STEM Kits

Participants jump through a course from the grapefruit-sized "Sun," past poppy-seed-sized "Earth," and on to marble-sized "Jupiter" - and beyond! By counting the jumps needed to reach each object, children experience first-hand the vast scale of our solar system.

Using a strip of paper, patrons construct a quick scale model of the distances between the objects of our solar system.

In How Big? How Far? How Hot?, library staff facilitate these sorting activities in large or small groups, with patrons from Pre-K to adult. These simple and engaging activities introduce younger patrons to concepts such as size, distance, and temperature, and allow older patrons to explore these concepts further. They are excellent engagement activities for learners to begin thinking about our place in space. Also use these cards to have participants sort them in their own categories for critical thinking.

NASA Science Mission Directorate education objectives support the Nation's education efforts to improve science literacy and to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. One institution that can accomplish both of these outcomes, for people of all ages and in every region of the country, is our public library system the central focus of the NASA@ My Library project.

In the STEM Activity Clearinghouse, librarians and library staff can find high quality, vetted STEM activities that are appropriate for library use.
You can search by audience, content level, and difficulty, among others. You can also browse collections that we've curated just for you! Almost all the activities in the Clearinghouse have pictures or videos of real libraries doing these activities. Activities developed outside the STAR_Net Project will include tips and tricks for implementing in your library, and will link you back to the original source content so you can explore more.