Step 1: Find Your Skill Level
There isn’t really anyone disputing the fact that problem-solving is and will continue to be a super skill that all kids should have.
But how do we measure what problem-solving skills our kiddos have and where to start? We’ve got you covered!
What problem-solving skills do I have?
In order to help you with this head scratcher, we’ve created a roadmap of problem-solving skills and levels in what we call our
STEAM Monsters

Each monster represents certain levels of skills to work toward to gradually make your way from a step-by-step follower to independent thinking and implementation.
Take the Quiz to Find Your Monster
❗ Parents: These questions get progressively more difficult (that’s the whole point). If they cannot answer one, just click “Next” to move on. But please ask them each questions because they may surprise you.
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0 – 12% Slog
Skills to focus on
- Imagination
- Curiosity
Slog has lots of friends and enjoys doing practical jokes and blaming farts on them. But he relies on them to solve his problems. He is uninterested in learning new things and is not curious about the world around him. He is often frustrated in situations requiring creativity.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Slog: imagination and curiosity.
EASY Autumn Leaf Activities and Tracing Page
Autumn! Don’t you just love those brilliant leaf colors? I sure do! It is definitely my favorite season. Plus it …
Read MoreDinosaur Stomp Outdoor Activities for preK-5th
Dinosaurs! I swear that the biggest words my son knows are those huge dinosaur names that I can’t even pronounce! …
Read MoreAct Like an Insect – Action Dice
Flutter like a butterfly. Buzz like a bee. Kids are endlessly fascinated by insects so lets be a little more …
Read More -
13% – 27% Lorson
Skills to focus on
- Finding sources of unbiased knowledge
- Observation
- Patterns
- Details
- Big picture
Lorson is a somewhat curious monster that loves to read books about zombies and undead princesses. He is interested in solving problems and learning new things but relies on answers from the internet. He is known to become very frustrated when answers don’t come easily.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Lorson: finding sources of unbiased knowledge and observation.
EASY Autumn Leaf Activities and Tracing Page
Autumn! Don’t you just love those brilliant leaf colors? I sure do! It is definitely my favorite season. Plus it …
Read MoreiNaturalist – easy Citizen Science for Kids
Imagine you are out and about on a family adventure. Suddenly one of the kids finds a crazy cool bug …
Read MoreGlobe at Night – Citizen Science
When you go outside at night and look at the stars, what do you see? Do you see the great …
Read More -
28% – 50% Bimmy
Skills to focus on
- Creativity
- Removing thought boundaries
- Finding inspiration
Bimmy wants to solve her own problems but struggles to find solutions. She can solve them but it takes a lot of hard work and usually involves banging her head against a rock. She is somewhat curious and creative and can sometimes have original thoughts and ideas. She tends to look for already established solutions to problems.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Bimmy: creativity.
DIY 3D Hand-drawn Pictures – FUNctional STEAM
This activity will be part of our book FUNctional STEAM: 25 Real World Activities for Problem-Solving Kids! We are bouncing-on-our-toes …
Read MoreiNaturalist – easy Citizen Science for Kids
Imagine you are out and about on a family adventure. Suddenly one of the kids finds a crazy cool bug …
Read MoreGlobe at Night – Citizen Science
When you go outside at night and look at the stars, what do you see? Do you see the great …
Read More - Creativity
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51% – 61% Cookie
Skills to focus on
- Asking useful questions
- Defining true limits
- Predicting outcomes
Cookie likes to solve her own problems, but sometimes struggles to do so. She is curious about how things work and often takes things apart to find out what’s inside. She is always looking for new ideas and can be creative in the right circumstances like when writing a story or drawing a picture.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Cookie: asking useful questions, defining true limits, and predicting outcomes.
Candy Catapult Challenge
The days after Halloween are always filled with candy. You eat all the good stuff and have a pile that …
Read MoreCircuit Puzzle – FUNctional STEAM
This activity will be part of our book FUNctional STEAM: 25 Real World Activities for Problem-Solving Kids! We are bouncing-on-our-toes …
Read MoreWhat Makes a Rainbow? Activity + St. Patrick’s Day Coloring Page
If I told you that little bearded men dressed in green were guarding untold wealth under a bridge of refracted …
Read More -
62% – 80% Forley
Skills to focus on
- Isolating variables
- Identifying assumptions
- Designing a test
- Collecting data
Forley can solves his own problems but the results are inefficient and lack sophistication. He is very creative and uses that creativity to come up with new inventions. When faced with a problem, he generally looks to improve existing solutions as opposed to creating new ones.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Forley: isolating variables, identifying assumptions, designing test, and collecting data.
Candy Catapult Challenge
The days after Halloween are always filled with candy. You eat all the good stuff and have a pile that …
Read MoreCircuit Puzzle – FUNctional STEAM
This activity will be part of our book FUNctional STEAM: 25 Real World Activities for Problem-Solving Kids! We are bouncing-on-our-toes …
Read MoreMud Brick Mania – FUNctional STEAM
This activity will be part of our book FUNctional STEAM: 25 Real World Activities for Problem-Solving Kids! We are bouncing-on-our-toes …
Read More -
81% – 94% Woopa
Skills to focus on
- Analyzing information and data
- Improving your own experiments and designs
Woopa is a great problem solver. She uses creativity in all of her solutions and inventions. She is always looking for more knowledge and finds inspiration for ideas everywhere. Her thinking skills mostly applied to problems and projects at work and school, but are sometimes forgotten at home or play.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Woopa: analyzing information and data and improving your own designs.
Candy Catapult Challenge
The days after Halloween are always filled with candy. You eat all the good stuff and have a pile that …
Read MoreMud Brick Mania – FUNctional STEAM
This activity will be part of our book FUNctional STEAM: 25 Real World Activities for Problem-Solving Kids! We are bouncing-on-our-toes …
Read More -
95% – 100% Thalley
Skills to focus on
- Working as a team
- Collaboration with outside people, groups, and organizations
Thally is an excellent thinker using her skills at home, work and play. She comes up with creative, efficient, and innovative inventions and designs. She is a multidimensional thinker where she applies what she learned in one place to a different place. She is continually pioneering new techniques and solutions to problems.
Step 2: Find an Activity
Now that we’ve decided on a skill level, let’s do an activity! These are all focused on the basics skills we are building for the level with Thally: teamwork and collaboration.
Candy Catapult Challenge
The days after Halloween are always filled with candy. You eat all the good stuff and have a pile that …
Read More
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- Review
- Answered
- Correct
- Incorrect
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Question 1 of 22
1. Question
Take one minute to draw an original alien on a blank piece of paper. Try to make it as unique as you possibly can. After the minute is over, answer the next 3 questions about your drawing.
When you’ve finished your drawing, select the alien ship below then click the “Next” button to move onto the next questions.
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Question 2 of 22
2. Question
How many human-like features does it have? Mark all that apply.
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Question 3 of 22
3. Question
How similar is your alien to something you have seen before in movies, books or toys?
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Question 4 of 22
4. Question
What was the inspiration of your alien drawing?
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Question 5 of 22
5. Question
Alright we’re all done with the alien questions. You can send it on back to the mothership!
Next question: How creative do you think you are?
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Question 6 of 22
6. Question
How comfortable are you coming up with a new story?
These don’t have to be stories you are writing. This can just be stories you come up with in your head or make believe when you play with your friends.
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Question 7 of 22
7. Question
In what areas in life are you able to create original ideas, stories, or works of art? Mark all that apply.
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Question 8 of 22
8. Question
In what areas do you read books, watch videos, or take classes for fun? Mark all that apply. *Please note that fictional books, movies or classes do not count as they are for entertainment and not to increase your knowledge.
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Question 9 of 22
9. Question
When you are playing and you find something new or something you don’t understand, what do you do?
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Question 10 of 22
10. Question
Please rate your desire to learn or try new things.
Sometimes we don’t realize that we are “learning”. Learning could include taking local and online classes, watching how-to youtube videos, following social media accounts that put out mostly educational content, or listening to educational podcasts (Wow in the World, Smash Boom Best, Science Vs, But Why, etc).
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Question 11 of 22
11. Question
What is the first thing you do when you have a new idea?
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Question 12 of 22
12. Question
When you are attempting to fix your computer that keeps crashing and turning off, how often do you check to see if you have fixed the problem?
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Question 13 of 22
13. Question
Jim has an idea for a new invention. His idea is to create a robot that will brush his teeth, freeing up his hands to comb his hair while his teeth are being brushed. What should he do with his idea? Write down the next steps you would take with your idea.
When you’ve written down all your ideas, select the robot below and click the “Next” button to move onto the next question.
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Question 14 of 22
14. Question
Based on your answers to the previous question about Jim’s new idea, mark all the answers you included on you sheet of paper.
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Question 15 of 22
15. Question
You are growing a garden but have noticed that your plants are not growing as tall as expected. And once it is time to pick the vegetables, you notice that they are smaller than normal. You want to figure out what happened so you can have a better garden next year. On a separate piece of paper, design an experiment to find out what is wrong and how to have a better crop next year.
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Question 16 of 22
16. Question
Which of the below answers were part of your garden experiment. Mark all that apply.
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Question 17 of 22
17. Question
You wake up one morning and find that the television will not turn on. What would YOUR process be to find out what is wrong? On a blank piece of paper write down ALL steps that you would complete before calling a professional.
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Question 18 of 22
18. Question
Look at the answers you wrote down on a piece of paper and mark all that YOU included:
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Question 19 of 22
19. Question
Maria is attempting to fix her Xbox. Below are the steps she took in attempting to fix the problem. She was not able to find the problem and ended up using her Xbox as a target for her potato gun.
- She checked to see if it was plugged in to the wall: It was
- She checked the chord to make sure it was not damaged
- She opened up the unit and could not find any broken or burned up parts
What mistakes did Maria make when attempting to fix her Xbox? Write down all the mistakes you can see before moving on to the next question.
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Question 20 of 22
20. Question
Look at your answers for Maria’s mistake fixing her Xbox and mark all that you included in your answer.
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Question 21 of 22
21. Question
You design the world’s first thingamajig. It is a combination fork and hairbrush. You quickly build one and test it out. It works fine but easily breaks while brushing thick hair. What is your next step?
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Question 22 of 22
22. Question
You have a favorite drone. It had a few problems but you were able to fly it anyway. Now your sister played with the drone without asking, and you can’t get it to fly at all! What is your first step to fixing the drone?