Winter Break Science Activities for Kids at Home (School Break Ideas for Any Hemisphere)

December means school break for many families. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere it’s winter outside, and in the Southern Hemisphere it’s the middle of summer. Either way, there are days when you’re stuck indoors because of cold, rain, heat or tired legs. These ideas work in both.

The activities use ordinary materials. An adult should be close by for all of them, and anything that needs hot water is done by an adult, away from young children.

Use the weather you have

Part of the fun is looking at what’s happening outside.

If it’s cold where you are: try activities about ice and frost.
If it’s hot where you are: the same ice activities double as cooling-off experiments. Do them in the shade or indoors.
If it’s wet: try water and light activities by the window.

Ice and cold (for any climate)

These need a freezer or some ice cubes.

Frost on a can. Fill a can with ice and salt and watch frost form on the outside. Try Can You Make Frost in a Can?
Why does salt melt ice? Compare ice cubes with and without salt on a plate. See Why Does Salt Melt Ice? Nothing is tasted.
Snowflake study. Look at what’s inside a snowflake with What’s Inside a Snowflake? If you don’t have snow, you can still draw the six-sided patterns and learn how they form.
Ice cube race. Where does an ice cube last longest: by a window, in a bowl or wrapped in a cloth? Time it.

Light and shadows

Shadow tracing. Place a toy on a sheet of paper by a window and trace its shadow every hour. Day length differs between hemispheres, so you may get different results from friends on the other side of the world.
Torch shadow theatre. In a dim room, use a torch (flashlight) and cut-out shapes to make shadows bigger and smaller. Ask, “What happens when I move closer?”
Rainbow by the window. Find out how light splits with Where Do Rainbows Come From?

Kitchen science

Oobleck: Is Oobleck a Solid or a Liquid? Do it over a tray.
Secret messages: How Do Spies Write Secret Messages?
Lava lamp: watch blobs rise and fall in Why Do the Blobs in a Lava Lamp Go Up and Down?

Build and test

Building challenges suit a longer break.

Paper plane contest. Change one thing, measure and repeat. See What Makes a Paper Plane Fly Farthest?
Egg drop. Design a cushion to protect an egg from a fall, preferably outside or over a tray. Can You Drop an Egg Without Breaking It?
Balloon rocket. Tape a straw to a balloon on a string and see how far it goes.

Slow science for the whole break

Some activities make a good project across several days.

Crystals. How Do Crystals Grow? An adult handles any hot water. Check each day and draw what you see.
Window-sill seeds. Plant a bean in a clear cup and watch the roots.
Weather diary. Record the weather at the same time each day, including temperature, clouds and wind.
Moon watching. Look at the Moon at the same time on a few evenings and sketch its shape.

Plan the break

Make a short list of three or four activities and let the children choose.
Put one activity per day on a calendar, with lots of free time around it.
Keep materials in a home science box so you can grab them.
Keep a break notebook, with one drawing per activity.
Have rest days. Not every day needs a project.

Keep safety simple

Adults supervise every activity.
Nothing from an experiment is eaten or tasted.
Adults handle hot water, knives and heat.
Don’t mix cleaning chemicals.
Wash hands afterwards.

See kitchen science safety rules for kids for a simple list.

More ideas

Browse the Winter at Home unit, or look at rainy day science experiments for kids and summer science activities for kids in the backyard.