Are you looking for a fun STEM activity to do with your students this holiday season? In this Jingle Bell Stacking STEM Activity, your students will problem solve as they try to create a tower of jingle bells. They will explore stability, surface area, gravity, and much more as they test different jingles bells and other materials.
Materials Needed For The Jingle Bell Stacking STEM Activity:
- Jingle Bells
- Ruler
- Timer (optional)
One of my favorite things about exploration activities is that you can try so many different materials to see what works and what doesn’t work. For this activity, you can try many different sizes of jingle bells.
If your students are having a difficult time stacking the jingle bells, you can also explore using materials such as play dough or clay to help keep the bells stable.
Doing The Jingle Bell Stacking STEM Activity:
First, give your students a basket full of jingle bells and let them explore. You can start with bells that are all one size or you can give them many different sizes.
Then, ask your students to try and stack the jingle bells on top of each other. My students quickly realized that the larger bells were easier to stack and we discussed the size, shape, and surface area of the different bells. Many of the smaller bells were too round to stack.
If your students are unable to stack the bells, ask them what materials around the classroom could they use to help them.
After your students have explored and figured out how to stack the jingle bells, challenge them to see how many bells can they stack and use rulers or non-standard tools to measure the height of their towers.
You can also challenge them to see how many jingle bells that they can stack within a certain amount of time such as 30 seconds or one minute.
The Science Behind The Jingle Bell Stacking STEM Activity:
How is this a STEM activity? Your students are building different size towers and using different materials to see how high you can stack your jingle bells. They are also using math by counting and measuring the jingle bells.
You can even extend this activity and challenge your students to make different patterns using the colored bells. Depending on the age of your students, you can use this activity to explore topics such as stability, surface area, and gravity.
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This Jingle Bell Stacking STEM Activity is a fun activity for children of all ages. It would be the perfect hands-on and engaging activity to do during your holiday party this year.
Download Your Jingle Bell Stacking STEM Activity Record Sheet Below:
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This really answered my problem, thank you!