STEAM Teaching Resources

Bring STEM and STEAM learning to life in your elementary school classroom with engineer activities for kids, printable worksheets and more teaching resources designed by teachers for teachers.

This collection of printables and digital activities includes curriculum-aligned resources that will help you meet state standards while you're getting students hooked on science, math, and more. In addition to being created by teachers, each resource has undergone a rigorous review by the Teach Starter teacher team. That means they're classroom-ready — so you can cut down on planning time!

What Is STEM Education in Elementary?

If you're on the hunt for truly hands-on, creative STEM activities for elementary students, you probably already know this. But if you've just been told you are now teaching STEM, we have you covered!

STEM education is defined by its focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and that applies to education from K through 12. But when it comes to teaching these skillsets in elementary school where students are just beginning to understand basic math and science, you're not teaching Boolean logic or even doing the popular egg drop activity.

But don't feel flummoxed! Elementary STEM education is laying a foundation for secondary STEM teachers to build on, and that's important!

STEM education elementary school can include:

Introduction of the scientific method
Basic science experiments
Building digital literacy skills
Math problems based on real-world applications
Coding and algorithms
Critical thinking and problem-solving activities

STEM vs STEAM vs. STEMM

There is nothing the education system likes as much as a good acronym, so which one should you be using these days? Join our teacher team on a deep-dive into STEM, STEAM, and STEMM.

STEM — short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — is often considered the OG here with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) showing up as a relatively recent addition, but the truth is STEM and STEAM have both been around for awhile.
STEM and STEAM were both proposed in 2012 by the United States National Research Council as a new form of teaching K-12 science education. The goal was to focus on deep and collaborative learning to build a strong foundation for students that would prepare them for a technology-heavy working environment in the future.
STEMM is the newcomer here. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine. Educators and STEMM policymakers say the inclusion of that second M should also come with a focus on diversity and inclusion.