Programs & challenges
Curated programs & challenges resources within engineering for curious kids and their grown-ups.
← All Engineering resources
55 resources · Programs & challenges
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Official NASA JPL videos about robotic exploration, Mars rovers, planetary missions, space technology, and skywatching.
ESA CanSat
The European Space Agency CanSat program challenges teams to design, build and launch a soda-can-sized satellite, then collect and analyse mission data.
The Tech Interactive
A family-friendly science and technology center with hands-on exhibits, experimental labs, design challenges, and youth engineering programs.
Sick Science!
Hands-on science experiments and STEM ideas from Steve Spangler for families, educators, and science enthusiasts.
NASA JPL STEM Activities for Families
A NASA JPL collection of family STEM activities spanning engineering, science, technology, computer science, mathematics, rockets, space missions, and design challenges.
Canadian Space Agency Crew-13 Activities
The Canadian Space Agency Crew-13 activities page gathers official space games and classroom or home activities, including Mission: Astronaut, Future of Food, K–12 ISS materials, Tomatosphere, astronaut cutouts, and live space links.
FIRST LEGO League
A guided robotics and STEM program where children build, code, collaborate, and solve real-world challenges.
KID Museum
A hands-on maker museum with coding, robotics, engineering, electronics, woodshop, textiles, and design challenges.
Morris Museum Spark!Lab
A Smithsonian invention workspace where children ages 5 to 12 imagine, design, test, and improve ideas.
NASA eClips YouTube
NASA eClips videos connect students and educators with NASA missions, scientists, engineers, and classroom-ready STEM ideas.
NASA For Students Grades 5–8
NASA’s middle-grade collection organizes current challenges, space and Earth science stories, games, builds, videos, interactive experiences, and stargazing activities for grades 5–8.
UT Austin Academy for All
UT Austin Computer Science offers a free residential summer academy for rising high-school seniors, combining Arduino or Python/AI projects with teamwork, campus life, and technology-career exploration.
MIT Museum Learning Lab
Hands-on science and engineering activities using microscopy, imaging, and real museum demonstrations.
Putnam Museum Science in Action
Interactive science exhibits and engineering challenges exploring motion, energy, magnetism, circuits, gears, and more.
Space to Learn Home Education Workshops
National Space Academy’s Space to Learn page offers free UK Space Agency-funded home-education workshops with hands-on student masterclasses, rocket-design challenges, and take-home resources for families.
Coding with Kids
Coding with Kids provides live online and in-person classes, camps, school programmes, robotics, engineering, game design, Python, Minecraft modding, and age-progressive coding and AI projects for children and teens.
National Children’s Museum Learn
National Children’s Museum’s learning hub brings together K–5 field trips, hands-on programs, a children’s STEAM podcast, short STEAMwork activity videos, and environmental-science virtual field trips.
Science Friday Try This
A free archive of hands-on science and engineering challenges that help kids investigate real-world questions through experiments and making.
NASA JPL Education Overview
An official overview of NASA JPL’s education mission, audiences, K-12 content, STEM resources, and family-facing space learning.
Challenger Center STEM at Home
A NASA and Challenger Center collection of adaptable science, technology, engineering, and math lessons for home learning, spanning Earth science, chemistry, forces, Mars, and the solar system.
NASA For Students Grades 9–12
NASA’s high-school collection connects students with STEM challenges, career spotlights, interactives, NASA+, Artemis activities, podcasts, and space-science projects.
CodingTeading
CodingTeading is a nonprofit education group that shares free browser-based coding and AI programmes, from early block coding and no-reading puzzles to game making, science, maths, and AI exploration.
StarCode
A free robotics and coding environment that lets children build robot programs with blocks and move toward Python, C++, and Java on web, desktop, Android, and Chromebook.
ESA Education YouTube
The European Space Agency’s education video hub offers space-STEM explainers, experiments, student mission documentaries, expert interviews, and behind-the-scenes learning videos.
KID Museum Invent the Future Expo
KID Museum’s Invent the Future Expo showcases young people’s creative technology and making projects, encouraging children and teens to imagine and build solutions to real-world challenges.
ESA Back to School Student Space Projects
The European Space Agency’s teacher page presents student projects including Astro Pi, Moon Camp, and CanSat to inspire classroom space and engineering learning.
ESA Education
The European Space Agency’s education portal shares space-science projects, classroom activities, student opportunities, and STEM stories connected to ESA missions.
COSI: Center of Science and Industry
COSI is a science center with hands-on exhibits, family learning, educator programs, and science experiences designed to make discovery active and approachable.
Spaghetti Structures
A Science Museum Group engineering challenge where learners build a tall, strong tower from spaghetti and marshmallows while exploring structure and design.
Mark Rober
Engineering builds, science demonstrations, problem-solving, and curiosity-driven experiments from former NASA engineer Mark Rober.
Solve It! for Kids
A science and engineering podcast that introduces children to real scientists, engineers, and experts, then invites listeners to tackle a problem-solving challenge of their own.
NASA Join the Artemis Mission to the Moon
NASA’s official Artemis learning page offers ways for students and families to make, launch, compete, and learn about the missions returning humans to the Moon.
FIRST Resource Library
FIRST’s resource library connects teams, families, educators, and young people with STEM, robotics, teamwork, and challenge resources across FIRST programs.
Fort Worth Homeschool Family Science Club
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History’s Homeschool Family Science Club offers hands-on science sessions for children and an accompanying adult, with engineering, animal adaptations, and chemistry themes.
ExplorationWorks
A hands-on science center in Helena with interactive exhibits, early-childhood programming, family events, and science learning for children and families.
Arludo
A free STEM platform where children ages 8–12 explore science through learning islands, experiments, games, challenges, scientist stories, and career pathways.
EDC IDEAS Maker Program
Education Development Center’s IDEAS project is an inventing, designing, and engineering maker program for students and informal STEM learning.
Cooper Hewitt Design Field Trips
Cooper Hewitt’s design field-trip information introduces students to design thinking and museum-based learning through guided visits and activities.
FIRST LEGO League Technical Resources
FIRST LEGO League technical resources support teams with robot-building, programming, engineering design, and challenge-season guidance.
MadaTech Summer-Tech
MadaTech’s Summer-Tech programme offers daily summer workshops for children in grades 1–6, combining museum-based experiments, technology, and hands-on STEM activities.
FIRST Program Options
FIRST offers age-banded team robotics programs that introduce children and teens to engineering, programming, design, collaboration, and competition.
VisualModder
A free browser-based coding environment where children program inside Minecraft Java using drag-and-drop blocks and Python.
What Is the Space Launch System? (Grades 5-8)
NASA’s grade 5-8 explainer shows how the Space Launch System works, how its rocket stages support Artemis missions, and which careers help build and operate it.
FIRST LEGO League Family Engagement Resources
FIRST LEGO League family-engagement resources help adults support teamwork, confidence, curiosity, and children’s participation in robotics challenges.
The Engineering Family
Family-friendly engineering and science videos with experiments, builds, challenges, and explanations for curious children.
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum Virtual Field Trips
PreK–12 virtual programs bring trolley history, electricity, technology, engineering, and Pennsylvania history to classrooms in 30–60 minute sessions aligned with Pennsylvania Core Standards.
QwikXR
A browser-based coding platform where learners explore 3D worlds through Blockly, JavaScript, and Python simulations, with ready-made missions and remixable projects.
RoboNinja
RoboNinja is a free student-built guide to competitive robotics, with self-paced lessons in building, CAD, programming, engineering notebooks, and interactive simulations.
Sphero Robotics Missions
Sphero Robotics Missions are age-banded robotics challenges for indi, BOLT, RVR, and the Sphero Robotics Competition, combining programming, engineering, and hands-on robot work.
Discover Coding
Discover Coding offers hands-on and online coding programs from block coding through Python, Minecraft, web, app, 3D, and design projects.
P3 Robotics & Coding Programs
P3 offers age-banded robotics and coding tracks including RoboKIDS, RoboKIT, Scratch, Python, and Young AI Makers.
The Lab Singapore
The Lab is a Singapore technology school offering progressive coding, robotics, AI, LEGO, Python, and Unity programs for children and teens.
Loop
Loop is an Israeli technology education provider with age-banded coding, robotics, web development, app development, Arduino, and entrepreneurship programs.
Bricks 4 Kidz Calgary Robotics & Coding
Bricks 4 Kidz Calgary offers LEGO robotics and coding programs using WeDo, micro:bit, Scratch, SPIKE Prime, and Mindstorms challenges.
Snapology Alpharetta Programs
Snapology Alpharetta offers playful STEM classes including Junior Builders, coding, robotics, FIRST LEGO League, gamebots, and invention challenges.