Wooden building blocks tend to be a staple in many classrooms and homes. The possibilities are endless with these blocks. If your kids love playing and building with these blocks, then keep the engagement going with these Free Building Block STEM Activities.

Bring STEM learning to your classroom, or home with simple, easy to plan activities like these building challenges. STEM includes science, technology, engineering and math and great STEM activities include a mix of these subject areas.

One of the great things about STEM challenges is that kids of all ages can get creative, and be successful with the same challenge. There is not one correct answer, but rather many possible solutions. The process and problem solving is the focus.

For more STEM activities using wooden blocks, check out another collection of STEM challenges, STEM Building Blocks Challenges, with more free printable cards. If you want more hands-on STEM from science to math activities, visit 60 Best STEM Activities for Kids.

Building Block STEM Activities Materials

One of the great things about these STEM challenges, and why I love using them in my classroom is that you don’t need any special materials. All you need for hours of building fun is:

• Wooden Building Blocks
• Printable Task Cards (Free at the bottom of this page)

You can use any type, size or color of blocks that you have. I have used large building blocks and even small Jenga blocks. Use what you already have on hand.

There are several pages that you can print for the task cards. One large and one small task card lists all of the eight challenges. There are also small cards with each of the individual challenges on them. Each of the pages are also available in black and white or color.

There are lots of ways you can use the task cards and present the building block STEM activities. A few ideas are listed below.

• The task cards can be printed and laminated.
• The cards can be placed with the building blocks to create a center.
• You can print one, or all of the cards and included them in a STEM challenge kit. The kit would include the cards as well as building blocks. Place all of the materials in a sealed plastic baggie. This is a great activity to send home with kids over the summer or weekend.
• The task card can be presented on a SmartBoard or projector in class. Read the challenge out loud and all children work on the challenge at the same time.

Print and use the cards in any way that works best for you. The collection of cards gives you ten ideas to get you started. Click for the full list of a hundred STEM activity cards, from Teaching Ideas Shop.

Building Block STEM Activities for Kids

The task cards offer a variety of STEM challenges. Remind kids that as they build their creations will likely fall and break at some point and some of their ideas aren’t going to work. This is all part of STEM challenges. Encourage them to persevere and the important thing is that they keep trying and building.

Once children have created something and feel that they found a solution to the challenge, see if there is anything they could add to their design to make it better. This reflection and any improvement is a key learning component of STEM activities.

One of my favorite parts of a STEM challenge is watching kids try different ideas as well as seeing all of the different solutions. Often no two kids’ final creations are the same. Children often come up with unusual and unique ideas. When they are given the freedom to create and use their imagination, some of the greatest ideas are born!

Free Printable Task Card

During each STEM challenge, or after kids have found a solution, encourage children to talk about what they created and what they discovered during the process. A few ideas to focus on and talk about include:

• Why did some of the structures fall down?
• What did you change as you built your creation to make it better?
• What happens when you add weight?
• What else do you want to do with your structure?
• How did you feel as you built your structure?

Kids often love talking about their work and it’s a great way to access how they felt about it as well as encouraging them to reflect on their experience.

If you want to add even more to your activity, below are some alternative and extension ideas.

You can mix some math in your challenges by measuring the height of some of the challenges, such as when they build “something tall”. You can also add weight to some of the creations to test their strength and stability.

Start a STEM journal that children could build and then draw their solution in their booklet. You can also have children draw before they build so that they think about their creation before actually touching the blocks. This planning process is a great skill to practice for architecture.

With older children, I like to add to their challenge by restricting the number of blocks that they get to use each time. With less blocks children have to plan and build carefully.

Once you have done the building block STEM activities and used the task cards, try using the blocks again, but add play dough for a ‘Build a Bridge STEM Activity‘. The possibilities are endless with really simple materials.

Keep STEM simple and you’ll find that any collection of materials becomes your next great challenge!

Download the Printable Cards

Download the free printable task cards featured above. Click the grey lock box below and subscribe to Hands-on Teaching Ideas through Grow. When you subscribe this way you will also unlock the other freebies on this site.

Once you subscribe, the resource will download right away on your page. Shortly after subscribing, you will receive an email with a link to the Free Resource Library. In the library you will find over 100 free resources to download.