60 Low Prep STEM Activities with the Engineering Design Process

Year Long STEM Curriculum for Elementary through Middle School Students: STEM Challenges Your Students will LOVE!

Looking for easy STEM activities that are low prep and packed with hands-on learning? This ultimate STEM challenge bundle includes 60 engaging STEM projects designed to explore key science concepts like force and motion, aerodynamics, and sound, all while reinforcing the Engineering Design Process (EDP).

Students will:
✅ Engage in real-world problem-solving
✅ Explore STEM careers (like packaging design engineering)
✅ Apply math and engineering concepts
✅ Work through the Engineering Design Process with structured activities

These versatile STEM challenges are perfect for:
✔ Weekly STEM lessons
✔ Makerspace activities
✔ STEM Family Night
✔ Sub plans
✔ Homeschool, libraries, after school STEM clubs, and co-ops

These challenges can be used all year long with a variety of grades (scaffolding ideas are included, and activities can always be simplified or made more challenging by limiting or changing allowed materials).

What’s Included?

⚙️ Engineering Design Process Teacher Guide (22 Pages)

• Comprehensive STEM teaching e-book
• Student activities & assessments
• Research an engineering profession
• The 4 Cs and STEM (critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration)
• Scientific method vs. EDP comparison
• STEM challenge rubrics, checklists, and EDP assessment
• STEM challenge walk-through & example projects
• Follow-up questions to promote critical thinking
• Growth mindset and the importance of failure
• How to tell if it’s really STEM (Is it Impostor STEM or ✨ Authentic ✨ STEM?)

23 Quick STEM Challenges (Low Prep STEM Activities!)

These low-prep, high-engagement activities require minimal materials and work across a wide range of grade levels!

⚙️ Includes differentiation ideas and extension activities
⚙️ Covers STEM concepts like force & motion, structures, and aerodynamics
⚙️ Uses simple materials like paper, office supplies, and recyclables

Quick STEM Challenges:

• Design a Bridge
• Design a Paper Airplane
• Design a Shelter
• Tallest Tower Challenge
• Challenging Maze Design
• Pompom Launcher
• Float a Boat STEM Challenge
• Fast & Slow Sled
• What a Drag: Parachute STEM Challenge
• Cantilever Challenge: Explore cross sections with this challenge!
• BONUS: All Aboard the Gear Train
• Design a Zip Line
• Design a Windmill
• Fidget Fix: Design a fidget toy
• Code Creator Unplugged Coding Intro (create simple code with conditional statement IF ELSE, no computer necessary!)
• Design a Musical Instrument
• Bubble Wand STEM Challenge
• Elevator Challenge
• Design a Hammock
• Printing Press Design Challenge
• Windshield Wipers Mechanism STEM Design (synthesize a 4-bar linkage)

12 Seasonal STEM Activities

3 different STEM challenges for each season are included. Each challenge includes:
🔹 Teacher guide & sample images
🔹 STEM challenge posters
🔹 Engineering Design Process recording sheets
🔹 STEM challenge task cards

• 🍁 Acorn Chute: design a chute for acorns to go from point A to point B.
• 🍁 Leaf Glider: design a paper leaf glider that can fly the farthest.
• 🍁 Sports Dome: design a sports dome for your favorite sports team!
• ❄️ Snowflake Geometry Challenge:
• ❄️ Fast/Slow Falling Snowflakes: explore gravity & drag / air resistance
• ❄️ Reverse Engineering a Snowflake Design: critical thinking and measurement
• 🌷 Sturdy Nest: Structural Engineering & Design Constraints
• 🌷 Wind Power: sailboat racing challenge
• 🌷 Planter Box: dimensional engineering challenge
• ☀️ Strong Sandcastle: erosion and stability
• ☀️ Submersible: buoyancy and density
• ☀️ Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder: problem solving and design thinking

25 Simple STEM Challenges

• STEM Challenge Tips: General tips for any STEM challenge.
• Teacher Notes: includes terminology and differentiation ideas.
• Sample pictures of completed projects.
• Paper plate STEM decor
• Recording page for each of the main STEM challenges for each material that guide the students through the engineering design process.

• ✅ Paper plate challenges:
  • roller coaster
  • paper plate transformation
  • airborne plates
  • basket or container
  • tower

• ✅ Craft stick challenges:
  • Area puzzler – use craft sticks to make the largest area possible (math concepts)
  • Craft stick catapult (kinetic and potential energy)
  • Bridge span design (weight, buckling, deflection)
  • Craft stick bomb (kinetic and potential energy)
  • Marble run (force and motion, mechanical design)

• ✅ Plastic cup challenges:
  • Plastic cup telephone (sound)
  • Sound amplifier (sound)
  • Cup rollers (torque, friction, force and motion)
  • Transfer device (simple machines, gravity)
  • Anemometer (velocity, weather)

• ✅ String challenges:
  • Suspension Bridge (forces, tension)
  • Musical Strings (sound)
  • Archery (elastic potential energy and kinetic energy)
  • Spy Maze (working in 3 dimensions)
  • Winch or Capstan (simple machines, force and motion)

• ✅ Cardboard tube challenges):
  • Tube structure (stability, attachment methods)
  • STEAM art (symmetry)
  • Marble run (gravity, angles)
  • Launcher (potential and kinetic energy)
  • Strongest column (axial load, cross sections)
  • Ball float challenge (Bernoulli’s principle)

📌 Why You’ll Love This STEM Bundle:

✅ LOW PREP STEM – Easy setup with common materials
✅ ENGAGING & HIGHLY INTERACTIVE – Hands-on learning through fun, structured challenges
✅ VERSATILE – Suitable for elementary and middle school students
✅ DIFFERENTIATION OPTIONS – Adapt for a wide range of ages and abilities
✅ ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS FOCUS – Reinforces real-world problem-solving skills