Play is at the heart of what it means to be a kid. Through imaginative games and activities, kids learn about the world around them. As adults, we can use play to expose kids to fields of study or areas of interest they may otherwise miss out on. Specifically, we can use STEM games to foster learning and fun at any age.
What is STEM
STEM is an abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The acronym has been in use since 2001, when the National Science Foundation first began using it. Over time, this term has become more prevalent in educational settings, from kindergarten to colleges and universities. Efforts at both the state and national level aim to increase the number of children who are interested in learning STEM skills, to support educational opportunities, and to encourage young people to pursue higher education degrees and careers in STEM. Families can also play a key role by exposing children of all ages to STEM ideas through fun and engaging activities and games.
Why it’s important to expose kids to STEM
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM jobs are projected to grow at a rate of 10.8% until 2032, far faster than non-STEM jobs, which will only grow at a rate of 2.3%. Of course, children today won’t be looking for a job tomorrow, but it’s up to us as parents, educators, and citizens to ensure that young people have the necessary skills to fill these jobs when they do enter the workforce.
Though some organizations are taking large steps to introduce children to STEM skills in schools, such as Next Generation Science and the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), there’s still a lot of work left to prepare children for jobs in the 21st century. The National Science Foundation has poured millions of dollars into this endeavor and established programs like the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers Resource Center (ITEST RC) and STELAR Science Learning and Research Center, whose mission is to support and promote new models for STEM learning in K-12 education.
However, a well-paying job in the future isn’t the only reason children should receive a complete STEM education. There are countless benefits to these skills. Much of the STEM curriculum involves hands-on activities that build skills like coding and programming, digital literacy, circuitry, structural engineering, robotics, math, statistics, and data analysis. On a more general level, STEM skills empower children and young adults to solve problems, be persistent, and think critically.
Differences between boys and girls
Another reason to be proactive in promoting STEM is the difference between how boys and girls learn and internalize these skills. Even though girls and boys perform similarly in STEM classes while in school, there’s a significant interest gap in pursuing a STEM career. One survey looked at Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2011) and found that while 85% of males said they’d be interested in a job in the science, math, engineering, or tech fields, only 63% of females were equally interested. The same study found that girls are less likely to be exposed to lessons in school about computer robotics, electrical circuits, and 3D design than boys.
In addition, some studies show that girls lose confidence in their abilities in subjects like math at a young age (even if they perform well academically), more so than boys. Because of this, girls are less likely to push themselves in these subjects or elect to take harder courses at the high school and college levels. When they enter the professional world, women represent a small percentage of those in computer science (25%), engineering, and architecture (15%).
The best ways to engage kids in STEM
With early exposure, all kids can develop an interest in STEM. Furthermore, parents and teachers should be aware of biases (both conscious and unconscious) that boys are somehow “better” or more suited to STEM learning. The truth is that all kids have something to gain from these fields of study, and engaging in STEM games and activities can be both educational and fun.
Activities and games for PreK-2nd Grade
Even the simplest STEM activities and games can have a large impact on a young child. Furthermore, research shows that when kids are exposed to STEM learning in grades 1-3, they have a stronger foundation for a STEM career in the future. While there are some great games that you can buy, the majority of activities for little kids are hands-on and at-home. When enjoying these activities, try not to be too focused on using toys the “right” or “wrong” way; out-of-the-box thinking is at the core of STEM learning.
Activities for home and school
- Help in the kitchen: Inviting your child into the kitchen is a great way to learn basic STEM skills, such as measuring ingredients, or even simple processes, such as adding yeast to bread to make it rise. When you walk through the steps of a recipe and talk about how each ingredient plays a different role in the final product, you’re introducing your child to the basics of scientific inquiry.
- Shopping: Take your child to the grocery store to practice counting, weighing produce, and working with money. As your children grow, you can ask them to do simple calculations, like how much change you will receive if you pay with a $20 bill.
- Observe the weather: Make it a habit to look at the daily or weekly weather report together and then make your own observations about what you see. Conversely, take advantage of a rainy day to talk about the water cycle. You can also talk about the moon cycles and when the sun rises and sets and collect data in a simple journal to notice patterns.
- Nature walks: Go for walks in nature (either in a park or your own backyard) and observe and collect things you see, like rocks, leaves, pinecones, and feathers, and then examine them at home to see what you can learn.
- Building: Building sets, like Resources from Taska Toys, Magna-Tiles, Duplos, or just simple wooden blocks are one of the best activities for young minds. The more freedom they have to be creative and imaginative, the more they will develop their engineering skills.
Games to Buy
- Math Bingo: This basic but fun game of Bingo for kids in grades K-2 prompts them complete simple addition and subtraction problems before they can place their token on the corresponding number.
- Robot Turtles: This is a fun board game that introduces the basics of programming and coding by having kids “program” their turtle using Code Cards to reach the jewel in the center of the game board while negotiating obstacles and pitfalls. This game is best for kids ages 4 and up.
- Reel Big Catch: A simple game for children ages 3 and up that helps them practice basic math concepts by using rulers to measure the size of their fish, while introducing the concept of scale with small, medium, and large.
Online resources and games
- BrainPOP: BrainPOP offers online games, lessons, and animated instructional videos for kids in K-3 as well as grades 3-8. Although it covers all school subjects, it focuses on science, math, engineering, and technology.
- Shutterbugs: Wiggle and Stomp: This is a free physical sciences game created by the Smithsonian Institute for children in Kindergarten and 1st grade. The game is great for little ones who love exploring and observing animals. Kids will learn how to describe movement (swimming, wriggling, slithering, running) and then take pictures of the animals they find. You can even print out coloring pages of your favorite animals.
- Tami’s Tower: Tami’s Tower is a free engineering game for kids in grades K-2 that has them figure out a simple solution to a specific problem, such as building a tower to help the monkey climb the tree to pick fruit, or constructing a building strong enough to withstand an elephant stampede.
- NASA Space Place: This free online resource has dozens of games that let kids explore the earth and space. They also provide access to educational videos, as well as craft and activity ideas.
STEM activities and games for elementary age kids
Once a child reaches elementary school, there are many options for activities and games they can play with their family or friends. The basic skills they learn at these ages will set a solid foundation for further exploration in middle school, high school, and college.
Activities for home and school
- Elephant’s Toothpaste: All you need for this activity is an empty soda bottle, dry yeast, dish soap, and hydrogen peroxide to set off a chemical reaction that’s sure to leave your kitchen a mess. Kids can see firsthand how simple chemical reactions can have big results.
- Chain Reaction: In the spirit of Rube Goldberg’s famous machine, this is a fun, collaborative activity kids can do using any materials they have at home. They will learn to use a series of contraptions to construct a sequence of events. Kids will learn about cause and effect and trial and error in the engineering process.
Games available for purchase
- Rush Hour and Rush Hour Jr.: Players must use logic and problem-solving skills to tackle traffic problems of increasing difficulty by moving and shifting vehicles out of the way to let the red car pass. This game has won multiple awards, including the MENSA Select Award and the ASTRA Best Toys for Kids Award.
- Laser Maze and Laser Maze Jr.: This engaging logic and problem-solving game has kids operate a series of mirrors and beam splitters to direct and bend a laser beam across the board according to the challenge on the card.
- Snap Circuits: Jump into the world of electric engineering with this award-winning kit, where kids can make dozens of different electronic gadgets, like doorbells, flying saucers, radios, and burglar alarms. This game has won the Seriously STEM! Award, is on the Purdue University's Engineering Gift Guide, and has earned the "Stem Approved" Trustmark from Stem.org.
- Math-Tac-Toe: This easy-to-learn math game challenges kids to roll dice with numbers and a symbol (either addition/subtraction or multiplication), and it even has a challenging “prime numbers” option. They then use these numbers to perform mental math and find the answer on their tic-tac-toe board.
- MathLink Cubes Brain Puzzle Challenge: With this easy-to-use and versatile game, kids as young as 5 can begin forming and recognizing patterns, counting, and even completing basic coding as they work with the nesting counting cubes to solve puzzles. Meanwhile, they build basic STEM skills like spatial reasoning, computational thinking, and processes of design (POD).
- Gravity Maze: This interactive game encourages kids to use logic and critical thinking skills to build courses and predict how a marble will fall through a series of interconnected towers. Through this game, they will develop core engineering skills, like spatial reasoning and planning.
Online resources and games
- Morphy: Kids in grades 3-5 learn about life sciences as they help “Morphy,” who’s stranded on an alien planet trying to find the rest of his crew members. Morphy encounters different animals and learns how their external structures (like limbs, tails, fur, and claws) help them survive and influence their behavior.
- Aquation: The Freshwater Access Game: This earth science game is best for kids in upper elementary and helps them learn how people in different regions of the world access water by building pipes and desalination plants. Children will also learn about conservation efforts when responding to droughts, monsoons, and disease.
- NASA Kids Club: This interactive website gives kids access to dozens of games centered around building rockets, space travel, jets, stars, and planets.
- Scratch from MIT: This site is entirely free and allows kids to make animations, digital stories, and games, and then share these creations with the worldwide community of Scratch users. Through this platform, kids will learn creative problem solving, collaborative thinking, and systematic reasoning. This is ideally for kids ages 8 to 18, but there is a ScratchJr. option for kids ages 5 to 7. For a fun extension activity using the Scratch platform, you can use a video sensing tool and a webcam to make interactive animations, in which your body movements will determine what your animations do.
- Minecraft: Yes! The game your kid is probably already playing is also a great tool for developing STEM skills like spatial reasoning, architecture, city planning, basic programming and coding, and problem solving.
- Science and Home through the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago: The museum’s Science at Home series has fun at-home activities and games that are sure to engage kids while also teaching them about the science behind the experiments. There are also many how-to videos with real scientists explaining the phenomena.
STEM activities and games for middle school and older kids
In middle and high school, children who have been exposed to STEM concepts start to delve deeper into the field and discover the discipline they want to explore further. By continuing to promote STEM thinking through games, young people will be more likely to take challenging coursework and pursue STEM studies in college.
Activities for home and school
- Aluminum-Air battery: Make your own battery with easy-to-find parts that can power a small lightbulb or motor. Older kids will learn about how chemical energy is converted into electrical energy.
- Bottle Blast Off: With this activity, kids will build their own rocket launcher and learn hands-on how force and mass affect how far and high their rocket will fly.
- Fan Car: This activity will require some materials that you probably don’t have readily available (like a small hobby motor), but older kids will love this hands-on project of building their own wind-powered car with a removable sail and motor. This activity will allow them to understand Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, as well explore the concepts of force and motion.
Games available for purchase
- Hydraulic Boxing Bots: This is a fun one! While the end product is a toy that your kid will end up playing with, they’ll first have to go through the steps of building these boxing robots, all while learning about the physics and design of a hydraulic system. The game also comes with a booklet where kids can learn how these same hydraulic systems are used in real-life engineering.
- Spintronics Act One: Older kids will love building mechanical circuits to solve puzzles as they watch their creations come to life through the pulley-powered motor. There’s also a graphic novel that walks kids through the process of building circuits while connecting the steps to real-world professional standards.
- Virulence: In this game, kids act as viruses trying to take over the host cell by bidding on different viral components they need. By doing this, they’ll learn about the structure of viruses, genomes, biology, and immunity.
- Subatomic: This game was designed by a chemical engineer and is ideal for high school-aged players. This card game explores the details of chemistry and how different atoms and elements are made. Each player starts with a set of cards representing quarks and protons and gains electrons, neutrons, and protons to build different elements, such as helium, beryllium, and lithium.
- Hacker: Hacker is a cybersecurity coding game where players learn programming principles. You can play as the hacker, coder, or security engineer as you program your player to win challenges and protect yourself from attacks.
Online resources and games
- Tynker: These courses are available to both families and schools and guide kids and teens through self-paced, game-like courses and live instructional sessions. Here, they’ll learn the fundamentals of coding that are also real-life skills, such as AI, game design, block-based coding, Python, Java Script, and data science. The company also offers three highly-rated apps: Tynker Junior for kids ages 5 to 7, Tynker for kids ages 7 to 12, and Mod Creator for kids ages 7 to 12 to explore the work of modding Minecraft.
- Codecademy: Codecademy offers both free and fee-based courses for teens to hone their technology skills. Through short and interactive lessons, like Intro to Generative AI, Intro to ChatGPT, or Learning HTML or JavaScript, users will gain real-world skills they can then use in their studies or work.
- NASA Interactives: This site has resources, games, and interactive activities for children all the way up to high school. Curious minds can learn about topics like climate change and NASA technology. You can even virtually roam the Milky Way and explore the night skies through the Hubble Skymap.
- Blender: This is a free and open source for creating 3D computer-generated content. It’s best for high schoolers who already have a basic understanding of software, but anyone can learn and start creating!
- Build it Yourself: Satellite: Older kids can use this interactive game to build a satellite for a specific scientific mission, deciding what wavelengths, instruments, and optics will work best. They then get to “launch” it and learn about data that similar satellites have collected over the years.
Subscription services for all ages
- KiwiCo.: This company offers monthly subscription boxes that engage kids in hands-on science and STEM activities like building an arcade claw, a working trebuchet, or even stereo headphones. Each “crate” has a different project with all the materials you need and kid-friendly instructions. Furthermore, they have different crates for different age groups, such as 0-3, 2-6, 6-9, 9-12, and 12+. You can further specify the focus of the activities, including Engineering & Design, Science & Engineering, and Science & Art.
- Little Passports: These monthly packages focus on STEM activities and are targeted for kids ages 4-8. You can also purchase activity sets on their own without a regular subscription. Example boxes include Animals Wild, Kitchen Adventures, Space Quest, and Science Expeditions.
- Crunch Labs: Each month, kids will build a new toy that comes with an instructional video by Mark Rober, a NASA engineer for the Curiosity Mars Rover. Kit examples include a Disc Launcher, Trip Wire, Domino Catapult, Strobe Light, or Boomerang Car.
- Messy Play Kit: This service is great for younger kids ages 3-8. Each box contains three to five options, such as messy play, sensory activities, and slime kits.