STEM Activities for Kids (482 results)

Making a Sugar Thermometer

STEM Activity

1 review

Bakers (and those who help bakers!) know that at some point in every baking recipe, the instructions will tell you to preheat your oven to a certain temperature. But if you’ve ever tried to bake cookies and they come out flat, or take too long, it’s possible that your oven is to blame. You might set your oven to 350°F, but how do you know that the inside of your oven actually reaches that temperature? You could use a thermometer…. or you could use sugar! Because we know… Read more

Memory Surprises

STEM Activity

9 reviews

Have you ever wondered why some things are easy to recall, while others need hours of study? For example, you might be able to recollect what happened at your birthday party without any practice, but you need hours of study before you can recite a few lines for a theater play. Our mind stores and remembers information in fascinating ways. Remember to do this activity and you will be surprised at what your memory can do for you! Read more

Physics Secrets for Hula Hooping

STEM Activity

6 reviews

Have you ever spent time spinning a hula hoop around your waist or arm? Could you easily do it, or was it difficult? Have you ever wondered how hula hoops work, or, in other words, what makes them be able to spin around a person's waist or arm? It comes down to the physics that is involved. Physics can help you determine what makes one hula hoop a winner and another a flop. In this activity you will get to create your own hula hoops and investigate how their masses affect how they spin. … 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

Play a Memory Game with Your Nose!

STEM Activity

5 reviews

Take a deep breath: freshly baked cookies, smoke from a wood fire, or a bouquet of roses—your nose is an amazing smell detector! Your sense of smell can not only identify a huge variety of odors, but it is also incredibly sensitive. Think about how easily you can detect if someone in your neighborhood has a barbecue just by smelling hints of smoke from a faraway grill. But how good is your nose when it comes to differentiating individual smells? Do this activity to find out! … Read more

Porosity and Particle Size

STEM Activity

Have you ever heard the expression, "solid as a rock"? As it turns out, rocks are not entirely solid. Rocks actually have tiny pockets of air inside them. This is obvious when you look at a piece of volcanic rock (often called basalt), which is full of visible holes. But dense rocks, such as granite, have tiny air pockets inside them, too. These pockets of air are just much smaller. If you picked up one volcanic rock as well as one granite rock of the same size, you would notice they don't… Read more

Program Drone Steering with an Arduino®

STEM Activity

14 reviews

How do quadcopters (drones with four propellers) steer? Find out in this fun project as you program an Arduino to steer a mini popsicle stick drone! See this page for a complete list of our mini drone projects. You may wish to do the projects in order. Read more

Salty Science: Is There Iodine In Your Salt?

STEM Activity

2 reviews

Have you ever noticed that the salt you’re using says it’s “iodized”? Iodine is a micronutrient, which means we need it in small quantities to be healthy. Because iodine is relatively rare in many people’s normal diets, it’s added to table salt. Then when people salt their food, like tasty turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, they’re also getting some iodine. In this science activity, you’ll use some kitchen-friendly chemistry to investigate… Read more

Salvage Science: Build and Test an Indoor Composter

STEM Activity

1 review

Have you ever seen a product labeled “biodegradable” or “compostable” and wondered just how well it decomposes? A lot of different products claim to be biodegradable or compostable, such as food containers, bags, packaging materials, and spoons and forks. Not only do they clearly come in different shapes and sizes, but they’re made of different materials as well. Do they decompose differently, and, if so, which decomposes the fastest? In… Read more

Saucy Science: Exploring the Science of Marinades

STEM Activity

Have you ever tasted a delicious burger and wondered how it got so much flavor? Maybe you have heard your family talk about marinating foods before cooking or grilling them. A marinade is a mixture of seasonings used to flavor or tenderize food. Most cooks have strong opinions about the best way to marinate their favorite food, be it a large steak or a tofu burger. In this activity, you will do a test to see what factors might be most important in making a marinade stick to the surface of food.… Read more

Scentsational Memories

STEM Activity

Did you know that approximately 2 million people in the United States have no sense of smell? Lack of smell is a disorder known as anosmia, and can be caused by damage to the nerves that transmit information from your nose to your brain. Our sense of smell serves an important purpose, we use it to distinguish between edible and inedible items in our lives, including fresh or rotten foods, and even particular toxins that have strong, unpleasant smells. In this activity you will test the scent… Read more

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