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This is a fun activity that the teacher could include in the lesson. The teacher will draw a picture of a representation of the type of energy, and students will be asked to write an example of that type of energy on a sticky note. The students will then come up to the board and put their sticky note on the chart. The students can also share their ideas with the class!

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Forms of Energy Activities for Kids _ Priceless Ponderings

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This is a very fun website that students can use to learn more about energy and the different types of energy in a fun way! This website can be used in or out of the classroom.

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Power for Fidgetville

In Fidget Power, design wind turbines that make electricity and keep the air and water clean.

Power the Town

Play Power Up! and see if you can light up the whole town in this game from NASA. Capture clean energy from the wind and the Sun to produce enough electricity to run the town.

Energy Lab

In this Energy Lab from Learner.org, balance energy needs against environmental factors via lessons and a Simulator. Upper grades.

Lots of Energy Games

Energy Kids has lots of games and activities for you to do.

Energy Crossword

Try this Renewable Energy interactive puzzle and see how much you know about green energy.

Crunch Time

Crunch Time is a fun quiz game from New Zealand. Earn points and badges across several levels.

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In Fidget Power, design wind turbines that make electricity and keep the air and water clean. Play Power Up! and see if you can light up the whole town in this game from NASA. Capture clean energy from the wind and the Sun to produce enough electricity to run the town.

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This quiz will allow the teacher to check for understanding. This is a fill in the blank quiz and has pictures for the students to match!

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When the teacher is teaching the lesson on energy to the students, they could pass out this worksheet for the students to fill in the blanks for the different types of energy.

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The students will be handed a worksheet explaining the lab of the day. This allows students to be hands on and encourages them to learn more about energy and the explanation of what it is.

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Teaching Thermal Energy with Heat Activities for Kids

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This activity allows students to learn more about electrical energy while being hands on. The students will create their own circuit with the materials given to them.

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I love teaching about electricity. It is one of my favorite science units, and I am always trying to think of new ways to engage students with it. If you remember, in the past I used pickles and an electrical cord to have a little fun with my glowing pickles activity.

Most recently, I had a guest blogger talk about STEM basics in the classroom, and it made me realize I had always really been doing STEM all along in my classroom - I just wasn't calling it that. In fact, it wasn't that long ago I blogged about an erosion activity that could technically be a STEM activity. Isn't it funny how we do that as teachers?

Anyway, I decided to take a crack at it "officially" and mix a little fun into my electricity unit. I was going to have my students demonstrate their understanding of current electricity while implementing a STEM challenge - and it was going to be fun!

Assessing Current Electricity with Electric Vests

In the Beginning

First, I reviewed current electricity and the two types of circuits that we were going to focus on: series and parallel circuits. I also reviewed how like charges repel, while opposite charges attract. This was to make sure that everyone had a good starting point and that I had refreshed their memories, or background knowledge really.

Next, I explained to students the activity and what they were going to do. I explained that they were engineers and that they were going to solve a major problem.
The local road crew is stuck working at night on the roads, but it is difficult to see them. We are recruiting your class because you have some really smart kids that know a lot about electricity! Your job is to create some really cool vests that will light up at night so the drivers can see the road crew workers. Of course, the vests can't have a bunch of cords hanging off them, and there are no outlets to plug things in.
Here was where I also explained the rules and requirements of the activity by handing them a "You're Hired" sheet. Written on that sheet was the requirement that they had to create at least one series circuit and one parallel circuit.
The Ideas Began Flowing
I asked students a series of questions to get them started. They first worked independently, because I wanted them to think on their own and think of their own plan. I showed them the materials they would be working with - LED lights, copper tape, and small button batteries - to create the electricity on their vests.

After several minutes of sketching and coming up with a few different ideas, I then had students get together with a partner just to share their ideas and get some feedback. The activity was completely independent, but like anything in life, it's nice to bounce our ideas off of others.

Creating the Light Up Electric Vests

Students then began creating their vests. We used large paper bags to make our vests. Some students struggled, while others did well the first time.

We talked about the LED leads and how the longer side was positive. We also discussed that the positive side of the LED light had to flow to the positive side of the battery.

Through some experimentation, failures, restarts, and modifications, we were eventually successful at creating our vests.

Just like the actual engineering design process, we had to sometimes stop and ask ourselves,
"Okay, what is going on here?" "Why is this not working?"
"What can we do differently?"
I'm not going to lie: We had challenges. Students had to face some problems - but that's the point of STEM challenges. They need to learn patience and how to think critically.

We discovered that lifting the copper tape too many times caused it to not be as effective as it was in the beginning. This allowed the perfect teachable moment for me: Why do you think this is? What is causing the current to not flow as well now with the copper tape?

One student discovered that when he placed copper tape down, then the LED lights, then another layer of copper tape down that it worked even better. We discussed this and why it was.

We also had times when sometimes a row of LED lights would only light a few lights but not the entire row. We discussed why we thought this was and brainstormed ways we thought we could fix it.

The thing is, even if a STEM activity fails or has moments like those above for some kids, you can still use it as a very beneficial moment to teach and discuss the concepts being taught, all while tying it into the real world of engineering and problem-solving. That's what I LOVE about STEM - it opens so many conversations, and you really could use it to teach so much!!

Overall, the activity was extremely beneficial and eye-opening, for both me and my students. I was able to see not only who knew what series and parallel circuits were but also who were the students that were determined, problem solvers, and leaders.

This activity above is in my store if you want to save some time and purchase it. Either way, it's definitely an activity that your students are sure to remember.

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Assessing Electricity with Electric Vests

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I love teaching about electricity. It is one of my favorite science units, and I am always trying to think of new ways to engage students with it. If you remember, in the past I used pickles and an electrical cord to have a little fun with my glowing pickles activity.

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The students can recreate this fun activity as a tool that they can use while completing homework. This activity asks them to create their own, personal flip chart for the different forms of energy.

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This worksheet asks the students to match a picture with the different forms of energy. This allows teachers to test for understanding.

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Video- Breaking Down the Types of Energy

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Video- Breaking Down the Types of Energy

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This video would be a great tool for teachers to use to break down the different types of energy while giving relatable examples of each type.

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5th Grade - Science - Energy - Topic Overview

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This anchor chart would be a great way for a teacher to model the different forms of energy. This can be created and filled out by the teacher and the help of the students in the classroom.