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.

 

 

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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
   

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Simple STEM with Plastic Cups

Plastic Cup STEM Challenges Your Kids will Love

Spoiler alert - there is no basic tower challenge in this list. Building towers is a great way to start off any cup STEM challenge, but I have a list of a few some fun and engaging challenges using primarily plastic cups. Some are oldies but goodies, and others you may not have seen or tried before.

Get Started with Plastic Cup STEM - Materials

Although you can use inexpensive plastic cups for these challenges, I recommend using a sturdy variety. You do not need to get the brand name, most expensive cups, though. I used my local grocery store's version of a heavy duty brand name cup.

Create a Plastic Cup Telephone

A really easy challenge to get started with is a plastic cup telephone. Many kids will have done this before, however try to supply them with a variety of string and/or wire types for the line, and have them test out different versions to see which works best.

Make it easier for little ones: Have a variety of telephones already put together. Use different string types or different lengths of string and have them try to speak messages to each other. Make sure the line is pulled tight for best results.

Another Sound Challenge - Create a Plastic Cup Sound Amplifier (shown above, top)

Smartphone speakers just not loud enough to share your favorite jams with your students? Have them create a sound amplifier! Not only is this a really great hands-on STEM activity to explore sound principles, it is actually useful. The roller, also shown above is included in the plastic cup STEM challenge pack I have linked below. It is simple but includes a hands-on way to explore torque and friction.

Plastic Cup Anemometer

This one is a bit tricky but the result is absolutely worth it. Create your very own anemometer to measure wind speed. Use five cups, some towels, and tape or a push pin and you can create an anemometer!

Try These STEM Challenges with the Engineering Design Process

If you want to add more rigor to these challenges by following the engineering design process, please visit the following resource I put together to support these plastic cup STEM challenges. With this  guided STEM resource, students need to meet the design criteria specified to complete the challenge. Add it to your STEM Friday or Maker Monday rotation, or save it for a sub.


You can find Plastic Cup STEM Challenges here:

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