Hands-on fun that also helps them grow.
Teachers and kids both love STEM challenges. They encourage problem-solving skills and let kids prove just how much they already know. They’re hands on learning at its best! These fourth grade STEM challenges require only simple supplies and are terrific for partners or groups.
All you need to do is post one of these challenges on your whiteboard or projector screen. Then hand out the supplies and let kids take it from there!
Want this entire set in one easy document? Download the 4th Grade PDF bundle, so you’ll always have the challenges available.
1. Create the longest possible paper chain from a single sheet of construction paper.
2. Build a domino chain reaction that incorporates at least two non-domino items.
3. Using only 10 index cards, construct the tallest possible free-standing tower.
4. Engineer a catapult from wood craft sticks and rubber bands that can launch a marshmallow the furthest distance.
5. Use newspapers and masking tape to build a chair that a member of your team can sit on.
6. Design a bubble wand that makes the largest bubbles using pipe cleaners and string.
7. Create a model of a new piece of playground equipment using construction paper, cardboard tubes, plastic straws, scissors, and tape.
8. Stack 20 plastic cups into the tallest tower you can.
9. Use paper plates, plastic straws, and masking tape to construct a new kind of vehicle.
10. Build a bridge from wood craft sticks and binder clips that can support the weight of at least one book.
11. Put together a working windmill from a cardboard tube, construction paper, and plastic straws.
12. Design a marble maze on a paper plate using plastic straws.
13. Build a paper airplane that can fly through a hula hoop from 8 feet away.
14. Engineer the tallest possible tower from toothpicks and mini-marshmallows.
15. Build a sailboat raft from wood craft sticks, construction paper, and glue.
16. Use scissors to cut a paper plate in a way that makes it stretch out as long as possible.
17. Make a parachute for a small toy from a drinking straw, a plastic bag, and Scotch tape.
18. Construct a building using only wood craft sticks.
19. Use balloons and masking tape to construct the tallest tower you can.
20. Build a boat from aluminum foil that holds 100 pennies.
21. Engineer a 3-foot-tall structure that can hold a basketball from newspapers and masking tape.
22. Come up with a creative new use for an empty plastic bottle. You can use other supplies to alter it however you like.
23. Use items from around the classroom to figure out a way to pick up and carry a beach ball from one side of the room to the other, without touching it with your hands.
24. Construct a building from paper and masking tape that won’t blow over in the breeze from a fan.
25. Use pipe cleaners and drinking straws to build as many 3-D shapes as you can in 10 minutes.
Enjoying these fourth grade STEM challenges? Try these Impressive 4th Grade Science Experiments and Activities.
25 Fun and Easy Fourth Grade STEM Challenges (Free Printable!)