As the Thanksgiving leftovers slowly dwindle in our fridge, it is time to look forward to the Christmas season and help Santa get ready for his epic journey around the world. What better way to model the engineering design process than with activities that help Santa navigate the challenges of the Christmas holidays? From transporting toys with pneumatics or coding an elf, here are our favorite 5 Christmas STEM activities.

Do you have kids interested in life sciences? We asked Maria Garza, a graduate student in neurobiology at the University of Texas at San Antonio to share her favorite activities! Read on for some toys, apps, and games to delight your students followed by some Vivify STEM lessons!

Some background on our guest blogger: Maria works with animal models to study how molecular mechanisms in the brain impact behavior and cognition. As a scientist, wife, and mother, she hopes to encourage other women and girls interested in STEM. Maria is also the founder of Women In Neuroscience, a public platform where women share their experiences in neuroscience, in order to create an atmosphere of support.

We miss our packed STEM Family Nights that included students and parents working together to launch rockets, build towers, and make slime! While we wait to bring back in-person events, we have put together a guide for hosting an all-virtual STEM event that will encourage families to step away from the computer and complete a hands-on project together!

From selecting activities to marketing, read on for 5 steps to host your own virtual STEM or STEAM family event!

One of our recent top questions in The STEM Space educator group was: Help! We are going virtual, and I run a robotics class. How can I teach robotics virtually?

We rounded up the answers from other teachers, conducted our own research, and we present to you 15 ways to teach robotics for distance learning!

STEM Space At Home is a video series led by an engineer and using materials you can find at home. The videos are intended to support elementary and middle school students through fun engineering design challenges with a real-world connection. This week’s challenge: design a solar-powered tower!

STEM Space At Home is a video series led by an engineer and using materials you can find at home. The videos are intended to support elementary and middle school students through fun engineering design challenges with a real-world connection. This week’s challenge: design a rover!

STEM Space At Home is a video series led by an engineer and using materials you can find at home. The videos are intended to support elementary and middle school students through fun engineering design challenges with a real-world connection. This week’s challenge: design a spacesuit!

STEM Space At Home is a video series led by an engineer and using materials you can find at home. The videos are intended to support elementary and middle school students through fun engineering design challenges with a real-world connection. This week’s challenge: build a personal mission patch!

STEM Space At Home is a video series led by an engineer and using materials you can find at home. The videos are intended to support elementary and middle school students through fun engineering design challenges with a real-world connection. This week’s challenge: build a virus protection device!

Elevate any STEM challenge by using a journal to capture student thinking during the engineering design process! Read below for how to use a digital or printed STEM journal including strategies for distance learning.

To support students during school closings, Vivify is launching a STEM Space At Home weekly video series! Tune in every Thursday for a new STEM activity, led by an engineer, and using materials you can find at home. This week’s challenge: build a Space Lander!

To support students during school closings, Vivify is launching a STEM Space At Home weekly video series! Tune in every Thursday for a new STEM activity, led by an engineer, and using materials you can find at home. This week’s challenge: Musical Instruments!