STEM activities

Below are some carefully selected (mainly Primary based) activities that students can do at home that combine Fun and Education...

STEM Club activities

A range of activities that you could use with a class or extra curricular STEM group. Split into Primary and Secondary, these are thorough and well resourced activities

Cloud in a jar

Condensation, water cycles and states of matter all get some attention with this delightful activity. A few simple household ingredients (water and hairspray) come together to demonstrate the formation of a cloud for kids.

This activity can be very simple at a young age — or scaled up for older kids into an experiment with two different methods to create a cloud, along with conversation about how water cycles work in the environment. For bonus points, take the kids out on a foggy or cloudy day and perform this activity to help them connect the dots. https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/simple-stem-activities-for-kids/

Building structures with Lollies

Building structures with lollies (Marshmallows, jellies, Jelly beans) and toothpicks is a classic engineering project for all ages and something that is easy to do at home. This activity teaches kids to think in 3 dimensions.

Challenges could include

• Make a structure with 100 lollies

• What is the tallest structure you can make

• Can you make a polygon (how any sides?)

Rube Goldberg Machine

Rube Goldberg machines involve a series of connected moving events to achieve an end goal (eg. Ring a bell, Pop a balloon, open a door etc.). They are a lot of fun, but also have some underlying Physics concepts. Importantly you can easily make them at home. This web link provides a thorough explanation as to what is required and strategies to set one up. It shows a couple of good videos of Rube Goldberg machines in action and also introduces some key features of the Engineering design process (eg. Dealing with failure).

Homemade Crystal Garden

Crystal gardens can be made at home, not just in the lab. The secret is to use Epsom Salt… and be patient (you will need to leave overnight. This website give a comprehensive description of how to do it, but also explains the Science behind it and gives advice as to how you can turn your Crystal Garden into a ‘proper’ Science project.

Stop Motion animation

Stop Motion animation can provide hours of fun for kids. You will need an ipad or similar and download a free Stop Motion app (such as Stop Motion Studio by Cateater for iOS and Android)

This link has some great ideas for setting up your Stop Motion animation.

Ideally students could use Stop Motion Animation to explain a Science or Engineering principle (once they have mastered a fun story animation!)

Make Plastic (from Milk)

Plastic can be made from milk (This is how plastic was made before 1945 and the introduction of synthetic plastics). This weblink shows you all the steps you need with plenty of diagrams and additional ideas. Additionally you can also try making plastics from Gelatin by clicking here

LEGO Tower game (Little Bins for Little Hands)

This is a simple printable game that turns basic LEGO building into a very good mathematical activity. The whole website is well worth a look for Primary level STEM activities. There is a devoted section on STEM ideas for schooling at home

GiST (The Girls in STEM Toolkit) have put together a thorough list of additional STEM At-Home activities

This GiST website is a terrific general STEM website worth looking at for resources (not limited to girls!)