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See all the wonderful things Ross Fullshire has made

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Welcome to All Things STEAM, a resource for offering library programming in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. When it comes to developing my STEAM programming, I have turned to a number of go-to resources that for inspiration and concept knowledge support. I've gathered links to those resources, my program how-tos, and other STEAM and maker resources for your convenience. I'm not updating this page very frequently anymore, but I still use it as a repository for my STEAM programs past and present as well as my favorite resources. Bookmark this page and get programming!

My STEAM Programs

Preschool Science Series:

Science Club, Jr. Series:

School-Age Science Series:

STEAM Programs:

Check out the School Library Journal STEAM Pinterest page, where I pin all sorts of STEAM programs for all ages from across the blogosphere.

Explore the BOOMbox, Skokie Public Library's outstanding STEAM space that is flexible (i.e., changing themes) and involves hands-on learning for all ages.

I've written about the take-home activity sheets I made for Preschool Science programs at my former job in Missouri. I've also answered some questions about the planning and implementation of Preschool Science programs.
Other Libraries & Librarians Doing STEAM

Resources for Explaining STEAM Concepts

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Welcome to All Things STEAM, a resource for offering library programming in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. When it comes to developing my STEAM programming, I have turned to a number of go-to resources that for inspiration and concept knowledge support.

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Do you like science? Do you do science activities with kids at home? Today we share simple science activities you can do with kids, and most take little preparing time, and almost all of the activities require minimum materials.

6 Simple Science Activities Kids Love

Turn off the light at night, and explore the shadows

Explore features about water and ice with simple activities

Make a parachute and learn the science of float

Set up an experiment making the egg fly

Make a LEGO drawbot

Watch cool science videos on YouTube, and here are 15 kids friendly science YouTube channels

Looking for more science activity ideas? Check out 500 Science Activities for Kids - A Monthly Guide and 150 Kitchen STEM Activities for Kids.

For fun activities go beyond science, you will like these52 STEAM Activities for Kids. I found many activities from this book that my child loved. It has detailed guide, even material list for each activity.

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Do you like science? Do you do science activities with kids at home? Today we share simple science activities you can do with kids, and most take little preparing time, and almost all of the activities require minimum materials.

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Lots of EPIC Simple Machine Projects for students to make using things around the house! Learn about simple machines for kids!

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With a name like The STEM Laboratory, it's no surprise that we're obsessed about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities for kids. These 50+ STEM projects are sure to keep little scientists engaged, learning and well-prepared for their STEM-filled future.
This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Science Projects

There are countless science experiments for kids but these 14 projects are our hands-down favorites!

Make a mini model of the water cycle with just a Ziploc bag!

Turn your name into crystals!

Find out why the sky is blue. // Rookie Parenting

Test whether objects are magnetic. // The Measured Mom

Whip up some frothy, foamy toothpaste.

Pour ice that is warm to the touch but freezes.

Make one orange sink and another one float!

Pour a rainbow into a jar.

Capture fireworks in a jar using just a few common household supplies. // I Can Teach My Child

Go fishing for ice.

Learn about color mixing when you make water walk! // Parenting Chaos

Catch a cloud in a jar.

Build a sand volcano that really erupts. // Growing a Jeweled Rose

Play with Magnetic Slime. // Frugal Fun 4 Boys

Technology Activities

Build robots that really walk, talk and "think". // Amazon

Teach kids about coding!

Let kids have a little screen time playing 20 teacher-approved apps.

Program a set of kid-friendly robot friends: Dash and Dot. // Amazon

Or build a Kano computer! // Amazon

Engineering Projects

Solve a batch of LEGO challenge cards.

Fold paper into building blocks that really stack. // Babble Dabble Do

Use plastic cups and craft sticks to create four brilliant challenges. // Frugal Fun 4 Boys

Build with straws and tape. // Lemon Lime Adventures

Build structures with marshmallows and pretzels.

Design a pom pom drop that guides the pom pom from one paper towel roll to the next. // Coffee Cups and Crayons

Learn about bridges and then build your own. // Carrots are Orange

Make a craft stick catapult that really launches!

Try a classic! Organize an egg drop challenge. Can you build a structure that will keep the egg from breaking?! // Buggy and Buddy

Build a batch of exploding boomerangs. // I Can Teach My Child

Test the strength of a piece of paper. // Creekside Learning

Make a moveable pulley! // Carrots Are Orange

Work as a team to build with pipe cleaners and aluminum foil. // Housing a Forest

Math Activities

Practice counting with some truck playdough mats. // Pre Kinders

Or add googly eyes to monsters!

Teach kids about odd and even numbers with some hands-on activity sheets.

Clip 2-dimensional shapes. // The Measured Mom

And piece together shape puzzles.

Introduce addition and subtraction with mini activity books. // Liz's Early Learning Spot

Turn a Ziploc into a math problem solver. // Mrs. T's First Grade Class

Build addition facts with LEGOS!

Play a fun round of Math Fact Jenga. // The First Grade Parade

Work on coin values and adding. // 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Learn about AM/PM and telling time to the nearest 5-minute interval.

Introduce fractions with one of kids' favorite things: pizza!

Teach kids a quick trick for solving multiplication problems in a jiffy. // Teach Mama

30 Jaw Dropping Science Experiments

For even more inspiration, grab a copy of our Super Cool Science Kit filled with 30 addictively fun projects and a kid-friendly science journal!

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50+ Genius STEM Activities for Kids - The Stem Laboratory

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With a name like The STEM Laboratory, it's no surprise that we're obsessed about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities for kids. These 50+ STEM projects are sure to keep little scientists engaged, learning and well-prepared for their STEM-filled future. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

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It's a little bit science, a little bit art, and a whole lot of fun! We tried to see if we could mix colors through motion and came up with some awesome results.

Our color mixing tops were simple to make and used supplies that you probably already have at home. So, get out the craft supplies and get ready to have fun with this STEAM activity.
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.
Thin cardboard (recycled cereal or cracker box)

We used our circle template (the top of our Barrel of Monkeys) to trace a few circles on our cereal box. A drinking glass or a can would also work for your template. You only need one circle per top. We made four different tops to test our different color combinations.

After we cut out our circles, we divided them into four equal sections. Using our primary paint colors, we alternated the colors in each section. We used only two colors per top. My 5-year-old divided her circles in half, with each half a different color.

Once our paint was dry, I made a tiny hole in the center of each top. (Use a pair of sharp scissors or a paper clip to make the hole.) If you divided your top into quarters, the center is very easy to find. We then poked a toothpick into the middle of each circle.

They turned out so pretty! But, did they work? There's nothing left to do but try. We started spinning and were amazed to see the colors blend together. So cool!

I tried my hardest to get some good pictures, but it wasn't easy! Have you ever tried to photograph a spinning top in low light? Boy, is that tough! I got plenty of crummy pictures, but I was able to capture one that showed the color mixture effect. In the photo below. We were spinning our red and yellow top from the picture above. Can you see the orange? We also discovered that the tops divided into quarters blended the colors much better than the ones divided into halves.

I always love combining science and art. We always have so much fun!
Make this a family adventure:
Cost: Free. Use materials you already have at home.

Planning time: Under 10 minutes to gather supplies and set up a work space.

Notes: If you want to add more learning elements to this project, use an abbreviated version of the scientific method. Ask your question. Let the family make predictions. Then test those predictions. Were the results what you expected?
You may also like one of these activities:
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Science + Art: Color Mixing Tops - Creative Family Fun

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It's a little bit science, a little bit art, and a whole lot of fun! We tried to see if we could mix colors through motion and came up with some awesome results. Our color mixing tops were simple to make and used supplies that you probably already have at home.

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Do you know the story of the Brooklyn Bridge? Twenty One Elephants and Still Standing tells the tale of the construction of this famous landmark, and serves as the inspiration for this week's Architecture and Engineering activity with a fun engineering science for kids challenge.

Twenty One Elephants and Still Standing tells the true story of the fourteen year construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, in easy-to-read verse with gorgeous, full page illustrations.

[bctt tweet=" 'Taller and longer, bigger and broader, a bridge of infinite dreams!' Can you build a bridge for 21 elephants? #STEAMedu #engineeringforkids"]

Once the bridge was completed, it linked Brooklyn and New York City. But many were intimidated by its size, worried about its strength and questioned how long it would stand. P.T. Barnum, the creator of 'The Greatest Show on Earth', decided to stage a public spectacle to prove the bridge's integrity. He planned a circus in Brooklyn and marched his elephants, all 21 of them, through Manhattan and across the bridge to Brooklyn!

Engineering Science for Kids Challenge

For our Architecture and Engineering Activity this week, after reading the story, I gave Big M (age 4) a tray full of assorted recyclables and household objects and challenged her to build a bridge for 21 elephants. Our supply set up included the following.

Twenty One Elephants and Still Standing
Popsicle craft sticks
Paper towel rolls
Miniature red cups
Learning Resources Jungle Counters

The elephants for our challenge came from a set of jungle-themed counters from Learning Resources... and you might notice, some of our elephants don't have trunks because they are actually hippos!

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I let Big M take the lead on constructing with the materials, and she opted to use the cups and popsicle sticks to build her bridge.

When she could only get 3-4 across, she started building up...

... but found it a little wobbly, and opted for adding lanes instead.

In addition to engineering science, this also made for great counting practice. At age 4, she's working on counting to and beyond 20. She's pretty good up to about 15 before she starts to stumble. So we worked on counting all the elephants/hippos every time she added one more. Until, finally - all 21 were in place!

Want more great construction ideas for kids? Check out my latest collaborative ebook: Up! Featuring 30+ STEM challenge ideas to transform your child's block play into an endless, hands-on learning center. Download your ebook today and get more than 100 pages of printables to go alongside the activities included. Get yours today from the Playground Parkbench store.

I am super excited to be part of the month-long Storybook Science series hosted by Inspiration Laboratories. Check out all the activities this week featuring Engineering, and all the book-inspired science all month long!

If you enjoyed this week's Engineering Science for Kids challenge, be sure to check out all the posts in our Architecture and Engineering for Kids series. We add new ones every Wednesday! You can find them all on our STEM for Kids - Engineering board on Pinterest.

Want to save it? Pin THIS!

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Do you know the story of the Brooklyn Bridge? Twenty One Elephants and Still Standing tells the tale of the construction of this famous landmark, and serves as the inspiration for this week's Architecture and Engineering activity with a fun engineering science for kids challenge.

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We had SO much fun with out Ancient Greek Day that I am postponing my other scheduled posts to share these with you first! I absolutely loved them! The first activity we did was an Ancient Greek Architecture STEM Challenge!

We talked about how the ancient Greeks (and many other cultures still) used the post and lintel system because when you put a top (lintel) on several columns (posts), it can bear much more weight than any of the columns could individually...even if you added them up. We looked at pictures of the parthenon and other 2000+ year old temples built for the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece.

The Parthenon in Athens, Greece:

The STEM Challenge: I gave the kids a set of paper cups (each team had about 18) and two cookie sheets. I challenged them to build their own building using the post and lintel system. Make it as strong as possible! I invited them to test its strength by stacking books on top of it or (if they were really brave) to try standing on it! Of course, they immediately changed the challenge to building a 2-story tower that could hold their weight! They were super excited, and got to work right away!

Super Simple Supplies: paper cups and cookie sheets.

Results: They were all successful! It was wonderful! They needed some teamwork to balance everything as they climbed on top, but then each tower easily held their weight! One team even had three kids stand on it at the same time (total weight: well over 130 pounds)!! They also tested the strength of one cup by itself: one cup was easily crushed when the smallest kid in our group tried to stand on it (about 30 pounds)!

And the tallest one of all:

The kids happily spent about 30 minutes working on this and probably would have been happy spending another 30 minutes, but I made them put it away for two reasons: 1- I'd rather end an activity while everyone is enjoying it than after they start to be tired and frustrated, and 2- We still had a TON to do!

SCIENCE: Qualitative physics...unless you have older kids and want to make them calculate force and pressure distribution!

TECHNOLOGY: Web-based ap from The British Museum. You can also take pictures and make videos of the building and testing of your cup & cookie sheet towers!

ENGINEERING: Designing a tower, and making sure it stays up!

ART: Creating a "cool" looking building/temple/tower/whatever YOU want to call this challenge!

MATH: Qualitative concepts of gravity, force, and pressure...unless, again, you have older kids and want to make them calculate force and pressure distribution!

Older kids could also be challenged to make a building as tall as possible while still maintaining a minimum support weight (for example, How high can you make a tower that still supports 30 pounds?)!

Be sure to come back during the next few days to see all the Ancient Greece activities I have for you!!

Do you love science experiments and STEM activities? If science is your thing, you will want to check out the over 175 preschool science experiments and activities in my collection! This is an amazing resource organized by science type (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.)

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Ancient Greek Architecture STEM Challenge & Activities

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We had SO much fun with out Ancient Greek Day that I am postponing my other scheduled posts to share these with you first! I absolutely loved them! The first activity we did was an Ancient Greek Architecture STEM Challenge!

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How strong is spaghetti? Challenge kids to invent a way to find out! This STEM challenge is a lot of fun, and you won't need much in the way of materials! Here are the materials we used:

1 package of spaghetti

2 sheets of styrofoam - purchased at Hobby Lobby

Books

Wooden blocks

We started our project by investigating how much weight spaghetti can hold when it's vertical. We quickly discovered that spaghetti is not very strong! It bends very easily, and breaks easily.

I asked the boys if they thought multiple pieces of spaghetti could hold more weight, and possibly even hold up a book. We tried sticking about 20 pieces of spaghetti into the styrofoam disk.

We decided to see if the spaghetti could hold up our large history book, and of course it could not...

We tried again with our test, and used LOTS of spaghetti. I can't remember how many pieces this was, but I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. One of the challenges of balancing weight on top of spaghetti is that it bends and sways very easily! We had good success putting another piece of styrofoam on top of the spaghetti, and then adding weight on top of that.

We were able to get 6 board books on top of the spaghetti! Not a ton of weight, but hey - it's spaghetti!

Then we devised a second test to investigate the strength of spaghetti when it is lying down horizontal. Aidan built a small bridge out of blocks and laid the spaghetti across the bridge. We were able to pull the spaghetti out of the styrofoam and use the same pieces.

Aidan put blocks on top of the spaghetti on each side to hold it in place. Then he started adding weight in the middle.

Surprisingly, the spaghetti held a lot of weight! I figured that it would be stronger this way than standing up vertically, but it was stronger than I thought it would be.

As Aidan added more weight to the center, he had to add more weight to the sides to keep the spaghetti in place.
What can we learn about the strength of materials from spaghetti?
This article from Scientific American explains what engineers are looking for when choosing the materials to design a bridge, and it has a neat experiment to test tension and compression in a bridge made out of spaghetti. This is probably best for kids age 13+, but parents and teachers can also summarize the information for youngest students. It's not difficult to read, and I definitely learned something!
Challenge kids to invent their own way to test the strength of spaghetti! Have fun investigating!

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How Strong is Spaghetti? STEM Challenge for Kids! - Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls

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How strong is spaghetti? Challenge kids to invent a way to find out! This STEM challenge is a lot of fun, and you won't need much in the way of materials! Here are the materials we used: 1 package of spaghetti 2 sheets of styrofoam - purchased at Hobby Lobby Books Wooden blocks We started our [...]

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Build a marble track with pool noodles and Duple LEGO® bricks! This is the perfect engineering challenge for a rainy day, or use it with a group of kids because it's fun for a wide range of ages. Duplo bricks create a very sturdy support structure for the marble run, which makes this project exciting and frustration-free.

Pool noodles are the perfect material for a marble run! If you don't have pool noodles, use foam pipe insulation from the hardware store. We actually had some of both on hand. The black sections are pipe insulation, which is pretty affordable. Check Dollar Tree for a great price on pool noodles during the spring and summer months.

Cut your pool noodles or pipe insulation in half using scissors or a serrated kitchen knife. The knife is faster and easier, but the scissors make cleaner edges. Then get out your Duplo bricks, and you're ready to go!

We started with a simple design. Aidan built towers with little walls to hold the pool noodle sections.

It takes a little tinkering to ensure that the pieces of pool noodle have the right amount of slope and that the angles are built just right.

After setting up this basic design, Aidan and Owen worked together to make one with two lanes.

Lots of fun!

Regular LEGO® bricks would definitely work for this as well. We chose Duplos because it was so much faster to build something of the size that we wanted. Maybe regular LEGO® bricks with paper towel rolls? That could be a fun building challenge!
LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO® group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this site.

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STEM Building Challenge for Kids: LEGO Duplo and Pool Noodle Marble Run

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Build a marble track with pool noodles and Duple LEGO® bricks! This is the perfect engineering challenge for a rainy day, or use it with a group of kids because it's fun for a wide range of ages. Duplo bricks create a very sturdy support structure for the marble run, which makes this project exciting and frustration-free.

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You can never have too many boredom busters, especially when they are full of learning! I set up this simple STEM challenge for my kids as a why to have fun and unwind after school and could not believe how much fun it turned out to be.

Get your kids thinking critically and developing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills with just some simple items from around the house!

We've partnered with Sylvan Learning again this month to share how kids can create their own pom pom drop. We took some of the principles taught in the Sylvan EDGE classes and used them to create STEM challenges with pom poms and paper towel rolls.

Head over to their blog to see how to encourage problem solving skills in kids with 3 simple items from your kitchen-the extension challenges are so much fun!
Thanks to Sylvan Learning for sponsoring this post and encouraging hands-on STEM fun for kids!
Don't let the fun and discovery stop there!
We have TONS of science experiments your kids will love on our Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids page!
Take me to the experiments -> Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids

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You can never have too many boredom busters, especially when they are full of learning! I set up this simple STEM challenge for my kids as a why to have fun and unwind after school and could not believe how much fun it turned out to be.