You don’t need me to tell you that the days leading up to Christmas break are pure chaos. Especially if your semester is ending at the same time. I’m the Queen of doing report cards at the last minute… I know you want to have fun with your students during this time too! From this list, choose a chemistry activity to do before Christmas break that is low prep, easy set up/clean up and a lot of fun!
Atomic Candies
This is a great lab for review! If you haven’t already done this lab, it’s great for helping your students to really differentiate between the models of the atom. Students are given 5 treats, determine their prominent features, and then compare those to models of the atoms. For example, the chocolate chip cookie is obviously the Thomson (plum pudding) model of the atom.
The 5 treats are: gumball, gobstopper or jaw breaker, chocolate chip cookie, lollipop with a candy center – like a Tootsie Pop and a marshmallow. I’ve been told that Gobstoppers are hard to find these days. The reason I chose them was for the colored layers. The Airhead Extreme (rainbow things) are a great replacement!
Flame Test
If your students have good lab composure (and can clean up after themselves) flame test is a great lab for right before break. Especially if you couldn’t get around to it earlier in the year. It does require a bit of prep work on your end. You’ll need to set up the solutions at least a day beforehand.
I mean, even if you’ve done this before, this is a fun one! I find that at this point in the year I can rely on my students to clean the lab. It’s especially fun if you allow them to take pictures.
Periodic Table Guessing Game
You can get this lab for free by entering your email. This lab is certainly more of a game, which is why the kids love it. And you’ll love it because it’s an entirely paper lab.
The kids have a curated Periodic Table in front of them. They choose an element and list out the properties of that element. Their partner does the same. Then they ask each other questions about their element to try to figure out its identity. They ask things like “would your element be considered to have a high electronegativity value?” “Is your element shiny?”
Maybe offer a prize to students who win!
Penny Drop
On some of my slower years, I was right around intermoleuclar forces at this time of year. So one of my favorite labs to do before Christmas break is the penny drop lab. Your students may have done this in middle school to understand adhesion and cohesion of water. But to make it “chemistry” they are going to use different substances and compare the strength of their intermolecular forces.
I usually do this lab with water, some type of oil and rubbing alcohol. I even tried it with salt water and soapy water once. Really those two things just blocked the hydrogen bond and made it tougher for the water to stick to the penny.
Removal of Sugar from Bubble Gum
Typically I’m teaching reactions or stoichiometry during the month of December. (I often have issues getting through the whole stoichiometry unit before break, so I sometimes break it up. Other times I throw in a mini snowflakes unit after Reactions to prevent from starting Stoichiometry. More on that in a minute.
This lab activity is great for before Christmas break because it’s EASY and solid chemistry. Instead of removing the water from a hydrated salt, and breaking out the Bunsen burners we use bubble gum! The students treat the wrapper like the crucible. The gum is the hydrated salt and the sugar is the water. The math is EXACTLY the same, so I love this as a replacement!
Snowflakes Activity Bundle
This bundle of activities available in my TPT store is a great way to spend a few days before Christmas break. I always try to end my units before a break so we can come back to a fresh start. Plus, I hate the thought of them having to recall information from three weeks back AND they turned off their brains for 10+ days. To do this, sometimes I’m left with too many days for a one day activity, but too few days for a unit, even if its a small one, like Reactions.
Reading Comprehension – Formation of Snowflakes
Over the years I’ve created and collected these chemistry winter activities, and I’ve bundled them up for you! The most academic piece is a reading comprehension activity which focuses on intermolecular forces and how snowflakes are made. It’s think it’s great to review IMFs with your students for ten or so minutes, then let them work on this activity.
Cutting Scientifically Accurate Snowflakes
The second piece may just fit into the same class period! Included are directions for cutting six-branched scientifically accurate snowflakes. I like to have my students make these to decorate the classroom and the door. Of course, this has potential to leave your classroom an absolute wreck, so offer extra credit to the class that does the best job cleaning up.
Movie Sheets
Yeahhh, it’s that time of year. My students are known for walking into class with an air of confidence and asking “can we watch The Polar Express?” Well I either put on The Princess Bride (just for fun) or Frost the Snowman (with a chemistry question sheet.) With all the years of asking about the Polar Express, I put together a chemistry question sheet for the movie! Then there’s also my tried and true question sheets for Frosty the Snowman and Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.
Borax Snowflakes Lab
To me, this is a total classic! Making supersaturated solutions of borax and letting a snowflake (or Christmas tree shaped) pipe cleaner sit in the solution as it cools is a blast. While this lab is certainly fun, it’s a perfect lab to do in a high school chemistry class. The kids have to accurately measure the mass and perhaps do some math to make sure the solution will cover up their creation. It’s not too much work for a chemistry activity right before Christmas break, but it is certainly academic!
Spice Up Review
Pause to review. Break out old worksheets and, maybe even things your students have worked on before. But this time, integrate my Magic Answer Checker. This is a Google Sheet where you plug in the answers to your worksheet and send it out to students. It converts any old “boring” worksheet you have into a self checking activity. Plus, I’ve included some games to make this even more fun. Use this as a time to review significant figures, metric conversions, or even nomenclature.
