Our Mission

STEM Playground is dedicated to fun team activities that develop character and highlight the value of diversity in teamwork.

 Elementary Science Competition Without Leaving Your Classroom

STEM Playground is a virtual STEM competition designed to prepare 3rd thru 5th grade students for STEM competition using standards-aligned activities and low cost materials in a contest format.

Download activities to conduct with your class and upload your scores to our database to get instant feedback on class performance!

 

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What We Do

 

Engaging Contests

Download our activities to conduct with your students and upload the results to compare your class’s scores to the scores of classes globally.

Aligned Content

Our activities include pertinent supplemental curriculum material that is aligned to National Standards.

Emphasis on Team

Your assessment scores are greatly affected by how well the team members work together, instilling in your students the value of teamwork.

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Inspire

Free sign-up gives you access to one free activity!

Subscribe

One low payment of $9 gives you access to all of the activities for an entire year!

Challenge

Join national league challenges with other schools.

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Welcome!

You are my number one priority. Each activity provides the technical knowledge for you to feel comfortable to teach STEM concepts.  Your students learn both technical and teamwork skills to ensure a fun, character building STEM experience.  

– Al Causey, STEM Playground

Where We Are

STEM Playground began in 2006 as a small pilot program serving three Title One schools near Washington D.C. but has grown rapidly and now serves elementary teachers and students worldwide.   Teachers choose to use our free activity with full functionality or to subscribe annually to use all of our activities.

See our map to find participating schools around the world! 

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Explore Our Activities

Mobile Science
Teams will explore levers and balance through building a mobile.
Gondola Ride
Teams will construct an apparatus to transport as many AA batteries as possible across a span of 6 meters at one time.
Get To The Chopper!
Teams will make a paper helicopter and test its flight time.
Ramp Race
Students will investigate how to slow an object’s speed as it travels down a ramp.
Bounce the Light
Students will bounce light off of mirrors to hit a target.
Tennis Ball Tower
Students teams will all use the same materials to build a tower that is both tall and strong.
Riding on Air
Students will build and test a hovercraft.
Spelling Bee of Science
Students will better learn science vocabulary words, including their spelling.
Bridge The Gap
Students will design and build a bridge that can hold a cup of marbles without breaking or collapsing.
Float a Boat
Teams will design, build, and test a boat.
Follow the Leader!
Each team will have a “Leader” and a “Follower.” The Leaders will examine a paper airplane and write a set of directions for constructing it. The Followers will follow the written instructions to reconstruct the object.
Soaring the Solar System
Teams will successfully identify and label as many solar system-based objects as possible in a 15-minute time frame.
Micro Animal
Teams will successfully identify and label as many organelles in an animal cell as possible in a 15-minute time frame.
Half Hour Tower
Teams will construct the tallest tower possible from spaghetti sticks and miniature marshmallows in 30 minutes.
Bombs Away
Teams will construct a rubber band-powered catapult and launch different-sized marshmallows at a stationary target.
Let's Get Elemental
Teams will successfully identify and label as many elements from the Periodic Table as possible within a 15-minute time frame.
Northrop Grumman Aircraft
Teams will construct a paper plane and then test it for distance.
The Sky is Falling
Teams will have 20 minutes to design and construct a parachute that will slow the descent of a golf ball as much as possible when dropped from a pre-determined height.
Straw Darts
Teams will design and build paper darts and then test the darts by launching them from drinking straws.
School of Rocks
Teams will successfully identify and label as many rocks as possible within a 15-minute time frame.
Cloudy With a Chance of Science
Teams will successfully identify and label as many types of clouds as possible in a 15-minute time frame.

How We Align to Standards

STEM Playground designed its STEM activities and supporting curriculum material around you and your students, NOT Common Core standards.  However, we understand the need for those of you in Common Core-participating states to meet English Language Arts and Math standards, even as you teach science.

So STEM Playground asked educational publisher Longbourn Editorial to correlate our current curriculum material to both Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.

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How Our Competition Works

STEM Playground’s activities are designed to be completed by teams of two students and will have measurable results which you can compare with other classes globally, nationally, or even within your own community or school.

While you can compare results from just one activity, you can also compete in the cumulative League Challenge by completing all 12 designated League Challenge activities.

 

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