Skeleton Bridge STEM Challenge

Halloween is the perfect opportunity to test out those design and engineering skills! This fantastic Halloween STEM challenge uses just a few simple materials but has many possibilities. Transform simple cotton swabs into bridge-building materials with a Halloween twist. A skeleton bridge with cotton swab “bones” is a creative way to explore STEM.

Explore STEM For Halloween

Halloween STEM challenges offer a fantastic opportunity to combine learning with seasonal fun, making it a win-win for kids and educators.

Add this simple Halloween skeleton challenge to your STEM lesson plans this season. Test out your engineering skills with this easy-to-set-up Halloween STEM activity for kids. While you’re at it, check out more fun building activities.

Engaging kids in Halloween STEM challenges can be both fun and educational. These activities provide a hands-on approach to learning science, technology, engineering, and math concepts creatively and excitingly. By incorporating Halloween themes, such as spooky bridge engineering, kids are encouraged to explore design principles while fostering their imagination and problem-solving skills.

Check out all our Halloween STEM activities here!

Get your free printable Halloween STEM challenge!

Grab these Halloween STEM Challenge cards to add to your maker space.

The Challenge: 

Build a bridge out of only bones (aka cotton swabs) that is a minimum of one foot long and sits at least one inch off the ground or table. Sounds too easy? Or does it?

Many STEM projects use critical thinking, math, and engineering skills, and this one is no exception. Attention to detail is a must, and pre-planning is encouraged! This can be a timed challenge or not.

Skeleton Bridge STEM Challenge

Time Needed:

30 minutes or more if time allows!

Encourage kids to spend up to 5 minutes discussing their design ideas and doing rough sketches. Then, allow 20 minutes to build your bridge. Plus, another 5 minutes to talk about the challenge, what worked and what didn’t.

Materials:

• Cotton Swabs
• Tape
• 100 Pennies

Variations:

Do you have older kiddos? To add an extra layer to the challenge, create a specific structure or bridge or choose a type to build. Allow them a few minutes to research different types of bridges and draw out a design!

Find more printable bridge design ideas here.

Do you have younger kids? Let them explore the materials and test how they work together to complete the challenge. Set up two blocks or books and have them build a bridge spanning your chosen distance.

Extend The Challenge:

Can you build a bridge that can hold the weight of a roll of pennies or of another pre-determined object?

STEM Challenge Setup:

STEP 1: Give out supplies to each kiddo or group.

STEP 2: Give 5 minutes for a planning phase (optional).

STEP 3: Set a time limit (20 minutes is ideal) for groups or individuals to build their bridges.

STEP 4: Once the time is up, have the kids set up their bridge for everyone to see. Test the skeleton bridge design to see how much weight it can hold.

STEP 5: If it works for you, have each kiddo share his/her thoughts on the challenge. A good engineer or scientist always shares his/her findings or results. Find all of our questions for reflection here.

Ask a few questions:

• What was the most challenging thing about this Halloween STEM challenge?
• What would you do differently if you could try the bridge challenge again?
• What worked well and what didn’t work well during this STEM challenge?

STEP 6: Have fun!

Why not pair this Halloween STEM challenge with our printable roll and build a skeleton game!

More Fun STEM Challenges

Here are even more quick STEM challenges that use very simple materials and allow your students or kids to complete fun challenges or projects in a limited amount of time.

Straw Boats Challenge – Design a boat made from straws and tape and see how many items it can hold before it sinks.

Strong Spaghetti – Get out the pasta and test your spaghetti bridge designs. Which one will hold the most weight?

Paper Bridges – Similar to our strong spaghetti challenge. Design a paper bridge with folded paper. Which one will hold the most coins?

Marshmallow Toothpick Tower – Build the tallest tower using only marshmallows and toothpicks.

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Printable Halloween STEM Activities Pack

150+ Pages of Halloween-Themed Materials!

This Halloween project pack is suitable for home, school, and group use for kids in grades Kindergarten through elementary but is scaleable for many ages and abilities.

What’s Included:

• 25+ Halloween theme science and STEM activities with printable sheets, instructions, and useful information all using easy-to-source materials perfect for limited-time needs. Includes a Halloween engineering pack with fun, problem-based challenges for kids to solve!
• The skeleton activity pack includes building a skeleton challenge and a coding challenge! Try a skeleton bones bridge-building STEM challenge!
• Halloween theme brick printable activities for hands-on learning with math that is perfect for early finishers or home fun and reinforces basic math concepts.
• Bonus fun pack includes games and activities to round out your Halloween theme activities such as I Spy, bingo, matching, Would You Rather cards, scavenger hunt, word search, A-Z Halloween hunt, and a coloring page.
• Halloween STEAM Pack includes artist-inspired projects by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and more!