STEM activities for kids:
Easy and challenging activities

Just a few weeks ago we shared with you a super cool article in which we discussed the importance of doing activities at home to nurture your kids with the necessary abilities to succeed in the future. The activities we recommended to you then were not meant to replace the ones they do at school and we only showed them to you with one big goal: For your kids to gain 21st-century skills and boost their creativity.

At this opportunity, we want to show you 3 STEM and STEAM activities for kids that are very easy to do at home, which will enable them to understand many different facts on how the world works, and how they can apply the knowledge developed in school, in real-life situations.

STEM and STEAM show our children the deep relationship that exists between science, technology, engineering, arts, math, and how these fields are correlated. Also, it shows our kids that they can actually use the skills gained in this class, even if they don’t want to be an engineer or a computer science professional.

The STEM projects we want to show you are fun, easy to do and your kids will enjoy them, no doubt. But, first of all… do you know what STEM is? Do you know why STEM activities for preschoolers and STEM challenges for kids are so important? Sit down and take some notes…

What is STEM?

We’re sure you’ve heard this term many times before, but it is our responsibility to mention it to you once again. STEM in education is a term to group together Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Some educators and school integrated Arts into the terminology, turning STEM into STEAM.

The name STEM is mostly used when talking about the decisions each school makes on their education curricula to improve their students’ abilities in the fields of science and technology. Many recent studies say that most job offers today and in the future will be STEM-related. So, all educational institutions around the world are implementing STEM projects for kids, STEM challenges for their students, and a number of STEM experiments for even preschoolers.

In the courses offered by Tekkie Uni, STEM is one of the main focuses. Our instructors work hard to give their students relevant knowledge; knowledge they can apply in a world in which the educational paradigm is improving and altering into something better and more accurate.

What is a STEM activity?

A STEM activity is a great way to enable your kids to experience their learning process with their own hands. Hands-on learning has proven itself to be a phenomenal methodology for kids to actually gain the skills we want them to gain. A STEM activity is a practical, dynamic exercise, in which your children will be able to learn what STEM is all about in a very didactic way.

There are numerous STEM projects for kids and some amazing easy STEM activities for you to do at home in order to engage your kids with the fields of STEM and STEAM. At this opportunity we want to show you 3 very fun STEM projects you can do at home to both amaze your kids and to get them interested in a field that will open very important doors, whenever they decide to join the workforce.

First of all, you should let the fear go away and understand that it is not only the school’s responsibility to get your children interested in a certain field. Second of all, there is something all parents should comprehend: STEAM is very important for all kids, even if they are not math-oriented or big fans of science. Children who prefer performing arts, humanities and psychology, for example, can get several benefits and abilities from these challenging STEM ideas.

These 3 fun STEM activities will offer you and your children a nice opportunity to spend time together, a phenomenal time to create outstanding things with your own hands, and a great way to learn about science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

Check out the 3 STEM projects we want to show you… as soon as you do one of them with your kids, let us know how it went in the comments below. And don’t forget that sharing is caring, so share this article with your friends… who knows? You might end up doing these STEM experiments all together!

Easy STEM activities for kids to do at home

One of the most important things when doing an activity with your kids, especially if we are talking about an activity with an academic background, is for the activity to be easy to do and even easier to understand. This is why we came up with these 3 STEM activities. Each one is ideal for a specific age-group, but you know your kids better than anyone else… so you decide which one of these STEM challenges will fit them better. Ready? Here we go!

STEM and nature: Create your own volcano

To do this very simple experiment you’ll need a few ingredients that are extremely easy to get. But before that, you and your kids should build your own volcano. To do that, you can use clay or any other similar material to it. Don’t forget to make a cylinder in the middle of the volcano, from the bottom and up to the volcano’s mouth.

After this, you will need only red food coloring, sodium bicarbonate, vinegar, and dish soap. In order to do this STEM experiment, which is ideal for young children, we thought that the best idea would be for a young child to explain to you how to do this.

You can take this STEM challenge even further. Try researching a bit about how volcanoes work, where in the world is the highest number of volcanoes, and you can even try working on your kids’ creativity by designing the volcano’s surroundings. Ready for the challenge? Let the volcano erupt!

LEGO everywhere: A fun way for kids to gain STEAM-related skills

Not for nothing, a few years LEGO opened ago their own educational department. LEGO Education has multiple solutions that can help kids work on their very own STEAM ideas and on several engineering projects for kids.

A STEM activity you can do at home with your children, can be building something they imagine using only pieces of LEGO. Maybe even creating their very own tiny-ecosystem with pieces of LEGO, which they’ll have to justify with some added research. The secret formula is: invite them to create something they’ll love, and challenge them to make that something even more relevant and valuable by enabling them to justify their decisions. If you do that, your children will not only be practicing their STEM skills, but also understanding the value of hard work and the importance of justifying our decisions.

Another STEM project that LEGO offers is their wide variety of educational robots. The LEGO Mindstorms EV3 can be turned into an engaging, and super fun STEM activity for your little ones… and we have some news for you: Tekkie Uni’s robotics course, uses a virtual version of the EV3 which is fully compatible with the actual hardware. Check it out!

Arduino: STEM projects for children and adults

Warning: Parents might have more fun than their children while doing these STEM activities.

According to Wikipedia, “Arduino is an open-source hardware and software company, project and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices (…)”.

These controllers will help your kids bring almost anything into life. By only learning a few principles of art, technology, coding, and engineering, they will take any stem challenge that is Arduino-related and fully complete it.

The world of Arduino is wide, and your kids can conduct experiments in a number of different fields, while acquiring tons of STEM-related skills and abilities. Check out these amazing Arduino projects so you can get some inspiration:

One thing that can for sure help is introducing your children to coding and programming. This can give them enough tools to turn any of their dreams into breathtaking realities and any theoretical STEM project for kids into outstanding things that actually exist.

Coding, the ultimate way for your kids to learn STEM

STEM is all around and will directly affect the workforce in which our children will have to succeed. Give them the best present you can: let them receive all the tools they’ll need to highlight their talents in the competitive future we are talking about, give your kids the present of coding.

When learning how to code in one of Tekkie Uni’s coding courses, your kids will be strengthening a number of 21st-century skills that are key to their upcoming success: teamwork, problem-solving, critical thinking and algorithmic thinking, among others.

Your kids have to face these and other STEM challenges to start getting ready. It is up to you to either give them these tools or not. What do you say?

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