A STEM centre bin is a great tool for students to use as the activities within are creative, interesting, and thought-provoking. Students will discover and explore, learn how to solve problems, think critically, and act as engineers to build various things. This bin is great for “kinesthetic learners, spatial learners, and logical learners” (Brown, 2017). STEM bins are on the more expensive side as Science materials are the most expensive. There are activities within this bin that have materials that can be homemade and printed from the internet, making up for the expensive materials used for Science. Materials that will be in this bin are playdough, straws, engineering structures task cards, magnetic wands, magnetic exploration tray, and magnifying glasses.

Students can use pattern blocks to copy and create animals or objects that are shown on the pattern sheets. Students will have to be creative and use their spatial awareness skills. This activity incorporates Engineering and Math.

Playdough and straws can be used to build different structures. Students will use their hands to roll balls of playdough that will then be used as connectors for straws. Students will have to think ahead and think critically about what kind of structure they want to build and how many playdough connectors and straws they will need. Students are able to cut straws and have different sizes of playdough balls for their structures. Engineering structures task cards are included in the bin to help spark students ideas about what to build. These task cards include real-world structures to help students visualize realistic structures. This activity incorporates Engineering and Math.

Students can use magnetic wands and a magnetic exploration tray (Levin, 2018) to learn about magnetic objects and their properties. They can further explore by using a magnifying glass to compare and check out the objects close-up. This activity incorporates Science.