Cranberries are such fun little fruits, and kids might not have exposure to them as actual fruits (unless you live where they grow). They’re also fun to use in STEM activities this time of year, so let’s check out some cranberry STEM ideas.
Little kids and those who haven’t been exposed to cranberries as berries before will enjoy exploring them in a cranberry sensory bin. Fun Early Learning has ideas for how to set up a sensory bin using cranberries and what else to add.
Build structures with cranberries and toothpicks like in this idea from Artful Parent (the post shows grapes but there’s a link on the same post that mentions doing it with cranberries, but it links to this same URL so you’ll just have to imagine what it looks like.
Lots of classic STEM experiments can be done with cranberries. For example, the dancing raisins experiment can become a dancing cranberry experiment, like is shown at Little Bins for Little Hands. They used craisins (dried cranberries) for this experiment, but you can also try it with regular cranberries and see if that works.
Little Bins for Little Hands has a nice collection of cranberry activities including a more detailed activity building with cranberries and toothpicks, sink or float, sensory bin and more.
Did you know you can make invisible ink using cranberry juice and baking soda? Get the recipe from Kid Minds. They made their own juice from fresh cranberries; I’m not sure if purchased cranberry juice would be acidic enough for this to work. But you could try both and compare and make it a full science experiment where you talk about why it does or doesn’t work.
While you’re making your own cranberry juice you can also use it to make cranberry scented playdough. This idea is also from Kid Minds and is another fun way to play with cranberries.
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