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The school year may be ending soon but there’s still plenty of time and all summer long for fun STEM activities for your class! See below for a roundup of June STEM activities for your class to enjoy before the school year ends.
June 5: World Environment Day
Eco-Art Gallery
Description: Have your students learn about the world around them while also getting their creative juices flowing with a STEM art project!
Objective: Help promote environmental awareness and creativity through art.
Materials Needed:
- Paper (various sizes)
- Pencils
- Markers
- Colored pencils
Instructions:
- Begin the lesson plan with a conversation about the importance of our environment and the ongoing efforts to protect the planet.
- Explain that in your activity students will be creating eco-themed artwork about environment issues or challenges.
- Provide students with art supplies to get started.
- Instruct the students to create artwork that reflects a specific environmental theme, such as endangered animals, recycling, or renewable energy.
- Encourage students to use their imagination and creativity to express their ideas visually.
- Once the artwork is complete, transform the classroom into an "Eco-Art Gallery" by displaying the students' artwork on the walls.
- Engage the students in a discussion about the environmental themes depicted in the artwork and the importance of art in raising awareness and inspiring action.
- Conclude the activity by encouraging students to think of other creative ways they can make a positive impact on the environment in their daily lives.
June 8: World Oceans Day
Beach Cleanup
Description: Help your students learn the importance of protecting our oceans and marine wildlife by cleaning up a beach in this fun Kodable game.
Objective: Clean up the beach by collecting litter! This activity helps students develop problem solving skills while also learning about the importance of taking care of our enviornment.
Instructions:
- Current Kodable teacher? Have your students log in and navigate to Beach Cleanup to play.
- New to Kodable? You can play Beach Cleanup online here or you can create your free Kodable account today to have your class be able to save their progress and play all of Kodable.
Marine Explorers
Description: Have your students make and present to the rest of the class a marine animal of their choice to learn more about different marine life that call the ocean their home.
Objective: Help your students foster a love and appreciation for the world's oceans and inspire them to protect marine ecosystems.
Materials Needed:
- Poster Board or presentation materials
- Markers, colored pencils, or writing utensils
- Access to the internet or library materials to research marine life
Instructions:
- Begin the day by introducing World Oceans Day and discussing the importance of oceans in maintaining a balanced ecosystem.
- Conduct a classroom discussion on various marine species, their habitats, and the challenges they face due to pollution and overfishing.
- Assign each student or groups of students a specific marine animal and ask them to research and create a poster or presentation highlighting its unique characteristics and the threats it faces.
- Then have students or student groups pick different marine species to make a poster board or presentation on including the marine’s habitat, diet, ecosystem, and more.
- Finally, have students or student groups make a presentation to the class about their marine animal before having a class wide discussion about the world oceans and steps students can take to protect them.
June 15: Global Wind Day
Build your own wind turbine
Description: In this hands-on activity, your elementary students will learn about renewable energy and the basic principles of wind turbines. They will have the opportunity to build a simple wind turbine using common household materials and observe how it converts wind energy into mechanical motion.
Objective: To understand the basic principles of wind energy and renewable resources while promoting creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills for students.
Materials Needed:
- Construction paper
- String
- Paper clips
- Rubber bands
- Scissors
- Tape
- Large paper or plastic cup
- Small paper or plastic cup
- Large straw
- Small straw
- A penny
- A ruler
- Pencil
Instructions:
- Cut out a 6.5” by 6.5” square in your construction paper
- Mark the center of your square with your pencil and cut diagonally from a corner towards the center. Be sure to leave about 1.5 inches from your center mark from where you stop cutting.
- Use the point of your scissor to make a hole in the center and one more hole at each corner of your paper.
- Push the small straw through the center hole then bend each of the corners over the small straw. Be sure not to crease your paper.
- Using tape, secure the front and back of the pinwheel. There should be about an inch of space between the front and back of your pinwheel.
- Cut your large straw to the length of the base of the large cup. Then secure it with some tape.
- Take the pinwheel and put the small straw into the larger straw.
- Take your small disposable cup and cut two holes on opposite sides of the cup. Then tie a string through it, making a bucket.
- Secure one end of your string to the end of the small straw (you may need tape) and tie the other to the small cup handle.
- Place the paper clip at the end of the small straw to keep all the pieces together.
- Now that we have constructed our windmill, blow on it and watch the cup get lifted. Place a penny or two into the small cup to see how many penny’s your windmill can pull.
June 23: International Women in Engineering Day
Engineers of the future
Description: There’s no better way to celebrate international women in engineering than to spend some time learning about the women trailblazers who have come before us or by empowering your students to learn about engineering themselves!
Objective: To celebrate the achievements of women in engineering and inspire students, especially girls, to explore careers in STEM fields.
Activities:
- Check out our full Women in Tech, past, present and future lesson plan to help your class learn more about these rockstar engineers.
- You could also look through our Introduce a Girl to Engineering lesson plan to get some inspiration for your classroom!
STEM Activities make for great classroom activities year-round - Here are more ideas for elementary STEM activities for you to bring in your classroom this year.
If you’re interested in taking your classroom STEM activities to the next level, consider signing up for a free Kodable account. With Kodable you can introduce students to the basics of computer programming in a fun and engaging way with self-paced learning and unlimited creative activities. Try it out today!
