We love STEM activities for kids, but it’s no secret that sometimes, STEM supplies can be expensive. A lot of STEM sets can cost upwards of $500 just for a single classroom.
Most teachers and families can’t afford such expensive supplies, which is why I like using household supplies for our at-home STEM activities. One of our favorite things to use is play dough! Find inspiration for play dough STEM challenges below.
Easy Play Doh STEM Activities for Kids
If your kids love play dough, they will love these play dough STEM activities. 15 easy play dough STEM challenges for science, technology, engineering, and math!
Supplies for Play Dough STEM Activities
The basic supplies for these play doh STEM challenges are simply play dough! But if you want to take things to the next level, you may also want to stock:
The Mason Jar Scientist: 30 Jarring STEAM-Based ProjectsBall Regular Mouth Mason Jars with Lids and Bands, 16-Ounces (4-Pack)
Crisco Pure Vegetable Oil, 32 Ounce
Barbasol Soothing Aloe Thick & Rich Shaving Cream 10 Oz (2 Pack)
Alka-Seltzer PFY BXAS50 80659297 Antacid and Pain Relief Medicine, Two-Pack (Pack of 50)
Kadaon 10X Handheld Magnifier Antique Mahogany Handle Magnifier Reading Magnifying Glass for Reading Book, Inspection, Coins, Insects, Rocks, Map, Crossword Puzzle
BORAX 20 Mule Team Laundry Booster, Powder, 4 Pounds
Fine Ground Celtic Sea Salt – (1) 16 Ounce Resealable Bag of Nutritious, Classic Sea Salt, Great for Cooking, Baking, Pickling, Finishing and More, Pantry-Friendly, Gluten-Free
McCormick Assorted Food Color, 1 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)
Food Coloring – 12 Color Vibrant Cake Food Coloring Set for Baking, Decorating, Fondant and Cooking – Upgraded Liquid Concentrated Icing Food Color Dye for Slime Making, DIY Crafts – .25 fl. oz. Each
30% Pure Vinegar – Home&Garden (1 Gallon)
Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda, 5 lb
Argo Corn Starch 16 oz. Box (Pack of 4)
15 STEM Activities Using Play Dough
These play dough STEM challenges include projects for science, technology, engineering, and math! All of the play doh challenges are designed for elementary kids and can easily be adapted for older and younger grades.
Make math fun with these Cookie Counting Playdough Mats. It’s a fun way to teach counting with younger kids.
One of our favorite ways to use play dough in the STEM classroom is with electrical engineering (play dough is conductive!). Read How to Use Squishy Circuits here.
Design a Light-Up Unicorn Horn with a Squishy Circuit kit! This is a fun way to learn about currents in the classroom.
Squishy circuits mermaid is a fun summery project for young electrical engineers.
This Clay Hearts Solar System Project uses air-dry clay or salt dough to create a model of the solar system.
Learn How to Make a 3D Heart Model and learn about the parts of a heart. Kids will be fascinated to learn what a heart looks like up close.
Learn about poison dart frogs and make a DIY 3D Dart Frog Model!
Put engineering and design skills to the test in this Design a Coin Activity for Kids. What designs are important to include on a coin?
We love making life cycles from play dough. This is a 3D Life Cycle of a Bee.
The 3D Butterfly Life Cycle Science Project is another fun project for learning about an insect’s life cycle.
This version of the Baking Soda Volcano Science Experiment is made using play dough as the volcano.
Learn how to Make a 3D Model of the Parts of a Plant and learn about the parts of a flower and other plants.
Play dough color mixing is a fun challenge to learn about how colors are made.
Challenge kids to create their own car designs in the Car engineering challenge using play doh.
Young engineers will have a blast building this Play dough marble run. Experiment when the dough is still pliable and hard to see which version helps the marbles go faster!
TechyKids Canada
Wednesday 19th of May 2021
These are some really interesting ideas and kids would really enjoy these activities. It would also help them to enhance other life essential skills. Thanks for sharing and explaining it so well!