Coding in a Winter Wonderland
There are many ways to reinforce physical coding and applied robotics during this holiday season. You can use these winter wonderland ideas as morning warm-ups or for Friday free time, or you can create rotation stations to tackle them all at once during a classroom celebration. Pick and choose your favorites, or try them all!
Computer Science Education Week
The month of December is ripe for classroom celebrations, beginning with the Hour of Code to kick off Computer Science Education Week. Our Hour of Code webpages have tons of activities to choose from and a link to sign up for a live, student-facing webinar on Monday, December 9!
Winter WONDERland Activity Packets
Check out our printable Winter WONDERland packets, 50+ pages (yes, f-i-f-t-y pages) of offline and online activities.
Please note that some items referenced in these packets are no longer available for sale from Wonder Workshop—but Dash can do anything that Dot and Cue can!
Ski Along
Take a cue for @durritterin on Instagram and create a slalom course for Dash to navigate through. No snow needed – just add code!
Reindeer and Sleigh Ride
Dash through the holidays with MUP Church Coppell STEAM and Pinkerton CISD on Instagram! Their DIY sleigh and parade of Dash reindeer made for a Very Merry Pinkerton Night.
Launcher Accessory Ideas
Snowball fight! Draw some (masking tape) lines and take sides Use the ever-popular Launcher to toss snowballs of different materials — crumpled paper or foil, cotton balls, Ping Pong balls. Determine a point system based on hitting targets of different sizes and from various distances.
Did someone say football season? Use the Launcher to help Dash score field goals.
Ice Skate the Night Away
Code one or two Dash robots for a solo or paired ice skating routine worthy of a gold medal.
Bulldoze the Snow
Dash is ready to clear the snow from the streets all winter long! Use the bulldozer accessory if you have one, or even better, take a page from these second graders and build your own out of recycled materials or Lego bricks attached to the building block connectors.
Count Down to the New Year
Ring in the New Year with a balloon parade! Check out @insidethegiftedclassroom on Instagram for more festive cross-curricular connections with Dash.
Cozy Hats
Feeling crafty? Knit one, purl two to make Dash a cozy winter hat. Robots get cold too, you know!
Binary Ornaments
With some simple colored beads and a pipe cleaner, you can introduce the binary alphabet! Have students code their names or a winter-related spelling word. Use this ASCII Binary Alphabet PDF to get started. Then loop the pipe cleaner to make an ornament or bend it to form a candy cane!
Winter Pageant
Hold a holiday pageant (see video), where participants dress up in their best winter outfits and answer pageant questions. Ask students to first program their robots with one noun response, an -ing verb response, and a location response. Then surprise the contestants with questions like:
- What is your favorite piece of winter attire?
- Which winter sport do you excel at?
- Where would you like to travel once spring comes?
The Dash and Dot Show
Visit our archives for this holiday episode of the Dash & Dot Show. Find more episodes in our YouTube playlist.
Edible Constructs
And who doesn’t like a yummy snack? Riff off of this clever robot snack by using milk bottles to make a snowman, a red Hershey’s kiss as a Santa’s hat, or pretzels as reindeer antlers!
Want Even More?
You’ll find our 2023 Winter WONDER-ful Activities blog post here.
What other holiday ideas can you come up with?
- Can you create your own version of the poem, “The Night Before Christmas”? Have Dash recite your original poem about coding and robots in an A, B, C, B rhyme scheme.
- Can Dash use the Launcher to help Santa deliver gifts down a chimney? Create chimneys (think tall boxes!) of different heights and widths.
- Can Dash turn into Rudolph and tow a sleigh carrying Dot?
- Can Dash tell the story of Hanukkah candles, complete with recordings and blinking eye patterns?
- Can you wrap Dash in a dreidel outfit and let it spin?
- What mischief can Dash and Elf on a Shelf get into? https://twitter.com/Roosloan/status/806126796441845760
Share your winter WONDER-land ideas with us and tag us @WonderWorkshop on social.
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