Activities ideas and fascinating information to help spark your Little Pal’s interest in science, technology, engineering and math.
HOW TO BE A MATCH WITH A FOCUS ON STEM
- Little Pals can complete a quick and easy survey with BPLP staff to see how they currently feel about science, technology, engineering and math.
- Big and Little Pals pick out some STEM activities to do together. Matches participating in this project are encouraged to do two STEM-related activities each month.
- Activities don’t need to be grand experiments – you can do simple things like a read and talk about a science news article you found interesting or explain different ways people use math in real-world settings. You could even play a video game while talking about what kind of work goes in to becoming a video game developer.
- You can use the activity ideas below to give you some ideas of things to do together. You can also branch off and try anything else STEM-related that you think would be fun.
- Follow your Little Pal’s interests in STEM activities! If she is really into dinosaurs, do some research together and learn more about them. Is your Little Pal a natural at coding? Get together to teach yourselves how to build a website.
- After 6 months, your Little Pal will take a survey to assess how they are feeling about science, technology, engineering and math, and see if they are considering a future career in one of the fields.
Key: (E) This activity is fun for kids in elementary school. (M) This activity is cool for middle schoolers. (H) This activity is best suited for high school-age students.
Science Activities & Discussion Topics
- Chemistry: Dancing Gummy Worms (E), Elephant Toothpaste (E, M), Glow-in-the-Dark Slime (E, M), Soda Bottle Rocket (M, H)
- Earth Science: Egg in a Jar (E, M), NOVA Energy Lab (M, H)
- Physics: Walking on Eggs (E, M), Build a Flying Machine (E, M), What is What the Physics?! (H), The Physics of Free Throws (H)
- Geology: DIY Geodes (E, M), North American Gold (M, H)
- Meteorology: Tornado in a Jar (E), Create a Thunderstorm (E), NOVA Cloud Lab (M, H)
- Oceanography: Ocean Zones (E),
- Astronomy: NOVA Sun Lab (M, H), Dive into a Black Hole (M, H), More – Space + Flight on NOVA
- Botany: Bicolor Flowers (E)
- Human Biology: Operation: Heart Transplant (M, H), Gene Editing (H), The Science Behind Addiction (H), NOVA RNA Lab (H), More – Body + Brain on NOVA
- Zoology: Build a Bird Nest (E), How Arctic Animals Stay Warm (E), Mimicry Experiment (E), Can Animals Adapt to Climate Change? (H), What Are Animals Saying? (E, M, H), NOVA Evolution Lab (M, H), More – Nature on NOVA
- General: The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers (E, M, H)
Technology Activities & Discussion Topics
- Coding: Online courses for students on code.org (E, M, H)
- Computer Programming: Create interactive games and stories online (E, M, H)
- Cybersecurity: NOVA Cybersecurity Lab (M, H)
Engineering Activities & Discussion Topics
- General: What Engineers Do (E, M, H), Test Drive Engineering (E, M, H), Engineering Conversation Starters (E, M, H), The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers (E, M, H)
- Projects: Cool Engineering Projects (E, M, H), Cup Stacking (E, M, H), PBS Kids Engineering Games (E)
Math Activities & Discussion Topics
- Games: PBS Kids Math Games (E), ABCya! Educational Games (E)
- General: Turning games into math activities (M, H), Pastry chef uses algorithms to create desserts (E, M, H)