This Grade 4 STEM Projects resource includes 18 structured, hands-on STEM investigations designed to develop engineering, scientific reasoning, data analysis, problem-solving, and communication skills. It pairs with the Grade 4 STEM Full-Year Curriculum and can be used for unit capstones, enrichment, project-based learning, or flexible STEM activities.
What’s Included
The resource contains:
6 five-session capstone projects
12 three-session standalone mini-projects
Criteria and constraints for every project
Data plans and full teacher directions
Student planning and results pages
A shared project rubric
Budgeting and costing challenges
Testing, iteration, and redesign opportunities
Presentations, panels, and showcase activities
Major Capstone Projects
The six extended projects are:
The Design Review
The Energy Challenge
The Communication Network
The Resilience Report
The Biomimicry Expo
STEM Designers & Innovators Showcase
These projects connect directly to the Grade 4 curriculum and deliberately reuse earlier builds, investigations, and data. The final showcase brings together learning from across the year.
Mini-Projects
The 12 shorter investigations include budgeting, source evaluation, angles, decimal costing, energy conversion, signal transmission, mirror mazes, erosion, payback calculations, structural advantages, reaction time, and product analysis.
STEM Skills
Students repeatedly practice defining problems, identifying criteria and constraints, developing solutions, building prototypes, testing, collecting data, analyzing results, and redesigning. Projects also incorporate measurements, percentages, decimals, costs, calculations, source reliability, and evidence-based decision making.
The shared rubric assesses planning, criteria and constraints, building, data collection, improvement, teamwork, and explanation.
Classroom Use
Capstones run for approximately five sessions and are designed for teams of 3–4 students. They can culminate in presentations or panels where students defend their decisions and evidence.
Mini-projects run for three sessions and work well for spare weeks, enrichment, challenge replacements, additional investigation practice, or preparation for STEM events.
The resource emphasizes that STEM success is not simply about creating a working or attractive product. Students must measure performance, analyze evidence, identify improvements, and explain why their decisions make sense.
Overall, the collection provides a flexible full-year supplement that helps Grade 4 students develop increasingly sophisticated engineering design, quantitative reasoning, data analysis, collaboration, and technical communication skills.
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A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.
Bundle
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.
$32.86
Bundle
4th Grade STEM Bundle | Full-Year Engineering Activities
4th Grade STEM Bundle | Full-Year STEM Curriculum | Engineering Activities, Projects, Task Cards & More Make STEM instruction engaging, hands-on, and easier to plan all year long with this comprehensive 4th Grade STEM Curriculum Bundle! This collection brings together seven complementary STEM resources designed to give fourth grade students meaningful opportunities to explore engineering, solve problems, design solutions, test ideas, and reflect on their learning. With a full-year STEM curriculum, challenge cards, STEM journals, projects, task cards, early-finisher activities, and substitute plans included, this 4th Grade STEM Bundle gives teachers a flexible collection of resources for daily instruction, enrichment, independent practice, and unexpected classroom needs. What's Included This bundle includes 7 fourth grade STEM resources: • STEM Curriculum — 36 weekly challenges across 6 units, 5 sessions each • STEM Journal — 180 student recording pages • Challenge Cards — 96 student-facing cards including 36 Level Up extensions • STEM Projects — 6 unit capstones plus 12 standalone mini-projects • Task Cards — 80 math, science and coding skill cards • Early Finishers — 40 no-prep challenges with choice board and bin labels • Sub Plans — 12 emergency lessons with word-for-word scripts Together, these resources provide multiple formats for introducing, practicing, applying, documenting, and extending STEM and engineering learning throughout the school year. How It Works in the Classroom Use this 4th Grade STEM Curriculum Bundle for: • Daily or weekly STEM instruction • Engineering design challenges • STEM centers and stations • Whole-group lessons • Small-group activities • Hands-on STEM projects • Independent STEM practice • STEM journals and reflection • Early-finisher activities • Substitute teacher plans • STEM enrichment and extension • Flexible classroom learning Use the curriculum for structured instruction, challenge cards and task cards for shorter STEM experiences, projects for hands-on application, journals for documenting and reflecting on learning, and early-finisher resources for meaningful extension. Standards & Learning Goals Students strengthen important STEM and engineering skills through engaging, age-appropriate activities, including: Engineering Design • Identifying problems and needs • Brainstorming possible solutions • Designing and building • Testing and evaluating ideas • Identifying improvements • Refining solutions Problem-Solving • Thinking creatively • Using logical reasoning • Exploring multiple solutions • Learning from mistakes • Applying strategies to new challenges STEM Thinking • Observing and investigating • Asking questions • Making predictions • Analyzing results • Applying knowledge to real-world challenges Communication & Reflection • Explaining ideas and solutions • Sharing designs and strategies • Recording observations • Reflecting on challenges • Communicating how solutions can be improved Why Teachers Love It * Uses common classroom and recycled materials — full materials list included * Complete fourth grade STEM resource collection * Seven complementary STEM resources in one bundle * Full-year engineering activities * Multiple formats for flexible STEM instruction * Supports hands-on learning and creativity * Builds problem-solving and critical-thinking skills * Includes curriculum, projects, task cards, challenge cards, and journals * Provides meaningful early-finisher activities * Includes substitute teacher plans * Flexible for whole-group, small-group, center, and independent learning * Saves valuable planning time Instead of searching for separate STEM resources throughout the year, teachers can use this 4th Grade STEM Bundle as a flexible resource library for instruction, practice, projects, enrichment, early finishers, and substitute days. Download Today Add this 4th Grade STEM Curriculum Bundle to your classroom and give students a full year of opportunities to explore, design, build, test, problem-solve, and think like engineers! Whether you need a structured STEM lesson, a quick challenge, a hands-on project, an independent activity, an early-finisher option, or a substitute plan, this bundle gives you resources to support STEM learning throughout the school year.
$50.00
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