K - 5 STEM Projects Bundle | Full-Year Engineering Activities

K–5 STEM Projects Bundle | 108 Engineering Projects | Unit Capstones + Mini-Projects for Every Grade

36 multi-session capstone projects and 72 standalone mini-projects across Kindergarten through 5th Grade — the fairs, expos, grand prix races, summits, and showcases that turn a year of STEM challenges into something students build together and present to a real audience.

Every grade follows the same pattern: six major projects, one to close each curriculum unit, that extend the unit’s capstone challenge into a full team project with a data plan and a presentation, plus twelve mini-projects that stand alone and drop into any spare week. Materials are everyday classroom supplies.

What’s Included

Six grade-level project collections (429 pages total, 108 projects):

Kindergarten STEM Projects — Big Builds (59 pages) — 6 class projects in four short sessions each, where pairs build individual parts and combine them into one shared class creation, plus 12 twenty-minute Quick Builds. Picture-page recording for every project. Rubric included.
1st Grade STEM Projects (74 pages) — 6 five-session major projects + 12 three-session mini-projects, each with criteria, constraints, a data plan, teacher directions, student planning and results pages, and reflection.
2nd Grade STEM Projects (74 pages) — same structure; adds graphing and rubric-ready documentation.
3rd Grade STEM Projects (74 pages) — adds project rubrics, self-assessment, peer review, and panel presentations; teams of 3–4.
4th Grade STEM Projects (74 pages) — adds budgeting and costing challenges, source audits, and one shared rubric covering all 18 projects.
5th Grade STEM Projects (74 pages) — adds trade-off analysis, optimization, stakeholder thinking, and a capstone where students independently run the full engineering process for an authentic audience.
The Capstones

Each grade’s six major projects deliberately reuse builds and data from earlier in the unit, so students see their learning accumulate. Every grade ends with a year-long showcase.

K: Our Tallest Tower · The Big Bridge · The Great Marble Race · Our Class Garden · The Weather Station · Invention Convention
1st: The Design Challenge Fair · Build a Better Bridge · The Motion Machine · The Biomimicry Museum · The Weather Report · Young Engineers Showcase
2nd: The Engineering Fair · The Materials Expo · The Marble Run Grand Prix · The Living Systems Museum · The Earth Engineers Summit · STEM Problem Solvers Showcase
3rd: The Engineering Challenge · The Vehicle Grand Prix · The Solar Cooker Challenge · The Ecosystem Investigation · The Hazard Summit · STEM Investigators Showcase
4th: The Design Review · The Energy Challenge · The Communication Network · The Resilience Report · The Biomimicry Expo · STEM Designers & Innovators Showcase
5th: The Innovation Pitch · The Food Preservation System · The Energy Grid · The Mars Habitat · The Sustainability Audit · STEM Innovators Showcase
The Mini-Projects

Twelve per grade, three sessions each (20 minutes each in K), all new and standalone. A sample of the range:

K: Cup Stack Race · Float or Sink · Magnet Hunt · Nest Test · Umbrella Test · Ice Watch
1st: The Great Egg Drop · Cardboard Arcade · Zip Line Challenge · Catapult Challenge · Straw Rocket Lab · Shadow Clock
2nd: Bridge Trials · Water Filter Lab · Seed Dispersal Trials · Recycled Robot · Waste Audit · Sound Barrier Test
3rd: The Replication Study · The Outlier Hunt · Bridge Efficiency Rematch · The Germination Rate Study · The Biodiversity Survey · The Energy Audit
4th: The Budget Squeeze · The Source Audit · The Signal Race · The Mirror Maze · The Payback Calculation · The Product Teardown
5th: The Trade-off Curve · The Replication Test · The Separation Challenge · The Demand Profile · The Decomposition Rate · The Pseudocode Relay
How It Works in the Classroom

Run a capstone at the end of each unit. Students work in teams (pairs in K, 3–4 in upper grades), plan before building, test and retest, collect data against a plan, and present to an audience — a buddy class, families, school leaders, or a panel that asks them to defend their evidence.

Drop a mini-project into any spare week. Use one to replace a regular challenge, fill a short week, prep for a STEM night, or give a data-hungry class more practice. Nothing depends on what came before.

What Students Practice, K–5

Counting, measuring, and combining parts into a shared build (K) → data plans, comparing results, and presenting to an audience (1st–2nd) → controlling variables, peer review, and claim–evidence–reasoning (3rd) → budgets, cost-benefit studies, and source reliability (4th) → trade-offs, optimization, and communicating a recommendation someone could act on (5th).

Format

6 PDF files, 429 pages total
Print-and-go teacher directions, student planning and results pages, and rubrics
Teaching duration: 1 full school year per grade
Pairs With the K–5 STEM Curriculum

The six capstones in each grade are extended, project-based versions of the unit capstone challenges in the grade-level STEM Full-Year Curricula, available together in the K–5 STEM Curriculum Bundle. The 72 mini-projects are new and appear nowhere else. Every project works on its own — the criteria, constraints, and data plans are on the pages.

Also available: the K–5 STEM Challenge Cards Bundle and the K–5 STEM Journal Bundle. The K–5 STEM Mega Bundle includes the projects, curricula, cards, journals, and every other grade-level STEM resource in the store.

Why Buy the Bundle

Six collections bought separately cost $46.94. This bundle is $32.86 — and gives a STEM specialist or a whole elementary building six unit finales and a year-end showcase at every grade, plus 72 ready-to-run projects for the weeks that don’t go to plan.

Build it together. Test it. Present it. Defend it.