2 Ways to Willy Wonka your STEM Activities this Valentine’s Day

STEM Activities Coated in Chocolate.

Looking for STEM Activities this Valentine’s Day? Do your students love chocolate? If yes, then we have a treat or 2 for you.

Willy Wonka is one of our most loved engineering designers in popular culture today. If we were to peer inside his factory there would be so many amazing opportunities to teach engineering design and create engaging STEM activities for our students. Before I get lost in daydreaming about layers of wafer-thin chocolate and soft centres I am going to share 2 FUN STEM-inspired Valentines Day tutorials with you.

#1 STEM Activities for Kids – Design and Make Your Own Chocolate Box!

In our first Live Design session of the year, Glenny D shows you how to make a chocolate box including chocolates of different shapes, while I try to NOT eat the chocolates (SPOILER ALERT: I can’t resist!!) A big shout out to Cocoa Nibs for our case study! Too good to resist! https://www.cocoanib.com.au

What do you need?

For this tutorial, you will need a splat, a ruler, some pencils and your paper.

Watch the video below as we show you how you can design your own box of Valentines’ Day chocolates in isometric view. You can create whatever kind of chocolates you like – the only requirement is they must look DELICIOUS!

Think! What flavour, shape and texture would your chocolates be? Would they all be the same?

LIVE Session – Full Tutorial

Once you have the design you can follow the steps to create the “3D effect” or isometric view of the chocolates. This will help your designs jump off the page. What colours will you use when you begin to colour them? Follow along in the video below and don’t forget to send us your designs! We LOVE seeing you implement our Design Challenges for Kids Videos in class and at home so keep sending them to us to feature on our socials!

#2 STEM Activities for Kids – Design Your Own Chocolate Machine

Here is our latest guided drawing and design engineering video “The Chocolate Factory” where Glenny D explains some simple engineering concepts required to start your own chocolate factory. Your students can draw along and create their own version of a chocolate machine. Plus, you’ll love the simple mechanisms featured in this video.

What supplies you will need?

Your students will need a splat, a ruler, some pencils and your paper.

WATCH Full YOUTUBE Tutorial

Weekly LIVE Session & “DESIGN SCHOOL FOR TEACHERS” Facebook Group

Finally, we will upload videos and go live every Monday and Thursday in 2022. For additional support and sharing of ideas amongst like-minded STEM teachers, The Design School for Teachers Facebook Group also has an open zoom chat at 9:30 am Mondays and 4 pm Thursdays, AEST. We really love feedback and are always keen to hear from you.

You can join our private Facebook group here! https://www.facebook.com/groups/designschoolforteachers

Until next week, happy designing!

Kylie & Glenn