What’s special about these Halloween STEM / STEAM challenges?

• They’ll keep your kids engaged in standards-based, collaborative, brain-busting work during the crazy days leading up to Halloween!
• Modifications are included to differentiate for grades 2 – 8.
• They come with video walk-throughs and extensions.
• They’re loved by students, teachers, and administrators!
• They cover the NGSS for engineering, plus are a great way to introduce or culminate lessons on the skeletal system, forces, simple machines, food chains, and more!

The Basics:

Using simple materials, students work in partners or groups against criteria & constraints lists to design and build solutions to challenge problems. Every challenge includes modifications for grades 2-8.

All five Halloween STEM challenges are shown in greater detail below along with links to resources, blog posts, video walk-throughs, and teacher feedback on the resource. And if you don’t celebrate Halloween in your class, there are also ideas and alternate versions to make the challenges workable in non-Halloween environments!

Students work in partners or groups against the Criteria and Constraints List to build the longest “bone” bridge possible. You may also choose to test for strength and/or capacity!

The Bone Bridge STEM Challenge goes beyond Halloween! Connect this to the skeletal system, bridges/transportation, and/or forces (specific ideas included). As with all my challenges, modifications are included to make it appropriate for grades 2-8.  More details can be found in resource, blog, and video linked below the teacher feedback.

Students work in partners or groups against a criteria and constraints list to design a device to catch as many “creatures” as possible.

Whether or not you’re allowed to do Halloween activities, you can use this to start off a unit on spiders, food chains/webs, energy pyramids and more!

As with all my challenges, modifications are included to make it appropriate for grades 2-8.  More details can be found in resource, blog, and video linked below the teacher feedback.

Working individually or with a partner against a criteria and constraints list, students design and engineer a new set of bat wings, with the goal being to achieve maximum flight distance and/or accuracy. You can even throw in style points, if you like! It’s a paper airplane challenge with a twist!

This is great for Halloween or just connected to a unit on bats (especially if your school frowns on Halloween activities)!

As with all my challenges, modifications are included to make it appropriate for grades 2-8.  More details can be found in resource, blog, and video linked below the teacher feedback.

In partners or groups, students work against a criteria and constraints list to build a low-energy machine to toss treats. The teacher chooses from one of two challenge goals: maximum launch distance and/or target-accuracy.

This challenge is a great introduction to simple machines, particularly levers!

As with all my challenges, modifications are included to make it appropriate for grades 2-8.  More details can be found in resource, blog, and video linked below the teacher feedback.

Students work in partners or groups against a criteria & constraints list to create a ghost transporter that lifts cotton ball “ghosts” from the ground to the top of a pulley. (For younger students, the teacher will set up the pulley; for older students, the teacher will provide materials and students will include the pulley and attachment as part of their designs.)

As with all my challenges, modifications are included to make it appropriate for grades 2-8.  More details can be found in resource, blog, and video linked below the teacher feedback.