STEM Activities

Natural Artists

Have your kids collect materials from nature and create art to share with the family. They may work alone or in pairs to unearth the outdoors. Their art may result in a picture frame, a sculpture, a robot or a mural. Creativity and imagination are encouraged. Ask them to think through where the materials come from, their role in nature, what the world would be like without them, and the colors, shapes and textures they discovered. What is a habitat and what do these materials tell us about the habitat?

I Spy STEM Walk

Take a walk through nature or anywhere outdoors. Identify how or where STEM is involved by pointing out science, technology, engineering and math wherever you see it and encourage your kids to join in. How do trees stay alive? How are buildings constructed? What lives outdoors versus indoors and why? What do you notice up in the sky? What technology can be found outdoors?

Water Challenge

Use water games to have youth solve problems as a team. Put them in groups and challenge them to move a large amount of water from one bucket to another using only a smaller bucket with large holes in the bottom. Let them brainstorm strategies for plugging the holes and keeping as much water as possible in the bucket in order to fill up their large bucket quickly. Have them measure the water and discuss the factors that make them move more or less water.

Sink or Float

What makes some materials sink in water while others float? Ask them to make predictions about the sample materials (a penny, tin foil, a Lego, a plastic cup, a spoon) and then ask follow up questions about what patterns they noticed. What do they suspect made some objects float while others sank?