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20 Elementary STEM Science Projects

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Looking for some fun hands-on STEM education ideas? Need ideas for your next science fair project? Look no further! This is a round-up of 20 Elementary STEM science projects from my site. Check them out and try some for yourself!

For even more ideas, be sure to check out my 200+ Elementary STEM projects, for even more ideas!

 

Awesome Elementary STEM science Projects for Kids- Science experiments

20 Elementary STEM Science Projects

Elementary school is a fabulous time to introduce kids to tons of cool experiments. These STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects help them understand the world around them and learn how things work. The following projects include one or more of the STEM components to help you plan your next experiments and projects.

1.Dirt Battery Experiment– make a battery that lights up an LED light with dirt?! Cool.

2. Play Dough Human Anatomy– Build the human organs out of play dough with your kids.

3. Milk Cap Magnet Boats– Make these little magnetic boats out of milk caps to explore magnetism.

4. Water Clock– Learn how to build a water clock that keeps time.

5. Water Filtration Experiment– Make a simple filter to clean water.

6. Lemon Battery– Build a battery out of lemons, wire and nails!

7. Easy Engineering Experiment– Try this simple experiment with paper and pennies to learn what can hold more weight.

8. Solar Powered Lego Car– Build a car out of Legos and a solar panel that can actually go! Awesome.

9. Periodic Table Battleship– This is a game, but it teaches amazing science information as kids play!

10. Blooming Paper Flowers– This is one of my favorites- learn how water absorption affects paper and makes it move.

11. Green Eggs Chemistry Experiment– This simple chemical reaction turns eggs green- and they are still edible!

12. Lego Earthquake Experiment– Can you build a building out of Legos to withstand an earthquake?

13. Food Chemistry- Turn Juice into Solid– Try out this food science experiment to make gummy noodles out of juice & a few other ingredients.

14, Hold up Books with Paper– A roll of paper is stronger than you think! How many books will your tower hold?

15. Leaf Transpiration– Did you know leaves transpire, or sweat? Try this experiment out on a warm sunny day.

16. Insect Hotel– Make a home for bugs to come and stay, then observe their living patterns.

17. Rock Candy Geodes– These geodes are all edible and so much fun to make. Learn about real geodes and how they are formed in the process.

18. Star Viewer Craft– Learn about constellation and build your own star viewer!

19. States of Matter– Solids, liquids and gasses are an important topic to understand. This post has ideas for making this lesson fun!

20. DNA Teaching– Do you know how to extract DNA from food? Check this out and more in this post.

 

Science projects are some of my favorite things to do with my kids. Many of these science activities can be used in science fair projects, in STEM classes or just for fun learning activities at home. Older kids will love them, too. They are not all just for young kids!

How are you learning STEM with your kids? Learn more about How to Teach STEM & Why it Matters. What’s your favorite project?

I co-authored a STEAM book to help kids get excited about learning these important topics. Learn more about the STEAM Kids book HERE.

steam-kids-book

Find even more STEAM education ideas!

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Comments

  2. Sarah says

    I am new to homeschooling this year and I don’t know what we’ll be doing for a STEM program. My children love hands-on activities, so I know I need to figure something exciting out soon! I love your blogs and posts with ideas that I can use at home!

  3. Sam says

    I love STEM! Our favorite project so far has been creating rockets and roller coasters. With rockets each child was given one piece of paper and a roll of tape. The object of course was to make it fly. After some trial and error they did. There were a lot of great aha moments. With roller coasters they were gone foam pipe insulation cut in half, marbles and tape. Third goal was to create a coaster that had one loop and one jump where the marble landed in a bucket at the end. Lot of fun!

  4. Diana M says

    We love STEM projects here. Gak is always a favorite with the youngest. But my older two really enjoy physical engineering challenges, like boat or bridge building with limited materials. I love watching them be create.

  6. Traci K says

    My son loves to take apart anything that doesn’t work. We try to figure out what the different parts do ( which is quite hard with some of the electronic items) but we have learned a lot. And even fixed a few things!

  7. shelley says

    We use a variety of blocks and craft materials regularly and come up with challenges as a family. We also have a science book of experiments that we like to pick from too.

  9. Stacey Ross says

    One of my favorite STEM activities is creating square foot gardens with my children. Using a seed package can yield a wide variety of mathematic concepts. The square foot garden concept allows for measuring, adding, multiplication, and division– and al of this on top of the scientific nature gardening gifts children. Children use technology to plan the design, capture changes, and share their learning.

  10. Renee says

    Stem is such a great addition to homeschool. We like to incorporate art as well (steam). This year we will have weekly stem challenges. The kids will choose from a bin of pre prepped bags and complete the challenge inside.

  11. Alyssa Ziegler says

    I was teaching 5/6 science and math. I connected the two subjects and incorporated other subjects to create STEM projects. This past year we created gravity cruisers and presented our projects to the entire community. This year I was moved to 4th grade the week before school started! STEM is still something I want to incorporate so I am looking for new ideas for a different grade level.

  12. Mary W says

    Using an extra large suntan lotion bottle ( which I received from a friendly drug store display) we compared the size of items for a person who used a regular sized suntan bottle Most of which are are about one human hand tall. This introduced our nut on ratio and proportion. It also used estimation and opened their eyes to actual applications.

  13. runak6 says

    As we are entering this wonderful world of STEM in our homeschooling, I am so excited to have this opportunity to enter such an awesome give-away! Thank you thank you!

  17. Miranda says

    I love having my students in eighth grade learn about velocity by building their own marshmallow guns using a variety of materials and then testing the effectiveness.

  20. becky says

    We love to do anything related to physics. My kids had fun hitting a plate out from under an egg and watching the egg drop straight down into a cup of water.

  21. AmyC says

    We’ve really enjoyed garden projects this season. Music lessons are in their honeymoon stage & I’d be excited for ways to continue their enthusiasm. We’re looking into Rube Goldberg now! I’d love to play more games with our 7 & 10 year old kids.

  25. Teri Knight says

    What is your favorite STEM project to do with your kids/students? We are beginning to enjoy loads of stem activities. We have made a rocket and launched it, put together a jumping frog robot, and constructed bridges and volcanoes and towers. We are planning on adding a ton more stem activities this year as my kids have showed an incredible interest in these areas. This would be a terrific asset. Thanks for the opportunity.

  27. BunnyMom says

    So many great experiments to choose from…..Lately we have been doing lots of exploding Chemistry on our Table of Science (said in a loud, booming voice!). Elephant toothpaste has been a HUGE hit!

  28. Cheryle Smoot says

    My boys love anything they can build/create with their hands. I am looking forward to seeing their minds blossom this year as we increase these kinds of projects.

  29. Isa Melvin says

    My boys love all types of robotics and putting together electrical components. However, I prefer life science projects so we mix up our activities to cover all types.

  35. Mitzi Cline says

    I’m fairly new to science, but last year my 7th grader students loved making goop that was runny unless under impact. Probably their favorite!

  38. Jennifer says

    SO we just organized my youngest rock collection into buckets on a toy shelf by type, color, etc. He now has his own geology station! One of my twins loves all things physics and experimented with flight one at science fair for his explanation of overcoming gravity. Basically, some people run, dance, read, paint……ummm… we science.

  40. Yukendra says

    I don’t have a favorite, yet, but I’m looking forward to doing a sink/float activity that is connected to our summer book James and the Giant Peach!

  44. Chrystal Stalzer says

    We love making volcanoes, but are kind of new to the STEM world. I am really looking forward to incorporating more in our home school this year. thanks for the opportunity to win!

  45. Jessica Justice says

    We haven’t had the chance to do any STEM projects. Hoping to get started on some soon. This is my first year, and I’m still getting a feel for things.

  56. April says

    What is your favorite STEM project to do with your kids/students?

    Last school year we made a paper skeleton with the bones and organs. We learned a lot along the way and plan on putting “her” on poster board so we can refer back to what we learned.

    Thanks for the opportunity to enter this great giveaway!

  58. Terri Holbrook says

    Our favorite stem project so far has been the robotic fuel cell car that we made from a kit last year. This year we plan on building different types of bridges and seeing how they fare during earthquakes!

  61. Intisar Khanani says

    My kids are still young so we are very much still exploring STEM. They love building things – legos have been great, marble runs, etc. Still so much to discover, though!

  63. Tonya says

    Our co-op is doing a STEM class this year and my daughter is super excited. Science experiments is an area I struggle in teaching, so this could really help.

  66. Robin E. says

    My favorite STEM project to do with my kids is making and building stuff. Real stuff, not just projects I come up with. They design and build Lego, Minecraft, their own toys, forts, kites, coding, small engine repair, and so on.

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