Digital STEM Activities - Holiday Building Brick Challenges BUNDLE

You don't need any building bricks for these digital design challenges (though your students can build a physical model if you do have them available). Not only are these satisfying to build digitally, your students will hone a variety of tech skills while completing colorful and fun designs.

Please note the video preview shows the summer set, which is similar.

CONTENTS

• 10 Standard Building Brick Challenges for each holiday listed: Choose from basic (outline included) or advanced (no outline included):
  • Halloween
  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas
  • Valentine's Day
  • St. Patrick's Day
  • Mardi Gras
  • Easter
  • Earth Day
  • Cinco de Mayo
  • Independence Day
    
• 4 Bonus Building Challenges for each holiday (advanced design, symmetry design, free build, color swap)
• Editable Skill Checks - have students work on a variety of math or ELA skills by changing the editable template, or use one of the pre-made skill checks I have included (counting bricks by type, color, finding area, determining symmetry, writing a descriptive or instructional paragraph). Because this is editable and includes both basic and advanced templates, this activity is suitable for a wide range of grades.
• Printable Recording Sheet (optional)
• Video Overview to show various tech skills that students can use, including:
  • Copying/pasting or duplicating
  • Inserting text boxes
  • Changing transparency of an object
  • Rotating, mirroring/flipping
  • Recoloring objects

WHY DIGITAL?

• Whether you are distance learning, don't have bricks available, or don't want to sanitize them constantly, digital building brick challenges can be used to build tech skills and also you won't need to take the bricks apart or clean up afterwards.
• These can be used on any device where you can use Google Slides!
• Never run out of bricks! Even if your students use all of the bricks included in the templates, they can always duplicate the bricks so that there are more.

TIPS FOR USE

A mouse and/or keyboard is will make this activity go more smoothly. Use a mouse or track pad for gross object manipulation, and Shift + arrow keys for fine adjustment. You can also try using a stylus on touch screens.

CHROMEBOOK and TABLET (iPAD) Users Please Read:

If you are relying solely on trackpad/touch pad or touching a screen, your students may have trouble placing the bricks precisely. For this reason, you may wish to provide either a mouse/keyboard or a stylus to help with precise positioning. This can also be done using Shift + arrow keys. The other option is to have students just do the best they can, or build the designs with actual building bricks. The bricks do not "snap" into place as this is not an app, but an activity in Google Slides.

WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT DIGITAL BUILDING CHALLENGES

"This has been a great addition to our STEM class while students are learning virtual. I have added it to my class as a choice and they kids love it! Plus--hello to working on those mouse pad skills! Great resource!"

"My students can do this digitally or can see it online and build with their own legos at home! I like the graphing "exit ticket" option!"

"This was a fun and creative way to makerspace without making a mess! Great idea!"

"Students love this. It's so much fun. It's a virtual puzzle for students."