Activities
Looking for activities you can implement in your afterschool program today? Say goodbye to googling or searching on Pinterest. Use the following activities in sequence to support youth in building an engineering mindset.
- First Woman Camp Experience: Hands-on activities that accompany NASA’s “First Woman” graphic novel series
- James Webb Space Telescope STEM Toolkit: Virtual and classroom resources related to the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Sun STEM Toolkit: Virtual and classroom resources related to the sun.
- Sustainable Aviation STEM Toolkit: Virtual and classroom resources related to aviation.
- NASA Coloring Pages: Color and learn about some faraway worlds with these coloring pages.
- NASA for Students Grades K-4: Fun activities centered around all things NASA. Games, puzzles, color, and more.
- Space Place Art Challenge: Space Place monthly art missions. Draw, color or paint the subject of the month.
- Climate Kids: Learn about weather and climate through games, activities, and videos
- Build to Launch with LEGO Education and Artemis I: An interactive digital learning adventure that explores the Artemis I mission to the Moon.
- Clean Room – Europa Clipper: Watch this live YouTube stream as NASA’s Europa Clipper, is built and tested.
- Learn the Phases of the Moon: Assemble a printable Moon Phases Calendar and Calculator.
- Night Sky Network: Astronomy clubs bring the wonder of the universe to the public.
- NASA Space Voyagers Game: A strategy card game where students explore the solar system.
- Mars Scavenger Hunt!: Students participate in a Martian mission by completing the Mars scavenger hunt.
MIZZEN BY MOTT
Supported by the Mott Foundation, Mizzen is available at no cost to afterschool professionals! Encourage partners to download the Mizzen By Mott app to access STEM activities at your finger-touch! You’ll find it in Mizzen here.
Featured Activities & Playlists
- Playlist: STEAM Activities for Middle School at Home
- Playlist: STEM Activities for K-5th Grade
- Balloon Rockets Challenge
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Click on the links below to access curated mini units of STEM-based curriculum from SDAN.
- Activity Guide: Getting Electric
- Activity Guide: Inside My Body
- Activity Guide: Building Great Structures
- Activity Guide: Harnessing Air
- Activity Guide: City Build 2040
- Activity Guide: Star Wars
Resources
Recruit STEM Experts as Volunteers
Less than 50% of high school girls know a woman in a STEM career. Let’s change that – recruit STEM professionals to support the youth you serve today!
The Moonshot helps to connect STEM experts with OST programs! Share your program’s volunteer opportunities for STEM experts to work with your youth today! Register here to find role models and mentors in STEM.
Transformative Practices
- Equity and Inclusion: Build the capacity of program providers using the “Access to STEM” Framework as a guide to your webinars, professional development, community of practices, or one-on-one conversations. The Framework is packed with strategies and tactics to create inclusive programs and activities for all learners.
- Equity and Inclusion: Teaching Math to Students with Disabilities can be a rewarding challenge. Many of your students will have struggled with math for several years and will be delighted if math suddenly clicks for them. Here are a few strategies to help you successfully teach this population.
- Engineering Mindset: National Aviation Day is August 13th! Use the following resources to highlight the connection between Engineering to aviation, flight, and all the STEM involved:
- Try Engineering Lesson Plan: Take Flight! – This lesson for ages 8-12 explores how flight is possible and how engineers have improved glider designs and materials to improve flight accuracy and distance.
- NASA’s Aerospace-related STEM Resources for K-12 – A collection of aerospace resources including lesson plans and more.
- AeroEducate – AeroEducate is a Teacher’s Toolbox for aviation and STEM activities. Enhance your existing K-12 curriculum with free, standards-compliant, grab-and-go activities.
- Engineering Mindset and Math: Elementary & Middle School Math Club Ideas And Activities: From Set Up To Running It If you have always wanted to set up a math club but aren’t quite sure how to do it or what kind of math club activities you could use, then this blog should set you on the right path. Packed with math club ideas, tips and tricks from a teacher with over 20 years experience, after reading this post you will be in good shape to start your own club in no time at all.
- Role and Models Resource: Math and Science Mavens highlights some of the most influential women in STEM who have been integral to transforming these ideas into world-changing discoveries and inventions. Check out the seven rock star women from STEM fields, plus classroom activities you can use to help inspire your female students to follow in their footsteps.
- Role Models and Mentor Resource: National Mentoring Resource Center is a collection of mentoring resources including handbooks, curricula, manuals, and other resources that practitioners can use to implement and further develop program practices.
- STEM Handoffs and Transitions: Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunity from the Hive Research Network shares ways in which various out-of-school educators and professionals have approached the challenge of brokering. We provide a framework, practice briefs and reports that focus on a particular issue or challenge and provide concrete examples, as well as illustrate how our partners worked through designing new brokering routines in partnership with our research team.
