K - 5 STEM Sub Plans Bundle | Full-Year Engineering Activities

K–5 STEM Sub Plans Bundle | 72 No-Prep Emergency STEM Lessons with Word-for-Word Substitute Scripts

72 complete, stand-alone STEM lessons across Kindergarten through 5th Grade — each with a word-for-word substitute script, materials list, student page, and a notes-back-to-teacher page — so an unexpected absence never again means a STEM day lost.

Every lesson is written for a substitute with no STEM background. The script says what to say. The directions say what to do, minute by minute. The student page says what to record. And because the lessons are non-sequential, the sub can pick any one without knowing what your class did last week. Print once, put it in the sub folder, and it’s ready for the whole year.

What’s Included

Six grade-level sub plan sets (333 pages, 72 lessons):

Kindergarten STEM Sub Plans (12 lessons, 53 pages) — 20–25 minute lessons in four short chunks, word-for-word carpet scripts, picture-based student pages, and practical sub guidance for five-year-olds: the two-minute cleanup warning, switching to drawing if a build won’t work, finishing early rather than rushing.
1st Grade STEM Sub Plans (12 lessons, 56 pages) — full lesson scripts, student pages, notes-back pages, 10-minute emergency fillers, sub folder cover, classroom information page.
2nd Grade STEM Sub Plans (12 lessons, 56 pages) — adds minute-by-minute directions, repeated trials and data collection, early-finisher options, and STEM Sub Tub setup guidance.
3rd Grade STEM Sub Plans (12 lessons, 56 pages) — adds variables, outliers, prediction error, and claim–evidence–reasoning.
4th Grade STEM Sub Plans (12 lessons, 56 pages) — adds measurable criteria, costing, percentage improvement, means and ranges, and source evaluation.
5th Grade STEM Sub Plans (12 lessons, 56 pages) — adds optimization, load-to-mass ratios, conservation of mass, energy chains, and flowchart/pseudocode communication.
The Lessons

K: Cup Tower · Paper Bridge · Float or Sink · Ramp Roll · Strong Shapes · Magnet Hunt · Chair for a Bear · Keep It Dry · Count and Build · Fix It · Sort the Box · Draw It, Build It
1st: The Ten Card Tower · Paper Bridge Challenge · Ramp Investigation · Shape Strength Test · Boat Cargo Challenge · The Great Egg Drop · Paper Airplane Lab · Build a Better Chair · Magnet Sort and Maze · Shadow Investigation · Sound Makers · Design a Solution
2nd: The Efficient Tower · Material Property Test · Ramp Trials · Shape Strength Lab · Boat Cargo Trials · The Insulation Test · Paper Airplane Lab · Build a Marble Sorter · Friction Surfaces · Parachute Trials · The Sound Barrier Test · Design for Everyone
3rd: The Variables Warm-Up · Bridge Efficiency · Ramp Pattern Prediction · The Pendulum Surprise · Friction Ranking · Insulation Trials · Paper Aeroplane Lab · Material Strength Test · The Outlier Problem · Design a Fair Test · Scale It Up · Claim, Evidence, Reasoning
4th: Write a Better Criterion · The Costing Challenge · Mean, Range and Whether It Matters · The Angle Lab · Percentage Improvement · Design a Fair Test · Scale It Up · The Source Test · Collision Protection · Encode a Message, and more
5th: Improving Is Not Optimising · Define the Real Problem · Four Ideas Before You Judge · Ratios, Not Differences · Conservation of Mass · Identify the Unknowns · The Energy Chain · Where Is Earth’s Water? · Gravity and Air Resistance · Distance and Brightness · Flowchart and Pseudocode Relay · Report It So Someone Can Act
Every Lesson Includes

Word-for-word substitute script
Step-by-step (1st) or minute-by-minute (2nd–5th) directions
Materials list drawn from a standard classroom: paper, cups, tape, cardstock, books, toy cars, rulers, string, magnets, foil, water
Student recording page
Notes-back-to-teacher page so you know what happened
Clear finish line and success criteria
Safety directions
Early-finisher options (2nd–5th)
What Comes With Each Set

A sub folder cover, a classroom information page, emergency 10-minute STEM fillers for when the lesson finishes early or the schedule shifts, and setup guidance for a labeled STEM Sub Tub — a bin of the common supplies so nothing depends on the sub finding materials.

What Students Do, K–5

Predict, build, test, count, and try again (K) → build, test, measure, and record (1st) → repeated trials, fair tests, and data tables (2nd) → variables, prediction error, outliers, and CER (3rd) → measurable criteria, load per pound, percentage change, and whether a difference matters (4th) → optimization, ratios, trade-offs, and writing a procedure another pair can execute without help (5th). These aren’t crafts to keep a room quiet; students collect data and explain what it means, even on a sub day.

Format

6 PDF files, 333 pages total
Print-and-go; designed to live in a sub folder or binder all year
12 lessons per grade, approximately 20–25 minutes each in K and a full STEM block in 1st–5th
Materials are common classroom supplies; no kit required
Teaching duration: 1 full school year per grade
Sub Plans vs. the Other Short Activities

The K–5 STEM Task Cards and K–5 STEM Early Finishers bundles are 5–10 minute activities students run themselves. Sub Plans are full lessons a substitute runs — scripted start to finish, with a class-wide structure and a page that comes back to you. If you’re covering an absence, this is the one.

The weekly engineering challenges are in the K–5 STEM Challenge Cards Bundle, the student recording pages in the K–5 STEM Journal Bundle, and the unit capstones in the K–5 STEM Projects Bundle. Teacher lesson plans for the regular year are in the K–5 STEM Curriculum Bundle, and everything together is the K–5 STEM Mega Bundle.

Every sub plan set works on its own — no other purchase needed.

Why Buy the Bundle

Six sets bought separately cost $59.94. This bundle is $41.96 — and gives a STEM specialist, a grade-level team, or a whole elementary building a scripted STEM lesson ready for any sub, in any classroom, on any day of the year.

Print once. Prep once. Be ready for the unexpected — K through 5.