No Prep Christmas STEM Projects
We all know how stressful life in general can be around the holidays, now add to that a bunch of super excited kids and things can get overwhelming quickly. I’ve got you – I have some simple, super low prep STEM activities the kids are going to love! These activities use simple items that you likely have in your classroom or home (especially if you put together our No Prep Teacher Toolkit!). When you need a quick and easy activity, these are great ideas to have in your back pocket as No Prep Christmas STEM Projects and Challenges. Best of all, these are all activities that kids as to do over and over again!
Low to No Prep Christmas STEM Kids Love!
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Build the Tallest Free Standing Tree
I love this simple challenge. Each student is given 4 sheets of green paper, scissors and tape or a glue stick.
The Challenge
Using only the materials you have, build the tallest tree you can that will stand on its own.
Encourage the kids to write down their ideas and spend about 10 minutes on the design process rather than jumping right into building. Taking time to design allows the kids to think the project through and not get as frustrated.
Allow at least 20-30 minutes for build time. I love watching the kids’ creativity shine. The trees are super cute and then you can use them as classroom decorations when you’re done!
Related Project Idea – try Marshmallow Towers
Build a Sleigh for Santa
Another simple paper challenge! Give the kids 4 sheets of paper, scissors and tape or a glue stick (In my opinion tape works better for this challenge because it helps add stability).
I wrapped classroom blocks in red and green paper for the gifts to test the designs.
The Challenge
Build a sleigh for Santa using only the materials you have. Remember that a sleigh has runners underneath so it can glide in the snow and not get stuck. Your sleigh must be up off the ground and be strong enough to hold at least five of Santa’s gifts.
Allow for design time and 30-40 minutes of working time.
The sleigh is a little trickier than the trees and may require more working time. Once the sleighs are built, have the students test loading the gifts onto the sleigh. You can further the challenge by seeing who’s sleigh can hold the most weight. Watching the kids hold their breath as you pile on the presents is so much fun!
Check out our Bridge Building STEM Challenge for tips on building with paper.
Pixel Art Project
We all know how much kids love games like Minecraft that use pixels to create images and games.
What is a Pixel?
A pixel is like a tiny dot of color on your screen, and when you put a bunch of them together, they make up the pictures you see on your digital devices. Each pixel can be a different color, and their arrangement and shading work together to form images, kind of like a digital mosaic. The more pixels you have in a screen, the clearer and more detailed your picture looks!
Pixel art is a fun and easy project to do with your students on their school devices using a program like Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers. Setting the column and row length and height to form a square you have a blank pixel sheet that the kids can create with by simply using the fill tool to add color.
You can let the kids have free reign over this project or you can give them a guide to follow to reveal a picture.
This is a great lesson in understanding placement within the rows and columns in the program.
I have linked 3 pixel art project guides and a pixel blank. I created these with Google Sheets. To assign to your kids, you will need to make a copy.
Pro Tip! Explain how a comma between rows means each of these squares gets filled and a dash means that you fill everything between those letters. So if the guide says Row 18 I,J,L-Q Green that means that they will need to fill I, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q with green. These projects are great to have on hand all year long!
Google Sheets Pixel Art Guides
Static Electricity Ornaments
We have all seen static electricity at work with on our hair if you rub a balloon and hold it close to your head. You can use static electricity to make a beautiful ornament. No glue or other adhesive needed, just a little science. The glitter will stick to the inside wall of the ornament with the help of static electricity!
All you need is some clear plastic fillable ornaments, ribbon and glitter.
Put some glitter into the ornament and shake. Add a ribbon and you are done!
The Science
When we put glitter into the ornament and shake it up, the plastic surface and the glitter particles both become charged with static electricity.
It is because plastic can gain or lose electrons as they come into contact with each other. When the plastic shell and glitter are shaken an electron transfer occurs. This creates an electrical charge imbalance. The plastic might become negatively charged, while the glitter particles become positively charged. Then it’s all about attraction, the two oppositely charged objects attract each other. The negatively charged plastic and the positively charged glitter particles are attracted to each other. The smooth inside of the ornament will have a slight electrostatic charge which will let the glitter particles stick to it.
This is a great lesson and a Christmas gift for parents!
Binary Code Christmas Ornaments
Using binary code to create Christmas ornaments the kids can take home is a really fun project and it just takes some pipe cleaners, beads and a binary code sheet to make it happen! You can grab a free binary code sheet here.
What is Binary Code?
Binary code is the way a computer understands what it needs to do by using the code for reading and relaying information. Think of it as a game of red – green light. We know that when we hear “red light” we stop and when we hear “green light” we go – the computer understands the different sequences of numbers and converts them to language. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a series of zeros and ones.
Directions
To make the ornaments, have the kids choose a word related to the Christmas season like, JOY, HOHOHO, NOEL, SANTA. Then have them choose a color to represent zeros and a different color to represent ones. Show them how to follow the chart to string the beads onto the pipe cleaners. After the binary code is complete, bend the pipe cleaners into an ornament shape. Add a ribbon and the binary code ornaments are done.
Discover more Binary Code ideas.
Other Low Prep and No Prep Christmas Ideas
Bring some geometry to your lessons this season with these festive, no prep paper STEM ornament projects.
Explore symmetry by having kids make snowflakes using paper, q-tips, pipe cleaners, or craft sticks. Discover this idea in our Snow Day Project Ideas.
Tinsel Toss is a fun and festive catapult project for the holidays. Don’t want to use tinsel, replace it with cotton balls and turn it into a snowball toss games! Or try a fun Snowball Catapult project.
Create fun and festive marble mazes using things like Candy Canes, Christmas Mints or Legos for a quick and fun no prep Christmas STEM challenge.
And don’t forget our 24 Days of Christmas STEM Challenges!
I hope these ideas relieve a little of your holiday stress and add back in some of the joy and excitement for the season! Happy Holidays!
