Celebrate the 100th Day of School with STEM Challenges!

This post contains ideas for celebrating the 100th Day of School for lower elementary students. If you are looking for ideas for upper elementary students, read this post about the 100th Day of School STEM.

100 days is a BIG DEAL for little kids! Particularly in Kindergarten, the changes that can happen over 100 days are no less than monumental. Why not celebrate how far your students have come with hands-on STEM activities?

5 Simple STEM Ideas to Celebrate the 100th Day of School

If you don’t have much time but still want to celebrate with STEM, try these 5 simple ideas:

1. Build with blocks and the number 100: Provide students with 100 blocks or other building materials like Legos or Keva planks, and challenge them to build the tallest tower or the longest bridge.
2. Collection challenge! Have students try to collect 100 of something that fits into one category: 100 erasers, 100 blue things, 100 pieces of paper, 100 things that are round, etc. Work in pairs for this challenge! You can have the students break up their categories into 10. Try 10 each of a different color of things (white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black).
3. 100 cup tower build: Give each student 100 cups and challenge them to build the tallest tower using only the cups.
4. 100 piece puzzle activity: Provide students with 100-piece puzzles (Ask for donations! Many families will have 100 piece puzzles that they have outgrown) and have them work in groups to put the puzzles together as quickly as they can. When they finish, have them count the puzzle pieces as they put them back into the box or bag.
5. 100 cents! There are so many different ways to make $1 with coins. You may already have play money sets (you can use real money in a pinch, too). Let students practice making $1 as many ways as they can. Start off with the basic: 4 quarter, 10 dimes, 20 nickels, or 100 pennies! Show that 5 pennies is the same as a nickel, etc. and so on and they can substitute pennies for other coins, or 2 nickels for a dime, etc. How many ways can they find to make $1 with the coins?

100th Day STEM Challenges for Lower Elementary

I put together a fun resource for lower elementary JUST for the 100th day of school. In it, you’ll find activities like these:

Celebrate the 100th day of school with a rainbow of 100 items (beads or Froot Loops!). This is a great way for students to practice making 100 as well as fine motor practice by threading beads or loops onto a pipe cleaner.

100th Day STEM Challenge with Plastic Cups

I love using cups with kids because they can be used and reused, and they are really fast to clean up too! Kids can try building a tower with 100 cups, a wall, or a spiral! The cups in the picture above are mini cups (shot glass size). We found that doubling them up was the way to go to make them MUCH more stable. If you are working with upper elementary, you can try this without doubling them up!

What can you spell with 100 sticks?

In the 100th Day STEM resource I put together, I included phrases that are easily spelled with sticks. You can also challenge students to spell their names, the town they live in, or a favorite activity!

100 Days of School STEAM Activity with Dots OR Spots!

I love coming up with ways to really be creative with STEM and STEAM activities! Sometimes it can be challenging when working with lower elementary students. It’s SO important to find the right balance of interesting and engaging but not so challenging that kids get frustrated and give up.

What can you make with 100 dots is a “just right” activity for Kindergarten and 1st graders, especially if you have BINGO daubers or Do-a-Dot markers, because they can easily dot a 100-dot picture! Additionally, older or more advanced students can handle coloring in each circle one at a time but most 5-7 years olds are not going to have that kind of patience.

In the 100th Day of School STEM Challenges Resource, I also included facts about 3 spotted animals (dalmatians, leopard seals, and cheetahs. Using the printables in the download, students can give these animals their spots with paint, markers, or ink pads (shown above with ink pads and dotted with Q-tips)!

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