5 Awesome Thanksgiving STEM Ideas

It’s turkey time, and that means the kids are home and your to-do list is insanely long. It is always a challenge at this time of year to keep the kids happy while I keep the house in order (and cook for what feels like a million people). This year I have an attack plan. I’m going to set my kids up with a variety of STEM ideas or science projects that will stimulate their brains (a huge bonus), keep them busy (a necessity), and not create too much mess.

I tested these projects out with my kids (who are 4 and 8) and it kept them busy for a while. I’m just crossing my fingers they will want to do them again on the big day while I’m cooking the turkey, but given that they are still talking about doing them days later I think I will be in the clear.

The clear winner for STEM ideas was the super secret spy messages. The kids painted with a mix of baking soda and water. This sounds like a complete bore because you can’t see the art…yet. As their drawings are drying we boiled cranberries in a little water. The girls loved hearing them pop in the pot. We cooled the dark red water and loaded it into a spray bottle to spray on their drawings. Anywhere there was baking soda will turn a dark green, while the remaining areas will be bright red!

I love that this activity combines art with science, and can even combine history too if you decide to talk about the spice routes that brought Columbus over. Why does cranberry juice change color when it hits a base? It comes down to the molecule changing, you can learn all about it in depth in our kids’ pH activity!

A good runner-up was the cranberry toothpick engineering. This was great partly because it only needs two items, cranberries, and toothpicks, both of which you are likely to have on hand during Thanksgiving, but also because it scales to kids of all ages. This activity blends kids science and math as they look at the best way to build buildings or ships, and rethink their design process as they begin to fall down. My 4-year-old started with making a small house, which then blossomed into a house with a guest bedroom, chimney, and deck. It was great to see her imagination blend with engineering!

Other kids science projects to do at Thanksgiving include dancing corn (which blends chemistry, physics, and gross motor skills), the magic tablecloth, and sugar glass to calibrate your oven! If you gobble through those, check out the free downloadable mini maker projects I have created to help teach kids science in a fun, hands-on way!

About Dr. Erica Saint Clair
Dr. Erica develops kids science curriculum that is not only fun but also teaches real science. Many of her projects, like developing a mass spectrometer to sort pennies and nickles are inspired, and tested, by her two daughters. She has a Ph.D. in Physics from Boston University and spent many years teaching and tutoring at the University and High School levels before diving head first into the world of kids science. Learn more about Dr. Erica and Rosie Research