STEM & STEAM for Kids at Home
There are so many acronyms in the world of raising children. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and STEAM (previous + Art) seemingly have some staying power, and for good reason. Both at home and school, students of all ages, encounter some of their most valuable learning through hands-on experiences.
Sometimes students participate in STEAM-focused activities at school, and depending on the curriculum students may have hands-on learning for large portions of that time. But not all schools have the flexibility to provide these valuable opportunities, and some students crave hands-on STEAM learning more often than it’s provided.
With that in mind, I wanted to provide a list of materials that can provide simple ways to start including STEM and STEAM learning at home. Some are free, and some have a fee, but the materials listed below are the types of things that can and will be used and reused many time. There will be no one-time use science kits here!
Cardboard and Tape: Oh, wow. If you want to see students of all ages really dig in and start building, grab them plenty of easy-to-cut cardboard (like cereal and tissue boxes) and tape. Give a simple challenge, and see how they start problem solving. We love things like building:
the tallest tower that can stand on its own
a bridge that can hold the most weight
a boat that can float
an object that can glide the farthest
a building with a working elevator (pulleys for the win!)
Scratch: Scratch and Scratch Jr. offer a wonderful, free platform to learn coding. Scratch has an amazing community of learners who support each other and share projects along the way.
Sphero: These rolling robots come in a variety of sizes. Students can start with simple hand-drawn code or use block code to control the robots through increasingly more difficult challenges.
Tinkercad: You’ll hear a lot about Tinkercad on this site, because we love it! This is a free 3D design program that can support students as they create their own 3D designs. Printing is great but not necessary for a fun and educational experience with 3D design. There are introductory lessons for students, or they can jump right in and use YouTube to figure out more advanced features.
If this all sounds awesome but overwhelming to you, or you’re just not sure where to start with your student, MakeShift EdTech offers unique packages to provide 1:1 support to your students. These sessions provide a dedicated 1:1 tutor to support your student as they work through a self-chosen STEM project!
We hope you all have fun with STEM and STEAM projects at home. Let us know what you create!
