This week, kids will become Community Designers by exploring their neighborhood through the eyes of urban planners, engineers, architects, and community leaders.

This week, kids will become Nature Detectives by exploring a local park, neighborhood, backyard, or outdoor space. Together, you'll practice looking closely, asking questions, and making observations about the living things around you.

In this engineering challenge, kids will design a space lander that protects a passenger during a landing. Through testing and redesigning, students will explore how forces like gravity and drag affect motion and how engineers use creativity, experimentation, and problem-solving to overcome challenges.

Did you know the sun provides the energy that powers nearly all life on Earth? In this activity, kids will design and build a simple solar oven using household materials to investigate how sunlight transfers heat energy. They can even use it to make s’mores! 🍫

Have you ever seen a maple seed spinning through the air like a tiny helicopter? In this activity, kids can create their own paper “helicopters” inspired by real maple tree seed pods — also known as “helicopter seeds.”

Big feelings are a normal part of growing up — and sometimes, it can be hard for kids to find the words to express exactly how they feel. In this fun and creative activity using materials found at home, kids will create “emotion masks” that help explore feelings through art, color, imagination, and conversation.

In this challenge, kids will become engineers and see how tall of a tower they can build using only simple materials. There is no single correct answer—every tower will be different!