Statue of Liberty STEM Activity Let Liberty Rise! America's 250th Celebration

Celebrate engineering, history, and patriotism with this Let Liberty Rise! read-aloud STEM lesson inspired by the book Let Liberty Rise! by Chana Stiefel.

In this hands-on Statue of Liberty STEM challenge, students design and build a pedestal strong enough to hold their own Statue of Liberty model while learning about this powerful American symbol.

Perfect for elementary STEM, reading extensions, social studies, and patriotic celebrations, this lesson is also a meaningful activity to use as you celebrate America’s 250th Birthday.

What Students Do

• Learn about the Statue of Liberty and why it is an important symbol of freedom in the United States.
• Imagine they are engineers helping Liberty rise by designing and building a pedestal for their Statue of Liberty model.
• Plan and sketch their ideas before building with the provided classroom materials.
• Test their pedestal to see if it can hold the statue and make improvements to strengthen the design.
• Reflect in writing about what freedom means to them, making this lesson a strong connection between STEM, literacy, and citizenship.

What’s Included

• Teacher instructions with suggested materials and setup ideas
• Printable Statue of Liberty model and pedestal height ruler
• Student challenge letter
• Ask, Imagine, and Plan page for design sketching
• Writing pages with the prompt “What does freedom mean to you?”
• Engineering Design Process posters
• Canva lesson slides link for easy teaching support

Perfect For

• Patriotic STEM activities
• Read-aloud extensions for Let Liberty Rise!
• Social studies and STEM integration
• Constitution Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, or lessons celebrating America’s 250th Birthday

This Statue of Liberty STEM lesson is an engaging way to help students explore engineering, freedom, and American symbols while creating a meaningful classroom activity for patriotic holidays and America’s 250th Birthday.

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