Is one of your biggest hurdles for doing science projects at home the lack of materials? It’s mine. No doubt about it. The project may look super awesome and totally wower-ific, but if I have to track down even a one of speciality item I throw up my hands.
With the emphasis on STEAM learning these days, you might be feeling the pressure to do STEAM projects at home. In case you aren’t familiar with the term, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and design, and Math. STEAM has taken over for STEM, essentially because life without art is super-duper boring.
But hoo-boy! If you don’t have a background in engineering and science, where do you start?
The answer is with simple, fun STEAM projects that use items you already have.
You’d be surprised at how many amazing STEAM projects you can do at home with common household items. STEAM projects that will entrance your kids, excite their imaginations, and have them asking, “Let’s do it again!!”
Are you still skeptical? Take a look at this list of items. It may be super long, but I bet you have 95-100% of them right now.
So. Was I right? Do you have those items? The only one I don’t have is rubbing alcohol, but that’s because when I went to look for it, I found it had all evaporated!
Now, you’re thinking. Okay smarty pants. I’ve got the goods, but what do I do with them?
Well, you could throw them all in a bag, hand it to your kids and say,
Make something, kid.
I’m not against that, actually.
Alternatively, you can put your phone aside, and try a very simple technology experiment with your kids, like our simple circuit project, or whip up a few tessellations to display on the fridge.
Click on the image below to get a free printable list of 52 STEAM challenges for your kids. Take a gander at the list and see if anything floats your boat. (Oh, there’s an idea – engineer a boat and have a race!)
But not only will you get the list of ideas, this 3 page freebie includes 2 sample projects to try right now. Right this minute.
Now, I don’t want to be a sneaky-sneakerson so I will tell you that when you sign up to get the printable you will be getting an email to hear about my new STEAM KIDS book. It’s a super useful book spearheaded by an honest to goodness MIT engineer. That book will include step by step instructions for all the projects on the list.
If you don’t want to wait, you can get the book right now!
eBook | Amazon Print |UK/EU customers: eBook
I’m not going to lie, there are a handful of STEAM projects that do use items you may not have in your junk drawer. But after you do all the other experiments you will have generated so much excitement (so much!) in STEAM that kids will BEG you to go to the hardware store or an online vendor like Amazon. And you will. Because you want to your kids to be geniuses. Geniuses, I tell you.
Things you might not have (but can easily get at a hardware store):
- Copper wire
- Copper tape
- Coin batteries
- Pipe cleaners
- Clay pot
- Wax
- PVC fittings and pipe
- Zip ties
- Small LED bulbs
- Electrical tape
- Clay
So, what are you waiting for? (Geniuses. Remember that bit.)
Nehal says
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