Winter STEM Activities and Challenges with Paper ❄️ Snowflakes ❄️
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SAVE OVER 70% FOR A LIMITED TIME! 60 low prep STEM challenges PLUS everything you need to teach the Engineering Design Process! These activities are the perfect way to explore science concepts like sound, force and motion, aerodynamics, and more! Students will also find connections to STEM careers aPrice $37.00Original Price $153.50Save $116.50
Get ready for easy to implement low prep STEM activities for fall, winter, spring and summer.This is a MEGA BUNDLE of the following seasonal STEM resources: Fall STEMWinter STEMSpring STEMSummer STEMYou will receive 12 main STEM challenges (3 for each season) plus over 20 additional task card challePrice $22.00Original Price $37.50Save $15.50
This bundle includes resources to keep your students actively engaged in STEM all year long. The bonus file includes an overview for using the resources as well as some extra options for planning, recording, and tracking.There are over 110 STEM challenges included in this bundle.1) Start with the SPrice $165.00Original Price $267.50Save $102.50
Elementary STEM teachers, this bundle has hundreds of activities (300+!) for your STEM classes! With a mix of quick STEM challenges, STEM center activities, and more in depth engineering design challenges, you will always have something new to do!This bundle includes everything in both the K-2 and 3Price $269.00Original Price $402.00Save $133.00
Description
**BEST SELLER!** Winter STEM / Snowflake STEM activities! Create a variety of snowflakes with these 3 STEM engaging challenges. For these challenges, the only material that is necessary is plain paper. This is a great companion activity if you are reading about Snowflake Bentley (Wilson Bentley).
✅ What You'll Get ✅
Teacher Instructions and sample images
Warm up activities:
- How snowflakes form in nature (1 page informational text)
- Cutting practice page (if your students need it, recommended!)
- Which folded up snowflake profile fits the unfolded snowflake? Photograph examples and printable pages (2 included, versions A and B. B designs are more complicated).
3 Paper Snowflake Challenges
- ❄ Geometry Challenge ❄: Create a variety of snowflakes as specified.
- ❄ Fast/Slow Challenge ❄: Design and create snowflakes that will fall the fastest or slowest from a given height.
- ❄ Reverse Engineer Challenge ❄: Take a snowflake someone else has created (from the first two challenges) and try to create an exact copy.
Task Cards - 12 Snowflake STEM task cards that include the challenges above (cards 1-8), as well as 4 bonus challenges. Recording sheet included that follows the engineering design process.
These challenges are fairly open ended and will enhance critical thinking skills, regardless of age!
Please note - some of these activities can be a bit of a challenge for grade 3 students (8-9 years old). They may need a bit more support (if you have parent helpers available or can do this with an upper grade class, even better) but the challenges can be quite rewarding, too. I hope you will consider giving it a try and seeing them rise up to the task.
A Note About Snowflakes
Typically, snow crystals are formed with 6 sides in nature. On occasion, you may be lucky enough to spot an unusual 12-sided or even 3-sided snowflake! (Read more about that here). Why does this happen? Well, because snowflakes are made of water molecules (H₂O), and water molecules bond together to make hexagonal shapes.
In this resource, students will create snowflakes with 6, 8, and 12 sides. While an 8-sided snowflake will never appear in nature, that doesn't mean there isn't value in creating a paper snowflake with a different number of sides to test its behavioral properties (or for ease of creation). In fact, this is a great way to have students observe and identify snowflakes that could be created in nature and ones that would never grow that way (due to the geometry). If you have any concerns or questions about this please feel free to reach out to me at meredith@momgineer.com.
Looking for the digital version of this resource?
Winter STEM Challenges - Digital Version
What Teachers are Saying
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This was exactly the STEM activity I was looking for. So many winter STEM activities are just experiments to do and I wanted a hands-on design activity for my students. We chose to only create 3 of the different snow flakes just based on time, but my students loved it! Thank you so much for the package, I will be using it for years!"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Students had a lot of fun with this and it allowed for me to have an under control classroom the day we started our Christmas break! Very good and clear cut directions. Thank you!"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "My students loved this activity. It was perfect for an end of the quarter lesson. It kept the kids engaged and was perfect for working through the engineering design process. Thank you!"
For more snowflake activities, I have written a blog post about this topic that you may find useful.
This is part of the STEM Challenges for All Seasons BUNDLE, so please do not purchase both.
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FAQs about STEM
Why use STEM activities in your classroom or homeschool?
These STEM activities are project-based and cross-curricular. Your students will gain experience in soft skill areas and foster a growth mindset while:
✓ Learning to work as part of a team.
✓ Communicating effectively and clearly to persuade others.
✓ Gaining confidence in presenting and speaking to groups.
✓ Persevering through a challenge when the initial design fails.
✓ Accepting constructive criticism from peers.
FAQs
Will I need to spend a lot of money on supplies?
You don't need a lot of expensive materials to get started! You probably have most of the supplies in your classroom already, or in your recycle bin. I have developed most of my STEM challenges to be easily modified based on the materials you have on hand. For most of the challenges, you will need basic office or craft supplies and household recyclables such as:
tape
paper, index cards, or card stock
recyclables like plastic cups, paper towel rolls, and cereal boxes
craft sticks or straws
I've never done STEM challenges before. What can I expect?
I've got you covered! There are notes and photos in the pack, and I have written several blog posts to get you started, two of which you can find here and here. All of my STEM challenge resources guide you through the engineering design process step by step.
I don't have time to do this as a group activity in my classroom. Can I still use this resource?
Yes! With STEM task cards, you can set up an independent learning center for your early finishers or when you do stations. Provide the materials, STEM task cards, and the included recording sheets or graphic organizers, and the students can work on these challenges independently, either alone or in small teams. Keep your materials in STEM bins so that you can easily rotate through them!
Related Resources
The Engineering Design Process
STEM Activities - 10 STEM Challenges
STEM Activities - 10 STEM Challenges (Set 2)
STEM Challenges Classroom Pack (STEAM)
STEM Tales
STEM for all Seasons
Disclaimer: I have done my best to keep these as safe as possible. However, please make sure that you do your own due diligence when performing any STEM challenge. Adult supervision is necessary. Please use care, caution, and your best judgement when performing any STEM challenge, engineering challenge, or science experiment. The seller disclaims all liability for any damage or injury which might arise from the use of any of these projects.
Find more STEM at my blog momgineer
or at STEM Activities for Kids
