At the start of each school year, doing STEM challenges is something that is new to many of my students.  Many of the kids are hesitant to try their ideas for fear of failure.  

Doing some COPYCAT challenges at the beginning of the year can help kids figure out ways to do STEM challenges!  This idea could be done with most existing STEM challenges.  Kids COPY something the teacher or other students have done.

Copying is not as easy as it seems.  There are a few Copycat STEM Challenges in my tpt store as well as my blog store, but you can do this with STEM challenges you already have in your classroom as well.

We start the year with some of the more basic STEM challenges, like cup towers.  You can use as many cups as your want for your challenge.  We use 20 cups per pair of students for this one most of the time.  I also try to stack the cups in unique ways so students can see some unusual ways to build a cup tower.

For these copycat STEM challenges, you just need to build a paper cup tower BEFORE the challenge.  Students need to COPY your design.  This gives students the opportunity to be successful and to see different ways to build a cup tower.  

Why not start the school year with a copycat challenge or two?  These are also great to use throughout the year, especially when students are really struggling to figure out a STEM challenge.  Click here to see the challenge in my tpt store.

What can your students learn from a copycat STEM challenge?

What kid doesn't LOVE water balloons?  Why not grab their attention by using water balloons to do some fun STEM challenges?

These challenges are the perfect way to cool off while you are learning!  They should be done outside on the playground.  We did these over a two-week period at the end of the school year!  They could also be done in those warm fall months as a way to get kids working together.  I am sure I will be doing a few of them during those HOT August days!

I am a big fan of the Bunch a Balloons!  They fill up quickly and easily and give you lots of balloons to work with for these challenges!  You can grab these in a lot of grocery stores or on Amazon-  https://amzn.to/4cygrwk

These water balloon challenges are a lot of fun!  They will get your kids designing, building, measuring, and thinking critically.  

There are five water balloon challenges, they can be purchased individually or in a bundle in my tpt store!  Here is the link in my tpt store!  The bundle can also be found in the "shop" section of this blog!

Get engineering!

- Smart Chick

Celebrate National STEM Day on November 8th!  This is a fun challenge to do on this day with cheap and easy to find materials.

All you need is a set of 20 cups and a timer!  I get 20 cups for each group and we always REUSE our cups for various STEM challenges throughout the year.

The challenge with this one is the TIME LIMIT!  I always let students discuss their building strategies BEFORE I begin the timer.

Grab this challenge in my TPT store for just $2!

Have some STEM fun to celebrate National STEM Day!

We are doing monthly STEM challenges in our school building as a way to have some consistency across classrooms.

For this challenge each classroom got a small foil pan, a bag of potting soil, and a small pumpkin.  All the teachers have to do it cut the top off the pumpkin and fill it with dirt.  Then they just have to water it every few days.  

It took our pumpkin about 7 days to begin sprouting.  We have had dirt inside the pumpkin for about 2 weeks now.

So far we have quite a few sprouts!  I am thinking we will have more sprouts soon!  The kids are fascinated with this STEM challenge!

Click here to grab the lab pack for this monthly STEM challenge!  The lab pack includes directions and lab sheets!

Why not grow some pumpkins in your classroom this fall?

Smart Chick

We did our first rubber duck STEM challenge today!  They kids had a blast!  We started by using ALL of the materials that were provided, then students modified their designs to use the LEAST amount of materials!

This one shows a solution using ALL of the materials!  Students received 4 cups, 6 craft sticks, and 2 index cards.  Each group also received 20 mini rubber ducks.  We then modified our designs to use the LEAST amount of materials!

The groups were able to figure out how to balance the ducks in a lot of creative ways!

Being able to adjust our thinking was such a great experience for my students.  Click here to grab this specific STEM challenge - Rubber Duck Rescue!

The five pack of Rubber Duck STEM Challenges can be seen here!  We will be doing more of these challenges over the next few days!

Stay tuned for more pictures!

Time to grab some of those pool noodles you can find at your local dollar stores, grocery stores, or just about anywhere!  

These can be used in a number of different ways for STEM challenges throughout the year!  Some of my favorites include:

1. Pool Noodle Towers

2. Pool Noodle Rocket

3. Pool Noodle Structure

4. Pool Noodle Race Track

Grab this 5 pack of Pool Noodle Challenges HERE!  There are 5 STEM Challenges in this pack for just $7!

There are three additional STEM challenges in this STEM Gym pack!  Get those kids up and moving with these challenges.  Grab this pack here for just $5!

This next one is my favorite STEM challenge to do at the beginning of the year.

Just cut up one pool noodle per group and students have to work together to build the tallest free-standing tower using the cut pieces of the pool noodle.  Grab this challenge here for just $2!

Time to grab your pool noodles NOW before they disappear until next summer!

I am looping with my class this year to the next grade level.  I really enjoy having the same kids for two years.  I have been looking for a classroom theme, and I recently decided on rubber ducks!

I decided first to develop a set of STEM challenges using rubber ducks.  We plan on doing these the first two weeks of school!

Click here to purchase this STEM pack!  These challenges can also be bought separately!

I can't wait to do the first challenge in this pack!  Students have to rescue as many rubber ducks as they can using the materials provided.  Click here to purchase just this challenge!

How many ducks can you get above the table-top using the materials provided?

Rubber Duck Rescue Challenge

Materials Needed: (per team)

- 3 plastic cups

- 6 wide popsicle sticks

- 2 index cards

- rubber ducks

I am working on figuring out a Welcome bulletin board and other items now.

Do you have a theme in your classroom?  What is your theme?  

:) Smart Chick