6 Engaging April STEM Activities for Kids

April is the perfect time to bring engaging STEM activities into your classroom! As spring arrives, our students are eager to build, create, and experiment with hands-on projects that challenge their thinking and problem-solving skills. This month, I’m sharing some of my favorite April STEM activities that you can use in your classroom. Each one is designed to spark curiosity, encourage collaboration, and give your students a chance to apply STEM concepts in fun and meaningful ways.

Six Engaging April STEM Activities for Kids.

What Do All April STEM Activities Have In Common?

No matter which activity you choose, all of the challenges I will share with you today have a few things in common. Each one gets your students actively engaged in building, designing, and testing their ideas in a hands-on way. They are also low-prep, making them easy to implement without a lot of setup. Every challenge weaves in STEM skills such as engineering, math, or science while encouraging creativity.

The April STEM activities have multiple levels of response sheets for your students.

With multiple levels of response sheets, your students can engage with the challenge at their own level. This makes all of these activities accessible to all learners. The digital options included allow for easy sharing of instructions and student work. This reduces the need for excessive printing while keeping your students engaged. Best of all, every project is designed to encourage creative thinking, which means no two final products will look the same!

April STEM Activities to Try Out With Your Students

Having the right resources makes all the difference when planning engaging April STEM activities. Whether looking for low-prep challenges that reinforce math and engineering skills or hands-on projects that encourage creativity and innovation, these six resources provide everything you need to bring STEM to your classroom.

1. Build the Tallest Caterpillar STEM Challenge

Building the Tallest Caterpillar STEM Challenge is a great resource to introduce engineering and measurement in a fun and interactive way.

Spring is the season of growth, making this challenge the perfect way to introduce engineering and measurement in a fun and interactive way. Your students are tasked with building the tallest caterpillar using assorted bottle caps while measuring its length using a ruler or unit cubes. This challenge helps your students develop key math skills, including counting, measurement, and length comparisons. They must also think strategically about the best way to design a stable structure, reinforcing problem-solving skills as they test and modify their designs.

This activity can easily be paired with The Very Hungry Caterpillar to connect literacy with STEM. The open-ended nature of the challenge allows your students to take creative approaches. If their structure falls, they can test out new methods and rebuild. With a mix of problem-solving and hands-on design, this challenge is a great way to keep your students engaged while strengthening critical thinking skills.

2. Spring Zipline Challenge

The Spring Zip-line Challenge is an April STEM resource that allows students to be creative and engage in teamwork.

Our students love a challenge that combines creativity with a bit of excitement. This zipline activity does just that! The goal is to create a carrier that will safely transport an egg down a zipline. The catch? The egg must sit inside the carrier and not be taped or glued into place. Your students must design a way to attach their carrier to the zipline while keeping their egg secure as it travels down the string.

This activity gives your students an opportunity to explore creativity, engineering, math, and teamwork. Since any materials can be used, your students have the freedom to experiment with different designs and test what works best. Your older students can take the challenge a step further by timing their carrier and adjusting the design to make it move faster or slower. Every design will look different because of the open-ended challenge. Watching their carriers zoom down the zipline adds an element of excitement, making this a memorable STEM experience.

3. Earth Day Bird Feeder Challenge

The Earth Day Bird Feeder Challenge is an April STEM resource that is perfect for the Earth Day holiday.

April is the perfect time to tie STEM learning to environmental awareness. What better way to do this than by doing a bird feeder challenge? Your students can use branches, twigs, grass, and other outdoor materials to design and build a bird feeder that can hold seeds while also providing a safe perch where birds can land. With an emphasis on sustainability, your students think critically about repurposing natural materials into something functional.

This challenge ties into the engineering design process while teaching your students about birds and strategic thinking. They will go through the steps of brainstorming, planning, and building their feeders. By doing so, they will carefully consider how to make their design functional for real birds. Once completed, they can reflect on how well their feeder would work in nature and even make modifications to improve it. This activity is a great way to combine STEM skills with an Earth Day focus. It also shows your students how engineering can positively impact the world.

4. Recycling Box Challenge: What Can You Build?

The Recycling Box Challenge allows students to design and build something useful using a cardboard box.

What can you create with a simple box and a handful of recyclable materials? This challenge pushes your students to think outside the box—literally! Your students must design and build something useful using a cardboard box, tape, glue, and only five additional recyclable materials. The open-ended nature of this activity makes it a great opportunity for innovation. When I do this with my kiddos, my students love the complete freedom to decide what their box becomes.

This challenge focuses on innovative thinking, recycling, and engineering, encouraging your students to see the potential in everyday objects. They can build anything from a functional tool to a creative sculpture. Since they are limited in materials, they must carefully plan and test their ideas. Brainstorming, designing, and refining their creations teaches valuable problem-solving skills while connecting STEM to real-world environmental issues. By the end of the activity, your students gain a new appreciation for creative reuse and sustainable design!

5. Finish the Doodle STEAM Challenge

The Finish the Doodle STEAM Challenge brings art into the April STEM resources.

STEAM activities bring in the arts alongside science and engineering. This challenge is a great example of how creativity and problem-solving go hand in hand. Your students start with a simple printable spring disguise activity page. They must transform their egg or bunny into something completely different. The goal is to reimagine the given design in a new and unexpected way. This is to push your students to use their creativity to think beyond the obvious.

Once your students complete their drawing, they take the activity a step further by writing a short story about their creation. This extension allows them to build storytelling skills while reflecting on their design choices. All your students need are drawing tools, pom poms, yarn, or felt to bring their ideas to life. The challenge is a fantastic way to celebrate spring while keeping your students engaged. I recommend hanging up their finished creations as a bulletin board display to add more excitement and pride to their work.

6. Butterfly Symmetry April STEM Challenge

The Butterfly Symmetry April STEM Challenge allows students introduces symmetry while reinforcing fine motor skills.

Springtime is full of natural inspiration. This challenge takes advantage of the beauty of butterflies. Your students design a butterfly with symmetrical wings and use a simple mechanism to make it “flutter.” The activity introduces them to symmetry while reinforcing fine motor skills and engineering principles. Your students only need printed copies of the butterfly template and a popsicle stick to complete their design.

In addition to designing their butterfly, your students can explore the butterfly life cycle, making a science connection. They can discuss why butterflies have symmetrical wings and how patterns in nature help them survive. As they complete their designs, they will see how math, science, and art all come together in a single project. The final result is a fun and interactive craft that reinforces STEM and creativity.

Bring April STEM Into Your Classroom!

These April STEM activities make engaging students with hands-on problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork easy peasy. Whether your students are stacking caterpillars, engineering ziplines, or designing bird feeders, they’ll be building important STEM skills along the way. Each challenge encourages them to think critically, test their ideas, and improve their designs. This reinforces that learning is a process of exploration and growth. If you’re looking for ways to bring more STEM into your lessons this April, these activities are a great place to start.

Additional Resources

STEM learning doesn’t have to be limited to just one season! If you’re looking for even more ways to bring hands-on exploration into your classroom, I have a few extra resources to help you keep the momentum going all year. Whether you’re searching for fresh ideas to incorporate April STEM challenges into your lessons or thinking about setting up a makerspace that encourages creativity and innovation, these blog posts are packed with inspiration.

And. . . if you are ready to have a year of STEM right at your fingertips, then check out the STEM for a Year Club! It is everything you will need to quickly and easily add STEM to your classroom all year long.