STEM/Space Activities

Welcome to a place everyone can share STEM/Space activities for summer and beyond.

The following links are just the beginning. To suggest activities, please contact us at 850.245.6630.

Sun, moon and stars

Explore the phases of the moon with Oreos, make a telescope or your own constellation projector and more.
LPI also offers audio stories about the moon and eclipses of the sun.
Find your local constellations with the interactive sky chart from Heavens Above.
The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) Explore website has a number of hands-on activities for children and preteens.
Learn about different types of stars (PDF) found in the Milky Way Galaxy and how to classify them.
Read all about solar flares.
See how the Sun affects the Earth.
Sunshine weaving activity.

Make and watch a planet fizzing.
How about a Ziplock Solar System I-Spy Busy Bag?
Does your community have an astronomy club? Check out this resource to find or create one.
Kinesthetic astronomy (PDF) teaches basic astronomical concepts through choreographed body movements and positions that provide educational sensory experiences.
Check out this free, open source planetarium for your computer.
Explore the universe with ice orbs.
Create a pinwheel galaxy (PDF).
Make a bedroom planetarium.
Check out information on the planets.
Make your own pair of RoverView 3-D glasses and use them to look at 3-D space images.

Learn how real astronauts on board the International Space Station live and work.
STEM activities and resources on the International Space Station.
Do-it-yourself cardboard space rocket.
Teens can construct solar sails using everyday materials and learn about Newton’s laws of motion and the transfer of energy.
Since 1985, astronauts have carried toys into orbit and tested them in a different atmosphere. Can you replicate their experiments (PDF)?
Build your own spacecraft at NASA SpacePlace.
Make a soda-straw rocket.
Make a cardboard rocket ship for your youth area.
Make a paper bag space helmet for your trip into new frontiers.
Join the NASA kids’ club.
Craft 25 different aliens.
Build an Alka-Seltzer rocket (PDF).
Get lost in space.
Turn art into STEAM.

Browse through the many activities at Starnet.
Discover many activities relating to astronomy, physics and chemistry for grade K-12 from the McDonald Observatory.
This activity for ages 5-13 (PDF) shows how UV radiation reacts to different light sources.
Check out these fun, simple STEM activities: a catapult challenge, origami and a carnival design game.
Create nebula art.
In this simple erupting volcano experiment, use lemon, baking soda and food coloring to produce a bubbling eruption of rainbow colors.
Homemade catapults are easy to make and an excellent example of engineering. Children will love trying out the finished product.
This engineering activity uses clothespins, binder clips and craft sticks, encouraging critical thinking for constructing a bridge or a building.
Learn how electrostatic levitation allows tinsel to fly.
Use color chromatography to find out how many colors there are in a black marker.
Elementary youth and tweens will have an opportunity to design and build whatever they want from a mystery bag. They will also learn about Rube Goldberg machines, designed to deliver a ball from one place to another.
Can kids support a heavy book with a single sheet of paper? Find out with this challenge (PDF).