By Francesca Vidal
This Valentine’s Day, enjoy three new STEM activities for kids of all ages to enjoy. Each activity is fairly simple to follow and includes a description of how each activity relates to STEM. We hope you enjoy the Valentine’s Day STEM activities.
Valentine Lava Lamp
Lava lamps are fun to make and fascinating to look at. They can even help to relieve stress and anxiety. This fun STEM activity requires little parental supervision as it is really simple for kids of all ages to make.
Materials:
A jar
Water
Heart confetti
Cooking oil
An Alka-Seltzer tablet
Steps:
Pour water into a jar so that the jar is ¼ of the way full.
Pour heart confetti into the jar.
Fill the jar with cooking oil.
Drop an Alka-Seltzer tablet into the jar (additionally, you could add food coloring to the jar to customize your lava lamp).
Watch the reaction occur!
How it Relates to STEM:
When you drop the Alka-Seltzer into the jar, a chemical reaction occurs between the Alka-Seltzer and the water, and carbon dioxide forms. This is why you can see bubbles form during the reaction. The gas bubbles rise and take with them some water. When the gas bubbles make it to the top, the carbon dioxide leaves and the water goes back down.
Heart Candy Structures
This STEM activity allows kids to use their imagination to create any structure they want using only gummies and toothpicks. From skyscrapers to rockets to bridges, kids can design anything they want! No supervision is required for kids of all ages as this activity is very simple and easy.
Materials:
Gummies
Toothpicks
Steps:
Stick the toothpicks into the gummies and connect them. There are no specific steps for this STEM activity, only to use your imagination to create unique structures.
How it Relates to STEM:
The heart candy structures STEM activity relates to STEM as in order to create structures, engineers need to design a basic and solid foundation. If the structure is not very strong, it will collapse. This activity also teaches students about problem-solving as engineers constantly find themselves solving problems about the construction of a structure. Being able to problem solve is a great skill as it helps to prepare students to succeed through difficult times.
Crystal Hearts
This last STEM activity involves making heart-shaped crystals. While it looks fascinating, this STEM activity requires parental supervision as boiling water can be difficult and dangerous for younger kids to do.
Materials:
Borax powder
A glass jar
A popsicle stick
String
Tape
A pipe cleaner
Steps:
Twist the pipe cleaner into heart shapes (make sure that the size of your heart is smaller than the jar size so that once the crystals form, you can still pull the pipe cleaner out).
Use the popsicle stick and string to tie a knot around the pipe cleaner.
Add tape to secure the string onto the popsicle stick.
Place the pipe cleaner into the jar.
Boil water.
Add three tablespoons of borax powder for every cup of boiling water you use.
Pour the water into the jar.
Leave the pipe cleaner in the jar and wait 24 hours for the crystals to form.
How it Relates to STEM:
When water is boiled, the molecules in the water move further away from each other. The bigger space between each molecule allows more borax powder to be dissolved into the water and create a more saturated solution. A saturated solution has so many solutes (borax powder) in the solution (water) that the solute can no longer dissolve. Crystals form because there are some solid particles in the solution. Over time, the solid particles form into crystals.
Works Cited
“DIY Lava Lamp - the Stem Laboratory.” The Stem Laboratory, 18 Jan. 2016,
thestemlaboratory.com/diy-lava-lamp/.
Jennifer Gunner. “Examples of Saturated Solution.” YourDictionary, 5 June 2013,
examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-saturated-solution.html.
McClelland, Sarah. “Valentine’s STEM Activities for Kids.” Little Bins for Little Hands, 19 Jan.
2023, littlebinsforlittlehands.com/valentines-day-stem-activities-challenges-kids/.
McClelland, Sarah. “Crystal Hearts Valentines Science Experiment.” Little Bins for Little
Hands, 2 Feb. 2019, littlebinsforlittlehands.com/crystal-hearts-valentines-science-
experiment/.
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