St. Patrick's Day STEM Challenge: Paper Bridge Challenge

STEM Challenges are my favorite way to engage students during those times of the school year when keeping their attention might be almost impossible!  

You can still celebrate St. Patrick's Day while making the experience fun and educational for your students.  It is definitely a win-win situation for all involved!  

Plus, if you have a spring break scheduled around this time, a STEM Challenge would be a perfect activity to work into your plans to help keep students on task once you've wrapped up other coursework.

How does this St. Patrick's Day STEM Challenge work?

This St. Patrick's Day Paper Bridge STEM Challenge asks the students to create a paper bridge that will hold 100 pennies for 30 seconds to help the leprechaun transfer his gold coins to the bank.  

The new bridge must be made out of a limited amount of common household / classroom materials and completed with a certain amount of time.

Students will go through the STEM design process to create the leprechaun's new bridge.  The students will then test the bridge prototypes using pennies (or anything else you may have handy - like unifix cubes or washers).  Students will then make improvements to the bridge after the first trial to yield a stronger bridge for the second trial.

STEM Challenge Preview for Grades 3-5

The middle school kids in grades 5-8 are expected to identify the need, research the problem, design a solution by writing detailed procedures and sketching prototypes, build and test a prototype, and troubleshoot.  The younger students in grades 3-5 are asked to follow the same steps - but in a simpler way.  These kiddos will Ask, Imagine, Create, and Improve.

Your classroom will be buzzing with organized chaos as students collaborate on their designs!  It is always interesting to observe, as a facilitator, how the students are working together and which "roles" the students choose to take within the challenge.  

So, what should this paper bridge look like?

The great thing about a STEM Challenge is that there is not a cookie cutter "right answer" for the students to create.  

The students will amaze you with their creativity!  Often times, the students design prototypes that adults would never imagine from the limited amount of supplies provided within the challenge.

How do you measure the success of a STEM Challenge?

Of course, it is fun to cheer on the students to design the best prototype that will "win" the challenge.

But, as a teacher, the activity is a success when you observe your students actively following the STEM Design Process steps.

You see them critically thinking, creating, and analyzing the prototype's performance and design when troubleshooting.  Students have been activating those higher levels of thinking while having a wonderful time!  

Do you love this activity but don't have the time to design it yourself?  

A student handout, corresponding presentation, and detailed lesson plan is available in my TeachersPayTeachers store for grades 3-5 and grades 5-8 in either PowerPoint or SMART Notebook formats!

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STEM Challenges are a perfect way to spend those days leading up to winter break or to get the wheels turning on those first days back from break.  Some of my favorite winter STEM activities include:

The Marshmallow Challenge asks students to build the tallest, freestanding structure out of spaghetti sticks, tape, and string within a certain amount of time.  The tower must remain standing once time expires with a marshmallow stuck on the top of the structure.  

This is a great introductory STEM lab that works for all grades.  Read more about the Marshmallow Challenge in this blog post.  

Another STEM Challenge perfect for December is the Jingle All The Way Christmas STEM Challenge.  Students must design a sleigh that is lightweight and sturdy out of common household items that can tolerate the weight of the many presents Santa has to deliver all over the world. 

Students work through the STEM Design Process to create a prototype with limited materials and time, test the prototype, and troubleshoot to enhance the original prototype to yield better results.

Read more about Jingle All The Way in this blog post.

Help Elsa decorate her castle with beautiful homemade snowflakes using pipe cleaners and powdered laundry detergent (Borax).  

Let It Grow! Snowflake Science Activity allows students to have a lot of fun while practicing their scientific inquiry skills.  Lab activities are differentiated and available for Grades 3-5 and 5-8. 

Depending on your grade level, you may want to allow the students to conduct this in several small groups or work together as a class.  Teachers who opt for the whole class activity can always select student volunteers to come up to the front of the class to help with the different steps of the lab.

This resource also includes a detailed lesson plan and corresponding PowerPoint or SMART Board presentation that provides a lot of visuals to help both the teacher and student conduct a relatively smooth science lab!

The 3-5 Grade Handout features choices that scaffold students' thinking when determining a scientific method, making a prediction, and forming a conclusion.

If I Were an Elf Who Lived on a Shelf Narrative Writing Prompt will create lots of discussion in your elementary classroom - especially if you have a classroom elf or many of your students have an elf at home!

Students are provided with a graphic organizer which helps them organize their thoughts into a sequential story with a closing. Once the students have completed their brainstorming, then they can transfer the information to a final story board. 

This would look awesome on a bulletin board or in the hallway!

Do you know those days when you have shorter gaps of time to fill before or after a holiday assembly?   Would You Rather - Christmas Edition - is the perfect class activity to have in your teacher toolkit for those types of situations.  Just open up this game and automatically engage your students!  

This resource has 30 fun, Christmas-themed Would You Rather scenarios. The slides can be projected on a white board, projection screen, or SMART Board through PowerPoint. The teacher (or a student) can read the scenario on the slide. The students will then show what they would prefer to do in the scenario by moving to the side of the room indicated by the arrow on the slide. 

Make sure to ask follow up questions after each Would You Rather scenario to promote the development of a learning community!

If you are a fan of "The Night Before..." stories by Natasha Wing, then these sequencing activities will be a fantastic companion piece to these books.  The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is a hilarious book to add to your collection as your get closer to winter break.

This resource includes two worksheets: one includes illustrated cards that represents the key events that occurred in the story and the second includes numbered boxes to help students paste the cards into the correct order as the events happened in the story.

(Note: This resource is currently being updated to include color and black and white versions plus an interactive whole class answer check activity as mentioned below.  Debut date is 12/1/16!)

Also included is an Interactive Whole Class Answer Check Sequencing Activity in both PowerPoint and SMART Notebook formats. Students will press or click on the illustrated card they believe is the next in order. The students will receive instant feedback to either receive another try to select the correct answer or to move on to the next step of the activity.

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Christmas STEM Challenge: Jingle All The Way

You just might have a few days in December where you've finished up a unit but don't want to start a new one.  This is the perfect time to do a STEM Challenge!  Harness all the students' energy into an innovative and productive project.  The kids will have so much fun that they will forget they are practicing math, science, and engineering skills in the process!

This Christmas STEM Challenge called Jingle All The Way asks students to design a new sleigh for Santa out of common household items within a limited amount of time.  The new sleigh must meet Santa's certain specifications and will be tested by adding pennies, which will represent presents.  Students will go through the design process to create Santa's new sleigh that meets his specifications and test the sleigh using pennies to represent the weight of the presents Santa needs to hold in his sleigh.  Students will make improvements to the sleigh after the first trial to yield a stronger sleigh for the second trial.

Your classroom will be buzzing with positive activity throughout this challenge.  Students get excited to sketch and share their ideas with each other to make the strongest sleigh.  The element of limited time also causes the students to have a sense of urgency that keeps this activity at a high energy level!

The middle school kids in grades 5-8 are expected to identify the need, research the problem, design a solution by writing detailed procedures and sketching prototypes, build and test a prototype, and troubleshoot.  The younger students in grades 3-5 are asked to follow the same steps - but in a simpler way.  These kiddos will Ask, Imagine, Create, and Improve.

The most awesome part of facilitating a STEM Challenge, for me, is to witness the extraordinary creativity that your students will exhibit during this type of an activity.  As adults, we have lost a lot of our imagination - so when we see a handful of random household objects listed as materials, we think: What do you do with these???  We think there has to be one certain way to make whatever it is we are being challenged to design. But, the kids will be able to come up with design ideas beyond what we could have ever imagined!  There might be a couple kids that need a few minutes to grease the wheels of innovation, but once they get going there will be no stopping their enthusiasm!

Starting STEM in elementary is a fantastic way for kids to fall in love with science.  The kids learn how to cultivate their thinking by following the STEM Design Process during a time when they already think outside of the box!  These steps will help them create even more advanced prototypes and troubleshoot at a higher analytical level as they get older - hopefully leading them to successful career paths!

Love this activity but don't have the time to design it yourself?  A student handout, corresponding presentation, and detailed lesson plan is available in my TeachersPayTeachers store for grades 3-5 and grades 5-8 in either PowerPoint or SMART Board formats!

Thanksgiving STEM Challenge: The Great Turkey Race

What do you do during those few days right before Thanksgiving Break?  Get your kids to collaborate, think critically, and have a ton of fun with a STEM Challenge, of course!

How does it work?  This Thanksgiving STEM Challenge encourages students to help prevent the turkeys from becoming Thanksgiving dinner by building a fast-moving turkey stunt double out of common household items within a limited amount of time.  The students work through the STEM Design Process - building a prototype, testing these turkeys by "racing" them, and then making improvements to make the turkeys faster.

Your classroom will be buzzing with positive activity throughout this challenge.  Students get excited to sketch and share their ideas with each other to make the fastest turkey.  The element of limited time also causes the students to have a sense of urgency that keeps this activity at a high energy level!

The middle school kids in grades 5-8 are expected to identify the need, research the problem, design a solution by writing detailed procedures and sketching prototypes, build and test a prototype, and troubleshoot.  The younger students in grades 3-5 are asked to follow the same steps - but in a simpler way.  These kiddos will Ask, Imagine, Create, and Improve.

Turkey Prototypes from Mrs. Jennifer Best's FACS Classes
at Mercer Middle School (Grades 4-7).

So, what should the turkeys look like?
The most awesome part of facilitating a STEM Challenge, for me, is to witness the extraordinary creativity that your students will exhibit during this type of an activity.  As adults, we have lost a lot of our imagination - so when we see a handful of random household objects listed as materials, we think: What do you do with these???  We think there has to be one certain way to make whatever it is we are being challenged to design. But, the kids will be able to come up with design ideas beyond what we could have ever imagined!  There might be a couple kids that need a few minutes to grease the wheels of innovation, but once they get going there will be no stopping their enthusiasm!

Starting STEM in elementary is a fantastic way for kids to fall in love with science.  The kids learn how to cultivate their thinking by following the STEM Design Process during a time when they already think outside of the box!  These steps will help them create even more advanced prototypes and troubleshoot at a higher analytical level as they get older - hopefully leading them to successful career paths!

How do I get all those toilet paper rolls?  If you aren't a toilet paper roll hoarder, like myself (I mean you never know when you might need one for a STEM Challenge or a craft opportunity - right?!), you might be in a pinch to have enough toilet paper rolls depending on the size of your class(es).

You can ask for donations from your staff members or solicit donations from your students. (Click here for a freebie donation letter template!)  Paper craft rolls can also be purchased at Hobby Lobby (click here), so make sure you use their 40% off a regular priced item if you need to buy these supplies.  You can also find these at your local Michaels Craft Store (click here) - show them your Teacher ID for a discount.

Love this activity but don't have the time to design it yourself?  A student handout, corresponding presentation, and detailed lesson plan is available in my TeachersPayTeachers store for grades 3-5 and grades 5-8 in either PowerPoint or SMART Board formats!

The Great Pumpkin Slinger - Fall STEM Challenge

Fall festivals, Halloween costumes, and the inevitable piles of candy wrappers left behind on your classroom floor.  (How do they learn to stealthily unwrap it without teacher detection - anyway?!?)  Sounds like that restless period of the fall and a GREAT time to spice things up with a STEM lab.

Students always become engaged with this Great Pumpkin Slinger Fall STEM Activity!  They usually have so much fun that they forget that they are critically thinking and just focus on slinging pumpkin peeps.  And, I have no problem with their denial because I can always see their minds turning.

Students follow the STEM design process steps, which prompts them to find a solution to a problem when given limited time and materials.  Students were asked to design a pumpkin launcher that would catapult the pumpkin peep the farthest distance using rubber bands, craft sticks, a straw, paper cups, index cards,a plastic spoon, and some masking tape.

A student sketch of the catapult prototype.

Each section of this STEM challenge is timed.  The power of the timer inspires students to think critically and work collaboratively!  They might feel panicked at first, if they haven't done a STEM Challenge in this way, but soon they know the clock is still running and choose to get to work.  I notice that there is less time to argue with other teammates and more time to showcase ingenuity.

Once the students have completed the design steps, then it is time to test the catapult prototypes. We quietly launch the pumpkin slingers in the hallway, which is always fun for the students.  Apparently, slinging pumpkin peeps down the hallway feels like we are on some type of top secret mission that might ordinarily get us sent to the principal's office!

The first trial is always interesting for the kids.  Some teams are fairly successful while others realize they really need to make a lot of changes!  The Troubleshooting sections that follow the first trial help to redeem the teams and encourage students to make design changes to the original prototype to yield better results.  Our best result yet was a sling shot model that launched the pumpkin peep 1,407 cm!


This Fall STEM lab motivated even the toughest critics to become engaged.  They might have even said that they loved doing this activity...and if you teach middle school, you know that is hard to come by!

Would your class find this interesting?  Find the lab handout, a teacher lesson plan, and a corresponding SMART Notebook  or PowerPoint file in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Also available for Grades 3-5!  In PowerPoint and SMART Notebook.