Trial-and-error learning is super important for kids because it’s how their brains naturally learn best—by trying something, noticing what happened, adjusting, and trying again. It builds both thinking skills and confidence.

Here are the biggest reasons it matters:

1) It builds problem-solving skills.

When kids experiment and make changes, they learn how to:

- identify what went wrong

- figure out why it happened

- try a new strategy

That’s real-life problem solving—not just memorizing answers.

2) It teaches perseverance (“don’t give up”).

Trial and error helps kids learn:

- mistakes are normal

- effort matters

- improvement takes practice

They start to think: “I can’t do it yet… but I can keep trying.”

3) It strengthens brain connections.

Every time a child tries, fails, and tries again, their brain is:

- making connections

- strengthening memory pathways

- learning what works and what doesn’t

This is one of the best ways to create deep learning.

4) It builds independence.

Instead of always depending on adults for the “right answer,” kids learn to:

- trust themselves

- test ideas

- make decisions

That leads to stronger confidence and self-control.

5) It encourages creativity and innovation.

If kids aren’t allowed to try and fail, they stop being creative. Trial-and-error teaches that:

- there can be many solutions

- it’s okay to experiment

- new ideas are welcome

This is huge in STEM, art, writing—everything.

6) It helps kids learn from mistakes in a healthy way.

Kids who experience safe failure learn:

- mistakes are information (not embarrassment)

- errors help you improve

- failure doesn’t mean you’re bad at something

That mindset protects self-esteem.

7) It builds “real world” learning skills.

In real life, adults don’t get answer keys. Trial and error is how we:

- learn new jobs

- solve problems at home

- fix mistakes

- invent new things

So, kids who practice trial and error early are better prepared later!

We have been working on building roller coasters in our classroom as we study force and motion in science.  

We build the roller coasters using the foam pipe insulators cut in half lengthwise.

I grabbed these from my local hardware store.  I got 12 packs for my classroom, and it was more than enough for my 7 teams.  We also needed rolls of masking tape and marbles!

We focused on one element each day and the kids built roller coasters for each element.  

We needed to give each team an area of the room to use for the construction of their roller coasters each day!

Seeing the way each element impacted the speed of the marble really helped them understand different concepts.  I have a couple of packs in my tpt store that we used!  Click the pictures to check out each pack!

Both of these packs helped us with lab sheets and vocabulary words!

Check out the bulletin board display in our classroom!

Having the vocabulary words up helped with our class discussions as well as giving support as students completed their lab sheets each day!

What do you use to teach force and motion concepts?

Looking for something fun and challenging to do on   National STEM Day on November 8, 2025?  Why not try this challenge?

All you need is 20 toothpicks and 25 marshmallows for each team!  The large marshmallows work best for this challenge, but you could also use the small ones!

We practice for about 10 minutes, then we spend 25 minutes building the marshmallow towers.  The towers need to be free-standing, they cannot lean on anything!

Materials can be found at your local dollar store or grocery store!  I plan on grabbing 3 bags of marshmallows and two boxes of toothpicks for my own classroom!

This is the perfect day to get engineering!

Can your students make the longest paper chain using just one sheet of 9 x 12 construction paper?

This seems like a simple and easy STEM challenge and in some ways, it is one of the easier ones we complete.  It can be a challenge, though!

The best STEM challenges often use the easiest to find materials.  For this one you need a sheet of 9 x 12 construction paper for each student, some scissors, and tape or staplers for groups to share.  Here are all of our chains!

This challenge took us about 45 minutes to complete.  The kids were so focused on it!

These are some of the chains that were created by my students this year.  Our longest chain had really wide loops and was over 11 feet long!

The kids could use any size and width of chain they wanted to use for the challenge.

We talked about the different chain lengths and the different reasons why some chains were much longer than others.

This is a challenge that may be fun to do later in the year!

If you are looking for some fun and easy challenges, you may want to check out my World Record STEM Challenges pack!

Which STEM challenges have you tried already this year?

Growing a lima bean is something that completely WOWS my students every single year!  They are completely fascinated by the process of seed growth, and it really is quite amazing.

Click here to check out this pack!

We use a sandwich size plastic bag, a wet paper towel, and 3-5 dry lima beans.

We leave our bags open just a little and hang them on a bulletin board inside the classroom.

My classroom has NO windows, but the artificial light is enough to get those beans sprouting in 5-7 days.

I spray some water into each bag after about 3-4 days.  They kids are always so surprised that a plant can out of a dry bean.

This is one of those "simple" experiments we used to do many years ago.  My kids today are so excited about doing this lab!

We opened our bags today and the kids chose their BEST sprout to plant into a small clear cup with potting soil.  If they had other good sprouts they could gift them to classmates who needed a better sprout, or they could take them home and plant them.

Here are some of our sprouts!  The lima beans will grow throughout the month.  Kids will either take them home at the end of the month or we will plant them in our school garden.

Why not try growing something in your classroom?

Have you ever tried to make a life-sized squirrel?  It is tougher than it looks!

While this is a January STEM challenge, we are reading Flora and Ulysses, so this one worked perfectly!

All you need is some white bulletin board paper and squirrel measurements.  You should have students look these different measurements up on-line.

There are lots of parts you can measure on a squirrel!

There are different types of squirrels you can use for this challenge!

Measurements are included in the file for each of these types of squirrels.  

 

Look at all of those squirrels in the picture above!

Kids had a great time with this one.  It was a lot harder than they thought it would be and they got to do some measurement!

You can check out this STEM challenge by clicking here!

Squirrels are EVERYWHERE around us right now.  Why not learn a little more about them?

Are you looking for some things to do during the first week or month of school to get your kids working cooperatively and learning to recover from failure?  These 3 STEM challenges may be just what you are looking for this year!  Click here to check out this pack in my tpt store!

This pack has three different challenges.  They are:

- Personalized Name Card

- Paper Crayon Carrier

- Team Drawing

You can also buy these challenges separately, but the bundle will save you money!

These challenges are a great way to get your kids thinking right away!