4 Christmas STEM Activities
Christmas is one of my favorite times of year, especially in the classroom. With all the jolly excitement in the air, I like to capitalize on students’ positive energy and bring Christmas into our learning. One of the best areas to incorporate Christmas is STEM. Christmas STEM activities are perfect activities to get some hands on learning each week, or to use during classroom parties!
Activity 1: Building a Zipline Sleigh
Students will love designing and creating a zipline sleigh. Students will practice engineering and display an understanding of forces while they create a sleigh that can protect Christmas presents while shooting down a zipline.
Materials Needed
Popsicle sticks
tape
construction paper
5 straws
4 paperclips
Instructions
Present background information on sleighs and sleds.
Introduce the challenge of building a zipline sleigh capable of protecting Christmas presents.
Pass out supplies to students.
Give students time to plan and build their sleigh.
Test each sleigh and lead students in a class reflection.
Benefits
Students get to practice the engineering process while collaborating with their classmates.
Activity 2: Coding Candy Canes
Overview
Allow students to practice coding while also making a cute and simple Christmas tree ornament. This step-by-step experience allows students to create a secret coded message on their candy cane!
Materials Needed
Pipe cleaners
Pony beads
Instructions
Present the slide show to give proper background information on candy canes.
Pass out supplies and the coding worksheet, which gives the proper binary codes for different letters.
Allow students to build their candy cane codes and share their secret messages with their friends. Can they decode their neighbor’s candy cane?
Benefits
Students will gain a better understanding of how binary code, the basis of all computer coding, works.
Activity 3: Polar Bear Shelter
Overview
Polar bears like to be cozy, who doesn’t? Help build them a shelter for the winter!
Materials Needed
Sugar cubes
Powdered sugar & water
Paintbrush
Polar bear cut-out
Instructions
Present background information on polar bears.
Introduce the challenge of building a polar bear shelter that can completely cover the polar bear.
Pass out supplies to students.
Give students time to plan and build their shelter.
Test each shelter to make sure it will fit the polar bear and lead students in a class reflection.
Benefits
Students get to practice the engineering process while collaborating with their classmates.
Activity 4: Stack a Christmas Tree
Since toddlerhood, everyone has loved attempting to build the tallest tower. Put a holiday spin on this classic by using cups to create the tallest Christmas tree tower possible!
Materials Needed
Plastic cups
Construction paper
Instructions
Present background information on towers.
Introduce the challenge of building the tallest tower that can hold as many “ornaments” (crumpled construction paper) as possible.
Pass out supplies to students.
Give students time to plan and build their tower.
Measure each tree and count how many ornaments it can hold. Lead students in a class reflection.
Benefits
Students get to practice the engineering process while collaborating with their classmates.
Grab yours here!
STEM is such an important field for our students. The amount of STEM jobs that will be available to them in the future is growing daily. Give them a dose of Christmas and STEM fun with these awesome activities!
Make them yourself or save yourself some time by grabbing our bundle here! Each STEM activity comes with:
An inclusive slideshow that will walk your students through each step.
A student planning sheet
Teacher directions
Completion certificates for students.
You can even check out our STEM Mega Bundle that includes:
4 Halloween STEM challenges
4 Christmas STEM challenges
4 Valentines STEM challenges
4 St. Patrick’s Day STEM challenges
4 Easter STEM challenges
Don’t wait! Bring STEM into your classroom today!
