Keep kids excited and entertained during time at home or in the classroom with these fun, thought stirring STEM games. These five games challenge students to think creatively and out of the box to beat boredom, keep them busy on a rainy day, or to work on if they finish schoolwork early. These games are hands-on and great for kids to do on their own or in a small group. You'll also find great storage suggestions to keep them organized and easy to find for teachers, students, and parents. Be sure to download the free My STEM Plan Sheets too!
Kids are naturally creative and love to use their hands. With today's technology, students are working on computers more than ever so it's important to make sure they breaks away from their screens. These easy-to-set-up STEM activities are great alternatives to make kiddos think and take a break. They're also great for rainy days when kids are forced to be stuck inside and are also easy to store and put away.
If your student or child loves to build and create, they're sure to love Q-BA-MAZE. With this building blocks set kids have the ability to make different structures with an added marble maze in the mix. The instructions offer different models to attempt, but the options are endless! To keep the marbles from rolling away, I suggest kids build their awesome mazes on a plastic tray. I used the Cool Craft Tray. These trays are great because the have a high lip and come in fun, bright colors. I store each Q-BA-MAZE set in these Large Plastic Bins. The bins are great because they snap shut and are stackable!
To make your STEM games even more intentional, offer your kids these free "My STEM Plan" sheets so they can plan out their projects and record their thought process. They can use this printable to reflect upon what went well and what needed adjustments when their creations are complete.
Another colorful multi-use STEM item is the Fantastic Fish Building Set. These fun fish can be used as a manipulative for counting, color sorting, and building different structures. They fit together in a variety of different ways which leads to some amazing creativity! They are flat and fit nicely in a stackable bin.
One of my favorite STEM activities suitable for ages three to teen are the Jumbo Pipe Connectors. I love how eye catching the colors of this set are! It comes with a variety of different pieces and one large board to connect them all, but the problem solving is where the real joy comes from! Kids must think about different types of strategies to connect opposite pieces to build one cohesive structure. This is a great project to do individually or in a small group.
If your students or kids like fun and fast activities, this is for them! Tumble Trax provides hours of fun and lots of strategy work. It works best on a large magnetic surface. A fridge at home or a large whiteboard at school both make perfect surface to create! Students may use the "how to" cards or create their own intricate "trax". The pieces are very light and easy to store in the large stackable clear bins.
The last fun STEM activity is great for reviewing geometry in a hands-on way. Use STEM Stick Structures to integrate engineering and math vocabulary. All you need is some clay! I used Crayola Modeling Clay in the classic colors because it doesn't dry out like most clay and play dough. Kids then pick a challenge card and attempt to build the 2-D or 3-D shape. To add an extra challenge have students identify the faces, vertices, and angles of the shapes they create! I also had students work on trays so the sticks wouldn't roll away and the clay wouldn't get everywhere. The sticks were stored in locking lid cases as well.
