Expand your kiddos’ love of STEM with fun challenges that play with favorite themes within the season. From the classroom to library groups to homeschooling, these printable Pumpkin STEM challenges are the way to go! Get the kids away from the screens and encourage them to invent, design, and engineer their own worlds. STEM activities are perfect all year round!

PRINTABLE PUMPKIN STEM CHALLENGES FOR KIDS

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What is STEM?

Let’s first start with STEM! STEM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. So, a good STEM project will intertwine two or more learning areas to complete the project. STEM projects often focus on solving problems and can be based on real-world applications.

Read more about… What is STEM?

Almost every good science or engineering project is a STEM activity because you have to pull from different resources to complete it. Results happen when many different factors fall into place.

Technology and math are also essential to work in the STEM framework, whether through research or measurements.

It’s important that kids can navigate the technology and engineering portions of STEM needed for a successful future. It’s good to remember there’s so much more to STEM than building expensive robots or being on screens for hours.

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FUN PUMPKIN STEM ACTIVITIES

Explore the changing seasons with STEM. These free fall theme STEM activities are perfect for engaging kids in science, technology, engineering, and math as they complete fun challenges!

You need easy ideas for the kids right? I want these printable pumpkin STEM activity cards to be a simple way to have fun with your kids. Combine them with a trip to the pumpkin patch or see how we pair pumpkin STEM with themed books here.

  • Use in the classroom, at home, or with clubs and groups.
  • Print, cut, and laminate to use over and over again (or use page protectors).
  • Perfect for individual or group challenges.
  • Set a time constraint or make it an all-day project!
  • Talk about and share the results of each challenge. Make sure to check out our Questions for Reflection!

WHAT DO STEM CHALLENGES LOOK LIKE?

STEM challenges are usually open-ended suggestions to solve a problem. That’s a big part of what STEM is all about!

Ask a question, develop solutions, design, test, and retest! The tasks are meant to get kids thinking about and using the design process. Make sure to try these Questions for Reflection!

What’s the design process? I’m glad you asked! In many ways, it’s a series of steps an engineer, inventor, or scientist would go through to solve a problem. Learn more about the steps of the engineering design process.

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WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR PUMPKIN STEM CHALLENGES?

You can use what you already have by letting your kids get creative with simple materials. Also, read more about how to put together DIY STEM kit ideas on a budget and get our printable STEM supplies list.

My pro tip is to grab a large, clean, and clear plastic tote or bin. Whenever you come across a cool item you would normally toss into recycling, toss it in the bin instead. This goes for packaging materials and items you may otherwise throw away.

Standard STEM materials to save include:

  • paper towel tubes
  • toilet roll tubes
  • plastic bottles
  • tin cans (clean, smooth edges)
  • old CDs
  • cereal boxes, oatmeal containers
  • bubble wrap
  • packing peanuts

Make sure you have:

  • rope/string/yarn
  • glue and tape
  • scissors
  • markers and pencils
  • paper (computer and construction)
  • rulers and measuring tape
  • recycled goods bin
  • non-recycled goods bin
  • Seasonal/thematic items such as fake apples, leaves, and pumpkins (dollar or craft store)

More Themed STEM Challenge Cards

Start with these ideas below and build from there. We have new challenges for each new season and holiday!

FREE PRINTABLE PUMPKIN STEM CARDS

More Fun Pumpkin Activities

We have plenty of pumpkin art projects to browse and fun ways to set up pumpkin science experiments or try one of these projects:

Printable Pumpkin Projects Pack

Pumpkin is a festive and classic theme for fall and this pack is perfect for exploring pumpkins with a non-Halloween theme!

The kids will have a blast trying 110+ pages of “totally doable” projects!

  • 15+ Pumpkin theme science and STEM activities with printable sheets, instructions, and helpful information all using easy-to-source materials perfect for limited-time needs.
  • Pumpkin theme science activities include making pumpkin oobleck, testing sink or float, and exploring a pumpkin volcano.
  • Best Science Practices Sheets and Posters
  • More pumpkin activities for science include parts of a pumpkin packhow a pumpkin grows pack, and my favorite pumpkin observation sheet!
  • Pumpkin math activities include measuring and weighing pumpkins as well as a solve and color math facts coloring page.
  • Pumpkin patch scavenger hunt with supporting ideas for extending the idea.
  • NEW! Pumpkin Patch STEM story adventure pack with real-life STEM challenges to solve and supporting materials
  • Pumpkin Art Projects 
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