STEM Foundations (1st)
Kid Spark’s 1st Grade STEM Foundations lessons help students apply and extend their understanding of how things move and stay strong. Students explore stability, symmetry, measurement, and composing shapes, and use creative problem solving as they invent solutions to design challenges. These hands-on experiences strengthen reasoning, creativity, and collaboration while preparing students to think and work like inventors in Storytime Inventing lessons.
Included Curriculum:
9 Lessons
Minimum Time Commitment:
5+ Hours of Curriculum
Grade Level:
Pre-K - 1st
Lessons
Explore the Lab
In this lesson, students will explore and interact with Kid Spark engineering materials to learn how blocks connect, come apart, and form original designs. Students will build foundational STEM fluencies such as observation, spatial awareness, and collaborative problem-solving.
How to Invent
In this lesson, students will learn a simple design and engineering process: think of a problem, imagine a solution, and invent a solution. Using the Kid Spark Early Inventors STEM Lab, students will explore how inventors solve problems and design their own invention.
Build Tall and Wide
In this lesson, students will build tall and wide towers and test how steady they are when pushed. Then, they’ll invent their own tall structure using Kid Spark engineering materials and make the base strong enough to keep it standing.
Build with Symmetry
In this lesson, students will learn about symmetry by completing half-built designs and creating a “funny face” using the Kid Spark Early Inventors STEM Lab. They explore how being the same on both sides creates balance and order in structures, nature, and art.
Make Things Strong
In this lesson, students will build STEM skills as they explore what makes a truck strong. They will use the Kid Spark Early Inventors STEM Lab to build a long-bed truck, test how the bed reacts to pressure, and add reinforcements—just like engineers designing trucks to carry heavy loads.
Make Things Move
In this lesson, students will explore how parts like wheels, axles, and hinges make things move. They will test each part, see how it changes movement, and then invent their own design that moves. Students will reflect on how engineers use these parts to solve real-world problems.
Measure Height
In this lesson, students will build a measuring tool and practice using it to measure the height of three designs. Then, they’ll invent their own design using the Kid Spark Early Inventors STEM Lab and use their tool to measure it—just like engineers who use precise measurements every day.
Compose Shapes
In this lesson, students will explore how 3D shapes—like cubes and rectangular prisms—can be used to build new designs. They will compare 3D shapes to flat (2D) shapes, compose shapes to make new structures, and create two different designs using the same blocks.
Invent a Solution
In this lesson, students will practice being inventors by identifying a problem, imagining a solution, and creating an invention using Kid Spark engineering materials. This lesson serves as a checkpoint to see how students apply the problem-solving steps they have learned.