Engineering and Coding for Kids!

Stem Education and Maker Blog

Free Courses from MakeCrate

Hand Washing Timers

Stay safe and clean during the pandemic with these different ways to time your hand-washing.

Build an LED Message Machine

Learn to write messages that scroll with an LED matrix

Build a Morse Code Reader

Learn to send and interpret Morse Code

Visualize Resistance in Action

Watch how various levels of resistance change behavior in your circuit.

Build a Color Changer

Watch how colors mix by coding a red-green-blue LED.

Serial and Parallel Circuits

Learn the differences between serial and parallel circuits.

lights and sounds engineering subscription project

Build an Optical Theremin

Build a musical instrument that uses light to control sound.

Drag and Drop Coding

Learn to use a drag-and-drop coding editor.

Latest Blog Posts

Ultrasonic Sensors and Arduino

Ready to learn how to use ultrasonic sensors and arduino? Ultrasonic sensors are devices that use high-frequency sound to measure distances. One part of the sensor emits quick, high-pitched clocks that bounce off of objects in front of the sensor, while another part...

LCDs and Arduino

Looking to use LCDs and Arduino in your projects? Use this guide to learn how to build and code and LCD and Arduino circuit. Use this diagram to wire your LCD and get it ready to test. Before you can get your LCD running, you need to find it's address. ...

Science Resources for Teaching at Home

Looking for some science resources for teaching at home? We can help! our list of online science resources includes a wide variety of formats to help out any middle and high school learners. From fully online curriculums to video libraries, we've got a...

Math Resources for Teaching at Home

Looking for some math resources for teaching at home? We can help! our list of online math resources includes a wide variety of formats to help out any middle and high school learners. From fully online video curriculums to printable worksheets, we've...

Keypads and Arduino

Want touse keypads and Arduion to create some projects? We can help you get started. Use this diagram to wire your keypad and get it ready to test. Using the code below will print the buttons that you push to the serial monitor. If you don't know how...

All About Sound Sensors

Sounds sensors allow you to create circuits and machines that respond to sound. In this tuorial, you'll learn how they work as well as how to build and code a circuit that uses one. Find out how a sound sensor works in this video tutorial. Build a simple sound...

All About Photoresistors

Photoresistors are used to control circuits by makng them reactive to light. Find out how they work, as well as how to build a circuit that includes one and some code to run the circuit in this quick lesson!Photoresistors are designed using materials that react to...

All About Buzzers

Looking to build a project that includes some buzzers? Here's everthing you need to know about them- how they work, how to build a circuit that includes them, and how to write some code to turn them on and off. What happens inside an buzzer to create sound? Find out...

LEDs and Arduino: An Introduction

Learn to use LEDs and Arduino with this tutorial! LEDs are used in all kinds of engineering and coding projects. Here you can learn how they work, as well as how to build a circuit and write code to get them working. Get started with this STEM project today! What...

Profiles in STEM: Christina Koch

On February 6, 2020, Astronaut Christina Koch landed on the ground in Kazakhstan in the Soyez space capsule, returning from a record-setting 328 days aboard the International Space Station. Koch's stay on the ISS began on March 14, 2019 and continued through...

Valentine’s Projects to Make You LOVE STEM!

Valentine's Day is a great time to get kids excited about STEM. STEM engineering and coding projects can be used to combine holiday cheer with science, technology, engineering, and math to inspire kids' love of all things STEM. Check out these great STEM projects for...

STEM Project Based Learning Outcomes

Project-based learning is where students gain knowledge and skills by investigating and responding to authentic, engaging, and complex questions, problems or challenges. It’s a teaching method you’ll often find in classrooms, homeschools and learning centers, and -...

Low Cost Alternatives to After School Coding Camp

Parents can spend up to $1,000 a month on after school coding camps, hoping to instill the life-long value of STEM skills in their children. We get it: learning STEM is important, and we think that being exposed to coding as early as possible makes for a...

$5 STEM Fun!

STEM is for everyone! And it doesn't take too long or too much money for your kiddos (or you!) to learn essential skills in science and engineering. We pulled together three projects that don't take too much time or cash - and still give you a fun time,...

5 ways to get tech into your homeschool classroom

Take a Field Trip Take virtual field trips to the cultures, times and places you’re learning about in your current curriculum. Have students do independent research on a home computer, compiling photos and information, and maybe even have them teach YOU what they’ve...

Test your Astronaut Knowledge!

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, test your knowledge of astronaut and space history.

Making Screentime Productive

Making Screentime Productive There are lots of articles that discuss why screen time is bad for kids, and explain how much screen time is good for kids, as well as tools for limiting it. Out-of-school time creates more time for parents and students to argue about...

Taking STEM on the Road

Taking STEM on the Road Are you hitting the road this summer? Road trips are a mainstay of summer time! Traveling to new destinations, combined with lots of time in the car, allow for lots of opportunities to keep minds active and engaged while you are on the road. ...

Summer STEM Fun!

Summer has arrived, and somehow everyone’s already bored or sucked inside of a television. Panic has set in and you’re wondering how to keep little minds learning, growing and occupying themselves with constructive creativity. Well, you’re in luck - Here’s our Summer...

Makerspace Essentials

According to John Spencer, co-author of Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student, a makerspace is “...simply a space designed and dedicated to hands-on creativity.” When we think of a makerspace, we think of an area in...

What is a Maker?

We talk a lot about “makers” at MakeCrate, and if you’ve been wondering what a “maker” is, it’s time to learn all about Maker Culture! Definition: A maker is a person (or thing) that makes or produces something. When we talk about makers, we’re referring to kids &...

Profiles in STEM: Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler is deemed to be a visionary among futurists, according to CNN’s Emanuella Grinberg. During a time in the latter half of the 1900s when the realm of science-fiction writers was dominated by an industry of mostly white dominated writers and she rose to...

Fact from Fiction: Real Inventions from Science Fiction

Some of our great modern inventions were born years ago in the minds of creative writers and artists. Learn about the ways that science fiction has impacted our reality. Cell phones Cell phone technology inventor Martin Cooper credits his inspiration...

Women in Space: Milestone Achievements

Here at MakeCrate we have a particular fondness for women in STEM. After all, our founder is a woman. We also have a fondness for space. Because SPACE! So we thought it’d be fun to put the two together and celebrate just a fraction of the records,...

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