Low Prep Halloween STEM Activities for Kids of All Ages

Halloween STEM Activities for Kids of All Ages

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate with kids, and I don't even like spooky, horror, etc.! I think of it as a time of year to dress up or be playful, share candy with friends, and try out some fun Halloween-themed STEM challenges.

Try these STEM challenges with your kids and let me know how they went!

Create a Twirling Bat

All you need for this one is paper! Students can design their own paper bat, or you can find printable bat templates to test out. You can find templates in the Halloween STEM resource listed at the end of this post. Watch a video of a twirling bat in this video:

Create a Spooky Ghost Chain!

For this one you only need paper and tape (or staples). Using only one piece of paper, can your students create the longest ghost chain possible? To make this more challenging, have them see how much candy (like candy corn) the chain can support the weight of (they may need to rig up a paper cup or other basket-like device to hold the candy corn).

Design and Create a Candy "Bank"

While you can use real candies for this, I always avoid anything edible for STEM (it's just a personal preference). You can print out images of candy in different sizes and challenge your students to create a bank that the candy will fit in. It can have either one or multiple slots.

Create a SLIME Mold!

Slime is always popular for students to play with or work with. See if your kids can create a shape to contain the slime and then observe what happens as they fill it. You can specify a maximum size or challenge them to create specific shapes (circle, triangle, square, etc.). Use your favorite slime recipe and see what your students create!

Get the Resource!

 

If you would like to find even more low-prep Halloween STEM activities, I have put together a resource with 12 (!) - it includes teacher instructions, recording pages for each challenge, plus a poster you can display in your STEM Center or makerspace, or if you are having a Family STEM night for Halloween, you can hang the posters on each table for STEM stations.

 

 

Save these ideas for later by pinning them:

STEM Activities to Try While Reading Those Darn Squirrels!

STEM Activities to Accompany Those Darn Squirrels!

 

One of the BEST picture books for learning about STEM and the engineering design process is Those Darn Squirrels! by Adam Rubin. Not only is the story delightful and quirky, but the illustrations really bring it to life!

The squirrels are on a mission to get as much bird seed as possible, but Mr. Fookwire tries to thwart them every which way. The squirrels have a lot of tricks up their sleeves, though, and are in possession of numerous talents! One such talent being good at math!

STEM Activity: Design and Create an Abacus

An abacus makes an appearance in two pages of this story, and they can be really fun to use for basic math learning. Do you know how to use an abacus?

 

To keep it simple, just focus on ones and tens! Use beads, pasta, or other items that can easily slide back and forth. The abacus below uses straw pieces that were cut to make the counters.

I love this challenge because you will end up with so many different kinds of abacuses (abaci?!) and then your students can actually use them to work on math skills!

 

STEAM Activity: Design and Create an Easel

Mr. Fookwire loves painting pictures of his favorite birds. Why do artists use easels? How is it different to paint or draw on a mostly vertical surface than on a table or desk? This is a great activity to tie in to art. 

Students can create a mini easel just right for a squirrel to use. Once Mr. Fookwire and the squirrels become friendly, maybe they will paint birds together!

Once again, after students have created their mini easel, they can use it to paint or draw something they enjoyed from this fun read aloud.

STEM Challenge: Design and Create an Obstacle Course!

In the story, Mr. Fookwire creates an elaborate squirrel obstacle course.

Students can either create their own obstacle course or create a scale model obstacle course that you provide them, or find printables and more ideas in this Bookshelf STEM Junior resource.

All of the above challenges really make this read aloud come alive. If you would like printables, more activities, and teacher support materials, please visit this listing:

What are your favorite picture books to read with your students? Let me know by commenting below!

Pin these ideas for later:

STEM Challenge for Summer with Buoyancy - Design a Submersible

STEM Challenge for Summer: Design a Submersible!

This is one of the more challenge STEM activities I have done with kids over the years! It's also perfect for summer because you will get wet!

Warning: You WILL Get Wet with this STEM Challenge

Why try this challenge? I can't even tell you how many boat challenges I have done with kids, asking for a simple craft that floats, something that can be propelled with wind (sailboat), and so on.

You have probably also done "Does it sink or float?" activities with your students over the years.

This challenge is a combination of all those!

What if we want an object to not sink,

but to float,

but not at the surface and rather about halfway between the bottom of a body of water and the top?

Gather Materials for Submersible STEM

First, gather all materials needed for the challenge:

For the water:

You will need a tub, storage bin, kiddie pool, etc. for this challenge. You will also need to fill the bin with water.

Students can create their submersibles with aluminum foil, popsicle sticks, plastic egg carton pieces, balloons, rubber bands, recyclables, pennies or small weights, etc.

Your students can start in one of two ways:

• With an object that floats, that they will need to make LESS buoyant.
  
• With an object that sinks, that they will need to make MORE buoyant.
  

Go Deeper with Science in this STEM Challenge

Have your students research density and buoyancy. Ask:

How does the density of an object affect its buoyancy?

When might you want a water vessel to NOT be completely buoyant?

What skills do students work on? In addition to following the Engineering Design Process to complete this challenge, students will need to work together and may need to make several modifications to improve their sail designs.

Add more rigor into this activity and download printables for students to use with the STEM challenge resource (or get the pack of Summer STEM challenges) on Teachers pay Teachers (also includes sand castle STEM and a squirrel proof bird feeder):

Pin these ideas for later:

Christmas STEM and STEAM Activities

Christmas STEM Activities for Kids

Ho, ho, ho! Try out these Christmas STEM activities this holiday season to keep students engaged all the way until holiday break. I have created twelve fun AND differentiated STEM and STEAM activities that range from simple towers to moving conveyors!

Get started with Christmas STEM

Jump right in with peppermint candy and have students create either a tower or a bridge. Don't forget to follow the engineering design process! While you don't need to spend a lot of time on each step, it is important to follow the process. Kids will want to start building right away! One way to avoid this is to hold off on building material distribution until after a design sketch has been completed.

Then move on to a gingerbread house! If you are working with upper elementary or middle school kids, create the house with cardboard and have them add a simple circuit to light up their house.

STEM Strength Challenge - Support the Weight of the Stocking Goodies!

An empty stocking is not that difficult to support, but what about all of the goodies Santa leaves? Students will need to design a counterbalance system to keep the stocking from falling. This is a great activity to practice the testing phase of an engineering design challenge. It's also important to make sure that your testing set-up is safe so that no toes are injured when the stockings inevitably fall!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Design and create a jingle bell for Christmas! Use metal objects to create a jingling bell.

Once the bell design is complete, change up the challenge by having students create a way to silence the jingle bell.

Help the Elves in the Workshop

Moving gifts around in the workshop is no easy task! Help the elves by designing and creating a conveyor belt! This challenge is perfect for showing how rotational motion can be converted into translational motion.

Find these and more activities in the 12 Christmas STEM Challenges Activity pack! Not only will you find more detailed instructions for the above challenges, but each challenge comes with a colorful poster and engineering design recording page!

CONTENTS of the Christmas STEM Resource

• Suggested Material List
• STEM Challenge Tips: General tips for any STEM challenge.
• Teacher Notes: includes terminology and differentiation ideas.
• Christmas STEM decor
• Poster and dedicated recording page for each of the 12 main STEM challenges that guide the students through the engineering design process. Some of the challenges have an additional recording page for added difficulty, or to include metric measurements.
• Challenges
  • Christmas Tree
  • Parachute Gift Drop
  • Workshop Conveyor Belt
  • Snowball Launcher
  • Stocking Holder
  • Candy Structures
  • Reindeer Shelter
  • Jingle Bell
  • Gingerbread House
  • Elf Zip Line
  • Sleigh for Santa
  • Christmas Maze
   

Pin these ideas for later:

5 Awesome End of Year STEM Challenges

STEM Activities for the End of the School Year

You have made it far enough to start thinking about an end-of-year STEM challenge! Hopefully standardized testing is in your past and you are ready to tackle some classic (and new) challenges!

Please note: the article can be found here.

Bird Beak STEM - Animal Adaptations STEM Adventure

STEM Activities for Elementary Students to explore Bird Beaks and Pollination

STEM That is Easy to Implement

This is the fifth installment of the "Pick the Path STEMventure" series. This story is about a budding ornithologist, Beth, as she visits a nature sanctuary and learns about various birds. Students decide how they want the story to progress; in completing the story students will complete 3-4 challenges. The story not only guides them through the engineering design process, it includes design constraints and areas for them to fill in their thoughts, plans, and testing data.

If you are studying animal adaptations, pollination, or even ecosystems, these are some engaging hands-on activities that your students will enjoy exploring!

Pollination STEM Challenge 

Pollination is a concept that can be difficult for kids to understand. In this challenge, they will transfer "pollen" (which can be chalk dust, flour, etc.) from one flower to another.

A bonus in the resource I created is a page all about pollination. Students learn the basics and can color in the flower diagram to get a better idea of how plant reproduction takes place.

Another Bird Themed STEM Challenge - Eating

Do you know how hummingbirds eat? They don't use their long beak like a straw, but use their tongues to lap up nectar much like a dog does. In this challenge, kids will have to try to grab the food at the bottom of a tube. They will be glad this isn't a requirement for their own meals because it's harder than it looks! The food can be anything that can be picked up, but I use pompoms. In addition to grabbing the item (such as with chopsticks), students can "hook" onto the food. If you are learning about magnets, you could absolutely work this in. Have the magnet be the food, and students will need to use an item in their "tongue" that is attracted to magnets in order to pick up the food.

My favorite challenge in this story explores wading birds and different types of beaks. Can you pick up the food but allow the water to drain out? Can you stab the food?

There are other types of bird beaks to explore as well, and this is a great time to talk about the food chain, the environment, and being a good Earth citizen. What would happen if a bird's food supply goes away? Would they be able to adapt? Would their beak work well to eat another kind of food? These are big questions but I find most kids are ready to tackle them.

Find this STEM Resource on Teachers pay Teachers

If you would like to use the story and printables I've created, you can find them on Teachers pay Teachers at this link, Bird Beak STEM:

or save these ideas for later by pinning this on Pinterest:

Wind Powered Sailboat - Spring STEM Challenge

STEM Challenge for Spring: Harness the Wind with a Sailboat

A multifaceted STEM challenge that can be done outside on a nice day!

Warning: You May Get Wet with this STEM Challenge

Why try this challenge? In addition to creating something that is useful, students will be honing their spacial reasoning and mathematics skills while designing and creating their garden box. It may even inspire your students to create a full sized garden bed where they can plant their favorite flowers, plants, or vegetables. 

Tie it in to a Read Aloud

If you love STEM books as much as I do, this is the perfect book to read before doing a wind-focused STEM challenge (affiliate links - read disclosure here):

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (picture book)

 

or go more in depth with the full story: 

 

Gather Materials for Sailboat STEM

First, gather all materials needed for the challenge:

You will need a tub, storage bin, kiddie pool, etc. for this challenge. You will also need a desk fan to supply the wind. Please use caution operating the fan near the water. You can partition the container to have racing lanes if you want to let your students race the boats. I used a piece of pipe insulation. Students can create their boats with aluminum foil, Popsicle sticks, plastic egg carton pieces, etc. They will need to use material for a sail and mount it to their boat. Not only does the boat need to float, it also needs to move forward with the wind.

Go Deeper with Science in this STEM Challenge

Have your students research drag and buoyancy. Ask:

Where is drag advantageous, and when do engineers try to avoid it? 

When might you want a water vessel to NOT be buoyant?


What skills do students work on? In addition to following the Engineering Design Process to complete this challenge, students will need to work together and may need to make several modifications to improve their sail designs.

Add more rigor into this activity with the STEM challenge resource (or get the pack of Spring STEM challenges) on Teachers pay Teachers:

Pin these ideas for later: