5 Thanksgiving and Fall STEM Activities for Kids
Keeping kids engaged during the holiday season can be a challenge. There are all the days off, vacations, and, of course, the excitement of the many events families have planned. Kids love to be engaged in a way that enriches their minds and even more so when it’s a fun and exciting experiment. These 5 STEM activities are the perfect opportunity to keep learning fun and engaging throughout Thanksgiving and Fall seasons.
Churning Homemade Butter
Making butter is a classic STEM experiment for little minds to learn about what happens to cream when it is shaken. Making butter is a great enrichment experiment and can even contribute to the Thanksgiving feast. This easy experiment requires a mason jar, heavy whipping cream, and a small container.
Fill the mason jar about halfway with the heavy cream and take turns shaking the cream until the cream begins to form a hard lump. Keep shaking until butter forms. Store in a container until ready to serve.
Fall Leaves Slime
The one thing that stands out about the fall season is the colors of the changing leaves. Drawing from that inspiration is a great fall leaves slime activity that engages kids in sensory play while improving fine motor skills. All you need for this simple science experiment is some Elmer’s glue, warm water, red, yellow, and orange food coloring, liquid starch, and leaf-shaped glitter.
Mix equal parts glue, warm water, and liquid starch. Separate the glue into containers and create fall colors by adding a few drops of food coloring and glitter. That's it! Now, you've got some fluffy slime to play with while exploring how the seasons change.
Marshmallow Turkey Trap
Create a fun game with your kids to get excited for Thanksgiving by using a story scenario that is up to them to catch the turkey for Thanksgiving. The materials needed for this STEAM challenge include marshmallows, toothpicks, and for added fun, little cutout turkeys. Start linking toothpicks to each other by using the marshmallows as connectors to build a sturdy trap to “catch the turkey.”
Classic Coffee Filter Turkey
You can create an adorable, fun craft using simple clothespins and coffee filters. Keep the kids engaged as they develop their creativity to build custom turkeys. For this STEM activity, you’ll need coffee filters, wiggle eyes, spring-loaded clothespins, construction paper, glue, scissors, paint brushes, brown paint, washable markers, and a spray mister with water.
Have the kids use the markers to create designs on their coffee filters. Once they are all set, mist the coffee filters to blend the "turkey feathers." As the coffee filters dry, paint the clothes pins with brown paint and allow them to dry. Cut out little beaks and red wattle (red dangly skin on the turkey) from the construction paper. Once the clothespins are dry, fix the wiggle eyes and the cutouts to create a little face on the side of the clothespin that clamps using glue. Fold the coffee filter in half and pin the clothespin in the middle to create a cute little turkey.
Sink or Float with Fall Items
Play sink or float to earn about the density of objects to see what floats and what sinks. All you need for this activity is a bin or a jar, water, and a collection of fall objects such as leaves, apples, pine cones, acorns, and mini pumpkins. Have the kids make their guesses and start dropping items one at a time to see the outcome.
Conclusion
As Thanksgiving approaches, these fun STEM challenges are perfect for any lesson plan or to encourage STEM play time at home. They are a great way to keep kids busy at home between lesson plans while making learning fun throughout the holiday season.
So, try out these fun Thanksgiving STEM activities with your kiddos this holiday season!
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