FREE Pollinator STEM Challenge | Design a Bee & Butterfly Habitat | K–3

Looking for a low-prep, hands-on STEM activity that connects science, engineering, and nature?

This FREE Pollinator STEM Challenge invites students to design and build a bee and butterfly habitat while learning why pollinators are essential to our ecosystem.

Perfect for STEM centers, Earth Day, spring science, early finishers, or sub plans, this activity encourages creativity, problem-solving, and real-world environmental awareness.

What Students Will Do

Students will:

• Learn why pollinators are important
• Plan and sketch a pollinator-friendly habitat
• Design a structure that includes food and shelter
• Test their ideas and reflect on improvements

There is no single right answer, making this an inclusive and engaging engineering challenge for all learners.

What’s Included

✔ Pollinator STEM Challenge introduction

✔ Planning & design sketch page

✔ Build, test, and checklist page

✔ Reflection & improvement page

✔ Teacher tips & extension ideas

✔ NGSS alignment page

Black-and-white version for easy printing.

• Grades: K–3
• Time: 30–45 minutes
• Prep: Low prep / simple materials
• Format: Printable PDF

Great for:

• STEM bins & makerspace
• Science notebooks
• Earth Day & Pollinator Week
• Cross-curricular science + art lessons

Standards Alignment

This activity supports:

• NGSS K-LS1-1: Living things have different needs
• NGSS 2-LS2-2: Plants depend on animals for pollination
• ETS1-1: Engineering design