STEM activities are highly beneficial for kids as they foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and a passion for science. Through this blog post, we’ll discover the most popular STEM activities for kids at home or outside. Let’s get started!
You might be wondering what are STEM activities for kids that can foster their curiosity and keep them engaged. Here is a list of easy STEM activities that will teach your kids essential skills such as creativity, collaboration, and resilience.
MentalUP is a learning app created by educators, academics, and game developers.
The app includes more than 150 puzzles, games, and STEM activities for kids of all ages. It offers a progressive challenge with games tailored to continuously push kids toward greater intellectual feats.
Also, MentalUP’s fitness module keeps kids active with more than 240 exercises in the balance, cardio, strength, and endurance categories. All these features make MentalUP a great source for providing kids with educational activities, along with fun STEM activities for kids.
Let your kids have a blast while improving their intelligence with MentalUP! 🔥
MentalUP is designed to keep kids engaged and educated. Captivating games, animated fitness videos, and a colorfully designed layout are all combined in MentalUP to make learning fun for kids of all ages. 😎
It is time for you to join 10 million parents, teachers, and kids enjoying MentalUP! 👪
This is one of the most fun and simple STEM activities for kids. It is an interactive STEM activity teaching kids the cloud formation in an engaging way. Plus, it only requires simple household items and is suitable for kids of all ages.
To create a cloud in a jar experiment with hairspray, fill a jar with hot water, and replace the lid with a piece of ice to cool the air inside. Then, spray a small amount of hairspray into the jar and observe as the water vapor condenses around the particles, forming a visible cloud
This method effectively imparts the concept of the water cycle to kids, elucidating the continuous process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. It is one of the most simple summer STEM activities for kids as it only requires a plastic bag and some water.
Fill 1/4th of the bag with water, adding blue food coloring for easy observation. Seal the bag and affix it to a nearby window or any sunlit area. Over time, witness the water transforming from liquid to vapor through evaporation and back to liquid upon condensation.
This is one of the best free stem activities for elementary kids. It is a great way for kids to understand the environmental impact of oil spills and explore possible solutions for cleaning them up.
Follow these steps for the activity: Fill a shallow container with water, leaving space at the top. Pour a small amount of vegetable oil onto the water surface and sprinkle cocoa powder or coffee grounds over the oil. Provide cotton balls or paper towels to the kids and instruct them to clean up the oil spill using these materials.
This is one of the best winter STEM activities for kids that will keep them occupied for a long time. It is suitable for kids aged 8 and older. Building this cute hand crank can teach kids the foundations of mechanics and improve their engineering and logic skills.
All you need is some cardboard paper towel rolls, a spool of ribbon and scissors. Cut the cardboard paper towel rolls to desired lengths, stack them, and secure them together to form a sturdy cylindrical structure.
Attach one end of the ribbon to the top of the cardboard cylinder and wind it around the structure, creating a hand-cranked winch using the ribbon as the winding mechanism.
Now that we’ve explored the easy STEM activities that can keep kids occupied, let’s discover fun STEM activities for kids that are crafted to encourage young minds to approach problems with curiosity and a fresh perspective.
If you are looking for STEM activities for kids affordable and exciting, you can try this one. Kids can grasp fundamental principles of chemistry with this activity, such as reactants, products, and the concept of chemical changes, by witnessing the transformations of lemons.
Cut lemons, add food coloring, and introduce baking soda for a visually stunning eruption. This easy activity will spark kids' curiosity and interest in science, encouraging them to think more critically as they observe, hypothesize, and draw conclusions about the outcomes.
MentalUP is not only here to feed your kids STEM skills but also to keep them active! 💪
Combined with its brain training module, MentalUP’s fitness exercises enable kids to exercise both indoors and outdoors with fun animated videos. 🎵🏀🎨
Plus, it gives detailed insights into kids' learning journeys with rich performance-tracking tools, and no parental control is needed because of its no-ads feature! 😍
This might be one of the most popular STEM activities for kids who enjoy arts and crafts projects. The activity fosters problem-solving skills as children design, test, and iterate their roller coaster structures, enhancing their understanding of engineering concepts in a fun and engaging way.
To set up the activity, you only need everyday materials like craft sticks, paper, tape, and cardboard. Kids create a track for a ping pong ball, aiming for a safe landing in a cup at the track's end. It will be an exciting experience for them, helping them understand principles such as gravity, momentum, and friction in a practical setting.
Seeds initiate growth through a process known as germination, marking the inception of plant development. That’s why this is one of the best STEM activities for kids that will provide them with a tangible and interactive way to learn about plant life cycles and biology.
To create a germination activity for kids, provide them with small pots or cups, potting soil, and seeds. Have the children plant the seeds in the soil, water them appropriately, and place the pots in a sunny location, allowing the kids to observe and document the germination process as the seeds sprout and grow into seedlings.
This is not one of the STEM activities for kids on a car ride, but discussing the results of the activity can be a great idea to keep kids talking and thinking about science on road trips. To try the Water Walking activity, set up six cups in a row—three with colored water and three empty.
Connect the cups with paper towels, creating a train-like structure, and witness water flowing into the empty cups through capillary action. This one of the most simple summer STEM activities is both fun and educational, ideal for engaging kids aged 8 and up.
Last but not least, let’s take a look at the most popular STEM activities for kids that will spark an early interest in science, technology, engineering, or math.
This is one of the most creative and engaging STEM activities for kids at home. Kids can create Christmas geometric shapes using household items by cutting and arranging paper or cardboard into shapes like triangles, squares, and circles to form festive decorations.
Kids can then use everyday items such as buttons, beads, or pasta to embellish the shapes, turning them into personalized ornaments or festive geometric artwork for the holiday season. This activity not only enhances their geometric understanding but also promotes creativity and holiday spirit through hands-on crafting.
Do you know that MentalUP is the ultimate app that parents or teachers can trust to support their kids' development? ✌
The app’s adaptive learning algorithms continuously test kids' skills and provide them with tailored daily brain training plans along with physical exercises. 🎓
MentalUP focuses on improving core cognitive skills like attention, memory, problem-solving, and critical thinking with its brain training module. 🚀
Unlock kids’ full potential with MentalUP!
Here's a straightforward STEM activity for kids that is adaptable to your available building toys, sets, or supplies. Encourage children to construct a Christmas tree, and they can enhance it by adding ornaments.
Consider using materials like LEGO bricks, magnetic tiles, colored craft sticks, plastic cups, or any other creative items you have on hand! The activity will encourage kids to make decisions about decoration design, fostering imagination and fine motor skills as they handle and place ornaments on the tree.
If you are looking for simple yet exciting STEM activities for kids, you should definitely try this one. It is a great activity for kids aged 8 to 12. To make Crystal Sun Catchers, kids can string clear beads onto fishing lines or transparent thread, creating a desired pattern or design.
Attach a larger crystal or prism at the bottom, and then hang the completed string near a sunny window. When sunlight passes through the crystals, it will create beautiful reflections and colors, adding a touch of sparkle to the room and providing a simple yet creative DIY project for children.
This particular project is one of the best animal STEM activities for kids. They'll be challenged to conceive a completely original plant or animal, exploring uncharted territories of imagination.
What's truly exciting about this endeavor is its adaptability. It's a versatile project that can be tailored to suit kids of all ages, allowing for varying levels of complexity based on the kid's depth of scientific understanding. But here's the twist—it's not just about fanciful designs; they'll need to delve into the scientific intricacies, detailing the biology that makes their creation plausible.
This is a hands-on STEM activity for kids that enables them to explore principles of aerodynamics and engineering through the art of paper airplane design. The activity teaches kids about the factors that affect flight, such as wing shape and weight distribution,
To conduct the Paper Airplane Challenge, all you need is a supply of paper and a space for testing flights. Kids can start by experimenting with different paper sizes and folding techniques to create unique airplane designs. Folding methods like the classic dart or glider can be explored.
This STEM activity encourages kids to connect with nature by identifying and collecting various items in their environment. The activity promotes observation skills, environmental awareness, and a love for the natural world.
To organize a Nature Scavenger Hunt, start by creating a list of items for participants to find in the outdoor space. Provide participants with a container to collect their treasures. Divide them into teams or let them explore individually, armed with the scavenger hunt list and a sense of curiosity.
STEM activities for kids not only provide entertainment for kids. Let's uncover the distinct advantages that these hands-on experiences bring to young minds.
Hundreds of brain training exercises, including STEM activities, puzzles, and brain teasers, are available on MentalUP! 🎮
With its rich content library, personalized training plans, and performance-tracking tools, MentalUP is the only source you need to support your kids' development, regardless of their age or grade level. 🏆
Download MentalUP to discover a proven and effective way to help kids learn more easily! 🎉