The KidWind Project is a program of Gale Force Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps teachers and students creatively explore the science, technology, and implications of a world powered by clean energy. Each year thousands of students design and test their own small-scale wind turbines and solar homes, fostering curiosity, developing STEM skills, and preparing for future careers in clean energy.
Students can showcase their wind turbines and solar homes in KidWind’s Design Competition. The Online Challenges invite students to construct and test wind turbines and/or solar homes and share the results with the KidWind community. Anyone, anywhere, can participate online.
Or students can join an In-Person Challenge, in which they work in teams to test their wind turbines and solar homes in a wind tunnel or under a solar array. Teams meet with a panel of judges to present their design process and demonstrate their contextual knowledge of clean energy. Teams can also engage in a variety of Instant Challenges to gauge their on-the-spot teamwork and problem-solving skills.
Students from around the nation can also participate in the Simulation Challenge, in which they explore wind turbine blade and wind farm design in a game-like environment. And youth from kindergarten through eighth grade across the United States can show their creative side in the thematic Energy Art Challenge. In 2026 the theme of this challenge expanded students’ thinking beyond wind to solar energy, a quickly growing industry in the United States.
To support teachers in exploring clean energy with their students, KidWind provides online videos with teaching strategies, as well as freely downloadable, NGSS-aligned activities for elementary, middle, and high school students. The activities are searchable by topic, grade level, cross-cutting concepts, and core disciplinary ideas.
In addition, free downloadable guides take students through the steps to build a wind turbine engine and help them learn how to measure the power output and efficiency of their constructed wind turbines. Plus, an annotated children’s book bibliography offers a way for teachers to combine literacy development and wind energy through stories and pictures. Some of the books introduce students to wind through investigations and observations; others through tales and myth.
KidWind will share information about the 2027 challenges in fall 2026. Also be on the lookout for the new edition of WindWise, KidWind’s award-winning wind energy curriculum, launching at the end of the year.