It’s winter! At least . . . almost. Maybe you’re knee-deep in snow where you live, but it’s not been snowing much here in Kansas yet. That also means we’re stretching closer to the end of school year. The final stretch is in! But there’s no reason we can’t pretend it’s a winter wonderland and celebrate the holiday season as it comes in full swing! Here are some ideas to bring together excitement for the winter holidays and education for all types of learners.

Rad Rockets

Take your straw rocket launchers to the North Pole with our Holiday Rad Rockets activity! We’ve got special rocket fins and graphics for students to send Santa off on his adventures. Some ideas included in this free resource include having students create and decorate a chimney before trying to launch Santa’s rocket into the chimney to deliver presents. Similarly, let learners decorate a bucket as the North Pole to simulate sending Santa off after his exhausting night is over!

Elf on the Shelf: KUBO Edition

This time, KUBO is dressed up and ready to go. Transform KUBO into Elf on the Shelf and help cause mischief. You and your students will have so much fun as you help get from place to place on the map and cause a ruckus. This activity is great practice for basic computational skills, and each student gets to use the TagTiles^® to create the route to the next location while other students make guesses as to where KUBO Elf might go next. Included in the resource for this activity is a blank template so that students who want to design their own costume for KUBO can flex their creative muscles.

TETRIX^®

Have some TETRIX parts on hand? Whether you want to challenge students to design a holiday-themed robot or hold other design challenges, the flexibility of the robust TETRIX robotics system means that the possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

• Design a sleigh.
• See how many presents a student-designed sleigh can hold.
• Create an obstacle course to deliver presents.
• Find out how many presents the sleigh can deliver before time runs out!

Can you and your students make a Santa robot à la Mr. Robot?

Holiday Code Cube™

Put the A in STEAM when you give your learners Code Cube. Use the matrix image creator to make different holiday-themed custom images on this codable, wearable device. Or, maybe use the built-in speaker to create festive holiday tunes and Christmas carols! Encourage more advanced learners to retell classic stories like The Grinch or A Visit from St. Nicholas using the accelerometer to change scenes, images, and sounds built in the app.

Whether you’re holding on until the semester ends or you’ve been decorating since before Thanksgiving, we’ve got you covered! Pop on over to our website to see all our free resources like the Rad Rocket templates or enhanced user guides or to get some last-minute Christmas gift ideas.