If your kids love camping, outdoor adventures, building things, and hands-on learning, they are going to have so much fun with this Camping STEM Challenge printable pack. These camping-themed STEM activities combine creativity, problem solving, engineering, and imaginative play in a way that feels exciting and playful instead of “school work.”
This printable pack is packed with fun camping STEM challenge ideas that encourage kids to think like engineers while designing tents, bridges, canoes, sleeping bags, maps, and more.
It’s perfect for summer learning, camping units, homeschool activities, classroom STEM centers, scout groups, or rainy day indoor fun with an outdoor theme.
I love STEM activities like these because kids naturally start experimenting, testing ideas, solving problems, and improving their designs without even realizing how much they are learning. The camping theme makes the whole pack feel extra fun for summer, and the open-ended nature of the challenges means kids can get really creative with their ideas.
Whether you are planning a camping theme for preschool, elementary school STEM lessons, or just looking for screen-free summer activities, this printable pack of camping STEM activities is an easy way to keep kids engaged and thinking creatively.
How to Use These Camping STEM Challenge Printables
These camping STEM challenge cards are designed to be simple and flexible to use. You can print the whole pack and let kids work through the challenges one at a time, or pick specific activities that fit your lesson plans or available supplies.
Use them indoors or outside at the campsite as outdoor stem activities.
Each challenge card includes a camping-themed engineering task along with suggested materials kids can use to build and test their ideas.
Most of the materials are simple household or classroom supplies like craft sticks, tape, cups, cardboard, paper, foil, pipe cleaners, and cotton balls.
Kids can work independently, with siblings, in small groups, or as part of a classroom STEM center. The recording pages included in the pack help children plan, sketch, test, reflect, and improve their designs just like real engineers.
These activities work especially well for summer camps, camping units, homeschool STEM lessons, classroom enrichment, maker spaces, scout meetings, and indoor camping theme activities.
What’s Included in the STEM Camping Challenge Pack?
The pack includes 10 different camping themed stem challenges, and 6 recording pages. Here’s a preview of them below….
Build a Tent
In this challenge, kids design a tent that can stand on its own and protect campers from the wind. This activity encourages children to think about structure, stability, and strong shapes while experimenting with different building materials. Kids can test which designs hold up best and improve their tent after each try.
Keep It Dry
This challenge asks kids to create a waterproof cover that keeps a paper camper or pretend camping supplies dry. Children can test different materials to see which ones repel water best while learning about waterproofing, absorbency, and problem solving through experimentation.
Campfire Safety Ring
Kids build a pretend campfire safety ring designed to keep the campfire area contained. This challenge introduces important camping safety ideas while also encouraging engineering and design thinking. Children can explore how shapes and barriers help create safe spaces.
Creek Crossing Bridge
In this bridge-building challenge, kids design a bridge that helps campers cross a pretend creek. They can experiment with balance, strength, weight distribution, and different building methods while testing how much weight their bridge can hold.
Flashlight Stand
This activity challenges kids to design a stand that can hold a flashlight or paper flashlight upright. It’s a great way to encourage creative engineering and stability testing while working with everyday classroom materials.
Animal Safe Food Storage
Kids create a food storage container designed to keep pretend camping food safe from animals. This challenge encourages children to think about containers, lids, security, and real-world camping problems in a fun and imaginative way.
We are headed to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg this summer and I’ve heard this is something you definitely have to consider in that part of Tennessee! Challenges like this teach children to think smart about these practical issues.
Canoe Float Challenge
In this STEM activity, kids build a canoe or boat that floats and can hold weight.
This is such a fun challenge for summer because kids love testing their boats in water and seeing how many pennies or small objects they can hold before sinking.
Related: Sink or float science activities.
Sleeping Bag Insulation
This challenge asks kids to design a sleeping bag that helps keep a camper warm at night.
Children can explore insulation materials and compare which supplies work best for trapping warmth and creating cozy designs.
Campsite Map
Kids create a campsite map that shows where important camping areas should go. This activity combines creativity, planning, organization, and spatial thinking while encouraging children to imagine their own perfect campsite setup.
Related: Coffee Painting Treasure Map Craft
S’mores Solar Oven
This fun challenge invites kids to build a simple solar oven that uses sunlight to warm a pretend or real s’more. It’s a great introduction to solar energy and heat absorption, and it feels extra exciting because it connects STEM learning with camping treats.
A pizza box is a great material to use for this, you can make a pizza box solar oven or challenge the kids to find another suitable material during your camping trip.
STEM Challenge Recording Pages
As well as having fun doing the challenges, kids can benefit a lot from recording their obserations and findings, so we have provided a few different pages for this.
STEM Recording Page 1
This recording sheet gives kids space to write their challenge name, make a plan, draw their design, list materials, test their project, and reflect on what they learned. It works well for independent STEM activities or classroom use.
STEM Recording Page 2
This page follows the engineering design process with sections for asking questions, imagining ideas, planning, creating, testing, improving, and explaining results. It’s perfect for helping kids think through each stage of their STEM challenge.
STEM Recording Page 3
This simplified recording page gives children space to write the challenge name, list supplies, sketch their design, and evaluate how well their project worked. It’s especially useful for younger kids.
STEM Teamwork Page
This page is designed for group STEM activities and includes spaces for team members, challenge ideas, plans, designs, testing notes, and team jobs. It’s great for classrooms, camps, or cooperative learning.
STEM Reflection Page
Kids can reflect on their experience by writing about the hardest part, the best part, what they changed, what they would do differently next time, and why their design worked. Reflection activities like this help strengthen critical thinking and communication skills.
STEM Rubric Page
The printable rubric page helps teachers, parents, and students evaluate planning, building, testing, teamwork, and improvement skills. It’s a helpful addition for classroom STEM units or homeschool portfolios.
Download the STEM Camping Challenges PDF
You can download the free Camping STEM Challenge printable pack below and start building, testing, designing, and exploring with your kids right away.
These printables are easy to prep and work for a wide range of ages depending on how much support children need. Younger kids will enjoy the creative building and imaginative camping theme, while older children can dive deeper into engineering, testing, and improving their designs.
This pack is such a fun way to combine outdoor adventure themes with hands-on STEM learning during the summer months. Kids get to create, experiment, solve problems, and think critically while having fun with exciting camping-inspired activities.
More Camping Activities for Kids
If your kids enjoy this printable pack, be sure to check out more camping activities for kids including camping crafts, pretend campfire ideas, nature scavenger hunts, camping coloring pages, and indoor camping fun for summer.
Camping-themed activities are such a fun way to encourage imaginative play, outdoor learning, and family bonding while keeping kids engaged and creative.
- S’Mores Camping Craft
- Handprint Campfire Craft
- Free Printable Camping Taboo Game
- Fun Roll a Story Printable (Camping Theme)
- Free Printable Camping Coloring Pages for Kids
More STEM Activities for Kids
We also have lots more STEM activities and printable engineering challenges for kids to explore. From building challenges and science experiments to coding worksheets and creative maker projects, there are so many fun ways to encourage hands-on learning at home or in the classroom.
We do have many more coming asap in the same format as these camping challenges.
These STEM printables are perfect for helping kids practice critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and problem solving through playful learning experiences.
And we also have a bunch of other fun STEM activities to enjoy
- Popsicle Stick Catapult STEM Activity
- LEGO STEM Activities for Preschoolers
- Pot of Gold Science Experiment
- Hot and Cool Colors outdoor Science Experiment For Summer
- Easy Forest School Activity: Building Mini Rafts with Kids
If you enjoyed these Camping STEM Challenge printables, please share this blog post with friends, family, fellow teachers, or on Pinterest to help more kids enjoy these fun summer STEM activities too!