What are Engineering Skills for Kids?
Want to fire up those young minds and get them all excited about engineering? Then you’re in the right place! In this guide, we’ll share the top 15 engineering activity ideas you can use to instill engineering skills in kids.
Best Activities for Kids to Learn Engineering Skills
- Building Paper Airplanes
- Making Paper Spinners
- Preparing a Ramp for Toy Cars
- Making a Catapult
- Building a Sponge Boat
- Crafting a Robotic Hand
- Fun Cotton Ball Launcher
- Building a Paper Rocket
- Wind Anemometer
- Hand Rotating Toy
- Preparing a Marble Maze
- Designing a Propeller Car
- Making an Elevator
- LEGO Projects
- 3D Shapes Out of Paper
- How to Explain Engineering to Kids
- Conclusion
Keep reading to learn more about each activity and find out what engineering skills they can help develop in kids.
1. Building Paper Airplanes
Have kids fold paper to create airplanes. It’s a fun, simple activity where they can
experiment with designs to see which flies best, teaching them aerodynamics and
problem-solving.
2. Making Paper Spinners
Kids can create a spinner using paper and a pencil. It’s easy and playful! They’ll
learn about centrifugal force and design, engaging their creativity and scientific
understanding.
3. Preparing a Ramp for Toy Cars
Build a ramp using cardboard! It’s an entertaining, moderate challenge where kids
can learn about angles, gravity, and motion, enhancing their technical and scientific
skills.
4. Making a Catapult
Use sticks and rubber bands to build a mini catapult. It’s an exciting and moderately
challenging activity, instilling tension, energy, and trajectory concepts and fostering
problem-solving and creativity.
5. Building a Sponge Boat
Create a boat using a sponge and straw. It’s a light, enjoyable task that introduces
buoyancy, balance, and water dynamics, cultivating curiosity and a love for learning.
6. Crafting a Robotic Hand
Craft a robotic hand using paper, straws, sticks, and tape. It’s exciting and a bit
challenging. Kids can learn about mechanics, human anatomy, and robotics from
this activity, developing their technical proficiency and scientific understanding.
7. Fun Cotton Ball Launcher
Get ready for some laughs with this one! This launcher is created using a pencil,
a rubber band, a toilet paper tube, and some tape. It’s easy and amusing and gets
those creative juices flowing.
You’ll see your students getting the hang of tension and projection quickly. It’s all
about hands-on learning and understanding the basics of physics while having fun.
8. Building a Paper Rocket
Making paper rockets is one of the best ways to encourage kids to learn about
engineering. Grab some paper, a straw, tape, and scissors to make those miniature
rockets.
Kids will learn the concepts of aerodynamics and propulsion, figuring out how to
make their rockets soar high. It’s a fantastic way to ignite scientific thinking and
technical proficiency.
9. Wind Anemometer
A Wind Anemometer is a device that helps measure the direction and speed of
wind.
It’s a fun way to teach engineering skills to kids. And the best thing is you don’t
need any complex tools to make this project. You only need basic equipment like
cardboard, paper cups, hole punch, and scissors.
10. Hand Rotating Toy
This activity can be a crafty challenge, But it’ll have the kids exploring mechanics
and understanding the basics of motion and coordination. So, you’ll see those
little minds figuring out how rotational movement works while having fun. You can
make the hand-rotating toy using pens, pencils, sponges, and wires.
11. Preparing a Marble Maze
How about teaching skills design, spatial awareness, and problem-solving skills?
Then, make this easy-to-prepare marble maze project. You can make this project
using cardboard, straw, tape, and marbles. It’s a fun and moderately challenging
activity that kids will enjoy!
12. Designing a Propeller Car
Then, there’s this fascinating propeller car project! The kids will make a car that
moves using everyday items like popsicle sticks, rubber bands, straws, paper clips,
hot glue, recycled bottles, and toy wheels.
It’s great for learning about motion and helps kids think creatively and solve
problems.
13. Making An Elevator
Next, let’s talk about this fantastic elevator project! The kids will use popsicle sticks,
wire, thread, glue, and pins to make an actual, working model. It’s a bit of a challenge,
but it’s so worth it.
It opens up the kids’ minds to how mechanics and structural engineering work. This
project teaches the kids about balancing loads and allows them to explore the basics
of building solid structures.
14. LEGO Projects
And who doesn’t love LEGO? LEGO projects are a hit with all kids. Grab a Lego set,
and you’re all set! These projects are simple but very effective.
They spark imagination and get those little engineering brains working. LEGO are
perfect for learning about designing and building, letting the kids try different ways
to build stable, working structures while having fun!
15. 3D Shapes Out of Paper
Another niche activity to inspire kids into engineering is letting them make 3D shapes
out of paper. It’s super fun and easy. They just cut and fold paper, creating shapes
like cubes or pyramids. It’s not too hard and a fantastic way for kids to learn about
space and design—a big deal in engineering!
How to Explain Engineering to Kids
First things first, let’s get the basics right! Explain to your students that engineering
is about solving problems and creating cool new stuff. It’s like using building blocks
but in a much bigger and cooler way!
Encourage your students to let their imaginations run wild. Engineering is not just
about numbers and equations; it’s about creativity and developing new ideas!
Who says learning can’t be fun? Use educational videos and games that explain
engineering concepts playfully and interactively.
Set up engineering challenges and let your students develop their own solutions. It will
boost their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The world around us is full of examples related to engineering! Discuss everyday items
like pencils, chairs, or bicycles, and explore how they are designed and made.
Ask your students questions like “How would you design a…?” or “What would happen if…?”.
It encourages them to think creatively and logically.
Finally, get those little hands busy! Assign them variousfun activities like the ones we discussed
in this guide. Making paper planes or a robotic hand teaches them core engineering skills and nuts and bolts of how things work in real life.
Acknowledge and celebrate your students’ achievements, no matter how small. It fosters a positive learning environment and builds their confidence.
Get Those Bright Minds Ready
So, there, you have it! 15 stellar ideas to get those bright minds tuned up and ready to explore the engineering world. You can mold these ideas to fit your teaching style perfectly. Remember, you are shaping the engineers of tomorrow, and each little step counts. So, let’s make learning fun, interactive, and impactful!