Whew! This blog post has been a dream for a few years, and it is finally a reality, as I have just finished adding my 39th STEAM challenge post today. It’s been a busy summer and I was thrilled to…
We have regularly schedule Makerspace Days throughout the year. They are a great opportunity for kid engineers to utilize the skills and knowlege that they’ve been acquiring and use them create what they want to make — and take it…
In this challenge, students in grades K-5 work as a class to create six buildings for Tiny Town. The goal is to provide resources for community members, while making choices that are smart for the environment and community members (balance…
This challenge combines cardboard/recyclables engineering, business model formation, robotics, and green screen technology. All that on top of collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. It’s chock full of learning opportunities. Click the arrow below to view and/or download the challenge…
Fun – and loud…!!! In this challenge, students choose a robot, dress it up, prepare to race. They must include a spot for 1-4 ping pong balls (depending on grade level) on their bot. The goal is to race to…
I’m almost sad that this is a once every three years challenge — because of how much fun we had (and how successful the kids were with it!). We used iPads, materials from our classroom, and the Stop Motion Studio…
For this challenge students are encouraged to create a road, town, and programmed robot that will travel the parade route.
This is a spin off of the very popular Macy’s Day Parade. Students work to create a balloon “float” for the parade. We use green screen technology to create a parade. I’ve also seen this done with robots. Next time…
We have two Glowforge lasercutters. They are definitely under utilized, but that will change, once we get a fire extinguisher added to the room for peace of mind. The one project we did complete was to make plant markers for…
The year I had 350+ tree houses in my classroom… We are fortunate to have many outdoor learning classrooms at our school/district. We have a school forest, pond, prairie, garden, one room schoolhouse, nature center log cabin, and a sugar…
