Fun Summer STEM Activities for Kids

Is it summer yet? I’ve been sharing some fun summer STEM activities for kids that will keep their minds engaged!

According to recent research, one month of learning is lost over the summer if students don’t keep their brains fine-tuned. Here are some engaging, low-cost STEM activities for kids to prevent summer slide:

Make a Soda Bottle Submarine

Howtoons, a comic book meets science lab sort of site that presents science and engineering concepts in a very engaging and informative way, offers a really cool Soda Bottle Sub, which is constructed out of yep, you guessed it, empty soda bottles and a few other household objects. A Howtoon guides kids through how to build the soda bottle sub while they learn about the science behind it (buoyancy)!

Dough Creatures

The PBS SciGirls program focuses on getting girls interested in STEM. In the Dough Creatures activity, kids learn to make both conductive and insulating dough to make electric circuits. So, add some batteries and some easy to find electronics and kids can make dough creatures that light up or even sound a buzzer.

Kudo Game Lab

This site, sponsored by Microsoft, is a visual programming language that teaches kids how to code. The PC version is free to download and allows kids to create their own worlds and share them with other kids. To download Microsoft Kodu and get started programming, visit the Kodu Game Lab site.

CryptoClub

At the CryptoClub site, kids can play encoding and decoding games, try some brainteasers and send and decipher their own messages. (If you’re in the Seattle area, contact me for a free training!)

BristleBot

If you haven’t made a bristlebot yet, you are missing out! This creative summer STEM activity from eGFI (Engineering Go For It) uses a toothbrush, watch battery and pager motor (available on Amazon for about $5). Kids will probably need help with the soldering, but it is well worth the effort. By building a bristlebot, kids can learn about electricity, motion or even robots.