# data[].attributes.headline
Marooned Challenge (Task and Performance based)

# data[].attributes.subject
Marooned Challenge (Task and Performance based)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various STEM tasks that they took on:
STEM activity 1: Newspaper towers!
For these towers, the only prep work is collecting old newspapers and rolling them into dowels. It is a bit tedious; however, if you get students to help you before or after school, it's not so bad! I gave mine classroom tickets as a thank you (read more about my ticket reward system in this post).

The only supplies students were given were: 7 newspaper dowels and two feet of painters tape. They were told that their "tower" needed to be a free standing structure (not taped to the table and not being braced by binders, etc.) and they were only allowed to use the supplies they were given. I did allow them to trade materials; they could trade in an unused dowel for five additional inches of tape or vise verse.

Each group had approximately 35 minutes to complete their tower. What they came up with was impressive:

A few groups even drew up plans for their designs (awesome!)

Once completed, we had about 10 minutes left in class for their creations to be put to the test. Their height was measured as was their strength. The tallest stood 2.5 meters tall (it was pretty weak). The strongest held 10 weights (approximately 5 lbs), very impressive!

These were the weights I used to test strength of the towers:

Here is one of them being tested for strength. It wasn't our top "winner", but it did well!

STEM activity 2: Army Man Launcher!

For this activity, The setup was pretty simple-just buying the materials and getting them laid out. Students were given: one cup, one army man, one spoon, six Popsicle sticks, two rubber bands two feet of tape (they got the tape separately so it didn't tangle) and two feet of string. They did not have to use all of the materials, but they did need to use at least 2.

This is how I prepped all of the materials on my lab cart (normally, I just put out the materials and have them help themselves since it's less prep for me, but I had more time so I decided to do it this way):

Students came up with some amazing ideas and we all had an absolute blast testing them out!

After they field-tested their inventions, I took them outside and they lined up and launched all at the same time. The farthest of the day when over 20 feet! Very impressive!

STEM activity 3: Popsicle Bridges!

For this activity, the set-up was simple. I separated the students desks by 1 foot, gave each group 25 Popsicle sticks and 3 feet of tape. Their goal was to make the strongest and most aesthetically pleasing bridge across the great desk divide! (So, I guess because of the artistic component of this bridge, this challenge could be classified as STEAM rather than STEM). Some students initially grumbled about having to air their bridge nice looking; however, when I explained that this is a real issue addressed when bridges are built because people don't want to look at an eye-sore, they want bridges to be beautiful!

Super easy setup for this one! Here are my lovely bundles of sticks:

The students really rose to the challenge and came up with some amazing bridge designs:

To test the strength of each bridge, I used the same half pound weights I tested the towers with. The winners of the day were able to hold between 5 and 7 pounds! Outstanding!

STEM activity 4: Designing Life Jackets for Babies!

I adapted this idea from one of the NSTA magazines. My adaptation uses: one rubber band, one plastic baby and one small peice of pipe insulation per students (This activity is cheap! The tiny babies came from a dollar store and were with the baby shower decorations and the pipe insulator was only $1.79).

The idea for this activity is that students need to design a life jacket for a baby. The head must stay above water, no matter how it enters the water. In order to keep them from getting too silly with a water activity that involves miniature plastic babies, we discussed the importance of something like this and the need for safety. They took their task seriously, but still had fun with it!

This was definitely much more challenging than they realized it would be. They spent the entire 40 minutes given to them trying to make it work. Many got very frustrated but then celebrated excessively when they finally figured it out. Overall, I would say they had fun with this one. This was the first individual task they had all week and they rose to the challenge.
STEM activity #5: The Unsinkable Ship!
The prep for this activity was fairly minimal. Each student got a 6×6 inch square of aluminum foil and about a 2×2 inch square of cardboard. Their goal: built/design a boat that could hold the most amount of mass before sinking.

Overall, I was impressed by the focus and the variety of boats I saw. I was afraid by giving them cardboard I would see a lot of flat-bottom boats; however, this was not the case! Many of the boat designs varied greatly and they seemed interested in how theirs would stack up against the others.

This week of STEM activities was astonishing to me. Not only did the students have fun, but they were so focused for every activity. Normally, I give lab sheets that they fill out as they go to keep them focused (typically these handouts include data tables, graphing, analysis questions and full written conclusions). For these activities I did not give handouts and they were just as focused without them. For some kind of follow-through, I did have them write about what they learned in their daily warm-up (what worked, what did not work, what they would do differently next time). I would highly suggest trying something like this in your classroom-allow them to play by giving a challenge and they will rise to the occasion, all while having fun learning!

-The Ardent Teacher

Want to try this in your classroom but don't have the time to create the handouts? You can now purchase the entire week's handouts as a bundle in my TpT store! Check it out!

If you enjoyed reading this post, check out this other week long STEM project I did about the Crashworthiness of cars!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I decided to take on my own challenge of incorporating a STEM activity every day for a week. It turned out to be a huge success where both my students and I had a blast. Here were the various ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A few days ago I was putting together some containers of STEM materials for a class challenge and heard a student say this:

"I see straws in those bins. We use a lot of straws!"

Yes, we do! In fact, we use so many straws for challenges that I asked for straws to be added to our school supply list this year! So now I have one entire cabinet filled with straws. Just for fun, we counted the boxes one day and there were 40. FORTY. That is 4000 straws, just in boxes. There are also smaller boxes and bags, and more bags, and even more boxes.

Well, I asked for them! Right?

Let me show a little we have done with straws!

This is going to be a quick look at some of our challenges. If possible I have linked these back to blog posts of the past that would give you more details.

Amazing Mazes!

Above is a Quick Challenge called Straw Mazes. The walls of the maze were built of straws. A little bit of tape and that's about it! { Blog Post}

Yes, tennis ball towers!

Above is another Challenge called Tennis Ball Towers. This one has some unusual materials and a surprising constraint- kids must use all the materials. They get so creative!{ Blog Post}

Bridges and Boats

Above is a bridge challenge. This is one of the first STEM challenges I invented and I promise it was a throw- together- some- junk- and- see- what -they- build kind of challenge! We ended up calling these Straw Bridges (with Toothpicks)!{ Blog Post}

Bubbles and Bubble Wands

Above is M aking Bubbles! There is actually more to it than that. With a bunch of wacky supplies, kids make bubble wands! They LOVE it!

Platforms and Parachutes

Above is a Straw Platform! This was a little challenging since it had to hold weight!

Above kids are making a container to hold an egg. It was then dropped with a parachute! So, of course, we called this one Egg Parachutes!

Towers, Rescue Devices, Hoop Flyers, and Geodesic Domes

Above is a Straw Tower! The trick with this one was that the kids only received 12 straws! Ha!

Above is one of my all-time favorites! Kids had to build a rescue device and it had to wind up! Awesome and clever solutions were part of this one! { Blog Pos t}

Above is one of our most recent challenges! We made hoop flyers and experimented with changing variables. It was spectacular! { Blog Post}

Above is another recent challenge building Bucket Towers! We loved this one, too! The bucket had to be suspended and hold weight! { Blog Post}

Finally, you have another recent challenge about building Geodesic Domes! This was really, really fun! Check back next week because it may be my next Wednesday post!

"Why do we use so many straws?"

Because, my friends, they do not cost very much! I have FIFTEEN classes of STEM each week. I cannot spend a lot of money.

Advice: Ask parents to send in straws. And another little giblet of knowledge for you is this: The best straw you can get is from the Dollar Tree!

So what are you waiting for? Get some straws!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A few days ago I was putting together some containers of STEM materials for a class challenge and heard a student say this: "I see straws in those bins. We use a lot of straws!" Yes, we do! In fact, we use so many straws for challenges that I asked for straws to be added to our school supply list this year!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You know what STEM is right? Science, technology, engineering and math. These are skills that kids really need to have a nice handle on- both boys and girls. We incorporate STEM into our homeschooling as much as possible.

Let me show you how we took the parts from an old broken toy and turned it into a motorized coloring machine. My kids call this coloring of the future!

Supplies You Will Need:

For the step by step instructions, you can read them here. Here is what the coloring bot looks like in motion.

More STEM Activities for Kids

STEM Activities for Older Elementary Age Kids STEM Activities for Kindergarten and First Graders STEM Activities for Preschoolers Nature Scavenger Hunt (with FREE Printable) DIY Telling Time Game The Curious Kid's Science Book

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Motorized Coloring Machine Kids Can Make

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You know what STEM is right? Science, technology, engineering and math. These are skills that kids really need to have a nice handle on- both boys and girls. We incorporate STEM into our homeschooling as much as possible. Let me show you how we took the parts from an old broken toy and turned it into a motorized coloring machine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A popsicle stick catapult is an awesome STEM activity for kids of all ages! We love building catapults and have one out of A catapult is an awesome science activity but also incorporates math, engineering, and even technology. Check out how easy it is to make a popsicle stick catapult. It's a great screen free, STEM activity all year round! Grab some marshmallows too!

2 Simple Popsicle Stick Catapult Ideas to Build at Home

These popsicle stick catapults make a great STEM activity! We used technology to assist us in building our simple catapults. We used math to determine the supplies needed to build the catapults.

We used our engineering skills to actually build the popsicle stick catapults. We used science to test how far the catapults flung the items we chose.

Which popsicle stick catapult fired the farthest? Great start to finish STEM activity with simple physics science play at the end!

ALSO CHECK OUT THESE COOL CATAPULTS! Click on photos!

POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT SUPPLIES: Amazon Affiliate Links
Firing Power {marshmallows, pompoms, pencil top erasers}

Which will fly the farthest! Make predictions and test results. Why does one fly farther than the other? Read more about the science behind the catapult and simple way to create a catapult science experiment below!

POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT WITH RUBBER BANDS

This is a simple and quick popsicle stick catapult using just two supplies. The directions are clear. Please make sure an adult helps with making the grooves in the popsicle sticks. This requires a knife. Great practice winding rubber bands and counting out materials needed!

You can also check out a plastic spoon catapult or a LEGO catapult.

TURN IT INTO A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!
Learn more about the scientific process and grab a free printable here.
You can easily set up an experiment by testing different weighted items to see which ones fly farther. Adding a measuring tape encourages simple math concepts that my 2nd grader is just really starting to explore.

Always start out asking a question to come up with a hypothesis. Which item will go farther? I think ______ will go farther. Why? Have fun setting up a catapult to test the theory! Can you design a different catapult?

This is an awesome way to reinforce what he is learning with a super fun activity. Additionally, you can encourage older kids to record the data from measuring all the launches.

Have your kids fire each material {such as a candy pumpkin, plastic spider or eyeball} 10 times and record the distance each time. What kinds of conclusions can they draw from the information gathered? Which item worked the best? Which item didn't work well at all.

You can also test out the amount of popsicle sticks used in the stack to create the tension need to launch the catapult. How about 6 or 10! What are the differences when tested?

POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT WITH BINDER CLIPS AND ZIP TIES

Here's our second popsicle stick catapult which may need more adult help, but it still quick! Gathering materials, counting materials, and following along is part of the learning process. He helped me start the zip ties and pointed to where they should go on the catapult. For this one we hot glued a bottle cap!
EXPLORE THE SCIENCES WITH CATAPULTS!
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Year of STEM Challenges

First off this is a great simple physics activity for kids of multiple ages. What is there to explore that has to do with physics? Let's start with energy including elastic potential energy. You can also learn about projectile motion.

You can talk about stored energy or potential elastic energy as you pull back on the popsicle stick, bending it. When you release the stick all that potential energy is released into energy in motion producing the projectile motion.

A catapult is a simple machine that has been around for ages. Have your kids dig up a little history and research when the first catapults were invented and used! Hint check out the 17th century!

SIMPLE POPSICLE STICK CATAPULT ACTIVITY!

Click on the photos below for more awesome ideas to try.

AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS FOR
MY PUBLICATIONS AND FAVORITE BOOKS! See Amazon Affiliate Disclosure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Popsicle Stick Catapult Ideas for Kids STEM Activity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A popsicle stick catapult is an awesome STEM activity for kids of all ages! We love building catapults and have one out of LEGO too! A catapult is an awesome science activity but also incorporates math, engineering, and even technology. Check out how easy it is to make a popsicle stick catapult.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Strong is Spaghetti? STEM Challenge for Kids! - Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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 [...]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Catapult Physics — The Mangonel- ELA connection

# data[].attributes.headline
STEM Leprechaun Trap Engineering Challenge

# data[].attributes.subject
STEM Leprechaun Trap Engineering Challenge