Sleigh Building Challenege
Can you build a sleigh to help deliver the presents on Christmas Eve? Set up a sleigh building challenge with the materials you have on hand. We used craft sticks and pipe cleaners. What materials will you use?
Materials Needed:
- Glue (PVA and/or hot glue)
- Tape
- Small presents or jingle bells (to use as cargo for the sleigh)
- Assortment of building materials – see list of ideas below
- Craft sticks (various colors or plain and you can paint)
- Pipe cleaners
- Cardboard or cereal boxes
- Newspaper
- Plastic containers
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.
How to Create a Sleigh Building Challenge for Your Child
Raid your recycling bin or brainstorm a list of materials with your child. Will you build a sleigh out of cardboard or newspaper? What about using a plastic container? You can choose the material for your child or you can let him select. Discuss how the material will become the sleigh. Do you need scissors to cut the material? Will you need paint to create the color you want? How will you assemble the sleigh? Do you need glue or tape or perhaps you’ll use string?
I chose craft sticks for our sleighs. (We had both wooden and foam craft sticks available.) My son set out creating his sleigh by laying down a layer of wooden craft sticks. He then added cut pieces of foam craft sticks across the top.
He finished building the sleigh, glued it together with white glue, and added a star for a seat.
You can also assemble a sleigh with craft sticks and tape. Use hot glue to attach the sides and seat. I made a little reindeer using pipe cleaners and hot glue.
Test your sleighs. How many presents can they hold?
What else can your sleigh hold? We added jingle bells to our sleighs.
If you like the sleigh building challenge, you’ll also love our sleigh races. It’s a great Christmas science activity for a variety of ages.
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Trisha Stanley
Trisha is an educator with a passion for science literacy and mom to Aiden, Lily, and Elon.
She’s the creator of Inspiration Laboratories, a blog dedicated to encouraging learning through creativity and play.