Sunshine and Science – Free Summer STEM Activities

Sunshine & Science: Free Summer STEM Activities for Families

Looking for simple ways to keep STEM learning going over the summer?

Sunshine & Science is a free collection of family-friendly STEM activities from Switch Classroom. Each volume helps kids explore energy at home through hands-on activities, simple investigations, and real-world questions.

Whether your family is building circuits, testing solar ovens, exploring wind, or looking at how energy is used around the house, these activities make summer learning feel practical, curious, and fun.

What Is Sunshine & Science?

Sunshine & Science is Switch Classroom’s yearly summer publication for families. Each summer, we release a new volume with fresh, hands-on STEM activities that help kids explore energy at home.

The series began with Volume 1 in 2024, continued with Volume 2 in 2025, and Volume 3 is here for summer 2026.

Each volume includes activities families can do together using accessible materials, guided questions, and links to free Switch Classroom resources. Kids can practice science, engineering, observation, data collection, and problem-solving while learning how energy shapes the world around them.

Sunshine & Science: Volume 3

Volume 3 is here for summer 2026, and it’s the most hands-on one yet.

Six labs, all built around energy, all doable with stuff already in your kitchen or garage. Kids poke holes in water bottles to test pressure, build a floating wind turbine that has to survive waves in a tub, blast cocoa powder through a shoebox to see what an air filter actually does, feed sugar to yeast and watch a balloon inflate on its own, bury warm water in soil and track where the heat goes, and calculate how efficient their electric kettle really is.

Each lab has a “Make a Guess First” prompt so kids are thinking before they test, a “Why It Works” explanation that connects the activity to a real energy system, and a “Stretch It” extension for the ones who want to keep going.

What’s in Volume 3

The six labs cover:

• Water pressure and flow (hydropower)
• Offshore wind engineering (floating turbines)
• Air filtration (indoor air quality)
• Fermentation and biofuels (yeast, sugar, CO2)
• Geothermal heat transfer (soil temperature)
• Energy efficiency (calculating appliance loss)

Beyond the labs, Vol. 3 includes an energy crossword, a word search, a riddle round, a coloring page, a summer energy bingo card, and nine conversation cards designed to spark a real dinner-table discussion about energy. No wrong answers, no prep required.

Ages 7-12, but most activities flex younger or older with a small adjustment. Great for families, summer camps, and enrichment programs looking for science content that kids can actually get their hands into. Full lab versions with data tables and analysis questions are free in the Switch Classroom resource library.

If your family or camp tries one, tag us on Instagram @switchclassroom. We’d love to see it.

Sunshine & Science: Volume 2

Volume 2 adds even more hands-on energy activities for families, with projects connected to:

• Thermal energy and insulation
• Family energy conservation
• Play-Doh circuits
• Coal mining models
• Density and energy density
• Nuclear chain reactions
• Passive and active solar energy

This volume is full of kitchen-table STEM activities, simple models, and investigations that spark conversation across all ages.

Sunshine & Science: Volume 1

Volume 1 is a great place to start. Families explore foundational energy topics like:

• What energy is and where we use it
• Home electricity use
• Mining and natural resources
• Natural gas and biofuels
• Solar energy
• Wind energy and engineering

From completing a home electricity audit to building a solar oven or testing windmill designs, Volume 1 helps families connect energy concepts to everyday life.

Keep Exploring Energy Together

Switch Classroom is a free, nonpartisan online resource that helps students and families better understand energy. Sunshine & Science is one more way to bring that learning home during the summer.

Explore the current Sunshine & Science volumes, try an activity together, and keep the curiosity going all summer long.

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Check out our Resource Library, featuring over 400 free activities on energy and the environment!