As the spirit of the holiday season takes hold, children often get distracted, looking at twinkling lights or at the softly falling snow—anywhere but at their teacher! We know that it's tough to stay on task during these last couple of weeks before the holidays. Thankfully, a few of our favorite EdTech tools have dropped off some gifts in the form of festive activities. These winter STEM projects should add a little more magic into your learning, igniting kids' curiosity while celebrating the holidays.
Coding in a Winter Wonderland
Even if you live in a warmer environment, the Root Adventure Pack: Coding in a Winter Wonderland kit can help you set a snowy scene. While exploring the Winter Wonderland map, up to four Root Robots will encounter snow-capped pines, penguins on icebergs, cozy gingerbread houses, and more. And, because nobody wants to spend the final weeks leading up to your winter break writing new lesson plans, you can easily download Winter Wonderland activities from iRobot's website.
To practice coding, kids can start out by trying the Scattered Snowman activity. In pairs, each student can decorate and hide their snowman's paper snow gear—hat, scarf, and carrot nose—around that mat. Then, the players can navigate their Root to specific squares to find the gear, like a wintery version of Battleship! They could take turns until all the snow gear has been discovered. Or, kids could also engineer a bulldozer attachment for their Root in the Marshmallow Sweep activity. Children can decorate a paper plow for their robot or construct a building block sweeper to use with the Root Brick Top attachment. Whether they are collecting paper marshmallows or actual ones, this engineering challenge helps reinforce valuable STEAM skills like design thinking.
Deck the Halls with Glowforge Projects
Remember cutting out paper snowflakes as a kid? Now, you can step up your snowflake game using these Glowforge 3D laser printers. Replicate those childhood crafts by having students carve various snowflake designs into plastic or wood, and string those up around the classroom. Glowforge printers are compatible with hundreds of different materials, so you can tailor the project to the students' skill levels and grade. It's the perfect way to spread holiday cheer while empowering students to display their own work.
If snowflakes aren't the vibe, maybe you'll use the Glowforge machines to cut out a snowman ornament or engrave holiday scenes into the tops of sugar cookies. No matter how your class employs 3D printing this season, you'll make magical memories while sneaking in some last-minute holiday STEM learning.
Dashing Through the Snow
Wonder Workshop's smiling Dash Robot also loves to celebrate, so incorporating its enthusiasm into the holiday season works perfectly! One of the Dash's most versatile features is this ability to play back voice recordings. Teachers could have kids record themselves singing carols and telling holiday stories like The Night Before Christmas. Then, they can program the Dash to play back recordings on a certain cue, like the sound of a clap. In doing so, students get to practice coding while having some festive fun, and it's easy to adapt this activity in non-STEM subjects like English, theater, or music.
For something a little more active, you can set up a Dash snowball fight with the Launcher accessory. Its Launcher attaches to the Dash's rear wheels, showing students how simple machines, like levers, function. Usually, the Dash Launcher throws the Ping-Pong-sized balls included in the kit. But for the holidays, kids can launch cotton balls, crumpled up paper, or anything else they can make into a snowball. While children play, they can compare how far snowballs of different materials travel to learn more about wind resistance and gravity. They could also test their engineering skills as they try to knock down targets such as building block towers. For further ideas, grab your Dash and check out Wonder Workshop's set of printable winter STEM activity packets.
Rockin' Around the Squish-mas Tree
Lights are everywhere during the holiday season—lining roofs, draped across bushes, and shining through windows. Kids will surely be curious about them, so you could harness their interest with this lesson about electronics using some Squishy Circuits materials. Children can mold the safe conductive dough into any festive shapes they can think of, like the snowman below. Along the way, they can add the included LEDs, buzzers, and other accessories to make Frosty come to life!
Of course, snowmen aren't the only seasonal shape available. Students could craft sparkling snowflakes, a Rudolph with a glowing nose, or even a dough menorah with LED candles! Meanwhile, they will be learning all about electronics and using their innate ingenuity to create circuits that really work.
Light Up the Night with Chibitronics' Circuit Stickers
Like those Squishy Circuits kits, the Circuit Stickers from Chibitronics also enable children to safely create their own circuits. However, using stickers instead of dough means that applying these circuits looks a little different. All students have to do is connect their LED stickers with conductive tape. Chibitronics also has a wealth of winter STEM activities to choose from, like this adorable light-up card!
Kids could also make gift tags that stand out using LED lights or decorative garlands that flash in holiday colors. All of these Chibitronics projects are an easy way to connect STEM to students' real lives outside the classroom. They will see how useful science can be for their everyday activities and create wonderful memories with their families and friends as they exchange delightful gifts.
May-king Holiday Memories
For some, the best part of the holiday season is the amazing food. Sugar cookies, latkes, peppermint bark, sufganiyot, and more treats cover tables all around the world at this time of year. The Mayku FormBox can help spruce up your dessert line-up with intricate holiday-themed molds. It is as easy as finding or making an object, and then placing it onto the bed of your FormBox. The machine then creates a sheet of material around the shape to form a mold, which children can fill with dozens of different materials. In this case, we recommend filling it with chocolate for a custom dessert!
One Mayku FormBox user made several molds to craft this reindeer music box and Yule log xylophone. Beyond that, kids could make a mold for an ice dreidel, a set of cookie cutters, or a chocolate Christmas tree (with candy ornaments)! If you can't make food in the classroom, students can also design and craft molds in school to bring home.
Happy Holidays!
If you are looking forward to winter break, we totally get it—everybody needs time to rest. In the meantime, we hope these holiday STEAM activities brighten up those short winter days. Whether you're working with a 3D printer or a set of circuits, your students are in for a special treat. To show us how you're celebrating the holidays with STEM learning, follow and tag us on Twitter/X or Instagram! You can also subscribe to our newsletter to discover additional STEAM news and activities directly in your inbox. And don't forget about our holiday gift to you: our monthly EdTech grant.
