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If you are unfamiliar with STEM, the acronym represents learning categories of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Sometimes you may see it shown as STEAM as well, with the added category of Arts. The goal of STEM is to bolster innovation and critical thinking skills at an early age. Not only can this improve the United States’ competitive position globally but can also strengthen economic growth for our children’s futures.

Below we have compiled a list of the BEST 15 STEM activities we could do with items most families have on hand or that take little to no time in preparing.

1. Visit a Museum. My number one STEM activity is to sign up for the ASTC Travel Passport Program. By joining as a Member to your local Museum, you are granted admission to over 300 participating Museums that are partnered with the program, AT NO EXTRA COST!

Our local Museum is having a Summer Special right now for 25% off, so by our 2nd visit, we will break even. Check out your local museums today!

       2. Chalk the Sidewalk. Most people keep a set of chalk on hand. If not, no worries. We absolutely love our chalk set and it can be delivered to your home in just a couple of days. Our favorite activities include:

• Math: hopscotch, adding, subtraction
• Scavenger Hunt Bingo: draw the board on the sidewalk, whoever gets 5 in a row, wins!
• Sundial: in a large area (ie. driveway) mark an X in the center. Trace one of the kids’ shadows about every hour to see how the sun changes the direction of their shadow.
• Shape Game: Draw shapes on the driveway and have them walk on only certain shapes to get through the path
• Antigravity Art: draw images on the chalk and have the kids lay on the sidewalk as if they are in the photo.
• Maze: Draw a maze and help the mouse find the cheese
• Games: Draw life size Tic Tac Toe or a checker board
• Space: Draw the Solar System and/or constellations
• Sight Words: Write out sight words on the chalk and match the words on index cards with the chalk sight words

      3. Make Oobleck. Teach kids about solids and liquids, or in this case, things that can be both! SciShow Kids has a great educational video on how to make oobleck. Check it out!

      4. Nature Scavenger Hunt. Nothing beats disconnecting and getting out in nature. Rather than just having a clipboard and pen, make it a competition! A nice stroll through the park with this Nature Scavenger Hunt  game can make for an educational and fun day. This one is a digital download that can be purchased, downloaded immediately, and printed from home.

     5. Build Molecules. Introduce them to chemistry by using play dough, fruit, colored balls, or candy (ie. skittles or gummy bears) and build molecules with them!

Assign each color of your items one specific atom and give them a molecule to build. Teach them about that molecule and how we use it every day.

    6. Fish for ice. All kids love to go fishing. But what if it’s a rainy day or you don’t have fishing poles? Not a problem!

Grab a cup of ice, a string, a glass or container full of cold water, and some salt. Add the ice cubes to the cold water, lay the string in the water, top the water with salt, wait 60 seconds, and pull out the string. See how many ice cubes you caught! Make it even more fun by adding small toys to the water and see what else they can catch!

Make sure to teach how it works! Salt makes water melt, so as the ice re-freezes in the cold water, the string around the ice gets frozen and sticks to the ice.

    7. Bottle Explosions. This one can be a little messy, and dangerous, so it’s best to be done in an outdoor setting, be sure everyone stands back,and all participants are wearing safety goggles.

Grab a 2 liter of coca cola, or any soda, and a pack of mentos. Glue about 10 mentos together, or place them into a tube. Quickly twist the lid off the bottle and drop the mentos in. Be sure to step back and watch it explode!

*Some experimentalists say using diet soda makes an even larger geyser explosion because of the sweeteners used and the cleanup is also less tedious as there is not as much sugar in diet sodas.

Make sure to teach how it works! Carbon dioxide is present inside the bottle and is sealed in with the lid to the bottle. As you open the bottle, some of the carbon dioxide is released, but the balance remains stable inside the bottle. Carbon dioxide gas seeps up to the top of the liquid to find a way out. As the mentos candies drop to the bottom of the bottle with such speed, the quickly forming carbon dioxide gas causes bubbles to form quickly and shoot out the top of the bottle.

    8. Cup Stacking Challenge. Use paper or plastic cups to build towers. Give the kids a different challenge each time such as “use 5 cups as a base”, “only use 10 cups”, “build a tower 24” high, etc.

    9. Clean pennies. Grab that old change jar, pull out some pennies, salt, and vinegar. If you do not have vinegar, 1:1 ratio of water to acetone would work too. Place the vinegar into a shallow dish (**not a metal dish as it will rust**) Sprinkle a teaspoon or so of salt into the vinegar and then stir. Add in 5-6 pennies at a time. Allow them to sit in the solution for 20-30 seconds, or up to 5 minutes for extra grimy pennies. Wipe the pennies with a toothbrush or cotton swabs, and watch the rust fade away!

Make it even more fun by FIRST asking the kiddos to pick condiments or sauces from the pantry and refrigerator to see which they think would clean the pennies more. Just don’t tell them you already know the best! Some good starters are soy sauce, mustard, ketchup, and lemon juice.

Make sure to teach how it works!

    10. Rainguard Regatta. Make small sailboats that are wind powered by the kids who built them using only straws. This activity is very popular in our Cub Scout pack but can be super fun for any age!

Grab some popsicle sticks, straws, paper, pool noodles, scissors, tape, and a small pool, container, or just use the bathtub. Cut the pool noodles in half, and then into about 8-inch sections. Each section needs to be longer than the width of the “track” you decide to use. With an 8.5 x 11″ piece of paper, cut into 4 equal sized rectangles to make the “sail”. Allow the kids to decorate their sails. Attach the “sail” to your boat using the popsicle stick. Have the kids race each other by only using the straws, or just their mouths, to move the boats around the track.

If you would prefer the inflatable racetrack, you can find it here.

    11. Pool Noodle Marble Run. Learn about the force of gravity and physics. With a pool noodle, painters tape and a ball or marble, this activity will surely intrigue the kiddos.

Cut the pool noodle in half, use painters’ tape to tape the pieces along the wall, and have them arrange the pieces to make the best slope to lead the marble down into a container.

    12. Legos or blocks challenge. Give them a challenge to build something with the blocks they have on hand. Examples can be “build a spaceship”, “build a board game”, or “build as many animals as you can in 5 minutes”.

    13. Paper Airplanes. Science Friday does an excellent job in explaining the science behind how the airplanes fly as well as ways to fold the papers into the airplanes.

If you have time to plan ahead, this Paper Airplanes Book comes with everything you need to make and decorate 100 different airplanes.

    14. Soda Straw Rockets. The California Institute of Technology has a great lesson plan for building Soda Straw Rockets. The supplies needed include:

• Pencil
• Scissors
• Tape
• Straw
• Measuring stick
• Rocket Template

    15. Tornado in a bottle. Nasa.gov has a comprehensive guide on how to make a tornado in a bottle. Supplies needed include:

• 2 soda bottles
• duct tape or electrical tape
• a drill
• water
• food coloring

Try out our ideas and let us know what you think!