The countdown is on! 3 school weeks, 3 shopping weekends, and EXACTLY 25 days until Santa makes his yearly voyage across the world and into the homes of so many sweet children. If you are like me these three weeks are the LONGEST weeks of the school year. The students are excited for all of the Christmas activities that are scattered throughout the month, looking at the hottest new toys, and awaiting Christmas morning in the hopes that their Christmas wishes will be fulfilled. I for one find that a fun Christmas activity towards the end of the week is just what my students need to finish off December strong. The first Christmas activity that I would love to share is the “Christmas Toy Creator.” In this engineering design activity, students will create a new toy using the engineering design process and make a sales pitch on FlipGrid to Jolly Saint Nick.
I usually make this a competition and have teachers choose the winning toy to receive a Christmas treat. My students have a blast with this and it really gives them a creative outlet to use some of the energy they have from the Holiday season. Make it your own by adding additional constraints to their toys, a competition rubric, or even with students’ permission allow your students to view each other’s sales pitches to decide the winner. The time it takes for students to complete this activity is up to you. If you like you can give them a day or even make it a week-long project whatever fits in your time frame and works with your students. I personally make this a two or three day affair. I have found some incredible toy designs over the years and some of my students have even created a model of their toy to appear in their commercial. I hope that you all have a happy and safe December! Merry Christmas!!! Find this resource here!
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