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Prepare your kids to head back-to-school with 20 fun STEAM activities and a Walmart STEAM event.

At the beginning of the summer, my daughter Lydia participated in a STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics – camp at child care Elwood run by a science/math teacher and art teacher. She learned how to do tie-dye, made a mask out of clay, built robots, learned basic coding on the computer, and was taught how to screen paint. It was a great hands-on educational experience for her.

In anticipation of the upcoming back-to-school STEAM events at 2,000 Walmart stores on July 27th, 2019, we are sharing these 20 fun STEAM activities you can do at home. Read below for more event information, including engaging activities and timeframes.

 

20 Engaging STEAM Activities for Elementary-age Children:

1. Use your senses – Gather items from around the house that have different scents, textures, and shapes. Hand them to your child to explore while they are blindfolded. Your child will use their senses to guess what the objects are! Some fun examples would be a jar of cinnamon, a piece of sandpaper, and a harmonica.
2. Dinosaur dig – Gather small dinosaur toys and seashells to act as fossils. Fill a large plastic bin with sand, bury the items, and give your child a shovel to dig for fossils. You can also use paint brushes to carefully dust the sand off the fossils like real paleontologists.
3. Build a bridge – Using household items like spatulas, books, rubber bands, and paper clips, have a contest to see who can build the longest and sturdiest bridge. Test them out by driving toy cars across them.
4. Make slime – While you can buy several different combinations of ingredients separately to make slime, Elmer’s Slime Kits makes it easier. Just follow the directions on the package and your child will have a blast!
5. 3-Dimensional collages – I am always finding random scraps around the house… fabric, aluminum foil, yarn, beads, etc. Have your children put together a large scrap bin and make a 3-dimensional collage on a sheet of card stock or a canvas by gluing all of the random items together. You can even paint over it once it dries to create a truly unique piece of artwork!
6. Fruit & vegetable seeds – Slice open different fruits and vegetables to see what type of seeds they have. Your children can make different predictions about the size the seeds will be. A great example would be comparing an avocado seed {which is quite large} to eggplant seeds {which are very small}. You can even try planting the seeds in your garden afterwards!
7. Make play dough – One of the best play dough recipes I’ve ever used, even when I was a kid, only requires three ingredients: flour, water, and salt. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of water, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Mixed together until a dough forms. You can add a drop or two of essential oils or food coloring to the dough to make it extra fun.
8. Is it magnetic – Gather a few magnets of varying sizes and walk around the house trying to guess which items will be magnetic. This is another great activity for making predictions!
9. Sink or swim – Fill several bowls, each with a liquid of varying densities. Try water, vegetable oil, and pancake syrup. Find items around the house like a feather, a rock, and a pencil. See which items float and sink in each liquid.
10. Ducktape weaving- Create different patterns using two or more colors and prints of Ducktape woven together, and use the woven panels to make different items, like framed wall art and envelopes.
11. Pressed flowers – Pick flowers in your yard and place each flower between two paper towels. Place the paper towels between two heavy books, and leave them there for several days. At that time, the flowers should be dried out and pressed flat. These can be used to make bookmarks, canvas artwork, and more!
12. Bake a cake – I know this sounds simple, but work with your children to bake a cake. Discuss how the different chemicals in the ingredients interact to make a light, fluffy cake. Have your children work on all of the measurements, preheat the oven, set the timer, and enjoy their final product!
13. Make a stop-motion video – Video making is a great way to introduce elementary-age children to technology. To create a stop motion video, take many photographs {think a minimum of 100} with slight movements between each image captured. Using a video-making app on your phone to arrange all of the images sequentially. Vary the speed until the stop motion video is complete.
14. Flip book – Similar to the previous idea, grab a small notebook and draw one image on each page, with only a slight variation from the previous image, and quickly flip the book to create animation.
15. Water glass music – Fill water glasses with various amounts of waters, and ding them gently with a fork. Show your children how the different water levels impact the sounds that are created based on the frequency of the vibrations.
16. Veterinarian for a day – Have your child take care of the family pet for a day. The family pet can be weighed, given food and water, and taken outdoors if possible. Your child can keep a chart and document information about your pet’s age, condition of skin or fur, sounds the pet makes, etc.
17. Three dimensional collage – Gather up all those random scraps and small items you have around your house – fabric, aluminum foil, yarn, buttons, wiggly eyes – and help your children make a three-dimensional collage on a canvas or poster board.
18. Which weighs more – Grab sets of random items from around the house that appear to be about the same weight. Make predictions about which weighs more and use a kitchen scale to compare.
19. Five facts – Have your child select a topic of interest to research on the internet. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and have them report back five facts they learned during their quick research.
20. Paper airplane contest – Have your children make paper airplanes for a flying contest. Try folding different weighs and using different types of paper (construction paper, card stock, loose leaf paper) to see which one travels the furthest. Discuss the basic physics of flight, like drag and lift.

If you’re looking for something fun to do as a family, check out the STEAM event happening in 2,000 participating Walmart stores on July 27th to help get into the back-to-school spirit! This event is centered around fun STEAM activities for parents and children to engage in together. Activities include:

• Tie Dye Shirts featuring Hanes shirts, Sharpie markers, and ALL Detergent from 10 am – 2 pm {limited quantity available at each location}.
• DIY Slime featuring Elmer’s slime kits, Ziploc bags, and Ducktape from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm.
• Cereal Necklace Making featuring Great Value cereals and twine from 10:30 am – 4:30 pm.

Be sure to find a Walmart STEAM event near you!

Shop at Walmart for all of your back-to-school supplies, including these fun items to engage in fun, educational STEAM activities with your children – Look throughout the store for various products that will make learning exciting for kids!

What are some of your child’s favorite STEAM activities?

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