Here’s a winter STEM activity that kids of all ages will enjoy.  Design snowflakes with a simple magnetic building kit.  We used popsicle sticks and adhesive magnetic tape to make this snowflake kit, and it has been so much fun!  There are so many different ways to design a snowflake.

To make the snowflake building kit, I grabbed some popsicle sticks.  I cut some of them in half with scissors.  Then I painted them all with acrylic paint.  I painted some of them with the blue on the left, and the rest blue mixed with white so that we would have two different shades of blue.

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When the paint was dry, I added a coat of glitter paint for a little extra shine.  Then I stuck magnets to the back.  And that was it!

We have a magnetic white board that is perfect for magnet activities like this.  We have all been enjoying creating snowflakes on the board. They come out different every time!

Owen (age 8) can create six sided snowflakes fairly easily, and understands basic symmetry principles. (Well, this one is not six sided.  But most of them were!)

Jonathan (almost 6) found the 6 sided snowflake to be a little out of reach, but I love how he created his own snowflake design! For younger kids, it’s a great activity for working on fine motor skills, talking about shapes, and learning about symmetry.

If you don’t have snow where you live, or even if you do, observe real snowflakes with books!  Snowflake Bentley is a fascinating story about a man who learned to photograph snowflakes, revealing new knowledge about their intricate design.  The book Snowflakes in Photographs is full of his work.  So beautiful!

Here are some of our favorite snowflakes:

Have fun exploring snowflakes!

Here are more snowflake activities for winter:

Design some Geoboard Snowflakes

Make Paper Pattern Block Snowflakes

Cut and Fold Awesome Paper Snowflakes

2 Comments

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  1. Poppy Middleton Jan 23, 2018

    What a great idea and could be done with animals too. I will try this at home with my kids and I'm sure they will love it. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. Celeste Jan 8, 2019

    Wondering what type of magnets you used and where you found those.
    Thank you.

    Reply

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