We like to kick off every school year with a contest to win prizes for the classroom and inspirations to spark your lesson planning. This year, we really want to emphasize how learning and fun don’t have to be separate—they’re better together! 

In this post, we’ll tell you about our latest contest, talk about incorporating STEM kits into your classroom, and highlight some of our most fun activities to start the year with.

Contest

This year’s contest lets you choose which prize you want to enter to win. Prizes include STEM circuit and hydropower kits which make a perfect learning station or free time activity, class sets of solar kits for groups to work together on, pencil crayon sets for the whole classroom, and weekly planners for your own organization.

There are lots of prizes up for grabs, so make sure to pick your favorite and submit an entry! Contest eligibility is limited to current K-12 teachers in B.C., although everyone is welcome to make a free account on the site and explore our latest activities. 

STEM Education

There’s a world of STEM kits out there exploring topics like energy, gravity, geology, chemistry, and more. Some of them lean more into the fun than the science, but they’re always a great way to combine both.

In the classroom, there are many ways to incorporate them:

• Play with a kit as a class or in groups
• Set the kit up as a learning station
• Incorporate the kit into a lesson to illustrate a tricky concept

There are also plenty of ways to get creative and go beyond the box:

• Add new components to play with. For many kits, you can add new components or play around with your own supplies to expand the exploration.  Add new pieces to your circuit kit to see what else you can power with a solar panel or turbine. Use supplies to build onto a motor experiment. Expand on the use of a DC motor by using classroom supplies to build something that incorporates the motor in a new way. Just make sure to do a safety check for anything you add.
  
  
• Build your kits up into a town. When you’re doing cool things like building structures, generating energy, growing plants, and motorizing vehicles, you can combine your lessons over time to build a village in the classroom. This gives a chance to think about how all the different processes in the natural and built world combine to create our modern life.
  
  
• Partner with buddies to teach younger classes. STEM kits make for a structured lesson, and getting older students to partner with a younger student to show them how the kit works is a great way to help make the lesson more memorable and build their confidence in talking about the science topics.
  
  
• Create cross-curricular connections. STEM kits don’t need to be used solely for STEM purposes. Think about ways you can incorporate the materials into other curricular areas to explore concepts further. For example, students can use a hydropower kit to explore how energy projects affect communities. By considering different stakeholder perspectives, they learn about civic decision-making, land use, and resource management. Or, students can use a solar energy kit to investigate light and shadows, then create artwork such as cyanotypes or shadow-based designs inspired by their observations.

Check your local toy and education stores for STEM kits and supplies. There are also lots of online Canadian retailers including Mastermind Toys and Bright Bean which offer a wide variety. Kidder is a Canadian company which offers more customized kits, big and small, which often include instructions for building. You can even find STEM kits at major retailers like Michaels and Staples. Note that we do not endorse any stores, but we hope these examples inspire you to look for fun kits to incorporate into your lessons.

Activities

The start of a new school year is the perfect time to build excitement, spark curiosity, and help students connect with one another. Learning and fun are better together, which is why these classroom-ready activities combine creativity, collaboration, and hands-on exploration to help students dive into new concepts while having a great time. Here are a few of our favourites to start the year:

• Stay cool in the summer (Grade 2)
  In this activity, students follow Bo the Bear in a slideshow about keeping the home cool while conserving water and electricity. Then they will make their own paper fan to cool off.
  
  
• Salmon story (Grades K–3)
  Discover the incredible journey of the salmon through storytelling, movement, and creativity. Print out the colourful salmon life cycle cutouts and habitat placemat, plus act out the stages of a salmon’s life in this fun activity.
  
  
• Design a community icebreaker (Grades 3-7)
  Students introduce themselves by designing personalized community regions, then collaboratively connect them to a shared power grid, balancing resources to build a unified and sustainable city.
  
  
• Marble run challenge (Grade 4)
  Turn cardboard into a marble racetrack as a fun way to introduce the law of conservation of energy and energy transformations. Can students predict what will make their marble go further? Who will go the distance?
  
  
• Planning an EV road trip (Grades 6-8)
  In this activity, students plan an electric vehicle road trip using real charging data and digital maps to explore how EVs work in real situations. As they choose routes, calculate distances and charging needs, and troubleshoot challenges, they apply concepts from math, science, and geography. The activity supports diverse learners through flexible digital tools, scaffolded steps, and multiple ways to show their thinking.