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Activities
Bring Bay Area Discovery Museum flair to your classroom with these activities assembled by museum Educators. Browse below!
You can find even more activities, including instructional videos, on Bringing BADM To You!
Work as a team to build a larger-than-life version of a common household appliance through acting and improv.
Ages: 10-14+ Years Old
Children will use their whole bodies to explore the properties of common shapes.
Ages: 2-5 Years Old
Create short skits inspired by the imaginative things you can explore with a cardboard box!
All Ages
Using cardboard boxes of different sizes and shapes, construct a unique or new creation and then make up a narrative to go along with it.
All Ages
Test the ability of various robotic arms to complete a range of tasks, then design and build your own.
Ages: 2-9 years
Find ways to combine things that may not seem to fit together. Choose two different items and draw how they might be combined. This activity challenges children to practice creative thinking.
All Ages
Try this fun spin on connect the dots! In this group activity, children put several dots on a piece of paper, and then the next person connects the dots to create an image.
All Ages
Design and construct a catapult that launches cotton balls as far as possible! This maker activity helps children build creative thinking skills, such as divergent (brainstorming) and convergent (decision-making) skills.
Ages: 6-14+ years
In this activity, children create an original group dance by continually imitating the leader’s movements.
Ages: 6-14+ years
In this activity, children use a camera for a non-traditional scavenger hunt. This can be done solo or in a group.
All Ages
This two-person activity is a variation on the game of catch—with penalties for dropping the ball.
Ages: 6-14+ years
Children explore the intersection of science and art by inventing a machine that can draw as it moves. This activity helps children develop divergent thinking skills.
Ages: 6-14 years
Children will play a game to practice identifying and naming emotions. They’ll make inferences based on reading facial expressions and body language, which are crucial skills for successful social interaction and problem-solving.
Ages: 2-5 years
Tell a familiar fairytale but from a new perspective! Putting a creative spin on a well-known story helps children explore their imagination and flexibility, both important facets of creative thinking.
All Ages
Turn an abstract line into a picture—that tells a story! What will your crazy squiggle become?
All Ages
Combine different everyday substances to playfully experiment with complex chemistry concepts like relative density and solutions.
Ages: 2-5 years
Create a collaged portrait using unconventional shapes and images from magazines!
All Ages
Build a habitat for an animal or imagined creature using recycled materials!
Ages: 6 - 14 years
How is an iceberg like a cat? Search for commonalities between dissimilar words.
All Ages
Create and observe unique chemical reactions by experimenting with ice made from surprising ingredients.
Ages: 2-9 years
In this activity, children will imagine a funny situation and draw a picture to go along with it.
All Ages
This activity challenges children to use their imagination to come up with fun backstories to story prompts.
All Ages
In this activity, children stretch their imagination to invent a silly description for a cartoon.
All Ages
Create a map of your life! Identify key life moments, design symbols to illustrate these events, and create a life map to showcase the journey.
Ages: 10-14+ years
Become a human knife and fork and work in pairs to spontaneously create a “set” of two things without talking or planning.
Ages: 6-14+ years
Children work together to flip a tarp over while the entire team is still on it.
All Ages
Create a work of art using unconventional painting tools such as toy cars and wheels.
Ages: 6-14 years
Challenge children to imagine 31 different newspaper headlines to go with one newspaper photo.
All Ages
This game is like musical chairs, except you earn your seat not by sitting down before others, but by (creatively) thinking on your feet! How many things can you name?
All Ages
Try to connect nine equally spaced dots using four lines or fewer without lifting a pen!
All Ages
Generate sentences as quickly as possible in reaction to random streams of alphabet letters called word ticklers.
Ages: 6-14 years
Hunt for objects one-foot-long and create a collaborative story with them!
Ages: 2-9 years
Make a handmade puzzle using popsicle sticks, masking tape, paint, and markers.
Ages: 2-9 years
Design, build and test a ramp using cardboard and other household materials.
Ages: 2-14 years
Challenge children to make a self-portrait that shows something about them that may not be obvious on the outside.
Ages: 10-14+ years
Convince someone to “buy” something that is bizarre and has no obvious function.
All Ages
Become a real-life shadow! The goal of this activity is to follow each and every move of a partner.
All Ages
Children learn about cause and effect as they experiment with materials and containers to design, build, and play their own unique shaker!
Ages: 2-5 years
In this activity, children design and create a stamp that represents their own individual signature.
Ages: 6-14 years
Investigate what lies beneath the surface of athletic balls, then make your own!
Ages: 6-14 years
Build a freestanding tower that is as tall as possible using a deck of playing cards and other common materials.
All Ages
Use your imagination and some household supplies to turn an old towel into a creature!
Ages: 2-14 years
Can you make dirty water clean? Design, create, and test your own water filter to find out!
Ages: 6-14 years
Build a structure on a wooden board that is as tall as possible. Will your building stick when you turn it upside down?
All Ages