Winter brings a unique opportunity to spark excitement and curiosity in the classroom with engaging Winter STEM Activities. No matter where you live, winter offers unique ways to engage students in hands-on, STEAM-focused learning. The best part? The fun doesn’t stop after the holidays; these activities can inspire creativity and curiosity throughout the season.
In this article, we’ve curated 8 creative Winter STEM Activities to help you incorporate hands-on learning, problem-solving, and STEAM exploration into your seasonal lesson plans.
Unique Ideas for Winter STEM Activities
Winter STEM Activities: Gingerbread STEAM
When to Explore: December
December is full of cheerful holidays from a variety of cultures. Celebrate them with a STEAM activity!
Challenging your students to build a gingerbread house is a fun and inclusive way to connect STEAM to December holidays. Give your students a relative size to build to, then add criteria to help them practice STEAM concepts. Below are some examples of ways to make the activity productive in a STEAM curriculum.
- Task students with creating a door that can open and close from the side. Then, have them create windows that open and close from the top.
- Ask students to calculate the square footage of their gingerbread houses in different units of measure (inches, centimeters, etc.)
- Encourage students to utilize as many shapes as they can in their construction. Then, ask them to calculate the perimeter of all of the squares, the circumference of all of the circles, and the area of all of the triangles.
- Challenge students to create decorations and designs that are symmetrical.
- Using icing, candy, and other materials, see if students can decorate the sides of the house with primary and secondary colors, alternating on each side.
- Assign monetary values to the building materials. For example, each graham cracker equals 25 cents, each gum drop equals a penny, each ounce of icing equals a dollar, and so on. Ask students to calculate the cost of their house as they go by measuring materials.
- These suggestions can be adjusted to suit your students’ grade and skill level. For more ideas on this project, check out this article from Sadlier.
Winter STEM Activities: Computer Science Education Week
When to Explore: December 6-12
Computer Science Education Week (CSEd Week) is the largest learning event in history, celebrated annually during the second week of December. This global initiative encourages K-12 students to embrace computer science through activities like the “Hour of Code,” where students dive into coding for an hour, fostering problem-solving and analytical skills. Learn more about Computer Science Education Week
Established in 2009 by the Computing in the Core Coalition and supported by tech leaders like Google and the National Science Foundation, CSEd Week honors the legacy of Grace Hopper, a pioneer in computer programming born on December 9, 1906. Today, it continues to highlight the importance of computer science in our increasingly tech-driven world, with jobs in the field expected to grow 13% by 2026.
This is the perfect time to introduce hands-on learning opportunities in your classroom! TinkRworks’ LaunchPad (grades 3-8) and TinkRsynth (grades 6-8) projects are ideal for sharpening students’ computer science and programming skills. These reusable projects bring coding concepts to life, empowering students to explore programming while creating something tangible and meaningful.
Winter STEM Activities: Snowball Catapult
When to Explore: January
After the December holidays end, keep the winter fun going with an easy, budget-friendly, and accessible STEAM activity.
Engage students in a thrilling physics experiment by building snowball catapults. Using everyday materials like popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and spoons, students can design and construct their own catapults. Once built, they can experiment with launch angles and force to see how far they can catapult their snowballs. This activity combines engineering principles with a good dose of winter fun.
See an example of a homemade snowball catapult here!
Winter STEM Activities: Black History Month
When to Explore: February
February is Black History Month, a time to honor and uplift the stories of Black history-makers and their remarkable achievements in the face of adversity. Use this opportunity to teach your students about the Black scientists, technologists, engineers, artists, and mathematicians who have profoundly shaped history.
Activity Idea: Challenge each student to research a Black history-maker in a STEAM field and create a poster illustrating and honoring their contributions. This project not only enhances research and presentation skills but also inspires students by showcasing diverse role models in STEM. To help your students get started, you can display these informative posters from WeAreTeachers in your classroom.
Incorporating this activity into your Winter STEM Activities not only enriches your curriculum but also fosters an inclusive learning environment where all students feel represented and motivated.
Winter STEM Activities: National Bird Feeder Month
When to Explore: February
National Bird Feeder Month raises awareness about the challenges wild birds face finding food during winter. Since its establishment by Congress in 1994, it has encouraged communities to support local wildlife. You can celebrate with your students by creating bird feeders using recycled materials. This eco-friendly activity teaches sustainability while integrating engineering principles as students design and build their feeders.
For guidance and inspiration, check out our free makerspace lesson library, TinkRpedia, to access detailed instructions for this project. Encourage students to think critically about the types of feed that are best suited for birds in your region while making a positive environmental impact.
Winter STEM Activities: Love your Robotics Day
When to Explore: February 7
This wacky holiday gives us the chance to appreciate and celebrate the importance of robotics in our world. Robots can be found at the checkout line in grocery stores, in baggage carousels in airports, and even as waiters in tech-savvy restaurants. They also carry out important functions in medicine, transportation, and meteorology. These devices make our lives easier, safer, and healthier.
TinkRbot is a fun hands-on STEAM project that is perfect for grades 3-5. Through this project, students can explore the fundamentals of robotics and programming. Find out more about the project here, and download the lesson sampler.
For younger students, we suggest using our All About Me Robot STEAM Download to introduce STEAM concepts. This activity allows students K-3 to create posters showcasing the different elements of STEAM education in which they are interested.
Winter STEM Activities: International Day of Women and Girls in Science:
When to Explore: February 11
February 11 marks the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in STEM and inspiring students to imagine themselves as future innovators. While Women’s History Month is still a month away, this day is a perfect opportunity to integrate meaningful Winter STEM Activities into your classroom and promote inclusivity in STEAM education.
The gender gap in STEM fields begins early, with girls often underestimating their abilities despite demonstrating equal potential. Research shows that fostering early engagement and a supportive environment can help bridge this gap, boosting confidence and encouraging more girls to pursue STEM fields. Learn more about this topic in our STEAM Made Simple blog post, Girls in STEM: How Early Engagement Can Change the Future.
Celebrate this day by encouraging your students to explore the remarkable contributions of women in STEM. Use our Interesting Women in STEM/STEAM Activity to help your class learn about trailblazing women who have made lasting impacts in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. This hands-on project allows students to research and reflect on the achievements of these innovators, sparking curiosity and inspiration for their own STEAM journeys.
By incorporating STEAM activities like this, you can inspire all your students to see the limitless possibilities in STEAM and honor the groundbreaking contributions of women in science. Let’s work together to foster a future of equity and innovation in STEM!
Winter STEM Activities: National Engineering Week
When to Explore: February 16-22
Engineering is a cornerstone of STEAM education, combining creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking with math and science principles. At the end of February, join the celebration of National Engineering Week to inspire your students and highlight the exciting possibilities within this field.
One engaging way to celebrate is with a Build-a-Bridge Challenge. This hands-on activity introduces key engineering principles like load-bearing, tension, and balance, while fostering collaboration and critical thinking. Here’s how it works:
- Task your students with designing and constructing a bridge using everyday materials like popsicle sticks, string, tape, and paperclips.
- Encourage them to test their designs by measuring how much weight their bridges can hold or how far they can span.
TinkRworks can help deepen the experience with Project-based Learning solutions that emphasize foundational engineering concepts. From building innovative solutions to exploring real-world applications, our projects provide hands-on opportunities that make engineering come alive in the classroom.
Explore our TinkRworks Project Catalog to find grade-appropriate projects that help students sharpen their engineering skills while fostering a love for STEAM. Let’s celebrate National Engineering Week by empowering the next generation of problem solvers and innovators!
Bonus Winter STEAM Activities Inspiration
- Eli Whitney’s Birthday (December 8)
- Roller Skates Patented (December 9)
- Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon’s Birthday (December 11)
- South Pole First Reached (December 14)
- Apollo 17 Returned to Earth (December 19)
- First Film Shown (December 28)
- X-Ray Discovered (January 5)
- Telegraph First Demonstrated (January 6)
- Amelia Earhart Flew Solo Across Pacific (January 11)
- National Puzzle Day (January 29)
- Love your Robotics Day (February 7)
- Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (February 22)
- DNA Discovered (February 28)
It’s Never Too Early to Plan for Summer School
While winter is a wonderful time to engage students with STEAM activities, it’s also the perfect time to start thinking ahead to summer school. Preparing now can help you create a memorable and impactful summer learning experience that continues to foster creativity and curiosity.
TinkRworks offers a helpful resource to get you started: the Creating a Highly Successful STEAM PBL Program Checklist. This free tool is designed to guide you through planning and implementing a summer STEAM program that inspires students and supports educators.
And here’s some exciting news: For a limited time, new partners can receive 25% off our Summer STEAM Enrichment programs! With this offer, you’ll gain access to innovative, hands-on projects tailored to engage students in grades K-8.
Conclusion
Now that you are inspired and full of ideas, you can celebrate the winter season through STEAM with your students all season long! Once again, you can build off of these suggestions to create activities and projects tailored specifically to the needs and interests of your students.
For more fun holidays and events to celebrate in your classroom this winter, check out TeacherVision’s calendar. Have a great, STEAM-tacular winter!
