8 STEM Activities for December with Festive Flair

It’s December, which means holidays, candy, Christmas music, and Christmas science experiments!

I really love doing science experiments in December, because we have a long holiday break with the kids and it’s a super fun time to do festive STEM activities with them.

These STEM activities for December fit the bill perfectly!

If you need to cut back on the stress of the season, try these NGSS-aligned hands-on December STEM activities with your classroom or kiddos at home this year!

These experiments have themes including candy canes, slime, Santa, elves, and more!

STEM Activities for December that Will Make Science Class Festive

Even though these are mostly aimed at an elementary age group (1st through fifth grade), my middle schooler (8th grade!) still loves doing these STEAM activities.

So if you teach middle school, don’t be afraid to try these with your class, just adapting the science to be a bit more in depth!

If you need help getting started with STEM at home, make sure you download our guide to getting started with STEM at home.

Get the December STEAM Challenge Cards!

These free STEAM challenges have fun December themes that elementary kids will love using to harness STEM thinking skills while having fun with holiday themes like candy, tinsel, and Santa!

And best of all, most of these December STEM projects have a NGSS alignment, which means you can use them in the classroom!

You can also use these cards at home for homeschooling or just to give your kids some extra science fun when school is out or on the weekends!

December STEM Activities that Kids Will Love!

Get the December STEAM pack here!

This collection of December STEAM activities are some of our favorites!

Some projects are easy to set up, most have an NGSS alignment, which teachers love, and the hands-on concepts are super fun for kids!

There’s a link to the instructions for some of these activities below, and you can download the December STEM challenges prompt cards, or the full challenge set which comes with printable instructions!

Low-Prep STEM Activities for December

Now let’s get into the December STEM activities! Find full instructions and worksheets for each of these STEM activities in the December STEM pack!

Make a Christmas Lava Lamp

Nothing says Christmas like a lava lamp!

We’ve made a bubbling Christmas light version before, but you can make a lava lamp in almost any container.

Make Your Own Snow Globe

Making snow globes are tons of fun and make a fun festive engineering activity.

Check out our Christmas snow globe, Pokemon snowglobe, and Fortnite snowglobe for inspiration.

Dissolve Candy Canes in Water

Dissolving candy canes in water is a classic Christmas science experiment that never gets old.

You can even dissolve candy canes in a mason jar!

Make a Christmas Density Jar

You can use Christmas and holiday themes to make a festive density jar.

Include several liquids with varying densities, like extracts, holiday drinks, and anything else you can think of to make it even more festive!

Create a Holiday Discovery Jar

You can put everything in your holiday discovery jar that reminds the kids of the holiday season.

Or, you can pick a science theme as the discovery jar base. It’s up to your imagination!

Complete a Color-by-Math Christmas Tree

I like color-by-math activities for older kids because it gives them inspriation to complete math while having fun with art, which is how I liked to do things as a kid.

If you are teaching younger kids, you can stick to the color by number Christmas tree version.