagination run wild!
This assignment is perfect for a weather unit. They will look forward to making a storm cloud in a jar. Take note: this project requires constant adult supervision, so working in small groups might be the best way to go about it.
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How fun is this idea! You can make your own bubbles with the students and have it be called a STEM activity. Waiting until the weather is nice enough to do this project outside might be best depending on the region where your school is, of course.
Glitter does not just have to be used in art class anymore! Involving glitter in your science class can engage students in a way they may not have been engaged before. This idea looks at chemical reactions with glitter. The colors are beautiful!
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This idea is amazing. Your students will not believe that this is what they are going to be doing in class today. Using just milk, vinegar, and a few other items, you can bring this experiment to life today!
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Most children tend to be more interested in completing a school activity if it involves their favorite characters. Give your students a chance to create Elsa's ice palace. This could be an interesting design challenge for them and they will be very excited to do it.
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The best part of this idea is that your children will not know what to expect when you tell them you are going to make elephant toothpaste or toothpaste for elephants! They will be surprised and want to see how the experiment turns out in the end.
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This is an additional idea that can be brought into your art class as well if you talking about and looking at color mixing. Students can make predictions and write down the results of the experiment as it mixes the colored water together on the paper towel.
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There are so many extensions you can do with the foil boat idea. Testing which boat can float with the most amount of marbles is just one of those ideas. Learning about which materials sink and which float are also great ideas too for your young learners.
This activity has so many benefits for your young learners. You could go on a nature walk prior to doing this activity to collect supplies and materials. Then, you can teach a lesson about the life cycle of a butterfly and the students can recreate it.
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Using just a few simple materials you probably already have around your house or classroom, you can pull off this simple experiment. Watching raisins dance will be a fun time for your toddler as they watch the raisins float around the jar! Take a look.
Starting with the basic idea of a cup tower is an excellent place to start. Having the students build without restrictions or giving them a specific design challenge will have them exercise their creative thinking and make them into little engineers as well.
This inspection does take a little bit of preparation the previous day but it is worth it. Your children will learn about hot and cold as well as different items from around nature. You can include more objects than just leaves in the ice blocks too.
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Sometimes, hot chocolate hits the spot on cold or cool days. This activity is a fun spin on the traditional baking soda and vinegar volcano. You can have the students make predictions and evaluate the results by discussing if their hypotheses' were correct or not.
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Bug hunting is an amazing idea for open and limitless discovery. You might want to include a checklist or scavenger hunt list to keep your students focused or you can let them be free to discover as they play. You can make or buy magnifying glasses, too.
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If you make this a learning center, make sure the children have supervision as they play with the water. You can switch out materials daily or weekly if you'd like to keep them interested, but this is an awesome idea since students love playing in the water.
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If you like messy projects, this is the one for you! Shaving cream and blocks are all that is needed to make this project a hit! Ensure you review the rules with your children or students about limiting the mess as best they can and wash their hands right after.
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Creating a homemade battery will definitely spark a love for science in your students or children. They can learn about many different facets of science with this activity. They will not believe the results that they created.
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As long as you have some eggs, the materials you invite your students can use are completely up to you and what you have on hand. They will love and have an absolute blast attempting to build a home to keep their egg safe.
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Students can work in groups or individually to build an epic straw roller coaster. They can design it however they'd like and get very creative with their attempts. You will definitely be amazed at the designs they come up with.
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