Icy Christmas Tree STEM Engineering Ice Science Winter Project

How many ways can you engineer a Christmas tree! We have thought of a few fun ways to play around with Christmas tree STEM this holiday season that don’t use just real trees! This icy Christmas tree STEM project was super fun and also a fun family activity. We had a great time piecing together this icy Christmas tree before it melted. Check out the unique ways that science and STEM can be a part of your holiday activities.

ICY CHRISTMAS TREE STEM ENGINEERING PROJECT FOR KIDS!

We invite you to follow along with our 25 Days of Christmas Science and STEM countdown! Check out tons of fun and easy ways to spend the days leading up to Christmas enjoying cool holiday theme STEM ideas

WHAT IS STEM?

STEM is science, technology, engineering, and math or some combination of the core elements. Our simple icy Christmas tree STEM project fit in quite nicely as we explored science, engineering, and math. You could add technology in that we need the freezer to freeze our tree pieces! STEM provides many valuable life lessons!

MAKE SURE TO ALSO CHECK OUT: More Christmas Tree STEM Ideas!

This holiday season we are really going to explore some great new ideas including making homemade slime, eruptions, crystals, and so much more.

CHRISTMAS TREE STEM SUPPLIES

Different size containers are the most important part of your Christmas tree engineering project. We had to hunt through our cupboards and compare sizes to find the right ones. The only other items needed are water, food coloring, tinsel {optional}.

CHRISTMAS SCIENCE AND STEM

Make sure to take advantage of all the steps involved. You might not realize how valuable each of the steps really is to a young kid.

Finding the right sizes involves measuring, estimating, and putting items in the correct size order. You will find this to be a terrific problem solving and visual activity for young kids.

You can also talk about freezing water! Water is made of molecules that are constantly moving and bumping around. As the temperature drops the molecules slow down until they become tightly packed together eventually forming ice.

Did you know that water is a liquid, a solid, and a gas. Check out this simple water science experiment that shows this here. It’s a super simple way to show how it all works.

Another easy way to build a Christmas tree, check it out here!

ICY CHRISTMAS TREE STEM PROJECT SET UP

Freeze water in each of the containers. We mixed in green food coloring and added tinsel for a more festive look. You can also dump in glitter and other Christmas themed objects for melting out later! See our Santa’s Hands Ice Melting Science.

Next, prepare a surface for the icy tree parts. We used a large cookie sheet and put some parchment paper down. A sturdy piece of cardboard could also work. You may want to transfer to a bin after if your kids want to melt the ice with warm water.

When frozen, remove the ice blocks and get started. You can put on gloves if you want to.

Try squirting a bit of warm water will help set them in place better. This can be tricky, so you have to work on creating a stable base and use your building skills to get your tree lined up!

Good to have an extra set of hands available. When you are satisfied with your icy Christmas tree, have the kids use warm water to melt the ice!