Looking for Valentine’s Day activities that your students will love but are more than just a craft or activity to pass the time? This Valentine’s STEM Challenge (or STEAM Challenge) will keep your students engaged in brain-busting work disguised as fun!
The basic premise:
Individually or in partners/groups, students will design and build a uniquely talented bouquet of flowers! This STEM challenge actually contains four challenge prompts that can be taken separately or simultaneously in groups:
– Floating Flowers
– Fluff & Flatten Flowers
– Functional Flowers
– Firmly Fixed Flowers
I will never apologize for my love of alliterative titles. ☺
Note: Although it is part of the Valentine’s Day bundle, this challenge works well for spring, Easter, and Mother’s Day as well.
Note: This is the digital format, compatible with Google Slides ™.
For the print version, click here.
Resource includes:
- NGSS aligned standards, Grades 2 – 8
- Teacher Tips:
- Links to my 5-part video series on getting started with STEM challenges
- Materials and timing
- Criteria & Constraints (including modifications to increase difficulty for older students)
- Measuring results
- Universal STEM Challenge Notes & How to Use Student Slides
- Post-design extension activities list
- Link to a video walk-through of the challenge
- Student Slides
- Criteria & Constraints List (editable)
- Design Analysis
- Discussion Questions
- Extension Slides
- Process flow map
- Create & solve math problems based on designs
- Video/website linked slides
- Scientific Method – Design your own plant growth experiment slides with sample answer key
Sample/suggested materials for each student or group:
(Materials you’ll need to do the activity are easily modified. You don’t need to provide all of the following materials. Select a subset and/or add in your own ideas.)
For each student or group:
- Colored tissue paper and/or construction paper (5+ pieces)
- Straws (5 – 10)
- Pipe cleaners (5 – 10)
- Plastic baggies (1-2)
- Tape (24 in.)
- Rubber bands (5 – 10)
- Bucket with water (to test floating flowers)
- Scissors
- Ruler
Optional:
- Foil (1-2 small sheets)
- String/yarn
- Craft sticks (5 – 10)
- Cardboard (scrap pieces, equally distributed to groups)
- Paperclips
- Brass brads
- Small cups
This resource is also available in print format and as part of the Valentine’s Day and the Mega STEM Challenge bundles. Click through below:
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.