Thankful for STEM: November STEM and STEAM Challenges for Kids

Thanksgiving STEM and STEAM Activities

STEM Activities for Kids is thankful for STEM! To celebrate Thanksgiving, we have put together a list of our favorite STEM and STEAM challenges for November.

From Teachers are Terrific: Turkey Bowl Football Tournament

This time of year brings so many things to be thankful about! It’s a time to be with family and friends and celebrate all things fall! We do this at school, too, with our annual Turkey Bowl Football Tournament. This famous yearly event and also our famous soccer tournament started my thinking about STEM challenges that we could try. Soon, we were catapulting footballs and basketballs and kicking soccer balls.

For the Football challenge, students were challenged to build the goal posts and a way to get the football through the uprights. The endless testing of the catapult system was great fun and we had quite a competition going. Our Basketball challenge was equally fun. Students had to design the backboard with a net and then create a way to throw the ball through the hoop. The cheering for this one was very loud every time someone scored! Next, we tried Soccer! Students created a soccer goal with a net and we added goalies to the goal frame to try to block the shots.

Fall Sporting events might be just what you need to keep kids engaged during this busy season.

From Meredith at Momgineer: Pilgrim and Wampanoag STEM

Design and create models of homes, boats, and tools that the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people used. Research these two groups of people to discover their similarities and differences. The home challenges require students to design and create a structure (wetu or Pilgrim house) out of craft supplies. The boat challenge is always a favorite because water is involved! The vessels need to float while supporting the weight determined by the design criteria. In the case of the Mayflower, students will also need to create sails.

The tool challenge explores forces and motion: stored and elastic potential energy for the bow and arrow, and gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy with a rotating capstan. Read more about these Thanksgiving STEM challenges.

From Get Caught Engineering: STEM and a Parade

With the famous Thanksgiving Day Parade as their starting point for a November STEM unit, Wendy and Cheryl of Get Caught Engineering have been able to integrate reading, research, science, technology, engineering, and math during the busy week before Thanksgiving. Their STEM and Stories series provides students pages and teacher notes for the picture book, Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. Find ideas for that and other Thanksgiving parade resources at their website.

From Brooke Brown: Low Prep Thanksgiving STEM

Dinner Tables, Mayflower Ships, and Turkey Hideouts! These three low prep Thanksgiving themed STEM challenges are sure to keep your little engineers engaged (and help you keep your sanity) all month long!

From Brittany Washburn

In these digital activities, students from grades K-5 can practice their tech skills while engaging in November themed learning activities. From unscrambling a turkey puzzle to designing a cornucopia using only basic shapes and colors, students will be challenged to use their background knowledge and available resources to complete the tasks. Perfect for tech teachers, media specialists, homeschool, or any mixed age group with access to Google Slides or PowerPoint. Read more about these 22 November Themed Technology Activities.

From Vivify STEM:

We are forever thankful for STEM education and the promising future it gives to our world. From designing a turkey nest for an egg drop challenge to sailing the Mayflower, we have compiled a list of our current favorite Thanksgiving STEM activities for you to enjoy. Don’t forget to grab our FREEBIE Thankful for STEM resource!

From Sarah at STEM to STEAM Trio

Students absolutely love to complete WebQuests! To find out what a WebQuest is, how to create a WebQuest for your students, and what it should look like in your classroom read this post. Of course, since you are looking for STEM activities I have included a WebQuest with a STEAM challenge that is perfect for Thanksgiving! Students will work cooperatively with others to complete the WebQuest, then use some of the information they have gathered to create a wild turkey that can balance on a tree branch! All you need is a few easy to find materials!

From Renee at Science School Yard

There are many reasons why the The Science School Yard is thankful for STEM! Using great picture books to help guide the way is one BIG reason! Using Run, Turkey, Run for example can help bring in language arts components to your STEM project. Use a story map to include main idea and details to create a maze for the “turkey” or marble to get from one side of the box to the other showing the story line along the way! You can even use science concepts such as force and motion to find ways to use The Scarecrow Boy to create scarecrows to be placed in a cornfield! Is there a way for the scarecrow to move? Is there a way to push or pull the scarecrow’s parts to scare away the crows? Check out the blog post to see these activities and more in action! You will be “thankful” you did!

Pin these Thanksgiving STEM ideas for later:

Save

Meredith

Meredith Anderson is a STEM education advocate and former homeschooling parent. A mechanical engineer by training with both a bachelor's degree and master's degree in mechanical engineering from RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), her passion is creating STEM educational resources for elementary through secondary students around the world.

Next Easy Coding for Kids with Robots »

Previous « 10 Technology Gifts for the Holidays

This website uses cookies.

Thankful for STEM: November STEM and STEAM Challenges for Kids

Thanksgiving STEM and STEAM Activities

From Teachers are Terrific: Turkey Bowl Football Tournament

From Meredith at Momgineer: Pilgrim and Wampanoag STEM

From Get Caught Engineering: STEM and a Parade

From Brooke Brown: Low Prep Thanksgiving STEM

From Brittany Washburn

From Vivify STEM:

From Sarah at STEM to STEAM Trio

From Renee at Science School Yard

Recent Posts

5 End of the Year STEM Activities with the Engineering Design Process

The Three Little Pigs STEM Activities

Stop Motion Animation for Kids

Space STEM Activities with Mae Jemison – Black History Month STEM

STEM Career Research Project – Learn About STEM and STEAM Jobs

8 STEM Read Aloud Picture Books for Upper Grades