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A wonderful KS4 Space Design Cross-curricular project to consider

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The UK Space Design Competition is a charity-run, space-themed, STEAM competition for students in years 10 to 13 (S3 - S6).

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Civil engineers of the future: ICE CityZen Award | Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)

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KS4 competitions - DT and Physics

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Welcome to the Inter-School Safe Cracking Competition. A five-month competition testing the Physics knowledge, problem-solving, creativity and teamwork of many of the UK's top young physicists and engineers.

This is a journey where students might teach themselves to programme arduinos one week and how to do a dovetail joint the next, before trying to crack a Barton's pendulum and a Hallbach Array under time-pressure.

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Please use this website to find out more.

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Welcome to the Inter-School Safe Cracking Competition. A five-month competition testing the Physics knowledge, problem-solving, creativity and teamwork of many of the UK's top young physicists and engineers. This is a journey where students might teach themselves to programme arduinos one week and how to do a dovetail joint the next, before trying to crack a Barton's pendulum and a Hallbach Array under time-pressure.

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‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ - Primary Engineer

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UCLan partners with Primary Engineer in a competition to bring children’s engineering solutions to life read more here

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As a team of racers, we've never been afraid to give future talent a chance to shine. And on our journey back to the front of the grid, we're looking for more of the best people to join us at the beginning of their careers.

There are lots of ways for you to help write the McLaren Racing story, whether you're still in education or you're ready to make your first move in the world of work. Here's just a taste:

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We've never been afraid to give future talent a chance to shine. On our journey back to the front of the grid, we're looking for more of the best people to join us at the beginning of their careers.

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About the Challenge

K-12 students worldwide are invited to give engineering a try with the annual Engineering Challenge from Science Buddies. Announced every January, the Science Buddies Engineering Challenge lets students use their problem-solving skills to design, build, and test contraptions. The challenges use simple materials and are free for all to participate. Try this year's challenge, and you may win a cash prize for your school or nonprofit!

Ping Pong Pickup-2023 Engineering Challenge

Can you make a device out of paper, string, tape, and paper clips to pick up a ping pong ball and return it to a start line? What is the greatest distance over which your device can work? Students across the globe are invited to try this challenge and submit their results by March 19, 2023, to be entered (where eligible) in random drawings for $10,000 in prizes. We are excited to see what you build!

Challenge Instructions

Challenge instructions are available in these four formats:

Prizes and Eligibility

Primary and secondary school students in all countries are invited to participate in this challenge. Students can work individually or in teams of up to four students. Each student team should follow the challenge instructions to build and test their device. Teams may try the challenge as many times as they want but can only submit one score.

Students may participate on more than one team, as long as the teams are formed under different circumstances and have different device designs. For example, a student can be on a team formed in their school and participate on a team formed at a youth program, public library, or scouting program. The student may not submit identical designs for both teams.

The highest scoring teams, regardless of country of origin, who follow all the building and testing rules listed in the challenge instructions, will be publicly recognized at the conclusion of the challenge on the challenge results page. In addition, all teams who participate will receive (through an email to their adult contact) a certificate of participation.

Teams that follow the rules in the challenge instructions, are from eligible locations, and submit an entry using the online submission form will be entered in random prize drawings for ten $1,000 USD prizes. Eligible locations include United States (including American Samoa, DoD schools, Guam, Northern Mariana, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands), Canada, and Australia. Random drawing prizes are not dependent on the team's score. The prize money will be awarded to the team's sponsoring school or nonprofit organization. A school or organization may receive a maximum of one prize. The more teams a school or organization submits scores for, the higher their odds of winning. Make sure to enter all of your teams!

Homeschool students in the United States, Canada, and Australia are also eligible to be entered in the random prize drawings. Should a homeschool team win, they will be asked to choose a youth or educational nonprofit organization to receive the prize money.

Submitting Your Results

Submissions will be accepted from February 19, 2023, through March 19, 2023. All submissions must be made through our online entry form; the link to this form will be available from this page and open for entries starting February 19, 2023. No entries will be accepted after 11:59 PM March 19, 2023 Pacific Time.

All submissions will require:

Name and email address of an adult contact

Name and street address of the sponsoring school or organization (homeschool teams may put a home address)

A team name (the name must be in good taste and cannot contain any offensive words or slurs)

Students' ages

Team score

Two photos of the team's device. Students are encouraged, but not required, to be in the photos.

A photo showing the entire length of the device.

A closeup photo showing how the device holds the ping pong ball.

Social Media

We know that the Science Buddies Engineering Challenge is a highlight every year for many schools, families, and organizations. If you are posting about your fun with this year's challenge, we would love to hear about it! Use #ScienceBuddiesEngineeringChallenge and tag us on these platforms:

Note that tagging us on social media does not constitute an official entry. You will still need to fill out a submission form for your team(s).

Contacting Us

If you have questions, please consult the FAQ. If you do not find the information you need there, please contact us at engineeringchallenge@sciencebuddies.org.

Past Engineering Challenges

2017 Follow the Flow Challenge

2016 Marble Machine Challenge

Explore Our Science Videos

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Take the Science Buddies Engineering Challenge!

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K-12 students worldwide are invited to give engineering a try with the annual Engineering Challenge from Science Buddies. Announced every January, the Science Buddies Engineering Challenge lets students use their problem-solving skills to design, build, and test contraptions. The challenges use simple materials and are free for all to participate.

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Here at Science Sparks we love easy STEM challenges. Not only are they great fun but also a wonderful opportunity for children to work together creatively to solve a problem. Building and engineering projects are especially good for encouraging kids to think and re-evaluate if something doesn't work.

STEM Challenges tend to be simple to set up and often only require things you already have around the house, so are a brilliant inexpensive science activity too!

If you want to make a STEM Challenge more challenging try limiting the materials children have access to or set a time limit.

Don't forget we have 100s more science experiments and STEM Challenges so if you don't find anything here, do search again!

The BEST Simple STEM Challenges

STEM Challenges for 3-5 year olds

Rocket Mouse

Make a milk container rocket mouse. These are super easy to make. All you need is a milk jug and a paper cone to sit on the top.

Sinking and Floating Challenge

Investigate which objects float from a selection and then build a boat or raft to help objects that sink float.

For older children ask the question "How can you make a lemon sink?" The answer is quite simple, but there could be other ways to get the same end result, for example adding materials to weigh it down.

LEGO Towers Challenge

Create a LEGO tower using one hand. Find three different ways to measure the height of the tower.

Another idea is to create a tower or bridge that can hold a certain weight without breaking.

STEM Challenges for 6-8 year olds

Build a raft from recycled materials - for older children specify a particular weight the raft should hold.
Extra challenge - build a raft using three different materials, find a way to move the raft over water.

Marble Maze STEM Challenge

Create a LEGO marble maze or a marble run. This space themed marble run can be found in This IS Rocket Science.

Water Balloon Landing Pad

Create a landing pad for a water balloon so it doesn't break. This is great fun and less messy than the egg version! Just use different materials ( recycled is good ) and see which stop the water balloon breaking when it hits the ground.

Magnet Powered Cars

Build magnet powered toy cars and race them! try different size magnets and cars to see which work the best.

Build a castle with a working drawbridge.

STEM Challenges for ages 9+

Lollystick Catapult

Build a catapult using lollysticks. Or go large and make a giant working catapult.

Paper Spinners

Design a falling paper spinner which takes more than 10 seconds to reach the ground. These are super easy to make and brilliant fun. The small ones spin fast and the large ones very slowly.

More STEM Challenge Ideas

These magnetic sculptures from Babble Dabble Do are just AMAZING!!

Design different shape and different material sledges and time how long they take to slide down ramps with different gradients. A homemade friction ramp would be great for this challenge too!

Make a Rube Goldberg Machine! These are basically a chain reaction and can be as big or small as you like.

We LOVE these domino STEM challenge cards from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls too.

Design and build a water slide using kitchen foil.

Try our build a bridge STEM Challenge.

iGame Mom has some great 5 minute STEM Challenges.

Find a way to stand on paper cups without breaking them.

Design a pylon system using pipe cleaners and straws.

What's your favourite STEM Challenge?

Last Updated on December 28, 2020 by Emma Vanstone

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STEM Challenges - Easy STEM Challenges for Kids

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Fun collection of easy STEM challenges for kids of all ages. Includes making a rocket mouse, lego marble maze. catapults and lots more fun science for kids.

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This Practical Action resource presents a fun hands-on and brains-on challenge for Key Stages Two to Five.

The problem: In Nepal many farmers living on the mountainside grow fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes. To earn a living they need to sell these at the local market. The problem is getting to market involves a long, dangerous walk down the mountain side and over a river, at the end of which the tomatoes may well be a bit squashed.

The challenge: To design, build and test a way of moving tomatoes that won't squash them!

The basic challenge is flexible enough to be adapted to any length up to a whole day challenge (for which you can gain a CREST in a day bronze certificate), but enhancement activities are suggested if you wish to develop it further.

The challenge can provide a focus for National Science and Engineering Week; be used as a STEM or science club activity; enhance a lesson on forces/friction/levers; form the basis of an enrichment day, provide an activity for SEAL and PLTS and be the starting point for a range of cross-curricular activities.

A wide range of support materials are provided including teacher's notes, student information sheet, student worksheets, certificates for taking part, as well as links to videos and information on how it's done in Nepal using a gravity ropeway.

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This Practical Action resource presents a fun hands-on and brains-on challenge for Key Stages Two to Five. The problem: In Nepal many farmers living on the mountainside grow fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes. To earn a living they need to sell these at the local market.

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CuriousCity is a city building strategy game where players create and manage their very own city of the future.