Christmas science activities

As the end of the term approaches, it is time to give your students a fun Christmas-themed class activity to do just before finishing for the festive break. 

LED Christmas Cards

LED Christmas Cards are an excellent way to enthuse students about simple circuitry work.

Our mixed LED Pack is an excellent starting point for making LED Christmas cards.

LEDs are a small Light Emitting Diode.  They are polarized, meaning they have to be placed in a circuit with the legs in the correct orientation.  One leg is usually longer than the other.  The longer leg is the positive side.

You will need 

1. Coloured LEDs 
2. Aluminium foil
3. AA cell holders
4. Battery snap
5. 2 x AA batteries
6. Coloured card and paper
7. Coloured felt tipped pens or coloured pencils
8. Sharp pencil & Blu-Tac (for piercing the holes for the LED’s)
9. Glue stick
10. Sellotape

Method

1. Pick a piece of A4 coloured card and fold in half to make an A5 card.
2. Decide on what design you would like your card to show on the front. Think about how you could use the LEDs to decorate the card, the easiest way to position the LED’s is vertically down the card.
3. Using coloured paper, construct the design which is going to feature on the front of your card and stick this to the front cover of the card using a glue stick.
4. To make the holes for the LED’s, carefully pierce a small hole through the front design and card using a sharp pencil. A blob of Blu-Tac underneath will help to protect the desk.
5. Turn the card over and repeat this process from the inside of the card using the holes made in the previous step as a guide.
6. Select the coloured LED’s you are going to use. Remember that LEDs are polarized components, meaning they will only work given the correct orientation. The longer of the two pins is the positive side.
7. Push the LEDs through the holes you have made in your card from the inside, and on the inside of the card, separate the LED pins so that all of the long positive pins are lined up on the same side of the inside of your card. Make a small note on the inside of the card to indicate which is the positive side and which is the negative side.
8. Cut 2 strips of Aluminium foil long enough to cover and connect the LED pins on the inside of the card. Lay these on top of the LED pins on both sides (like a tram track) and press down over each pin to ensure good connectivity.
9. Add a strip of tape over each of the LED pins and press down further to secure.
10. Collect a battery snap, AA battery holder and 2 x AA batteries and check that a small section of the leads attached to the battery snap are exposed at the end.
11. Using sellotape, connect the red battery snap lead to the aluminium foil which is indicated as the positive side and connect the black battery snap lead to the negative side of the aluminium foil.
12. Insert the AA batteries into the battery holder and connect this to the battery snap. Check that the LED’s light up on the front of the card.  If they don’t, press down harder on the tin foil strips over all of the connections inside the card.
13. The battery holder can be secured inside the card using sellotape. Remember to disconnect the batteries.

Share some photographs of your LED Christmas cards via our Social Media platforms.

Salt Crystal Snowflakes 

Salt crystal snowflakes are a good way to bring a Christmas theme to lower school chemistry lessons.  A saturated solution of salt is required.  Students can make this themselves by adding salt to water, stirring to dissolve, until salt crystals start to be seen on the top surface of the container and no more salt will dissolve.  Heating the solution gently will also aid with dissolving the salt.  The saturated salt solution could also be made in advance to save time.  Sodium Chloride has a solubility of 400g/L at 20°C.

You will need

1. Sodium Chloride (or ordinary table salt)
2. Water
3. Pipe-cleaners
4. String
5. 250ml beaker (or another similar container)
6. Wooden spill or pencil (from which to suspend the snowflake in the salt solution)

Method

1. Have students design and make a snowflake to fit inside the beaker or container, using coloured pipe-cleaners, by twisting the pipe-cleaners together to form the arms of the snowflake. 1 arm must be left plain and slightly longer than the rest.
2. Twist the long plain arm of the snowflake over a pencil or wooden spill and suspend this in the beaker of saturated salt solution.
3. Leave the beaker with the snowflake in on a sunny windowsill for 2-3 days.
4. Students can then remove their snowflakes from the jars and leave them to dry. The salt should have formed white crystals which are attached to the pipe cleaners.

Who has made the prettiest or most intricate snowflake?  What other Christmas shapes could be made? Why not share some photographs of your students Salt Crystal Snowflakes on our Social Media platforms.

Building a ‘Chemistree’

What better way to brighten up the Science Prep Room or a classroom by making a Chemistree!

1. Take a retort stand and attach multiple boss heads and clamps.
2. Arrange the clamps so that they protrude from all sides of the retort stand.
3. Select your glassware, this could be anything from boiling tubes to round bottom flasks or small conical flasks.
4. Using food colouring or food dyes, make up solutions of different colours by dissolving in water.
5. Fill the glassware to about two thirds full of the coloured solutions. Insert an appropriate bung.
6. Attach the glassware to the clamps starting from the bottom of the tree and working upwards, angling them slightly if you wish.
7. Wrap green tinsel or false leaves around the retort stand and clamps.
8. Illuminate your Chemistree using a desk lamp or similar, lighting from underneath.

How creative can you get? Why not send us a photograph of your Chemistree via our Social Media platforms.

Tell us about Christmas science activities

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