10 Easy Kindergarten STEM Ideas for Your Classroom

Introducing kiddos as young as kindergarten to the concept of STEM can seem like a huge challenge for any teacher. But, with the right activities geared towards sparking curiosity, fostering critical thinking skills, and hands-on learning, you can easily incorporate kindergarten STEM into your lessons plans. I’m here to share with you 10 super easy kindergarten STEM activities you can start using in your classroom today!

Using Recyclable, Found, or Everyday Objects for Kindergarten STEM

1. Kindergarten STEM Building With Everyday Objects

Encourage creativity and fine motor skills by providing kindergarten students with everyday objects like straws, popsicle sticks, marshmallows, or clay to complete simple STEM challenges. Your students will love to use everyday objects to build structures like towers, bridges, or even houses using these materials.

One of my favorite kindergarten STEM challenges using everyday objects is the Chicka Chicka Boom challenge. This incredibly fun STEM activity asks students to build an alphabet tree out of everyday objects like toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, tissue boxes, or whatever other fun and recyclable materials you happen to have laying around.

Then, your kiddos can use letter tiles, magnetic letters, stickers, or any other letter manipulatives you have to balance on top of the tree. The challenge is to see how many letters they can balance on the top of each tree. It’s a great way to incorporate your kindergarten STEM challenge into your literacy activities.

Activities that use everyday objects promote hands-on learning, spatial awareness, and problem-solving skills.

Use Interlocking or LEGO blocks for Kindergarten STEM

2. Marble Maze Interlocking Block Kindergarten STEM Activity

We all know how much kids LOVE interlocking blocks like LEGO. And, the ways you can use them in the kindergarten classroom are virtually endless. I use LEGO blocks for tons of STEM challenges. However, one of my favorites is the Marble Maze kindergarten STEM challenge.

For this challenge, students use an interlocking block baseplate and blocks to create a fun maze for a marble to work through. I like to start the challenge with a read-aloud. I can tell you from experience that kindergartners love being read to. So, I pull out the fantastic book, What If… by Samantha Berger to get my kiddos inspired by all of the things you can make with a little imagination and creativity.

Then it’s time for kiddos to work independently or in partners to draw out their marble maze using a super easy-to-use template. Working from the template students use interlocking or LEGO blocks to create their marble maze.

I like to ask students to try out marble mazes from other groups and give feedback on what was successful about the maze and what could use improvement. It’s a great way to get them in the habit of giving constructive feedback.

Pair Literacy With Kindergarten STEM

3. Encourage a Growth Mindset With Kindergarten STEM Challenges

Developing a growth mindset is something we focus on heavily in the STEM classroom. I know it’s an important skill for students to develop when they are young, especially in kindergarten.

With all the new learning going on, chances are kindergartners are going to hit lots of roadblocks throughout their first year of school. That’s why I love using easy STEM challenges that also help my kiddos understand the importance of a growth mindset.

One of my favorite growth mindset kindergarten STEM challenges is the My Idea activity. It helps me teach my youngest kiddos how important it is to embrace ALL ideas. Even the ones that don’t end up working out so well.

Using the engaging picture book, What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada, some display task cards, an engineering design process poster, and printable worksheets kids as young as kindergarten can start to learn the importance of a growth mindset.

4. Read Across America Themed STEM Challenges

Read Across America is a huge celebration in my school as I’m sure it is in most schools. From decorating hallways and doors in everything Dr. Seuss to having a pajama party reading day, Read Across America celebrations can also include STEM challenges for kindergartners.

I love using Silly STEM challenges with a Dr. Seuss twist as center activities, during our Read Across America week celebrations, and more.

Some of the Silly STEM challenges I love using during our Read Across America celebrations include:

• The Things
• Hat Stack
• Cat’s Chaos
• Speak for the Trees
• The Trees
• Red Fish, Blue Fish
• ABCs, 123’s
• Places We’ll Go

The best thing about all of these challenges is each one pairs easily with a Dr. Seuss book you can read to your kindergarten students before beginning the activity. You can grab all of these activities which are included in the STEM Challenges for an Entire Year Bundle!

Kindergarten STEM Activities for the Holidays

5. Kindergarten STEM Spiderweb Challenge

Incorporating kindergarten STEM activities into your holiday celebrations is easier than you may think. With just a little creativity you can include STEM challenges in your holiday celebrations, class parties, and more.

One of our biggest holiday celebrations has to be Halloween, and when I’m able to bring spooky fun STEM challenges to our classroom parties I know it’s going to be so exciting for everyone involved.

During our class party, I like to pull out my Simple STEM Spiderweb Challenge. It’s especially easy to set up as a “game” station for kiddos to complete during our Halloween celebration. All I need for supplies are some paper plates, string or yarn, and some plastic spiders. These are all super easy to find at your local dollar store before Halloween too!

There’s also a super easy science element to this challenge so you can integrate it not only into your Halloween celebration but include it in your science curriculum in the weeks or days leading up to Halloween. That’s a win-win in my book!

6. Build a Hideout for a Turkey Kindergarten STEM Activity

This adorable kindergarten STEM activity uses easy to find supplies like building blocks, magnetic blocks, plastic cups, snap cubes, or really any other building supply you already have on hand.

It’s a great way for me to keep my youngest students engaged and learning during those busy days before Thanksgiving break. Using adorable turkey printouts, your students will love working in small groups or centers to build a hideout for the turkey.

This Turkey Hideout activity can even be run as a challenge between small groups of students. By utilizing a countdown timer you can give your groups a specific amount of time to complete their turkey hideout. The groups that are able to complete the challenge within the given time win a special treat like a sticker, certificate, or small eraser.

However, for those groups that don’t finish within the allotted time, I feel like it’s important that they are still given the opportunity to finish their build. This helps them build perseverance which is a really important skill even for our youngest students.

Use Seasonal STEM Challenges for a Year’s Worth of Engagement

7. Symmetrical Snowflake Kindergarten STEM Activity

Using supplies I already have on hand is one of the easiest ways for me to do STEM challenges with my younger students. And, I’m a huge fan of borrowing and lending supplies with other teachers. If I don’t have a specific supply on hand, chances are one of my teacher friends does, and vice-versa.

A great kindergarten STEM activity that not only helps teach symmetry and fine motor skills but also uses completely reusable supplies is the Geoboard Snowflakes activity. And, I can use this awesome STEM challenge as a center activity as well.

This center activity is easy to set up with the following supplies:

• Task card printables
• Activity response sheets
• Teacher directions
• Photos of student made samples
• Certificates 
• Ready to print stickers to use with Avery labels!

Geoboards are a fantastic resource so if you have them in your classroom already, awesome! If not, take a minute to send out an email to your teacher friends to see if someone has a set you can borrow.

8. Build a Birdhouse STEM Challenge

To start this STEM challenge, if the weather is nice, I like to take my classes outside and allow them to observe our local birds. It’s a great opening activity and is the perfect way to introduce the design challenge. It’s a completely immersive way to get my kiddos to explore everything they need to know to make the best possible birdhouse for our little bird friends. Take a peek:

When it is time to start the challenge my students plan out their birdhouse designs and list the materials they are going to use.

To finish off this Earth Day or Spring STEM challenge, we head outside and hang our birdhouses. Not only do the students love seeing their projects in the trees, but they watch daily for any signs of birds. I love getting reports over the next few weeks as we watch the birds find their new homes.

Digital Kindergarten STEM Activities

9. Spring Shapes Digital Kindergarten STEM Challenge

I love using digital activities in my classroom, but sometimes using digital activities with kindergartners can seem challenging. I can tell you from years of experience that young kids catch on to how to use digital activities way faster than you think!

This Digital Spring Shapes activity will get your students excited about learning how to manipulate shapes in GoogleSlides. Think geoshapes but digitized.

Working through the Google Slides resource in a center is a great way to run this activity. Your students can simply work through each of the slides which include instructions, a fun video, and lots of slides to explore shapes.

There are even slides designed to allow them to move, resize, and rotate shapes to create their very own pictures. How cool is that? And the best part is they don’t even realize they are learning and practicing key computer skills they will be using throughout their school careers!

10. Kindergarten STEM Measuring Challenge

This fantastic Spring Stacking and measuring activity is a great way to include STEM into your kindergarten classroom. In this activity, students will incorporate creativity, problem solving, and designing in a fun digital way they will love.

Use the Google Slides resource to display the videos to the whole class as a whole group activity. There is even a read aloud of the Very Hungry Caterpillar included in the Google Slides.

Using the digital version of snap cubes your kiddos will love creating their very own digital caterpillar. They can estimate how many snap cubes they can fit on the slide to create their caterpillar then review the amount they actually used to see how close they came to their estimation.

Digital task cards make it easy for your students to understand the challenge. Just because this is a digital activity, don’t be afraid to make it a small group activity. Young students can absolutely work together to create a digital product and sometimes this even works out better. You can have students who are more technologically savvy help those that are just learning. It’s a great way to encourage teamwork and collaboration.

Simple Kindergarten STEM Activities

You can grab all of these fun and exciting kindergarten STEM activities plus tons more in the STEM Challenges for the ENTIRE YEAR Bundle. With 48 engaging activities, you will be able to explore the world of STEM with your kindergartners all year long.

Want More Kindergarten STEM?

I hope that all of the tips and ideas you’ve read have you excited about STEM in the classroom! But if you find yourself saying “Yes, but I want more” then keep reading. I’ve got the best resources for you in the STEM For a Year Club! It is everything you will need for a year’s worth of STEM in the classroom. The simple STEM challenges are easy to set up. They use minimal to no copying and can be differentiated for grades Pre-K through 4th. Also, they promote creativity, and can even be paired with engaging read-aloud stories to incorporate literacy.

I know you and your students will love this full year of STEM activities. Make sure to grab this incredible STEM For a Year Club Bundle today!

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