Learning how to collaborate and work as a team is essential in STEM.  These activities are designed to help build communication and problem solving skills--plus, they're fun!

Flip the sheet:
Break students into groups and then have them take turns standing as a team on top of a twin sized bedsheet.  The objective is to flip the sheet over without anyone stepping off of it and without speaking!

Blind building:
Everyone needs a partner for this one.  With their partner out of the room, give Partner A a toy made of Legos.  They must disassemble the toy and write instructions for how to build the toy.  When they are done, Partner B must reassemble the toy using only the written guide created for them by Partner A.

Hula hoop pass-through:
Have everyone stand in a circle and hold hands.  The hula hoop should be over one person's arm before they grab hands.  The object is to get the hula hoop to travel around the circle without letting go of any hands.  For an added competitive element, split the group into two and see which group can pass the hula hoop the fastest!

If you try any of these activities, we would love to hear how it went!  Comment below with any other great team building ideas that we should try.

Your hand is amazing!  Think of all things it can do.  You can pick up and hold things, play an instrument, turn off the lights...the list goes on!  The website Science Buddies has a bunch of great experiments that you can make at home or school.  Try out this experiment from their website to see if you can create a robot hand that can do one of the things your incredible hand can do!

Meteors come from comet particles and bits of broken asteroids.  When comets pass by the sun, they leave debris trails.  Every year, the Earth passes through these, and when it does, the pieces of debris collide with the atmosphere and create fiery streaks in the sky.  This is known as a meteor shower.

The Perseids are perhaps the most spectacular meteor shower of the year.  The meteors get their name from the constellation Perseus, which is where they appear to visibly emanate from.  The meteors don't originate there; they just appear in that section of the sky.  Perseids often leave long streaks of light behind as they soar through the atmosphere.  You can often see between 50 and 100 meteors an hour during this shower!

The Perseids peak in mid-August, but are visible in the sky until about September 1st.  In fact, the best time to watch the Perseids is tonight!  Starting around midnight, the moon will set, leaving a dark sky in the perfect condition to watch the show (if the weather cooperates, of course).  The best time to watch the Perseids is generally in the pre-dawn hours, but it is sometimes possible to view meteors from this shower as early as 10 PM.

Rube Goldberg Machines are chain-reaction contraptions designed to complete a simple task in a complicated and impractical way.  They are named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg who often drew cartoons of people performing simple activities in complex (and often impossible in real life) ways.  Challenge your friends or family with this fun Rube Goldberg inspired activity.

Objective: Turn off a light

Materials (These are all suggestions.  Challenge players to think of supplies they think might be useful.): Aluminum foil, cardboard, water bottles, paper towel tubes, books, cans, dominoes, string, marbles, golf balls, batteries, small motors, cups, Lego blocks, buckets, sticks

Activity: Create a Rube Goldberg device that uses at least ten chain-reaction steps to turn off a light switch.  Take a video testing your device and share it with us!

Here's a hint that might help if you're running into difficulties.  More complex or small and fiddly parts of your machine should usually go toward the beginning.  It's generally much easier to reset the first part of a complicated machine than the end of it.

Check out this video by the band OK Go to see an awesome example of a huge Rube Goldberg Machine!