Christmas Science Activities to Keep Students Engaged

I put together some engaging Christmas themed activities that align with the standards. We all know how tired everyone is at this time of year so these are all very low prep or no prep activities! 

#1 Christmas Punnett Square Dice Roll Activity: Reindeer Genetics

Make it into a game! Have your students use dice to determine six traits of reindeer such as nose color, antler or fur color.  They will use Punnett squares to create reindeer families! They learn about dominant and recessive alleles, heterozygous and homozygous and how to do Punnett squares. My students love creating family trees and portraits based on their inherited traits! 

#2 Using Density to Find the Identity Of Santa’s Gifts: Christmas Activity

Instead of handing out a boring density review sheet, grab this no prep holiday mystery! Students use their knowledge of density to identify mystery metals hidden in stockings for Santa’s jewelry-making elves. 

The backstory is that Santa has given eight stockings filled with different metals to his jewelry-making elves. The elves must quietly use their knowledge of density to identify the metals without opening the stockings until Christmas Eve!

Students work through a step-by-step process to solve the challenge which ramps up that critical thinking!

#3 Finding the Speed of Santa’s Sleigh With Distance-Time Graphs

Working with a distance time graph can be tricky, so let’s put some fun into it and bring Santa into the story! Get your students calculating the speed of Santa’s sleigh at different points on his Christmas journey using distance-time motion graphs. 

Students interpret three different distance-time graphs, each with five key points. They use the formula “speed=distance/time” to calculate speeds for different segments of Santa’s trip.  

Plus, as an extension, they can calculate the average speed and interpret slopes to understand acceleration and deceleration.  Lots of concepts covered in one activity!

#4 Christmas Themed 4 Types of Chemical Reactions Activity with Humor!

Learning about chemical reactions doesn’t have to be dry! This activity uses holiday-themed “Reindeer Party” stories to make synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, and double replacement reactions funny and memorable. 

For years I have been using “Reindeer” stories to help the students learn all about synthesis, decomposition, single replacement and double replacement reactions. My middle schoolers roll their eyes when I teach it this way but…come back and visit me in high school and tell me that they still remember the concept because of them! As long is you have no problem being a little bit silly with them then this helps a lot with understanding.

The premise behind it is that the Reindeers go to a Christmas party in different configurations and then leave their party reassembled. For example, the synthesis reaction has two Reindeers coming to the party separately and then leaving as friends in a bond. I let students look at the equations and make up their own stories that work as long as they are “friendly“.

After they finish the sometimes very funny stories, and maybe present them to the class, there is a worksheet for students to recognize and label equations. I also left some of the equations unbalanced for some extra practice. 

#5 Plotting Motion From Christmas Stories on Distance-Time Motion Graphs

Really use that critical thinking at this time of year where the students read three fun Christmas stories that have motion paths built in.  Students analyze these motion segments, track distance and time in charts, and then create accurate distance-time graphs that show acceleration, deceleration, rest, or constant speed.

For extra comprehension, plus some good old fashioned storytelling, I have the students create their own motion stories and graph them. If we have time, they like to exchange their stories with each other to see if their classmates can accurately graph the motion paths.

#6 Christmas Themed Measurement Review Board Game

All of us can afford to pause and reinforce measurement skills halfway through the year. This practice should not be isolated to the beginning of the school year!  This fun Christmas game board goes through all of the basic types of measurement middle school students should know pretty well.

42 game cards have questions on calculating mass, mass of liquids, volume of regular and irregular objects, density, telling time, elapsed time, and length.

  

#7 Holiday Periodic Table Elements Bulletin Board Messages

Of course, we have to decorate our classrooms to incorporate the holiday spirit! Mix Christmas and science together and incorporate the periodic table! Each letter of a holiday message is represented by an element from the periodic table.  I have four different messages in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Merry Christmas!

Merry and Bright!

Sleigh all Day!

It’s Cold Outside!

It can also be fun for your students to try to figure out new messages from the periodic table.

Conclusion

We all like to get in the festive spirit of the season but diverging too much off of our curriculum can cause early chaos. I like to choose activities that stay on curriculum but still bringing the holiday flavor! Please check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store called Science by Sinai where I have all of the holiday and winter activities.

Please check out my post on Halloween Science: Spooky and Educational.