Free STEM Activities for Classroom, Remote, Hybrid, Pod Learning!
Looking for science activities to engage students with STEM? Remote learning? Hybrid? Considering a learning pod? We have more than 200 free, hands-on science and engineering activities perfect for home, the classroom, and anywhere in between!
Science Buddies has more than 200 free science and engineering activities to help explore STEM with kids. Whether you will be teaching remotely, in the classroom, in a hybrid system, or as part of a learning pod, these activities can be a cornerstone for exploring STEM with students, and Science Buddies' resources are always free.
As you plan your learning modules and pick activities for the upcoming school year, we know that this free library of short science experiments offers a treasure trove of readymade science instruction from which you can pick and choose to create an exciting lineup of STEM exploration.
Tip: To learn more about the format of our STEM Activities and how to use them with students, see Simplified STEM Activities Help Fill Gap for Online, Remote, Hybrid Learning.
Finding the STEM You Need
On the STEM Activities for Kids page, you can browse all activities by various thematic categories designed to spark interest in kids and their families. To make it even easier for educators to find activities that fit specific curriculum needs, we've sorted the list below by areas of science.
STEM Activities for Kids Sorted by Areas of Science
Aerodynamics and Hydrodynamics
- Build an Archimedes Screw
- Build a Paper Airplane Launcher
- Build a Paper Rocket
- Build a Two-Stage Balloon Rocket
- Build A Vortex Cannon!
- Explore Matchstick Rockets
- Flying Helicopters on Mars
- How Does a Hovercraft Hover?
- How Much Weight Can Aluminum Foil Boats Float?
- How Tails Help a Kite to Fly
- Make a Parachute
- Make a Toy Sailboat
- Make a Whirlybird from Paper
- Paper Airplanes: Why Flaps and Folds Matter
- The Aerodynamics of Flying a Frisbee
Astronomy
Chemistry
- Best Wand for Big Bubbles
- Blowing the Best Bubbles
- Build a Bathtub Toy Raft Powered by Surface Tension
- Candy Lightning: A Flashy Activity
- Candy Rainbow
- Color-changing Cabbage Chemistry
- Colorful Patterns in Melting Ice
- Dancing Candy Hearts
- Does Wet Hair Float or Cling?
- Dye Eggs Using Silk Ties for Egg-cellent Colors
- Elephant Toothpaste
- Explore Glow-in-the-Dark Water!
- Exploring Enzymes
- Foaming Fake Snow
- Homemade Rice Paper
- How to Grow the Best Crystals
- How to Make Slime
- Launching Homemade Baking Soda Rockets
- Make an Alka-Seltzer Powered Lava Lamp
- Make a Fire Snake
- Make a Lemon Volcano
- Make a Sunprint Using Objects from Nature!
- Make Marbled Cards Using Science!
- Make Tie-Dye T-shirts with Permanent Markers
- Make Your Drawings Float!
- Making Homemade Bath Bombs
- Milk Curdling with Enzymes!
- Secret Messages With Invisible Ink!
- Shrink a Potato with Osmosis!
- The Science of Frescoes
- Turn Milk into Plastic
- Underwater Color Bursts
- Use Chemistry to Lift Ice Cubes
Civil Engineering
Cooking and Food Science
- Bake Your Ice Cream
- Color Taste Test—Do You Taste with Your Eyes?
- Comparing Cranberry Condiments
- Fruits Gone Bad? Discover Enzymatic Browning
- Grow Rock Candy Crystals
- Homemade Slushies
- Is the Egg Raw or Cooked? That is the Question!
- Make Ice Cream in a Bag
- Make Your Own Marshmallows
- Maple Syrup Candy
Computer Science
Electricity, Electronics, Energy, and Power
Genetics and Genomics
Geology and Ocean Science
Human Behavior
Human Biology, Health, and Microbiology
- Apparent Motion in Flipbooks
- DIY Face Mask
- Explore How Lung Infection Influences Breathing
- Exploring Mummification with Hot Dogs
- Find Your Blind Spot!
- How Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Take Over
- How Do Viruses React To Soap?
- How Do We Breathe?
- How Far Can Your Sneeze Go?
- How Strong Is Your Hair?
- How Well Do You Wash Your Hands?
- Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer
- Make Your Own Stethoscope
- Model How Herd Immunity Works
- Model Your Blood Flow
- Seeing in the Dark
- The First Cartoon: Make Your Own Thaumatrope!
Materials Science
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
- Build a Mini Trebuchet
- Build a Rubber Band-Powered Car
- Build a Water Sprinkler Toy
- Build a Wind-Powered Car
- Build Your Own Sports Equipment
- Design a Back Scratcher
- Design a Cell Phone Stand
- Duplicate Your Drawings with a Machine
- Gear Up Your Candy
- Make Cardboard Automata
- Protect Your 'Eggstronaut': Build an Egg-Drop Lander
- The Trick to Beating a Carnival Game
- Train Wheel Science
Physics
- A Candle Seesaw Balancing Act
- A Really Long Straw
- Balance the Forces Within a Mobile
- Balancing Act
- Balloon Magic with Bernoulli's Principle
- Build a Balloon Car
- Build a Cooler
- Build a Disk Siren
- Build a Marble Roller Coaster
- Build a Paper Roller Coaster
- Build a Popsicle Stick Catapult
- Build A Wall Marble Run
- Build a Water Strider
- Can You Kazoo?
- Candy Waterfalls: Can Candy Flow Like Water?
- Circus-Trick Science: How to Balance Anything
- Create a Sea Breeze
- Curl Metals With Heat!
- Discover the Flaming Colors of Fireworks
- Distorted Images in Curved Mirrors
- Explore the Wet Sand Effect
- Gelatin Pearls
- Go With the Flow
- Holes That Do Not Leak!
- How Empty Is an Empty Bottle?
- How Fish Sink and Float
- How to Harvest Water from Fog
- Hula Hooping with a Rubber Band
- Lights, Camera, (Capillary) Action!
- Make a Cotton Ball Launcher
- Make a Homemade Compass
- Make a Milk Rainbow
- Make a Rubber Band Guitar
- Make Sprinkles Vibrate with Sound
- Make a Self-Starting Siphon
- Make a Straw Siphon
- Making Shadow Puppets
- Measure Static Electricity With An Electroscope!
- Mini Golf Physics
- Phone Book Friction
- Physics Secrets for Hula Hooping
- Popsicle Stick Chain Reaction
- Shaping Hard-boiled Eggs
- Slippery Slopes and the Angle of Repose
- Theme Park Science with Jell-O® Loop-De-Loops
- Use a Drop of Water as Magnifying Glass
- Walking Water
- Why Soda Fizzes — Boyle's Law Demonstration
Plant Biology
Robotics
Weather and Atmosphere
Zoology
Browse all STEM Activities for Kids
Free STEM Lesson Plans for Educators
In addition to the 200+ STEM Activities, there are also more than 100 Lesson Plans developed specifically for educators. With NGSS-alignment, background materials, and supplement resources, including worksheets and assessment materials, these lessons provide additional guidance and extra scaffolding for educators.
To learn more about using Science Buddies Lesson Plans, see: How to Use a Science Buddies Lesson Plan.
Stay Up to Date with New Releases
Our team of scientists work year-round developing new materials to support you and your students. New Lesson Plans, STEM Activities, and Project Ideas are released on an ongoing basis, and we are always working on new curated collections to help you find the materials you need to plan and lead successful and engaging STEM learning opportunities.
We highlight new materials in our free newsletter, which is sent once (and sometimes twice) a week to all educators who are registered on the Science Buddies site. (Registration is free!) We also share highlights at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. We encourage you to follow us in the social media spaces you use and tag us to let us know how you use Science Buddies!
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