Engineering Projects for Kids

Wow! I’m a huge fan of the best engineering projects for kids and want to be sure you have some great STEAM ideas on hand. This list is sure to get those creative juices flowing! Use this set of 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids posts to excite the kids all year long. Learn using STEM and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, & math) concepts while you explore forces of motion, chemistry, sound, and so much more! Plus, we keep updating it with all the fun projects we build and find!

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50+ Awesome Engineering Projects for Kids

Do your kids love engineering projects as much as my kid does? The great thing about this set of fun engineering projects is that there are so many great activities for preschoolers! Start them young with a STEM project or science experiment on their developmental level.

Building Activities for Kids

What kid doesn’t love to build? This list of activities for kids is sure to entertain your creative kids! Start with a super-fun one like these:

• How to Build a Balloon Car|| Left Brain Craft Brain – This project is a classic and we’ve made it easy for you with a helpful video!

• How to Build DIY Stomp Rockets|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Kids LOVE stomp rockets. They’re really fun and have tons of hidden learning inside.

• Goldfish crackers STEAM Activity Snacks|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Who doesn’t love goldfish? Make a snack pulley for them!
• STEAM Engineering for Kids: Making a Bubble Blower Machine || Teach Beside Me – Oh wow! This is an awesome idea for summer!
• Make a Box Lid Maze for Awesome STEAM Fun || One Time Through – You materials from your recycle bin for a DIY maze building activity.
• How to Build a Tonoscope || Left Brain Craft Brain – Get ready to see sound with this really fun sound science experiment. You’ll build a tonoscope, a device that helps you see sound vibrations.

• Hexbug Habitat Engineering Challenge || Inspiration Laboratories – This is perfect for your kids that LOVE hexbugs.
• Rubber Band Car DIY || Figment Creative Labs – Your creative kids are going to LOVE building their own moving car.

• DIY Recycled Suspension Bridge|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Dig into your recycle bin for this DIY bridge.
• Awesome DIY Stethoscope for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – The kids are going to love making their own doctor toys!
• Build a DaVinci Bridge with Pencils|| iGameMom – DaVinci bridges are amazing structures! You have to try this one.
• Make Your Own Dollhouse Building Block Set || Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls – Boys and girls will love the building rooms and living spaces for their dolls!
• DIY PVC Tape Dispenser|| Left Brain Craft Brain – You’re going to need one of these tape dispensers for all your Camp STEAM projects!

Engineering Projects for Kids That Move

There’s nothing more exciting than action-packed projects with things that fly, roll, and twirl. Check out this list!

• Paper Bird Flyer || Left Brain Craft Brain – Explore what helps both birds and airplanes take flight with this fun and budget-friendly project.

• Chemical Reaction Car || Left Brain Craft Brain – Try out both mechanical and chemical engineering with this fun build!

• TP Roll Catapult || Left Brain Craft Brain – Even little builders can explore cause and effect with this project.
• Pom Pom Shooters || Left Brain Craft Brain – FUN! Enough said.
• DIY Seismograph || Left Brain Craft Brain – Measure how the Earth moves with this simple and fun build.

• Whirly Twirly Flying Birds || Left Brain Craft Brain – More ways to explore how birds get some serious air.
• Weather Science: Paper Cup Anemometer || Left Brain Craft Brain – Explore wind and weather through this build that uses easy to get supplies.

Why Building for Kids?

Kids are natural, born architects! They love to explore the world around them and the cool forces of nature like gravity.

• Invitation to Build: Elsa’s Ice Palace|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Elsa needs your help building her ice palace!
• 100 Invitations to Build|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Need a little creative help for after school? Grab this printable!
• Bridge Building STEM Challenge with Craft Sticks and Wooden Cubes || Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls – You have everything you need for this simple building challenge in your playroom!
• Buildable Rock Slime|| Left Brain Craft Brain – You’re going to LOVE this fun slime recipe!
• How to Make a Windmill Model with a Printable Pattern || Adventure in a Box – Print your own windmill!

Engineering Challenges, STEM Challenges, and STEAM Challenges

What are engineering challenges? They’re projects that give kids a specific goal, but not the process to get there, so there’s lots of creativity thrown in the midst.

• Bird Beak Tool Challenge || Left Brain Craft Brain – Learn how animals adapt to their environment with a fun tool engineering challenge.

• How to Teach Preschoolers to Think Like an Engineer in 3 Easy Steps || Preschool STEAM – Not sure where to start with your preschoolers?
• STEAM Challenge: Building a structure you can balance on your finger (or your nose) || Gift of Curiosity – Try this STEAM challenge with your preschoolers!
• Storytime LEGO Building Challenge || Left Brain Craft Brain – Make your own storytime challenge with this great STEAM activity!
• LEGO Math Printable Challenge Cards || Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls – If you have LEGO lovers at home, grab these printable challenge cards for your next STEM activity.
• Gears Building Challenge Cards|| Left Brain Craft Brain – This is a really awesome fun activity to add to your after-school entertainment!

• Summer STEAM Challenges for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Summer is right around the corner! Don’t run out of engineering projects for kids!
• Mechanical Engineering and Math STEM Challenge || STEAM Powered Family – Math practice has never been so fun!
• Star Wars STEAM Challenges || Left Brain Craft Brain – Your superfans will love these creative challenges like building a Mos Eisley cityscape.
• Build a Snack Mix Machine|| Left Brain Craft Brain – This is a great incentive for an after-school snack!
• Build a Cardboard Box Ball Track|| Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls – Such a creative idea!

Challenging Engineering for Kids

Spark their brains with these fun activities!

• Insect Habitat Building Challenge || Left Brain Craft Brain – These paper triaramas are a budget-friendly activity that helps kids learn about what animals need in their environment.

• Superhero STEM Activities for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Do you have a little superhero at home? They need this!
• Paper Building Blocks || Babble Dabble Do – Behold the power of paper as an engaging (and cheap!) building activity.
• Ice STEM Engineering Challenge|| STEAM Powered Family – An inviting and colorful way to build any time of the year.
• Star Wars STEM Learning Activities for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Can you build a droid or an x-wing fighter? Find out how in this awesome list of Star Wars projects.

Need even more STEM challenges? Try these 15 STEM Challenges for Kids!

Electrical Engineering Projects for Kids

Kids are going to LOVE exploring old computers and creating their own bots with this awesome list of engineering projects for kids!

• Paper Circuit Cards || Left Brain Craft Brain – Start off their electrical engineering journey with one of these paper circuit cards.
• Build a Circuit Flower || STEAM Powered Family – This is perfect for Mother’s Day!
• Minion Brush Bot || Left Brain Craft Brain – Have a little Minion fan at home? Make your own Minion bot in just a couple of minutes!
• How to Make an Electromagnet || Left Brain Craft Brain – Explore the powerful engineering of electromagnets in this fun and easy electricity project. Plus, learn why electromagnets are important in our race to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

• Code a City || Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls – Make your bot travel around a DIY city map!
• Upcycled Toy Car Marker Bots|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Save those old toy cards for your next marker bot.

Want a helpful worksheet that teaches kids about circuits? Grab our free Introduction to Simple Circuits by entering your email address below.

FREE! INTRODUCTION
TO CIRCUITS
PRINTABLE ACTIVITY

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• Binary Code Bracelet that is Out of This World || JDaniel4’s Mom – Who knew the binary code could be so fashionable!
• Tiny Dancers (A Homopolar Motor) || Babble Dabble Do – This is one of my all-time favorite engineering projects.
• Computer Destruction || Left Brain Craft Brain – Don’t throw out that old computer. Instead, us it to explore!
• Simple Circuit Science Project || What Do We Do All Day? – It can’t get much easier! You probably have all the materials you need already.

• Solar-Powered Paper House Project|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Explore alternative energy with this model of a real-life build.

• Coding and Electrical Circuits for Kids|| STEAM Powered Family – This is a great one to add to your engineering projects for kids!
• 8 Ways to Play with an Old Keyboard || Left Brain Craft Brain – Let your preschooler explore and learn with your old keyboard.
• How to Build a Simple Electromagnetic Train|| Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls – Your kids are going to love making their own simple train move!
• Fruit Stand Circuits || Left Brain Craft Brain – Your favorite fruit has an electrical charge!

Holiday Engineering for Kids

Plan to add these to your holiday celebration fun! There’s something for Christmas and Halloween and Valentine’s Day. And stay tuned, I’ll be making some more lists of holiday engineering projects!

Christmas Engineering Projects

• Giant Paper Stars|| Babble Dabble Do – Do a little paper engineering with these gorgeous, and huge!, paper stars.
• LEGO Santa Sleigh STEM Building Challenge|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Your kids are going to love helping Santa with his sleigh this year!
• Gumdrop Trees || Left Brain Craft Brain – This classic project is always a winner!
• Invitation to Build: Tinkering Trees|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Christmas is more fun with a simple invitation to build.

Valentine Engineering Projects

• Geometric Art – Valentine STEM || Teach Beside Me – Can you build a heart out of straws?
• Valentine’s Day STEAM Challenges for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – Lots of love went into the making of these fun Valentine’s Day challenge cards!
• The Love Boat STEAM Engineering Challenge for Kids || The Preschool Toolbox – Such a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your STEAM kids!

Halloween Engineering Projects

• 31 Days of Halloween STEAM Challenges for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – It’s never too early to have a plan for Halloween!
• Halloween Engineering Projects for Kids|| Left Brain Craft Brain – There are so many fun ways to keep kids learning this Fall!
• Pumpkin Brush Bots || Left Brain Craft Brain – These silly pumpkin bots are a great classroom project for Halloween!

Even More! Fun Engineering Projects for Kids

For those days when a big project is just a little too much, pull out this 100 Invitations to Build list, grab a basket of unique building supplies like curlers or ice cubes, and let the kids drive the creation! Fill out the form below to have the list emailed to you!

FREE! 100 INVITATIONS TO BUILD IDEA LIST

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Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that you can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Explorers!! The coolest creative experience for kids is here! It's a digital book of the month club filled with tons of fun stuff for the kids to do and learn. All engineer, teacher, and mom-approved. And most definitely KID APPROVED!⁣

And it's 50% off for Back to School!!

• A monthly digital magazine with cool themes that are fun to read
• Hands-on, exciting projects the kids will love.⁣
• Science, tech, engineering, art, and math learning YOU’LL love.⁣
• Delicious recipes the kids can make.⁣
• Fun printables and games⁣

Join us as we explore the HUMAN BODY with STEAM Explorers in August!! The kids will love constructing some delicious cell models, demonstrating how our immune systems work, bending bones, listening to your heart with a homemade stethoscope, and more. You'll love the helpful standards-based learning, printables, and tools that make STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, & math) exploration easy!

We’ve split the STEAM Explorers Human Body issue into four weekly themes:

• WEEK 1: Whole Body
• WEEK 2: Cellular Exploration
• WEEK 3: Thriving Tissue
• WEEK 4: Human Organs

28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids

These projects are part of an amazing, month-long series of hands-on STEM and STEAM projects for kids. Click on over to 28 Days of STEM Activities and STEAM Activities for Kids for 60+ FREE science, tech, engineering, art, and math projects from 30+ education writers. All ready to get your kids excited to learn.

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