Kids love treasure hunts and a fun, yet surprisingly practical summer project allows them to design and build a magnetic-field detector and use it to find hidden magnets with students.

With Inspector Detector Challenge kids (grades 3-8) build their detectors using the engineering design process, applying a variety of science concepts, and learning how a planet’s or moon’s magnetic field gives NASA scientists insight into its structure and formation. It’s something that your class can create using their own hands to link to the greater cosmos!

You can also use this series of videos from Design Squad Nation and the accompanying toolkit, developed in collaboration with NASA, to stoke the creativity, curiosity and analytical thinking of your students, who are the engineers, scientists and astronauts of tomorrow!