Need more kid activity ideas for summer? We’ve got some for you here! We especially love STEAM kid activities in particular.
We have previously talked about the importance of disciplines like Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) for the kids of the future.
Since our focus is on helping families and kids thrive in our world, we believe in the importance of training and building our kids to be not only life-prepared but also STEAM-prepared.
Of course, not all kids will naturally gravitate towards STEAM, but there is no harm in trying to ignite their interest in these subjects, right?
Because of this, we took a 365 day challenge to find, create and share STEAM kid activities with all of you!
Below is our latest 8th list of STEAM-related kid activities.
We trust that you will find these suggestions useful for helping you to find kid activities to do this summer!
141. Compare Lengths
Get your toddler to lie on a large piece of paper and you trace their outline. They then use objects that they can count to follow their outline or to work out their height, width and length. You can use things such as pasta, threads of string, sticks, stones, buttons or rubber bands to trace the outline. For example, my head is 10 stones-wide. Or I am 20 sticks tall! This teaches your kid about simple counting and length comparison.
142. Box Castle
Do you have plenty of large cardboard boxes lying around? This one was built specially for our toddler to play in. It has a working drawbridge, a chimney, window and even inner shelving! You can imagine how much fun both adults and kids have in this.
143. Making Choices
We came across this scrumptious and yummy display of goodies. Unsurprisingly, our kid wanted to eat everything on display. It was a good opportunity to teach our kid about making ‘tough’ decisions. She did make an excellent choice of chocolate mousse in the end.
144. Road Trip Sights
When you take road trips, try to point out interesting sights around you. Encourage your kid to ask questions (use Google to find the answer if you don’t know)! Let daily life be opportunities for teaching. Look at our blog to read about our most recent road trip: https://lebrickfamily.com/familyroadtrip/
145. Cheese-Making
We went to watch some cheese-making since my kid likes cheese so much. Do your kids like cheese too? Look for local cheese-making tours and bring them along!
146. Vege Garden
Visit a local vege garden. Help your kids learn the names of vegetables. Inspire your kids to see how satisfying and healthy it can be to plant your own organic veges.
147. Stained Glass Art
Exposing our kids to exquisite, beautiful art helps them to grow their own artistic creativity, imagination and artistic standards. Start noticing the art around you and point them out to your kid.
148. Tunnel
We love tunnels. When we go through one, we describe why tunnels are built and how the engineering part of it works to our kid.
149. Sensory Map
A sensory topographic display is a great way for you to introduce your kid to geography. It’s not only visual but also tactile-oriented. Many kids learn better if they are given the opportunity to touch what they are learning.
150. Dam Visit
We went to visit a huge water dam. There was a video showing how the dam was built, allowing us to watch its construction on video and then look at the real thing.
151. Shapes Match
This simple but effective geometry and math game can be made using a paper plate and clothes pegs. Divide the paper plate into four parts and draw a shape on each part. Then cut out pieces of paper with the shapes drawn on them. Get your kid to match the shapes and peg them onto the matching parts of the plate. Then get them to count how many shapes they find.
152. Straw & Pipe Cleaners
Do you have straws and pipe cleaners lying around? Cut up the straws into different lengths and string the pipe cleaners through them. You can then let your kid create different objects, shapes and build with them. Use them to create simple shapes or more complicated things like buildings, robots etc.
153. Nature Creations
Things that you can find in nature like pine cones, leaves, rocks and sticks are not only freely available but also great sensory and science learning tools. Ask your toddler to observe the different changing colors of the leaves, estimate their weight or simply, count them. Expand your child’s curiosity by asking them to guess why these things exist in nature or invite them to create things with them.
154. String Numbers
Find big pieces of paper or cardboard and write numbers on them. Then get your kid to trace the numbers using yarn. Alternatively, you can use string, rubber bands or anything long.
155. Kids Stories Book
This book is a collection of inspiring stories of kids who have changed the world. Great as bedtime reading for school-aged kids: https://amzn.to/2Xjh1Xq
156. Parent Art Class
I don’t consider myself artistic but I joined a parent art class because I wanted to inspire my kid to get out of her comfort zone and be ready to try new things. She was allowed to be in the class while I painted so she could watch.
157. Coding for Kids
Want to introduce your kids to programming? Check out https://www.lynda.com/. It’s an online education membership portal but your library or workplace may provide free access to it. This course ‘Programming for Kids’ also provides suggestions of kids apps.
158. Family Art
Encourage your toddler to draw a picture of your family. It helps them to recognize who is in their family as well as begin doing character art.
159. Hide ‘n Seek
Our toddler loves playing hide and seek (hidden in the covers here). This well-known simple game is good for teaching math (counting to ten while the other hides), creativity (finding good places to hide) and perseverance (looking for the person hiding). So don’t feel bad playing lots more hide and seek with your kid!
160. Patterns
Pattern recognition has been said to be one of the most important skills that kids of the 21st century need to have. You can start by asking your kid to look at the patterns on their clothes.
Want more STEAM kid activities?
Below are some of our earlier collections of STEAM kid activities:
1-20 list of STEAM kid activities.
21-40 list of STEAM kid activities.
41-60 list of STEAM kid activities.
61-80 list of STEAM kid activities.
81-100 list of STEAM kid activities.
101-120 list of STEAM kid activities.
121- 140 list of STEAM kid activities.
We hope you and your kid have fun!
