STEM Activities for Kids (482 results)

Seeing Pedigree Science: Making a Family Tree of Traits

STEM Activity

19 reviews

Has anyone ever told you that you look just like one of your parents or grandparents? Some characteristics, like the shape of your hairline or whether your earlobes are attached or detached, are inherited. In this activity you’ll get to see how writing some characteristics onto a family tree can help you determine just how you inherited them. You will likely discover some characteristics that you got from your father, and for this Father’s Day you can thank your… Read more

Sensory Science: Testing Taste Thresholds

STEM Activity

2 reviews

During the holidays, we often find ourselves surrounded by a wide variety of taste sensations. Have you ever wondered how well we sense different tastes? People are generally able to discern five basic tastes: sweet, umami (also known as savory), salty, sour and bitter. Is it easier to detect some of these flavors at low concentrations compared to others? In this science activity, you (and possibly your friends and/or family) will find out by exploring your taste thresholds for sweetness,… Read more

Serve Illuminated Water

STEM Activity

43 reviews

Light is fascinating! It can look like a wave or a particle; it can be red, blue or any color of the rainbow; you can even mix all the colors together to get white! It travels in straight lines and still appears to bend around objects. It can travel through air, but it does not need the air. Unlike sound, light can travel from distant stars through a vacuum and reach us years later, or it can be sent through fiber optic cables and go around the world in less than a second! Does that sound… Read more

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Make String from Algae

STEM Activity

225 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

Showing Science: Watch Objects in Free-Fall

STEM Activity

18 reviews

Have you ever wondered how fast a heavy object falls compared to a lighter one? Imagine if you dropped both of them at the same time. Which would hit the ground first? Would it be the heavier one because it weighs more? Or would they hit the ground at the same time? In the late 1500s C.E. in Italy, Galileo was actually asking some of these same questions and did some tests to answer them. In this activity, you’ll do some of your own tests to determine… Read more

Single-Celled Science: Yeasty Beasties

STEM Activity

12 reviews

Have you ever looked at a package of dry yeast and found it hard to believe that it contains organisms that are alive? Add the right ingredients and presto, the mixture becomes a bubbly, oozing, mess of life! But what are the conditions that are needed for this to happen? What does that yeast need to become active and thrive? Try this science activity to find out for yourself! Read more

Small, Tiny, Invisible: How Big Is a Virus?

STEM Activity

30 reviews

Have you ever seen a real virus? Probably not—they are so tiny that it is impossible to see them with your naked eyes. But how big or small are viruses really? The coronavirus Sars-Cov-2, which causes COVID-19, is about 120 nanometers in size. One nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter! How many of these tiny coronaviruses do you think can you line up inside a pencil dot? In this activity, you will find out by creating a scale model that allows you to compare the size of many… Read more

Sorbent Science: Cleaning Up Oil Spills

STEM Activity

21 reviews

Have you ever seen news coverage or other pictures of an oil spill in the ocean and wondered how all of that oil could be cleaned up? Oil spills can devastate wildlife by covering them with oil, and they can damage our precious water resources by contaminating them with oil. Part of the problem of managing oil spills is that the oil can be challenging to clean up. In this science activity, you can test the absorptivity of different materials (called sorbents) to discover which ones are best at… Read more

Space Elevator Problem Set

STEM Activity

9 reviews

Space elevators zipping people and materials up into space might seem like a very futuristic and improbable idea, but is it that difficult? This activity will guide you through the mathematics. Try it out and see what is possible with materials that can be produced with current technology. Read more

Spot the Fat in Your Snack

STEM Activity

16 reviews

Do you love potato chips? If you do, you are not alone. Potato chips are a very popular snack food. In fact, many people eat more than one bag of chips per month. When eating potato chips, have you ever noticed that your hands get really greasy? Maybe you have heard people telling you not to eat potato chips because they are bad for you and contain too much fat. But is this really true? Do this activity and find out by making the fats in potato chips visible. Read more

Starry Science: Measuring Astronomical Distances using Parallax

STEM Activity

3 reviews

Do you enjoy going stargazing on a warm night? Summer can be a great time to watch the stars as well as other celestial events, like the Perseids, which is an impressive meteor shower that happens each year from mid-July to late August. Did you know that ancient astronomers could actually measure the distance from Earth to faraway stars? How could they do this without modern technologies? In this activity you will find out by exploring the relationship between the distance of an object and the… Read more

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