40 STEM Activities for Kids. Activities for ages 4 and up. STEM activities (Science Technology Engineering and Math) are all the buzz in education. Kids love finding out how things work through fun, hands-on projects and teachers love knowing that they’re preparing students for their techy future. These 40 kid-approved STEM activities are the perfect complement to our super popular Endless STEM Challenge Bundle! Science Projects We love science so it’s hard to pick a favorite in this first category of STEM activities. Make exploding pop rockets. Pull together an easy water drop race. // What We Do All Day Create fireworks in a jar. // I Can Teach My Child Blow up a batch of magic balloons.
Create a water cycle in a bag. Make ordinary flowers glow in the dark. // Fun at Home with Kids Whip up some magic dancing raisins. // Coffee Cups and Crayons And speaking of dancing, make gummy worms boogy. Test out a simple recipe for Oobleck. // STEM Mom Turn your name into crystals. Whip up a batch of Magic Aqua Sand. // Paging Fun Mums. FUDGE FACTORY - Interact Simulations. S.O.S. - Interact Simulations. Green STEM Initiatives Spark Innovative Learning. Today marks the birthday of Thomas Edison, that American icon of innovation. At a time when the U.S. is facing a critical shortage of students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math, it's worth remembering how Edison built a pipeline of thinkers who tackled the STEM challenges of their time.
In his Menlo Park, New Jersey, invention factory, Edison assembled an interdisciplinary team of engineers, chemists, mathematicians, glass blowers, and even a press team to spread the word about breakthroughs. The two-story workshop featured state-of-the-art equipment along with a pipe organ where employees could gather for sing-alongs to refresh their spirits. Not content to invent a better light bulb, Edison designed a whole system for engineering ideas. How might we encourage more high-energy, cross-disciplinary thinking among today's students?
Greening STEM: What It Looks Like Several applications support environmental study on mobile devices. Building the Pipeline. Ownership and Agency Will Propel STEM Learning. As part of the Marin Speaker Series in San Rafael, California, legendary Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was asked what advice he would give a middle school math student.
His answer: learn programming and get off the page in the textbook, don't let school hold you back, and learn at your own pace with tools like Khan Academy. In other words, break free from the linear path of math instruction that starts with pre-algebra and culminates with calculus, as The New York Times Editorial Board highlights in its piece "Who Says Math Has To Be Boring? " Ownership of Outcomes Wozniak's words could not be more timely as the United States grapples with yet another round of mediocre test scores in math and science on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). When it comes to STEM, schools are running into the adage from Mark Twain: "Don't let your schooling interfere with your education.
" Kids are learning many STEM skills, but it's not happening in schools. Learning STEM Skills by Designing Video Games. Rhys: My name is Rhys. I’m ten years old. I live in Manor, Texas. It’s a small town right outside of Austin. And I like to play baseball and play Gamestar Mechanic. I really like making games because you get to be really creative with it. Okay. When it has a good story it comes through to the player just like when you’re reading a storybook.
In this one, you’re stranded in this random world and you’re trying to get out. Gabe Zichermann: It’s great that kids who have a natural affinity for wanting to make games get to make games. Rhys: So each time I don’t want it to be exactly the same, ‘cause then you could just toy with the pattern eventually. Rebecca, Rhys' Mom: I’d have to say that the problem-solving skills that he gets out of this are so valuable across the board.
Rhys: And we’ll just make level two just a little bit harder. I have thought about the similarities and differences of baseball and video games. And they’re challenging in different ways, but they make you think.