Christmas Present Stack Grinch STEM Activity

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of our favorite Christmas stories. Every year, my kids beg to read the classic tale (and we love all version of the movie, too!). One of our favorite parts of the story is when the Grinch loads all those presents on his sled. Somehow, he manages to fit the entire town’s Christmas presents and decorations into his sled. That fun scene provided the inspiration for this totally awesome Grinch STEM Activity!

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For our Grinch STEM challenge, I challenged my kids to see if they could have similar results when stacking presents on a sled. Is it possible to fill a sled as much as the Grinch did? Your family can try the Grinch STEM activity and stack as many presents as will fit on the Grinch’s sled!

Christmas Present Stack Grinch STEM Activity

What you’ll need for the Grinch STEM challenge:

• Sled ornament (ours came from Michael’s)
• Mini presents (found in the mini Christmas tree section)

This activity was not only super fun for the kids, but it was not messy at all, which made my heart happy. We love our messy STEM activities, but sometimes, you just want something that won’t make quite as much mess. The Grinch STEM challenge is the perfect thing to try with your kids when you are waiting for cookies to bake or when you just have time for a quick activity.

We discussed how many presents we thought might fit on our sled and then the kids got to stacking.

They tried various arrangements to see what was the best way to stack the presents on the sled.

The kids quickly found that stacking the larger presents on the bottom and the smaller presents on the top was more efficient than stacking the smaller presents on the bottom.

Eventually, the kids were able to stack all the mini presents we had on the sled. They were pleased with how many presents they could stack and said they ought to work for Santa as sleigh packers.

As the activity progressed, the kids tried more complicated stacking methods just to see how many presents they could stack in a more precarious manner without them falling over.

The kids also tried moving the sled with the packages onboard, but quickly realized they would need to secure them somehow if they were actually to deliver presents that way!

What Kids Learn in the Grinch STEM Challenge

This STEM challenge isn’t incredibly technical, but nevertheless, it is teaching children valuable skills. The kids had to use spatial awareness and critical thinking to determine how to load the sled. They counted the presents as they added them (18!) and tried to determine how much bigger the sled would need to be if the Grinch (or Santa) were to actually carry all the presents for kids in Whoville.

Of course, the kids quickly realized that the Grinch’s packing skills are beyond the realm of reality.

Looking for more STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) projects and inspiration?

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Get more information on STEAM Kids Christmas by clicking here.
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Not quite ready to jump in, don’t worry… you can hop over and grab a FREE Preview which includes 2 sample activities, 6 sample challenge cards, and the table of contents of the book! 

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