STEM activities and challenges are a great way to keep your kids busy, learning, and having fun this summer. Below I share a few of my favorite summer themed STEM activities to try with your family.
Make a Sundial
Before the invention of clocks, people used the sun to tell time. You can make your own simple backyard sundial with a stick, a piece of chalk, and some rocks.
Find a sunny space in your yard, preferably some place that gets consistent sun throughout a large portion of the day. Stick a stick into the ground so that it stands upright. Your stick should be about a foot to a foot and a half tall. At the next new hour place a rock where the shadow of the stick ends. Mark the hour on the rock with the chalk.
Set a timer for the next hour and repeat the process for as many hours as the sun allows. Leave your sundial in place and use it the next day to tell time!
*This is just a simple version of a sundial so it will only be accurate for a short time. As the seasons change and the sun's position in the sky shifts, the sundial will no longer accurately measure hours.
Sun Prints
Sun print paper, also called cyanotype paper, is paper that undergoes a chemical change when it is exposed to sunlight. It can be used to make cool solar art work.
All you need for this project is some cyanotype paper, a tub of water, and some small items to make pictures and designs with. Items that work well include pebbles or small rocks, sticks, leaves, bottle caps, small toys, and puzzle pieces.
Indoors or in a very shady place outdoors, place a piece of sun print paper on a clipboard. Use your small items to create a picture or design on the sun print paper.
Carefully carry your paper to a sunny spot and let it sit for 3-5 minutes- until the paper turns very pale blue.
Remove the items and set your paper into a tub of water for 1 minute. Then set your artwork aside to dry.
Mentos/Coke Volcanos
Summer is the perfect time for messy outdoor activities like Mentos/Coke volcanoes!
For this activity you will need: a bottle of diet cola and Mentos. Diet cola is preferable over standard cola as it produces a better reaction, and it is less sticky.
Go outside someplace where you have plenty of space and can get messy.
Set the bottle of diet cola on the ground. Choose a flat spot where it won't easily fall over. Open the bottle.
Unwrap the roll of Mentos and place them all into the diet cola bottle. You want to get them all in quickly which can be a bit tricky. One method that works well is to roll up a piece of paper into a tube just a little wider than the Mentos. Place a card under the tube and over the opening of the Coke. Line your Mentos up inside of the tube, then slide the card out so that the Mentos can fall into the Coke bottle all at once.
Quickly move out of the way and enjoy watching the eruption!
Frozen Oobleck
If your kids enjoy regular Oobleck, they will LOVE playing with frozen Oobleck! All you have to do is follow the usual Oobleck recipe: 1 cup of cornstarch to 3/4 cup of water (plus a few drops of food coloring if you want color). Pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. Enjoy watching and playing with your Oobleck as it melts!
Build and Test Mini Boats
Building and testing mini boats is one of my kids' favorite summer activities. We've tried several different methods and materials over the years, our favorites being aluminum foil boats and stick rafts.
Aluminum Foil Boat Challenge: Grab a roll of aluminum foil and challenge your kids to make a boat that will float. Test your boats in a kiddie pool or the bathtub. You can test how much weight your boat can hold by seeing how many pennies can be placed in the boat before it sinks.
Check out this blog post for detailed instructions: Aluminum Foil Boat STEM Activity
Building Stick Rafts: All you need to build a stick raft is 10-12 fairly straight sticks that are 4-6 inches long and some cord or yarn.
Start by lining up all but two of your sticks. Cut a piece of cord about 2 feet long. Tie one end of the cord to the end of one of the sticks and weave the sticks together by wrapping the cord around each stick a few times.
Next add your cross pieces. Lay the two remaining sticks over each end of your row of sticks. They should lay perpendicular to the other sticks. Use cord to secure them to the row of sticks.
Now you have a basic raft that is ready to float!
If you want to add another element to this activity, challenge your kids to design a sail that will actually catch air and move their boat. Some materials that work well for building sails out of include plastic grocery bags and Styrofoam or plastic cups.
The sail in the picture below was made from a triangular piece of plastic cut from a produce bag, a stick, and some tape.
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| This was our most functional sail. It was made from a rectangular piece cut from a plastic bag, taped to two upright sticks. |
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| This sail was made from a piece of felt. It wasn't a functional sail, but it was cute. |
Place your raft in a kiddie pool or the bathtub and use a straw to blow air at the sail.
Go Rock Hounding
Grab or download a good rock and mineral guide and head outside to hunt for cool rocks, minerals, and fossils. Check out this post with instructions for putting together a simple mineral identification kit: Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit and then try to ID your finds!
Here are some of my favorite rock and mineral identification resources:
-Printable Rock and Mineral Journal
-mindat.org (online rock and mineral database)
-Rock Identifier app
Make a Solar Oven
To make a simple solar oven you will need: a pizza box, aluminum foil, black construction paper, scissors, tape, plastic wrap, and a ruler or stick.
Begin my cutting a flap in the top of the pizza box lid. Cut along 3 sides, about an inch inside the edges of the box. Leave the back edge of the flap uncut. Fold the flap up so that it stands up when the pizza box lid is closed.
Cover the inside of the flap with aluminum foil. You can do this by measuring and cutting a piece to tape on, or by just wrapping foil around the flap.
Cut a piece of plastic wrap to fit the opening left in the lid when the flap is open. Tape it securely in place.
Line the bottom of the box with black construction paper.
Set your solar oven in a sunny place. Set your food inside the box. Use a ruler or stick to hold the flap open. Try to position your box so that the foil inside the flap is reflecting sunlight onto your food.
*This type of solar oven won't get hot enough to cook most things, but they work great for making s'mores!
Recycled Material Bird Feeders
Grab some tinkering materials like old drink and food containers, craft sticks, plastic spoons, glue, and cord, and challenge your kids to design and build bird feeders!
Experiment with Bubbles
You can find lots of different bubble solution recipes on the internet. Experiment with a few to see which ones work best. You could also challenge your kids to make their own bubble wands out of pipe cleaners or wire. What other materials can they think of to make bubble wands with?
Build a Water Balloon Launcher
Challenge your kids to design and build a contraption to launch water balloons. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
-Make a water balloon launcher out of elastic rope and a pair of old jeans with this awesome idea from Becca Beach: How to Make a Water Balloon Launcher!
-If you want to build something fairly simple, try this water balloon launcher idea from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls: 1×4 Water Balloon Launcher.
-Make a water balloon catapult with these instructions from the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago: Science at Home: Water Balloon Catapult.
What other ways can your kids come up with to launch water balloons?
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
STEM Art: 25 STEAM Project Ideas
50 Activities to Keep Your Kids Entertained This Summer
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