Easter is a time for gathering with loved ones to build family traditions and celebrate. This year, start a tradition of learning with these fun Easter STEM crafts and experiments!
Peeps House Easter STEM Challenge
Kids can experiment with using melted chocolate and graham cracker pieces to build a house!
What You’ll Need:
- 1 pkg. Graham Crackers
- 1 pkg. Edible Easter Grass
- 1 pkg. Peeps Chicks
- 6-8 oz. Wilton Chocolate Melts, pink
- Easter Candy Eggs, chocolate or jelly bean
- 1 plastic bag or piping bag
Directions:
- Break the graham crackers in half
- Melt the chocolate melts according to package instructions and put them in a small plastic bag or piping bag
- Lay a graham cracker down and pipe a line of chocolate on each side of a graham cracker half. Stand a graham cracker half up on each line of chocolate. Hold them until the chocolate sets, about a minute or so.
- Pipe or squeeze out a line of chocolate on top of the two graham crackers that are standing up.
- Take 2 more halves and place each one on the chocolate, bending them towards each other so they touch at the top like a roof peak. Hold pieces together for a minute or two.
- Place a line of chocolate right on the space where the two roof graham crackers meet. Let set for 3-4 minutes.
- Put your peeps and edible Easter grass inside the graham cracker house and enjoy your treat!
Source: viewsfromastepstool
Peep Catapults
What You’ll Need:
This type of catapult is called a mangonel and it uses tension from a stretched rubber band to hurl the Peeps across the room.
- 10 Pencils
- 16 Rubber bands
- 1 Plastic Spoon
- 1 Package of Peeps
Directions:
- Begin by building the base, which is simply a square made from pencils secured together with rubber bands. You’ll need your base to lay flat so make sure the parallel pencils are both in the same position.
- Grab 2 pencils and bind them together on one end with a rubber band and repeat the steps for the other side
- Attach the sides to the base frame (This may be a two person job)
- Take a pair of side pencils and spread them to form an upside down V shape. Place one end in a corner of the base frame while another person secures them with a rubber band. Repeat this process for the other end of the side pencil.
- When both sides are attached, add a pencil to the top to make the catapult more sturdy. To do this, simply slide a pencil into the point of the upside-down V and secure it with a rubber band. This pencil also acts as a crossbar to stop the lever arm and launch the projectile.
- It’s time to attach the part that makes a catapult work: the lever arm. The easiest way to do this is to attach the spoon (the lever arm) right in the middle of the last pencil using a rubber band. This is the fulcrum, or anchor point, of the lever so make sure that rubber band is nice and tight.
- Next, attach the end of the pencil to the sides of the frame. You may have to tweak where you secure the lever to make sure the bowl of the spoon clears the top of the crossbar.
- Finally, add the last rubber band to provide the tension needed to move the lever arm. Twist the rubber band around the spoon just under the bowl a couple times. Then stretch the rubber band over each point on the top of the frame.
- You are ready to launch!
Source: playdoughtoplato
Easter Peeps Science Experiment
If you don’t like to eat peeps, this experiment is for you!
What You’ll Need:
- 1 glass of water
- 1 glass of vinegar
- 1 glass of soda water
- Your choice of easter peep
Directions:
- Place one peep each into the bottom of three glasses.
- Fill each glass each with one of the three liquids (water, vinegar, soda)
- Make a prediction about what will happen to each of the peeps as they sit in the liquid. Write down the predictions so you can revisit them once the experiment has concluded.
About 2 days later: Revisit your peeps, and examine them. Were your predictions right? What is their consistency? Have they dissolved? What color are they? Discuss the results and consider other materials you may want to try soaking them in!
Source: giftofcuriosity
