@Tina_Dietrich and @Danielle_McCoy recently posted sharing some holiday themed center ideas for 123, which got me thinking about many, many fun holiday themed classroom activities, and I’m sure many of you have been too! So here’s another one to add to your list 
The 12 Days of VEXmas!
I set this up on a 123 Field, but it could really be done with any platform. We all know the song the 12 Days of Christmas, and over the years this has been fodder for lots of fun classroom activities.
This base activity is simple - you code the robot to travel from Day 1 to Day 12 through the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ song. Where it gets interesting is how you do it!
Start simple:
- You can set up the Field with the numbers 1-12 mixed up, like I did here.
- On ‘Day 1’ - kids code the robot to number 1. On day 2, they code to number 1 and 2; on day 3- numbers 1, 2, and 3, and so on until you get to day 12.
- Have students build onto their projects from one day to the next.
- Level up - Challenge your students to go in a different path every day!
Add in the math - How many gifts are you getting over the course of the 12 days?
- Each day keep a running total of the number of gifts you got that day, and the total so far.
How many will you get by the end of the 12 days? - Graph how many of each ‘kind’ of gift you got - How many of them are birds? etc.
Remix it - Write your OWN version of the 12 Days song with things you’d want to receive!
- Theme it! Can you write a 12 Days of VEXmas song with all STEM themed gifts? (If you do - PLEASE share it here!!)
- Put your song lyrics on the Field, or build your own version of something from the song with your Kit.
Write about it - Have students write a letter about all these gifts!
- They can write about their favorites and least favorites and why.
- Practice writing letters and write a thank you note to the gift giver.
- Write a newspaper article about the experience!
I hope this gets your holiday wheels spinning in thinking about fun ways to engage students between now and winter break What other activities are you doing or planning to do with your students?
