Middle School STEM Activities for Kids (211 results)

Are You Left or Right Brained?

STEM Activity

164 reviews

If you write with your right hand, you may also prefer to draw, throw a ball, or eat food with your right hand, but have you ever wondered if your right foot is also more dominant than your left foot? What about your right eye and ear — do you prefer to use them more than your left ones? In this activity, you will get to find out whether people have a sidedness — that is, whether they generally prefer to do activities with one side of their body — and what that might say… Read more

Find the Hidden Colors of Leaves

STEM Activity

62 reviews

Have you ever wondered why leaves change from green to an amazing array of yellow, orange, and red during the fall? Leaves get their brilliant colors from pigments made up of various color-creating molecules. During the warm, sunny months, plants use their leaves to turn sunlight into food energy, a process called photosynthesis. This primarily uses a pigment that reflects green light, which gives the leaves their characteristic color. In autumn, when colder, shorter days arrive, many kinds of… Read more

Make a Milk Rainbow

STEM Activity

130 reviews

Have you ever seen a rainbow after a rainfall, or drawn a rainbow for fun? They can be fun to make using colorful markers or other craft supplies. But did you know you can actually make a simple rainbow using milk, liquid detergent (i.e., soap), and food coloring? How the rainbow is created by this mixture might surprise you! In this science activity, you will make your own milk rainbow and explore how detergent and surface tension are involved in its creation. Read more

Featured

Make String from Algae

STEM Activity

210 reviews

Did you know that the seaweed you've seen in the ocean or even eaten as a snack is inspiring innovators to imagine new materials? Large brown algae, like kelp, contains polymers—long chains of molecules—that are more environmentally friendly than the ones in most plastics. These natural polymers (alginates) could eventually be used to create sustainable everyday objects. Try your hand at using a bit of chemistry to turn biodegradable polymers from algae into your own custom… Read more

Make Your Drawings Float!

STEM Activity

67 reviews

Have you ever wished your drawings would come alive and the stick figures or objects on your paper could move around? What sounds impossible actually is not! In this activity, you will make your drawing move around by letting it float on water. What makes this possible is the interesting chemistry of dry erase markers. These markers are usually used to write on white boards or glass surfaces and can easily be erased to make space for more writing or drawing. It turns out that they are also… Read more

Measure the Pressure

STEM Activity

99 reviews

Have you ever seen a weather forecast on TV? If so, you might have noticed the letters "H" and "L" moving around on the weather map. They are often referred to as zones of "high pressure" (H) and "low pressure" (L). The pressure they are talking about is the atmospheric pressure. Changes in air pressure can forecast short-term changes in the weather. But how do you know if the air pressure changes, or if it is high or low? Scientists have developed an instrument called a barometer that can… Read more

Model the Distances between Planets in our Solar System

STEM Activity

91 reviews

Did you know that the Voyager 2 spacecraft took 12 years to travel from Earth to Neptune, the furthest planet in the solar system? This sounds like a really long time! Maybe not that long if you consider what distance the spacecraft had to travel to get from Earth to Neptune. In this activity, you will make a model of the planets in the solar system and specifically model their distances to scale. Will it explain why the Voyager 2 took so long? Try it and see! Read more

Blowing the Best Bubbles

STEM Activity

41 reviews

If you have ever tried to make bubbles using plain water, you may have seen that it does not work. This is because the surface tension of water is too high. When detergent is added to water, it lowers the surface tension so that bubbles can form. Other things can be added to this mixture, such as corn syrup or glycerin, to make a solution that is even better for creating bubbles. In this science activity, you will find out which solution creates the best bubbles! Read more

Build a Water Strider

STEM Activity

54 reviews

Have you ever seen a water strider (also called water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers etc.)? They are bugs that effortlessly hop around on the surface of ponds, lakes, and rivers. How do they do it without sinking? Try this project to find out! Read more

Can You Hide in Plain Sight?

STEM Activity

22 reviews

If you could choose to be an animal, would you rather be a predator or prey? For prey animals, survival in the wild means a daily struggle to escape potential predators. Predators, on the other hand, have to work very hard to make a catch. Some prey animals have evolved clever strategies to protect or defend themselves against predators. One common strategy is camouflage. Camouflage allows animals to blend into their surroundings so predators can't see them. Will this strategy increase an… Read more

How Does a Hovercraft Hover?

STEM Activity

55 reviews

Have you ever ridden on a hovercraft? It is like gliding on a cushion of air! In fact, this is exactly what is going on. A hovercraft is a vehicle that glides over a smooth surface by hovering upon an air cushion. Since a hovercraft can travel on top of flat land or water, it is an amphibious vehicle. In this activity, you will get to build your own mini hovercraft using a CD or DVD, a pop-top lid from a plastic bottle, some glue, and a balloon. How will different amounts of air in the… Read more

Explore Our Science Videos

Test and Change the Air Quality of Your Environment | Science Project

Sweet Earthquake Shake - STEM activity

Identify Road Signs with Google's Teachable Machine | Science Project