Deck the Halls!: DIY Holiday Unit Study

DIY Holiday Decor Creatives

History – Popcorn and Cranberry Garlands

While the history of this classic Christmas decoration is somewhat unknown, it seems to have originated in Germany in the 18th century. Discuss its journey from Germany to England and across the Atlantic while you string your own garlands to decorate your home for the holidays.

Science – Crystal Candy Canes
This science experiment is the perfect hands-on Christmas activity. You’ll use a borax and water solution to “grow” crystals on a candy cane form, leaving you with a sparkly candy cane to add to your holiday decorations. While this experiment does involve a bit of patience, it only takes a day or two to see dramatic results. You could also experiment with different colors and shapes in your pipe cleaners–blue icicles, gold stars, green holly leaf, etc.

Note that borax is toxic if ingested, so use your own discretion if you have pets or small children who may ingest any broken particles of the candy canes. You can also try this experiment with a sugar solution instead. While the candy canes still wouldn’t be edible, as they’re formed on pipe cleaner shapes, they wouldn’t be toxic if someone tried! If you do try the experiment with sugar, be aware that the sugar crystals will get sticky the longer they’re exposed to moisture, so these decorations would have a shorter shelf life and would not be re-usable.

Art – Window Painting
Window painting is an easy, creative way to add to your DIY holiday decor, and only requires a few simple supplies. You might even sketch a few outlines of festive scenes and allow children to color them in with paint markers. The best part is that the paint is easy to remove if you want to re-do it or at the end of the season, so you can exercise your creativity over and over again, and your decorations don’t require any storage the rest of the year. You can also add small festive doodles around the edges of mirrors inside your home as well.

Home Ec & Math – Edible Ornaments
These edible ornaments are as much fun to make as they are to eat, and they also make great gifts or stocking stuffers (appropriately wrapped and stored). Try making festive popcorn balls, cutting snowflakes out of tortillas, or baking sweet hanging sugar and gingerbread cookies. Following recipes, organizing a grocery supply list, and even planning a schedule to ensure everything gets done on time are all great ways to incorporate math, logic, and planning skills into your Christmas unit study.