Last week was STEM Week for our Summer Camp at Home! I’ll admit that I may have been in a little bit of a funk. All this social distancing still has me an emotional hot mess. It was so helpful to have these No Prep STEM Challenges to distract me and keep the kids busy.
What projects are good for STEM Week?
S.T.E.M. actually stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A STEM project is anything that teaches your kid something about one of these topics. That means there are so many possibilities. Maybe too many! To help simplify your life, here are the NO Prep STEM Activities we did last week.
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The 3 Little Pigs STEM Challenge
This one is super easy and no-prep because I just ordered a kit from Oriental Trading. The idea behind the 3 Little Pigs STEM Challenge is to build a house three different ways (straw, sticks, and bricks) to see if they can be blown down by the Big Bag Wolf (aka my hairdryer).
The kit came with everything we needed besides the glue, tape, and play dough that was used to adhere the materials together. These are items we already had around the house. Our three houses must have been made too sturdy since none of them came apart when we tested them!
Pretzel and Marshmallow Structures
This was super easy! I pretty much just opened a bag of pretzel sticks and mini marshmallows. The challenge was for them to build structures using those items.
This was challenging! We did end up adding in a few larger marshmallows to use in the base of their structures. Of course, their favorite part was snacking on the supplies!
Toy Parachutes
For the toy parachutes, each child picked out a small toy from their collection. Then they used a napkin and some string to create a parachute for the toy.
These were not all successful but that is part of the fun! Once they had their toy parachute complete, they tried it out by dropping it from the top bunk of their beds.
Marble Run Activity
We have had this Marble Run Kit since Gavin was about three years old! It is an awesome toy. They had the best time building a marble run and then racing the marbles through it.
This set gives you four different examples of marble runs to build. You can also challenge them to try to build their own.
Chain Reactions
The kids completely did this one on their own! Yay! After explaining what a chain reaction is to my daughter, they went upstairs to use hot wheels tracks and cars, cardboard tubes, and a toy golf set to create their own. These are all things we already had.
Dominoes would have been the perfect addition to this activity. We were just using what we had and trying to be as “no-prep” as possible.
Periodic Table Puzzle
It can be hard to find activities to get an 11 year old boy excited these days! He loved this colorful Periodic Table Puzzle though. I was so impressed with it myself and it also comes with a fun book.
We did this puzzle together. It is definitely too challenging for my six year old to do on her own. She had fun helping though and enjoyed the silly references and playful illustrations along with us.
LEGO Challenge Cards
These LEGO Challenge Cards are something I found on Pinterest! They are free printable activities that the kids can do using the Lego pieces they have at home.
The printable includes three sheets of activities. I printed them out and then cut out the ones I thought my kids would enjoy most. These cards make a great No Prep STEM Activity to have on hand. Just pull these out when the kids get bored and let them pick one to try.
There are so many benefits when it comes to STEM Activities. A lot of our activities focused on engineering last week. We have also done a full week of Science Activities that was a lot of fun too.
