Christmas STEAM activities

Christmas is fast approaching so I decided it was time to sit down and write out our ideas for Christmas activities. I tend to try and make our activities educational whilst fun and here is a collection which covers both plus the fun of Christmas (which basically means: add glitter, and sparkly stuff)!

In the run up to the big day, we give the boys a Christmas envelope each day which holds their activity. Their elf usually has it in his hand each morning so there is great excitement to find Frazzle (yep, that's his name) and find out what they challenge they have to do!

Here are the first 6 ideas to get you started and make your Christmas fun and productive, enjoy!

Day 1: Make a fireplace and decorate the tree. This has become a big tradition in our home and is a great way to kick off the celebrations.

Day 2: Have a dinosaur disco. Put on some Christmas music and get out the tinsel. After they can draw pictures of their dinosaurs and add lots of sparkle (substitute dinosaurs for other favorites as needed).

Day 3: Make some Christmas slime. We have tried a few methods for this one and have two recommendations. One, add as much glitter as you can stomach! And two, use glitter glue as a base for the slime if you're not a huge glitter fan. The glitter in the glue is much more cooperative at staying within the slime and a little less on the children!

Day 4: Make candy cane tree decorations. These are simple but look fantastic. We used pipe cleaners and chunky red and white beads. I tied one bead to the pipe cleaner then the boys threaded more on in any pattern they wished. Once they finished, I tied the last bead around the pipe cleaner and got them to bend the tops in a curve and hang them on the tree. They actually repeated this activity most days until Christmas and loved giving them out to friends and family for their trees too.
 

Day 5: Make plastic and use it to make tree decorations. This was a great recipe using just milk and vinegar. Oh and the glitter of course! Heat one cup of milk and add 4 tablespoons of vinegar. The liquid will separate and look pretty disgusting! Sieve the mixture and collect the hard residues. Press the mixture into Christmas molds and leave them to dry. Make sure you remember to put a whole in the top of your decoration so you'll be able to hang it up. 
Once it's dried out it should be easy to push out of the mold (we used silicone molds and Christmas cookie cutters). Add a ribbon and hang them on the tree. I was asked about the smell of these once they dried as both milk and vinegar can have quite pungent aromas. Well, our experience was that once they were fully dry they left no smell behind. I will say we didn't keep them for another year so I cannot comment on their durability but for a few weeks they were great.

Day 6:  Make a circuit to light up fairy lights.
This was so much fun, both for us adults and for the boys. We had a set of fairy lights that was so tangled it was beyond repair! We cut off several of the lights and exposed the wires slightly. Next we asked the boys to roll up tinfoil into lines and then talked about how the tinfoil could conduct electricity. Next we added the lights into a circuit with the tin foil. Finally, we left a small gap suitable for a 9V battery. We allowed the boys to press the battery onto the two ends over the gap and watch the lights shine. We later added another gap where they tested many of their toys for conductibility. 

Next week I'll post more of our Christmas ideas. In the meantime if you have any problems/doubts just write us a comment. Below you'll find (affiliate) links to many of the items we used (or would like to use this year) for these activities.