It’s almost summertime, and teachers are counting down the weeks (or days) until they send students out the door and have a little time for some self-care, reorganization, unit planning, and other fun summertime activities. But, how do you keep students learning during those summer months? It’s not technically our responsibility, but it’s nice to send those kiddos home with some ideas to help their parents out! I have always loved sending home summer STEM activities with my students because they are educational and super fun to complete as a family or with friends!
Get your children outside this Summer!
3 Summer STEM Activities Children will LOVE
I know sending kids to STEM summer camp is not an option for many parents, but STEM activities encourage so much learning and summer fun. I just couldn’t send my students off for summer without some STEM ideas to keep them developing skills needed for next year and beyond!
Stem Activity #1: Mini Golf STEM Challenge
If you have students who love sports, this stem activity is perfect for them. I took one of the most fun summer activities (mini golf) and decided to figure out how students could use their engineering skills to develop a mini golf course.
They are expected to create a mini golf course out of cardboard and plasticine, and I encourage them to use the internet for inspiration. The coolest thing is they can play a round of mini golf with their friends/siblings after.
Grab the mini golf summer STEM activity here!
Stem Activity #2: Camping STEM Challenge
Let your students unplug from technology and enjoy these camping summer STEM projects. This activity usually is one of my student's favorite summer STEM activities for middle school age! It comes with multiple summer STEM projects and they all revolve around the theme of camping.
Some of the experiments are to build a survival raft (can be tests in the
bath tub, pool, pond, really any body of water near you, a new tent design to prevent you from being impacted by floods. Maybe they will use a pool noodle or float to help the tent stay above water…who knows? It is up to them in this fun summer STEM activity. Finally, kids can design a device to protect them from wildlife in the area where they are camping. Kids absolutely love coming up with a new technology of sorts. These also full into the fun ideas of survival STEM activities which always makes students a little more excited.
Grab the summer camp STEM activities here!
Stem Activity #3: Arcade Game STEM Challenge
If you have some gamers on your hands this is one fun STEM activity. Students are challenged to design and create an arcade game. They use their knowledge of games they have played before like ping ball, PacMan, table tennis, really any arcade game they enjoy. Their goal is to design a similar game but with a modern twist.
Although it doesn’t technically fall into the category of outdoor STEM activities it still is a lot of fun for rainy days instead of having students playing video games or watching tv. They can then battle their siblings or friends once they have designed and created the video game!
Grab the arcade game STEM activity here!
Summer STEM Projects
These fun and safe challenges do not require expensive materials and a lot of the material is actually free! As a teacher myself, I love gifting each student a bag of materials and the instructions for one of the fun projects to do over the summer.
Each one of these summer STEM activities comes with the following:
- Teacher information page
- Arcade games Challenge (2 varieties) $100 and $1,000 budget to cater for different abilities.
- Coupons for materials needed. Provides excellent discussion and negotiation.
- Group challenge notes
- Student grid graphing paper for design
- Student writing printable. (2 varieties)
- Student reflection sheets.
- Assessment grid suitable for self/ peer or teacher evaluation
Obviously, if you are sending these home with students you may not use all of these items, but you can always use these at the end of the year for an enjoyable afternoon when you have officially run out of curriculum to teach or the kids just need a little bit of a break to enjoy the sweet summertime air! These aren’t your average egg drop challenges or solar system creations, this are summer STEM projects which will get your students thinking, engaging, and learning.