STEM activities (activities with elements of science, technology, engineering, and math) help children see that science and math can have a creative element, too. Try these quick STEM activities when you don’t have tons of time to plan!
In today’s world, technology seeps into everything we do, and children can be taught to approach all of their learning through the lens of scientific exploration.
However, we don’t always have time for involved STEM activities for kids that take weeks to complete (although those are beneficial as well!).
But if you’re simply looking for a few easy and quick STEM activities for your kiddos, you’ll appreciate the quick STEM lessons you’ll find in this post.
Today, I am sharing 21 quick STEM projects that are simple to set up and quick to do.
You’ll love how quickly you can set up these projects and get them completed, even if you have just a few minutes to do them in!
Perfect for easy STEM activities in the classroom or at home. Teach science in minutes, rather than hours.
What are Quick STEM Activities?
Integrating learning across Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, there are quick and easy STEM challenges suitable for children of all ages on the list, and many of these activities can be easily scaled up or down through questioning to suit the age of your child.
In this case, a quick STEM challenge is one that takes 30 minutes or less to complete- or one class period!
The hardest thing might just be choosing which quick and easy STEM activity to try first!
21 Fast STEM Activities for Kids
Kids will love these hands-on STEM activities, and teachers and parents will love how quickly you can use these lessons to illustrate science lessons and teach STEM thinking skills to kids.
Why Do Quick STEM Activities with Kids?
A STEM activity is more than just a hands-on project that includes elements of science, technology, engineering, and math.
STEM activities are whole-brain exercises, that kids can use to explore disciplined subjects in a creative and exploratory way.
One of the best things about quick STEM activities is that there are no right or wrong answers.
In a true STEM experiment, children learn to think of solutions to problems on their own, with no particular planned outcome, just like in the real world.
STEM activities are one of the best ways to prepare children for problem solving and learning in the real world, and they give kids a taste of what sort of decision processes adults go through every day.
With the openness of STEM activities guiding children, there is no fear of failure and children who typically look for the “right” answer are encouraged to explore a topic, rather than just memorizing an answer.
Kids who regularly engage in quick STEM activities are better able to solve problems, think outside the box, go through a logical process to come up with an answer, and can tell you why they chose a certain solution clearly.
What Kids Learn Doing Quick STEM Activities
Quick STEM activities help illustrate the concepts of science, technology, engineering, and math in a fast, easy-to-see way that is ideal for quick science and STEM lessons, such as for early elementary science class, kindergarten lessons, STEM and science centers, preschool, STEM summer camp, and more!
The quick demonstrations work well when time crunches are an issue, and for many of these activities, kids can do them alone, making them perfect for self-guided play and exploration.
Check out more fun STEM themes, including our list of easy science experiments for kids and creative STEM activities.
You don’t have to take a long time to teach a STEM lesson. Kids can learn the basic elements of science, technology, engineering, and math in these hands-on STEM projects for kids.
Use these lessons when you need to teach a scientific topic, but don’t have time to spend weeks on the project.
Quick STEM activities can be used to help keep morale up in the STEM classroom between bigger projects, as they often give fun, quick, and visually appealing results.
You can also use these quick STEM activities at home to make learning fun there!
How to Set Up Quick STEM Challenges for Kids
When possible, it’s best to mix several elements of STEM together, using elements of science, technology, engineering, and math all at once.
You’ll maximize the learning of children and help them understand how all the elements of STEM activities work together.
More STEM Activities for Kids
50+ LEGO STEM Challenges- Free Printable STEM Activities
20+ Carnival Themed STEM Activities for Kids
20+Spectacular and Fun Circus STEM Activities
Quick STEM Activities that Take 30 Minutes or Less
Follow along with these activities to find a bunch of fun science, technology, engineering, and math activities that can be done in less than a single class period.
And best of all, they are super fun, too!
Quick Science Experiments for Kids
These fast science experiments are a breeze! Learn about liquid density, surface tension, non-Newtonian fluids, slime, light refraction, and more!
Paper Towel Strength Test Science Experiment
With just paper towels and pennies, students can conduct a simple penny paper towel experiment to determine whether wet or dry paper towels can hold more weight. Students will learn how adding a variable to an experiment can drastically change the outcome even when no other changes are made.
Amazing Bending Pencil Experiment That's Just Like Magic!
Use light to break a pencil. How is it done? You'll have to try it to find out!
Flip a Rainbow Light Refraction Experiment
You can magically flip a rainbow with light! How? The science is complicated, but the project is a whole lot of fun!
How to Make Fluffy Rainbow Slime (without the mess)
Did you know that slime uses a lot of scientific chemistry principles? Apply them and learn all about polymer chains and molecular bonds when you make this fluffy slime.
Fortnite Slurp Drink Water Density Experiment
Fortnite is a lot of fun for kids. This Fortnite slurp drink density tower uses science to keep the colors apart!
How to Do the Hot and Cold Water Density Experiment
You can learn about color mixing and how temperature has different densities in this super fun and quick science experiment.
Sugar Rainbow Density Tower Experiment
Nothing is more fun than sweet science! Learn about density and viscosity in this quick experiment.
Super Fast Milk Surface Tension Science Experiment!
Surface tension is hard to describe, but with this experiment, its easy to see!
Quick Technology Activities for Kids
Fast technology challenges you can do in minutes! Learn about circuits, coding, binary, and more!
How to Make Binary Coding Bracelets with Secret Messages
Teach kids the basics of binary with these coding bracelets.
Fun Ways for Kids to Learn Computer Coding
Here are some super fun ways to teach coding to kids and learn how to make technology fun for them.
Rainbow Salt Circuit Engineering Activity
Learn how circuits work with this fun glow in the dark circuit activity!
How to Use Squishy Circuits for Electrical Engineering
Learn all about electricity and electrical engineering with Squishy Circuits!
Painting Brush Bot
With a motor and a brush, you can create a robot painting system!
How to Make a Unicorn Rainbow Scribble Bot
Learn how to put together a working motor and create a robot that can draw for you!
Map Skills for Kids: Planning a Route
Learning how to use a map is an essential skill for kids! Technology makes it easier.
The Best Coding Apps for Kids
These coding apps will teach kids the basics of coding and more!
Build a Minecraft Chessboard
There is a lot of tech behind Minecraft! In this simple activity, challenge your kiddos with how to make a chess board!
Quick Engineering Activities for Kids
Rome might have taken more than a day to complete, but these engineering projects won't! You can knock these quick engineering challenges out in just minutes!
Cotton Swab Bridge Building Engineering Challenge Lesson Plan
Learn how to teach this q tip bridge engineering challenge with the students in your classroom. It's a fun twist on other bridge building engineering challenges and students will have a blast coming up with their unique designs.
How to Build a Simple LEGO Flower
Building a LEGO flower is easy and fast and teaches kids the basics of design and engineering.
How to Build an Easy LEGO Car
Follow along with this simple guide to create a LEGO car in minutes!
Spaghetti Engineering Project
This Spaghetti Engineering Challenge is so easy, but kids can learn a lot!
How to Design a Paper Airplane Engineering Challenge
If you love building and designing and testing, then the Paper airplane Engineering Challenge is for you!
How to Make a LEGO Rainbow with Classic LEGO Bricks
Making a LEGORainbow sounds like it would be easy, but it's actually surprisingly difficult!
EASY! 3 Steps to the Perfect Leak Proof Bag Science Experiment
The leakproof bag science experiment teaches kids about polymer chains in less than five minutes!
Quick Math Activities for Kids
Quick math challenges for on-the-fly learning. You don't have to take forever to do math activities!
Design a Coin Activity for Kids
Design coins and learn all about coin values and how to use money in this super quick math activity!
Uno Math Game
Kids will love this fun math variation on the classic UNO game!
Multiplication Dice Game
Play the multiplication dice game when you have a few minutes to work some additional math practice in.
Hands-On Geometry Challenge: Building 3D Shapes
Build geometry shapes using geometry bricks for some fast geometry math practice.
Math Fraction Art Project
Learn about fractions and turn them into fun art pieces in this fast math activity!
Printable Lemon Fraction Clip Cards for Elementary Kids
Learning fractions is way less of a bother when you use these cheery lemon fraction clip cards!
Soup Can Printable PEMDAS Worksheet for Teaching Order of Operations
Grab this fun soup-themed printable PEMDAS worksheet.
