Thanksgiving STEM Challenge Cards

These Thanksgiving STEM cards are fantastic STEM challenges that play with one of the season’s favorite holidays and of course include the great turkey escape!

From the classroom to library groups to homeschooling and more, these printable Thanksgiving 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 THANKSGIVING STEM CHALLENGES FOR KIDS

WHAT IS STEM?

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

Almost every good science or engineering project is really 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 important to work into the framework of STEM whether it’s 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.

FUN THANKSGIVING STEM ACTIVITIES

Explore the changing seasons with STEM. These free Thanksgiving 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 Thanksgiving STEM cards to be a simple way to have fun with your kids.

• 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.

WHAT DO THANKSGIVING 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, come up with solutions, design, test, and retest! The tasks are meant to get kids thinking about, and using the design process.

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 when trying to solve a problem. Learn more about the steps of the engineering design process.

WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR THANKSGIVING STEM CHALLENGES?

Mostly, you will have the opportunity to use what you already have on hand by letting your kids get creative with simple materials. Also, read 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. Every time you come across a cool item you would normally toss into recycling, toss it in the bin instead. This goes the same 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

You can definitely 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 tea lights, fake pumpkins or leaves, baskets, etc

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

• Fall STEM Challenge Cards
• Apple STEM Challenge Cards
• Pumpkin STEM Challenge Cards
• Halloween STEM Challenge Cards
• Winter STEM Challenge Cards
• Snowflake STEM Challenge Cards

FREE PRINTABLE THANKSGIVING STEM CARDS

MORE FUN THANKSGIVING ACTIVITIES

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