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Celebrate the Winter Solstice with a STEM Challenge

Learn about the winter solstice with a science lesson and engineering challenge! In this STEM activity, students will explore how light reflects and refracts and how materials can be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Teams will then use the engineering design process to build a lantern to expand the light cast by a flashlight. Plus, tons of videos and real-world STEM connections!

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Top 5 Christmas STEM Activities

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.

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Get Your Elf Off That Shelf with STEM

Do you participate in the Elf on the Shelf tradition? Take the Elf antics up a notch by adding some STEM flair. We have compiled a list of our favorite ways to both entertain and educate using Santa’s little helper.

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Ultimate STEM Gift List

Tis the season for shopping for STEM gifts! Looking to score something fun and educational for your kids or great deals for your classroom? Read on for our favorite STEM toys and learning tools to add to your holiday wish list. Everything is sorted by age including some holiday treats for yourself!

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Valentine's Day STEM Frog Challenge

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and my kids are already plotting how to deliver those special messages to the ones they love! As a STEM educator, a valentine delivery must be more than dropping heart shaped paper into handmade mailboxes. So, we made a Valentine’s Day candy delivery STEM challenge using frogs - origami frogs that is!

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Valentine's Day STEM: Warm-ups & Activities

STEM is not about finding THE answer, as there is almost always more than one way to solve a problem. Encourage creativity while exercising those young minds! Here are some warm-up prompt ideas to get those lovely lobes thinking and in the mood for some Valentine’s Day STEM...

...In this season of love, you will also fancy the following Valentine’s Day STEM activities.  These two resources will get kids excited about using their STEM skills to solve a sweet (candy!) problem and help them exercise off all of that sugar with some fun real-world math. ...

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STEM in Sports

The Super Bowl is almost here! While I am planning to consume large amounts of buffalo wings and chips and dip, I am reminded that there is more that goes into this monumental day in America than just good entertainment. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), is present in every aspect of this beloved game. This truth provides a wonderful opportunity to get kids involved in an early love of STEM.

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Help! My Elf is Stuck on a Shelf!

With days until Christmas, kids can be bundles of restless energy! We can help you channel all that craziness with a fun Christmas themed engineering challenge that will keep your child or students entertained while learning! 

Many families across the country participate in the fun tradition of the Elf on a Shelf. The elf is a magical helper that manages his naughty and nice lists by reporting back to the North Pole each night. Parents have fun placing the elf in all sorts of crazy positions each night, and kids wake up each morning looking for the elf. 

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Do you want to build a snowman?

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Texas it has been really hot outside! Shocking, I know! So how do my munchkin and I beat the heat while having fun and learning a little along the way? Well, besides squeezing in our daily airing of Frozen, we built a snowman!

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Vivify Presents: Winter STEM Calendar

Just in time for the winter holidays, we have created a STEM winter-themed calendar! Students will pop frozen bubbles, make fake snow, design a new Santa sleigh, build a wrapping paper bridge, and much more. The calendar is jam-packed with ideas to keep the learning going during these holiday months. This calendar is recommended as a STEM challenge to students for the holiday break!

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