A lot of STEM thinking is using things in different ways.  Because so many of us are teaching from home, using found objects in STEM challenges is a great way to continue doing STEM without having to worry about materials.

Everyone has STUFF and everyone seems to have a lot of leftover stuff after they open or use something.  Many of these items we toss in our recycling bins or trash cans.  I ask my students to keep a plastic tub or brown bag in their garage or basement were they can toss they found objects for STEM challenges.  

Sometimes you need to give kids a list of some found objects to get them started!  Here are a few...

- cardboard toilet paper and paper towel tubes

- empty cardboard boxes from food items OR from deliveries

- plastic bags

- plastic bottles

- glass jars and bottles

- paper, paper stuffing

- foil

- lids

- cardboard sheets

- egg cartons

- old clothing, shoes

- magazines, newspapers, junk mail 

- empty pop cans

- old books

- extra straws from fast food restaurants (they will give out extras if you ask)

The list can go on and on...just look around.

We use junk mail to build lots of things that we would build with paper or index cards at school.  This always cracks my kids up because everyone seems to have junk mail.  While few people get newspapers, a lot of those free ads that no one reads are printed on newsprint.

Encourage your kids to look at things a little differently and they can find a lot of things to use to do STEM challenges!

Think creatively and use things in different ways!

Did you know that today is National Skyscraper Day?  Who knew that was a holiday?

Skyscrapers are pretty amazing feats of engineering!  The first skyscraper was just 10 stories tall.  It was built in Chicago.  It wouldn't even count as a skyscraper today!  Skyscrapers must be at least 40 stories today in order to be called "skyscrapers".  These massively tall buildings came from the need to build upwards instead of outwards in crowded city areas.

Looking for a STEM challenge to use for this holiday?  Check out my STEM Calendar Challenges for September!

You can buy this challenge from my TPT store for just $2!  Or you can grab the whole set of five STEM Calendar Challenges for the month of September!

Sometimes the hardest thing about doing STEM challenges is finding the materials!  We are also looking for materials that are cheap and easy to find.  Many STEM challenges use FOUND OBJECTS.  These can be the things in someone's recycling bin, things you don't really use anymore, or using things like plastic building blocks or play dough in a new way!  

Lots of the materials in my STEM challenges on TPT use things that can be found at the dollar store or grocery store.  Those seem to be places where parents still have to go.

Using a mystery bag for your STEM challenges gives kids the option of finding a certain number of random things in order to do a challenge.  Kids just have to choose 10 things for these challenges.  There is no real restriction on the materials.  Everyone seems to have a "junk drawer" and this stuff is perfect for these STEM challenges!  

Click here to buy this pack on TPT for just $2.00!  Feel free to also make up your own challenges!

Teaching in the virtual world is very different than teaching in the regular classroom environment.  I am going to do STEM @ Home challenges once a week for my classroom.  I plan on giving students the challenge on Fridays and then asking for it to be completed by the following Friday.  This way students have all week to get the challenge done.  

I encourage students to do the challenge with at least one other member of their families.  Often the students are really good at "thinking outside the box" while their parents are not!  The students love coming up with ideas that surprise their family members.

This straw challenge was done at school, but it could easily be done at home!  Kids need a package of straws (you can find these for $1 or less) and some tape.  Students need to build the tallest free standing straw tower.

This is another classroom STEM challenge that can be done at home!  Students need a bag of balloons.  These can be purchased at your local dollar store.  You can even mail a certain number of balloons to kids for the challenge.  Kids LOVE getting mail!

You can use STEM @ Home challenges OR send home a regular STEM challenge with easy to find and cheap materials!

STEM is such an important part of our classroom and now that we are teaching through distance learning I want to keep doing STEM challenges with my kids!  While I cannot do all of my many STEM challenges, I can do a lot of them, especially those using FOUND materials.

Why should we keep doing STEM during distance, or virtual, learning?

1. STEM challenges are a great way to keep kids engaged and interested.

These computer programs are fine, but kids need to get those hands and brains working in order to keep and stay engaged.  STEM challenges are the perfect way to keep that engagement level UP and the kids excited!

2. STEM challenges can be done with minimal materials.

Believe it or not, lots of STEM challenges can be done with only a few items and some with just a sheet of paper!  For the picture below students just used a sheet of copy paper.  They had to build a chair for a stuffed animal.  While we did this at school, it could easily be done at home with ANY type of paper and ANY type of stuffed animal.

3. STEM challenges are an easy way to get families involved.

Families can help students complete their STEM challenges at home!  It is a fantastic way to get families spending time together communicating and collaborating to solve a problem.  Kids really love having "required" time with their families to complete different challenges.  Sometimes the parents and kids even do their own solution to the problem.

4. Sharing solutions can be a lot of fun!

Kids and parents can share their solutions with the whole class using the flipgrid site!  They create a video to show their solution and talk about how they completed the challenge.

Try to get some STEM going at home, whether you are doing virtual instruction, hybrid instruction, or kids are back full-time!

You can buy this STEM @ Home pack here for just $2!  OR just come up with your own!

Congratulations to my good friend Erica Colón on her new upcoming book, Ocean Animals and Their Ecosystems!  The ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface and it is full of interesting plants and animals that depend on one another for survival.  This guide is desgined with kids in mind, it is colorful and full of facts.  It is easy to navigate and kids can read for just a few minutes and learn lots of information.



I am constantly looking for new books for my classroom library and this one is AMAZING!  This book covers so much of what we learn about in our elementary classroom and it is full of gorgeous pictures.  The book will be officially released in August and I am ordering a few copies for my own classroom library.  I know it is a book that a lot of my students will want to read!  As a teacher I can use the book as I teach lessons about food chains and webs, comparing different types of animals, and animal interactions.

You can check out the book here. https://bit.ly/OceanAnimalsandTheirEcosystems

To celebrate this amazing book, I am going to share a copy with one of you!  Write a comment below about how you would use this non-fiction book about the oceans and its ecosystems in your classroom and you will be placed into a drawing to win a free copy of the book! 

Write your comment below by August 10th in order to be included in the drawing for the book!