Christmas STEM Bell Key Chain
Do you remember what it felt like to believe in Santa? I honestly don’t, but I can remember the feeling that the world was a magical place and anything was possible. It was world of wonder and excitement. I feel like The Polar Express embodies that feeling that the world is magical and full of excitement.
The Polar Express is one book that I can justify leaving out all year long. The illustrations are fantastic but the message is even better. And the imagery of the bell – the simplicity and innocence of that bell – is something I want to foster all the time.
So we made bell key chains. But I love incorporating STEM into everything possible so we added a twist to our bell key chains. For my personal key chain, I added my kids first initial in binary code!
How to Make Your Own Christmas STEM Bell Key Chain
Materials Needed for this Christmas STEM Bell Key Chain
How to Make your Christmas STEM Key Chain
Use a binary alphabet chart and plan out what letters/words you’ll use. I did red and green perler beads and had red be 1 and green be 0. You could do any combination of two colors! Little Bins for Little Hands has a great print out for the binary alphabet here! We did first initials but you could also do whole names, holiday words, or anything that comes to mind!
To get the yarn on the needle is a bit tough. I simple threaded a piece of thread and made a loop.
Put your yarn through the loop and then pull the thread through with the yarn trailing. The yarn was hard to pull through but it did go eventually!
Then you have the yarn through the needle! I started with the bell on already but you can attach it after, too.
Then we added the beads in the correct order. I repeated mine a second time so it would be long enough.
If you haven’t added the bell, do that now! Then finish off with the keychain.
You could also leave off the key chain and use these as decoration or ornaments for the tree! We are going to make a set with our names for the Christmas Tree.
More Coding and STEM Activities for Kids
Code a Message and dance like a bee
STEAM Paper Airplane Experiment
Out Now! – Countdown to Christmas Ebook
When life gets hectic in the lead up to Christmas wouldn’t it be great to be able to spend a little time with the family creating gifts for others, food to enjoy together and traditions that make magical Christmas Memories?
But what actually happens is you spend hours searching through Pinterest looking for ideas and realise halfway through saying you are going to start that you have only 1 thing on the materials list!
I’ve been there!
So that is why we’ve put together our 24 favourite Christmas Activities, Crafts and Recipes with full materials lists and step-by-step instructions so that you have everything at your fingertips.
Produced as a PDF you can download, print and use these ideas throughout the festive season with your children and families.
Find out more as we share with your our Favourite Ways to Countdown to Christmas.
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Cerys Parker
Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.