STEM Activities for Kids (482 results)

STEM Activity

5 reviews

Did you know that you can use a smartphone as a scientific instrument to explore the world around you? Smartphones contain many built-in electronic sensors that can measure phenomena such as sound, light, motion and more! In this activity, you’ll use your phone’s light sensor to examine the brightness of light from different light sources and locations. How bright is the reading lamp in your living room compared to direct sunlight? Try this activity to find out! Read more

Seeing in the Dark

STEM Activity

8 reviews

Have you ever considered taking a nighttime nature walk? Would you wait until there is a full moon, so you could profit from sunlight reflected on the moon, or would you rather take a flashlight? Do you think trees would look black, green, or grey in the dark? Do this activity to examine your night vision and prepare for your next nighttime adventure! Read more

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

Featured

Make String from Algae

STEM Activity

215 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

Seeing Science: Exploring Perception with the Stroop Effect

STEM Activity

15 reviews

Have you ever tried to pat your head with one hand while you rub your stomach with the other? This science activity is kind of like doing that, but it can actually give you some insight into how your mind works. The challenge of this activity is to name colors. It sounds simple enough, right? If you think it does, you should see what happens when words of colors get in the way! This is a fun activity to try out with family and/or friends while spending time together over the holidays. 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

Separate Liquids with Salt!

STEM Activity

9 reviews

You probably know that some liquids, such as oil and water, do not mix together. If you pour them into the same container, they will form two separate liquid layers on top of each other. Other liquids, for example rubbing alcohol and water, can be mixed with each other. But did you know that once both of these liquids have mixed, you can separate them again into two different layers? How can you do that? The answer might surprise you: with salt! In this activity, you will find out how this… Read more

Shaping Hard-boiled Eggs

STEM Activity

16 reviews

Have you ever played with your food, creating funny faces or colorful edible artworks? In this activity, you can do just that, but with results you might not expect! You will learn a fascinating way to cook and shape boiled eggs, and explore some interesting chemistry about cooking an egg along the way. While exploring the flexibility of hard-boiled eggs, you will create a delicious, odd-shaped reward! Read more

Shattering Sugar – Make Your Own Hollywood Sugar Glass

STEM Activity

5 reviews

You’re watching an action movie, and suddenly the hero dives through a glass window! Or a car window shatters as the hero navigates an exciting car chase! The glass looks so real, but believe it or not, Hollywood movie sets rarely use real glass for those scenes. Can you guess what they use instead? If you guessed candy…you’re right! Instead of using real glass, which is expensive and difficult to replace for multiple shots, Hollywood movie sets use Sugar Glass! This cheap,… Read more

Shine Bright Like a….Penny!

STEM Activity

43 reviews

‘See a penny pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck!’ – maybe you’ve heard this phrase before, and maybe you’ve even stopped to pick up a lucky penny off the sidewalk. But sometimes those pennies you see on the ground look anything but lucky. They look brown or black, and sometimes they’re so dirty looking that you can’t even tell whether they’re pennies! In this activity we’re going to explore why pennies don’t… Read more

Showing Science: Watch Objects in Free-Fall

STEM Activity

16 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

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