STEM education is an important element of teaching and it is being taught from kindergarten to high school students.

I have a vast collection of Elementary STEM Projects and activities on my site from my many years of blogging. I love teaching with projects and hands-on activities. Here I have collected them all into one place for you to easily find them!

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. Here I have divided up my posts into each of those categories, but many of the ideas overlap with multiple STEM learning categories. STEM activities for kids are learning activities that implement one or more of those educational categories to teach kids real world skills and ideas. These projects are fun, hands-on and engage their minds in many ways.

Many educators like to incorporate STEM challenges into their lessons to encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills. It helps kids learn to solve real-world problems when they have to solve them on a smaller scale. They increase their curiosity when working on a fun STEM project.

Elementary STEM projects

STEM Teaching Tools

There are so many amazing STEM teaching tools available these days. I want to highlight a few that I have been involved in.

A few years ago I helped co-author an amazing book called STEAM Kids that has turned into a great series. There are now also STEAM Kids Valentines Day, STEAM Kids Christmas and STEAM Kids Halloween books, with the STEAM Kids in the Kitchen version coming soon!

Last year I also wrote a Summer Science Camp e-book with 5 days of lesson plans.

I have two books that integrate math and art as well as science and art: Math Art and Drawing Games for Kids , Science Art and Drawing Games for Kids.  These books put the A into STEM / STEAM!

STEM ideas often incorporate simple ingredients and supplies such as toothpicks, straws, baking soda and vinegar.  You’ll see things like a balloon-powered car, egg drop challenge, lava lamp, crystals, marble runs and more!  They are more than you average science projects, because they typically bring together multiple aspects of learning.

I also have some posts with ideas and tools for teaching the STEM/ STEAM subjects in your classroom or home.

 

Now let’s get to some fun STEM project ideas! I have a lot of STEM projects on my site, so I have divided them up by the basic STEM categories. Many of them overlap in multiple categories, but I picked the main one for these pages. Hopefully this makes it easier for you to find what you need for your lessons!

Science STEM Projects:

Science STEM projects

Following are some cool science activities for younger kids.  Oh, you know, just a few…  We like science around here.

Oil Spill Clean-Up Science Experiment

Edible Slime Recipes

Flapping Bat Wings

Pumpkin Solar System

Exploring Magnetic Fields

Shooting Star Spinner

Poinsettia Ph

Storybook STEM: If I Built a Car

Color Science Experiments

Crime Scene Science Lab

Water Chemistry Lab

Water Filtration Experiment

Water Striders Insect Science

Edible Frog Life Cycle

Train Chain Reactions

Easter Egg Pom-Pom Poppers

Storybook STEAM: Inkblot Cloud Shapes

Oxidation Experiment: Does it Rust?

Magnetic Marble Mazes

Magnet Bell Game

Storybook STEM: Levitating Magnets with Ten Apples Up on Top

Homemade Paintball Bombs

Magnet Pendulum (also see my post with 40+ Magnet Teaching & Play Ideas!)

Dry Ice Smoking Dragons

Fabric Printed Nature Matching Game

Food Chemistry: Turn Juice into a Solid!

Kitchen Chemistry: Cake Experiment

Leaf Transpiration Experiment

Pitfall Insect Trap

Leaf Chromatography

Solar System Ornaments

Magic Flying Carpet in a Jar

Winter Science: Fizzing Snowmen

Plate Tectonics with Kinetic Sand

Science in a Jar Projects

Rot Museum in a Jar

Density Experiments

Seashell Acid & Base Experiment

Static Slime

The Seeds We Eat: Seed Science

Growing Mushrooms with Kids

Fruit Enzymes Gelatin Experiment

Storybook STEM: The Magi Ear Trick with The Ear Book

Colored Convection Currents

Geology Experiment: Stalactites and Stalagmites Formation

Pretend Play Anatomy Lab

Play Dough Human Anatomy

Blooming Paper Flowers

Food Science: Green Eggs Chemistry

Magic Mushroom Monsters

Shrunken Heads Halloween Science

Insect Hotel

Press n’ Seal Experiment

Rock Candy Geodes

States of Matter Experiments

DNA Teaching Ideas

Old Faithful Geyser Experiment

Autumn Science: Squash Comparisons

Experiments with Trash

Film Canister Rockets

Quick Bottle Rocket

Bathtub Bottle Rocket

Rainy Day Science

Making a Solar Still

Growing Mold Science

Solar S’mores

Magnet Boats

Cabbage Juice Science

Science of Air

Rainbow Science: Absorption

Homemade Bouncy Balls

Human Sun Dial

Fantastic Foamy Fountain

Microwaving Soap Experiment

Self-Inflating Balloon

Rubber Eggs Experiment

Rainbow Milk Experiment

Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils Project

Periodic Table Battleship

Teaching Chemistry to Kids

Apple Science- How to Prevent Browning

Cleaning Penny Experiment

 

Back to the Top

Technology STEM Projects:

Technology STEM projects

Add some technology into your learning with these awesome Technology-focused STEM projects and activities for kids

How to Make a Coin Battery

Dirt Battery

Rudolph Pipe Cleaner Circuit

Paper Circuit Menorah

Gingerbread House Paper Circuits

Is it Conductive? or Not?

LED Roses

Soft Circuit Christmas Ornament

Color and Light Experiments with a Light Box

Easy Play Dough Circuits

Color Mixing With Light

Lemon Battery Experiment

Solar-Powered LEGO Car

Origami Firefly Paper Circuits

Firefly Sewn Circuits

3-D Pens

Programming with Dash & Dot

Coding Apps for Kids

Geocaching with Kids

 

Engineering STEM Projects:

These engineering activities will get kids building and play and exploring. WE LOVE building activities, so I hope you find a great one that will inspire your students and kids.

Bubble Blower Machine

Popsicle Stick Bridge

Storybook STEM: 3 Billy Goats Gruff

Zometools Constructions Toys

Cereal Box Drawbridge

Straw and Pipe Cleaner Web

Magnet Pendulum

Blueprints and Architecture Templates

Simple Machines- Gear Play

Build a City Map

Rubber Band Boats

DaVinci Bridge Project

Storybook STEM: Submarine Science with Papa’s Mechanical Fish

Ancient Science: Homemade Water Clock

Easy Bridge Engineering Experiment

Make Paper Hold Up Books

Bubble Science: Square Bubbles

Straw Rockets

Build a Bug Viewer

Water Pump Sprinkler

Magic Puzzle Cube

Homemade Straw Glasses

LEGO City Earthquake

Build a Star Viewer

Storybook STEM: Build a Raft

Balancing Stick Man Toy

Roller Coaster Board Game

 

Back to the Top

Math STEM Projects:

Math STEM projectsMath is a big deal around here. We like to make math interesting!  Try some of these fun Math-focused STEM Activities with your learners.

Archimedes Ostomachion Puzzle

Geometric Math Art

Geometric Heart Project

Flexible Straw Shape Building

Cupid’s Arrow Math Game

Area and Perimeter City

Gingerbread House Geometry

Great Graphing Race

Measuring the Volume of 3-D Shapes

Mondrian Style Fibonacci Art

Heart Tessellations

Hershey Weights and Measures

Licorice Shapes and Angles

LEGO Tessellation Puzzles

Pantograph Drawing Machine

Fraction Flowers

3-D Drawing

Rainbow Icosahedron Ball

Making 3-D Shapes

Stellated Dodecahedron

Rhombicuboctahedron

Eye Dropper Dot Counting

Cookie Fractions

Candy Corn Fractions

Apple Fraction Math

Pizza Pan Clock Building

Math Dominoes

Pick-Up Sticks Math

Peekaboo Math Game

Thermometer Math Conversions

Pretzel Patterns

Toothpick and Marshmallow Geometry

Pi Puzzle

Fraction Trees

Lock & Key Addition Puzzles

The Money Game

Division Puzzles with Money

Groundhog Day Probability Game

Pascal’s Triangle

Christmas Tree Fractions

Snowman Fractions

Save the Snowman Learning Game

Snowflake Symmetry

Pentomino Blocks

Fraction-Decimal-Percentage Puzzles

Graph the Olympic Rings

Place Value Cards

Storybook STEM: Each Orange Had Eight Slices

Perler Bead Tangrams

Leap Frog Math

Math Fact Family Cards

Math Checkers

Math Wheels: Skip Counting

Hershey Fractions

Skittles Math

Popsicle Stick Math Games

Learning Fractions with Flags

Multiplication Houses

How Many Quarts in a Gallon?

Hundred Chart Learning Ideas

M & M Math

Doubles Math Puzzles

Math Grid Game

Roll a Whole Fraction Game

Spill the Beans Math Game

Sets and Venn Diagrams

Multiplication Grid Game

Weighing with Pennies

Storybook STEM: One Grain of Rice

Place Value Flip Chart

 

Thanks for reading!  I hope you find some STEM projects that will work for your teaching needs.

Back to the Top