Food coloring,1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp corn starch, 2/3 cup corn syrup, 1 tbsp butter, a pinch of salt, 1 cup H2O and holiday flavoring like peppermint are all you need for a slimy treat this holiday. Young (supervised) chefs can combine the ingredients in a saucepan and bring them to a boil. Once the mixture reaches 250 degrees it needs to be removed from the heat source. Let it cool 20 minutes. After making sure it's cool, butter your hands and start pulling! Next stop--tasty slime!
Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your head and watched as the balloon and your crazy hair discovered electricity together? Well, tinsel likes static electricity too! Have your child practice their bow tying skills on some tinsel, rub a balloon on their heads and then see how the tinsel and balloon instantly attract. (You'll also have a great lead-in to the science behind static electricity!)
Have your handy helper fill a mason jar with water. Then pour the water into a pot and bring it to a boil. Add a box of salt until the salt reacts to the heat and water and crystallizes at the top. Make sure the pipe cleaners are ready and have your scientist twist red and white pipe cleaners into a candy cane shape. Once the salt has crystallized pour the water back into the jar and place the pipe cleaner candy cane in it. Let it sit for a few hours in a sunlit area. Pretty soon your candy creator will have a crystal cane to show all their fellow scientists!
Your painter will get all bubbly over this crazy way to paint the inside of a clear globe ornament! Have your artist use pipettes to drop in the acrylic paint of their choice and then add baking soda, dish soap and copious amounts of vinegar. It may start to fizz and bubble, but that means it's working! After the foaming stops, dump out the liquid inside the ornament. It's an abstract masterpiece! (If desired, mix glitter into the mixture early on so the ornament really sparkles!)
Bring out your metal odds and ends. You can help young mechanics test their dexterity as they use bolts for tree trunks, nuts for boughs and washers to keep them in place! Your skilled tree-maker can make a whole metal forest for fun!
Math activities are amazing especially when they are edible! A tangram is a Chinese puzzle made up of seven shapes. They are made to resemble various shapes (many are triangular). Find your best hard sugar cookie recipe and prepare to bake! Your chef-in-training can help you decorate them in bright greens and reds. After they've baked see what intriguing geometric forms your math-minded puzzler can create. When they are done, they can eat them! Yum!
Create a simple christmas tree cutout for young crafters to decorate! Write numbers 1 through 4 as ornament place holders on your tree. Make a color by number key. Then allow your young decorator to use dot markers with corresponding colors to dot the tree with the right corresponding colors (by number)!
This is the raw egg drop challenge with a Christmas twist! Have your experimenters take a raw egg, place it in various materials they think will disrupt Newton's theories (cushion the fall), place it in a box and finish it off with some pretty Christmas wrapping! Drop the gift wrapped egg from at least eye level and hope that the yolk won't be all over your scientists!
This simple math-inspired experiment tests your math genius' power of deduction. Have them play Sherlock as they determine how quick Santa needs to be to get to all the kids in the world! Paper and pencil for figures, a sack with a few toys in it and some theorizing and testing are all thats required to allow your mathematician to explore the possibilities!
Get your binary chart out! This simple project uses Christmas colored beads, pipe cleaners, and binary code to create ornaments that send a message in code. Form a fun shape, check your chart and use the colors of the beads to represent the binary message. It's a simple craft that can literally read "Merry Christmas"!
A felt cutout Christmas tree with cutout tiny holes for Christmas lights to poke through and a mood lamp box are all you need. This activity may require a little tinkering and programming, but for savvy scientists and adults, it could definitely be a fulfilling experiment! Push the lights through the holes and you have a colorful Christmas tree, without the messy pine needles!
Where would Santa be without his sleigh? Help your crafty kid keep the spirit of Christmas alive by allowing them to make a super sleigh for Santa. Have your engineer use egg carton sleigh seats, popsicle stick sled runners and Legos as Santa impersonators, and you've got a fun Christmas project to welcome Santa in your midst!
Any Grinch would be green with envy at how simple this activity is! A bottle of green glitter glue, water, 1 tsp borax powder and a crafty chemist who knows how to stir and combine is all it takes. First, they mix warm water and glue together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, they stir the powder and 1/2 cup of water together. Once the Borax is fully dissolved into the water, your Christmas explorer pours it into the glue/water mixture. Wait sixty seconds--instant Grinch slime!
There are so many ways to celebrate the holidays with experimentation!
13 Christmas STEM Activities
Christmas STEM projects help the inner scientist come out of all of us during the holiday season. With a variety of eye-catching and engaging STEM activities, you can make your scientific young scholar get excited about experimenting during the holidays These Top 13 STEM activities will put their left brain through a fun and festive workout.