Five Fun Holiday STEM Activities to Do With Your Kids

The holidays are the perfect time to blend festive fun with learning. While the kids are home from school and the house is filled with the warmth of the season, why not turn those cozy moments into opportunities for creative exploration? These holiday-themed STEM activities combine the magic of Christmas with hands-on learning experiences that will keep curious minds engaged and entertained.

So grab some construction paper, marshmallows (and a healthy dose of patience) and let’s dive into some festive STEM fun.

3D Christmas Tree

Materials Needed:

• Green construction paper (or white paper with green crayons)
• Colored crayons (color pencils, markers, etc.)
• Scissors
• Tape

Concept: Build a Christmas tree out of multiple pyramid shapes

Estimated Time: 30 minutes (minimum)

Instructions:

1. Start by drawing a square and equal triangles on each square edge on the green construction paper
2. Use your crayon colors to draw ornaments throughout the triangles that will be on the outside of the pyramid
3. Use the scissors to cut the construction paper along the outside edge of the triangles
4. Fold the green construction paper along the edges of the square into pyramid shapes of a size of your choosing. (The smaller the pyramid, the more difficult it will be)
5. Tape the free edges of the triangles to their adjacent triangle edges 
6. Repeat steps one through four at a minimum of four times. Try to keep the pyramids the same size
7. Stack the folded pyramids as high as you can

For an easier variant, use cube shapes in place of pyramids.

STEM Concepts Highlighted:

• Deconstructing complex shapes into their component shapes
• Spatial reasoning
• Construction process
• Statics analysis of structures

Gingerbread House

Materials Needed:

• Gingerbread house kit
• Candies for decoration
• Icing or hot glue (if you are not interested in eating it later)
• Patience

Concept: Build a house out of gingerbread

Estimated Time: 1.5 hours

Instructions:

1. Start by unboxing your gingerbread house kit
2. Decorating the panels and roof with the candies of your choosing. (I recommend gumdrops, sprinkles, icing, green and red M&M’s, and candy canes.)
3. Use the icing to “glue” the wall panels to the base and to each other. Let the icing sit to “glue” the panels together
4. If the panels do not stay together, reapply icing and hold them in place until they begin to set.
5. If the icing continues to fail as an adhesive, use a hot glue gun to secure the panels. (Optional step.)
6. Attach the roof panels to the walls using either icing or hot glue.
7. Attach the chimney to the roof if your kit has a chimney
8. Create a chimney from the following activity and attach it to the roof with the toothpicks

For the gingerbread bridge variant, use the gingerbread kit to create a bridge to span between two objects, like cookbooks.

STEM Concepts Highlighted:

• Construction process
• Icing as a bonding agent through water evaporation
• Balancing the walls or shoring the walls to stabilize them while the icing dries
• Load-bearing walls that support a roof
• Problem solving

Gumdrop Chimney For Santa

Materials Needed:

• Gumdrops
• Toothpicks
• Small marshmallows

Concept: Create a chimney for Santa to use on Christmas. There will need to be a continuous hole from top to bottom to fit Santa.

Estimated time: 10 minutes

Instructions:

1. Use the toothpicks to attach the gumdrops in a regular shape. (Triangles or squares are easiest)
2. Repeat step one
3. Use the toothpicks to create an elevated story
4. Repeat steps two and three as many times as you can
5. Use a small marshmallow to act as Santa and drop him from the top or chimney
6. Optional: Place your chimney on a sheet of construction paper. Take one end of the paper and shake it back and forth. This is a great simulation of an earthquake’s force on structures

STEM Concepts Highlighted:

• Gumdrops act as nodes in the structure
• Compression in the lower levels of the chimney
• Construction process
• Spatial reasoning
• Considering outside forces that could act on a structure
• Statics analysis of structure

Marshmallow Snowflakes

Materials Needed:

• Marshmallows (any size)
• Toothpicks

Concept: Build a snowflake structure 

Estimated Time: 10 minutes

Instructions:

1. Attach the marshmallows together with the toothpicks and various shapes
2. Continue adding toothpicks and marshmallows to create new and unique snowflakes

STEM Concepts Highlighted:

• Determination of shapes
• Identification of acute and obtuse angles
• Symmetry and asymmetry in nature
• The marshmallows act as nodes for the snowflake structure
• Patterning and spatial reasoning

Silence the Jingle Bells

Materials Needed:

• Bells of any size
• Material you think will help silence the bells

Concept: Help Santa be stealthy with his sleigh by silencing his jingle bells.

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Instructions:

1. Grab anything you think might help silence the bells and use it to try and silence the bell
2. Shake the bell and see how you did
3. If your bell made sound determine how it was able to make the sound
4. Determine a new plan to reduce the sound that was capable through your previous design

STEM Concepts Highlighted:

• Creativity
• Scientific process
• Analysis of design
• Dampening sounds
• Identification that sounds is vibration

Bonus: Popsicle Stick Snowball Catapult

Materials Needed:

• Popsicle sticks 
• Three rubber bands
• One Plastic spoon
• Small Marshmallows

Concept: Build a mini “snowball” catapult

Estimated Time: 15 minutes

Instructions:

1. Place a popsicle stick horizontally, flat in front of you
2. Place a popsicle stick vertically, flat on top of the horizontal one
3. Place three more popsicle sticks flat and horizontally on top of the vertical stick
4. Use two rubber bands on the ends of the horizontal popsicle sticks to keep them together
5. Attach the plastic spoon to the end of the vertical stick using a rubber band. The spoon should rest on top of the horizontal stack
6. Load a marshmallow and launch

STEM Concepts Highlighted:

• Geometry
• Elastic deformation of materials
• Springs
• The effects of gravity
• Endless fun launching marshmallows into your hot cocoa

These activities are more than just crafts – they’re opportunities to spark curiosity, encourage problem-solving and create lasting memories with your kids. Don’t worry if the gingerbread house collapses or the Christmas tree pyramid topples over. The real magic happens in the trying, the laughing and the learning together.

Happy holidays, and happy building!