Easy Thanksgiving STEM Challenges

Keep the kids busy over Thanksgiving with these easy STEM Challenges.

Turkey Tower

Use toothpicks and marshmallows to build a tower tall enough to hold a small turkey toy. If you don't have toothpicks, spaghetti is a fun alternative.

Shapes are important to think about when building toothpick towers. Triangles, arches and domes are all strong shapes are used by engineers to make structures strong. Experiment with square shapes and triangles when building your toothpick tower.

Bendy Bones

Soaking cooked turkey or chicken bones in vinegar is a great way to learn about the importance of calcium. The vinegar dissolves the calcium, making the bone bendy!

Cranberry Boats

Cranberries float because they have lots of air pockets, this makes them less dense than water, so they float! Add toothpicks to cranberries to make a raft or boat shape.

Pumpkin Pie Parachute

Making a parachute is a great activity for learning about forces. The parachute slows down the fall of the pumpkin pie, as it has a larger surface area than just the pie itself, which increases the amount of air resistance, slowing the fall of the pie.