“An Aussie Night Before Christmas” by Yvonne Morrison & Kilmeny Niland provides a wonderful contrast to the many Christmas books that are set in the northern hemisphere. In this Australian story, Santa, wearing shorts and thongs, arrives in an old ute pulled by kangaroos. The book showcases many Australian animals, foods, and Christmas customs — which are wonderful prompts for early STEM explorations. Read on for ideas on how to scaffold children’s STEM inquiries with this book!
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Explore Santa’s suit
This picture book is rich with opportunities to prompt children’s thinking about different climates around the world. To support these explorations, we recommend you read a British or American Christmas book with the children and compare their climates to those depicted in this Australian story.
🌤️ Discuss what Christmas feels like in Australia. For example:
- What is the weather like?
- Measure the temperature in your service or classroom using a thermometer during December. What is the highest and lowest readings throughout the day?
🎅 Invite your children to explore how Santa feels in in his warm suit. Show the children a book with Santa in a traditional Santa suit. Would Santa feel really warm in the Australian summer? How would his body react to the heat?
✋ Provide a materials buffet with different fabric samples, such as wool, cotton, linen, fleece, or synthetics. The children can touch each material and sort them into “hot weather” and “cold weather” piles. Encourage them to describe what they think Santa’s suit feels like: Is it thick like wool? Warm like fleece? Firm like linen?
🧵 Design a Santa suit for the Australian summer! The children can document their designs using paper and pencil. They might consider the size, colour, and type of materials for Santa’s suit. Then, support the children to make a prototype using your materials buffet of fabrics.
Experiment with snow
Why is there no snow during Christmas in Australia, even though we see it on decorations, cards, and books? Explore the natural phenomena of snow and how it forms with your children.
🌨️ Ask your children to share their hypotheses about how snow forms and the conditions needed to create snow. For example: what do you think snow is made of? Where do you think snow comes from? Can we make snow ourselves?
🔬 Experiment with making snow using the children’s ideas as a base. Hint: Snow is made when water vapor in the air turns into ice crystals, but this only happens when the air is very cold. In nature, this takes place high up in the sky inside clouds, where temperatures are below freezing.
🏔️ Use shaved ice to simulate snow. This hands-on experience helps deepen their understanding of how snow forms and the cold conditions it needs using everyday materials:
❄️ Ice cubes
❄️ Ice shaver, grater, or blender (adult supervision required)
❄️ Bowls or trays
❄️ Warm water for melting comparison
❄️ Thermometer (optional)
❄️ Magnifying glass (optional)
Instructions:
- Shave or crush ice into a bowl to create a snow-like texture.
- Let the children touch and explore it. Encourage them to describe how it feels, looks, and melts. You could prompt children’s thinking by asking: Do you think this is what snow feels like? Why is it cold?
- Place some shaved ice in two different bowls. Leave one in a warm spot and another in a cool spot.
- Observe the bowls for 15 minutes and see what changes occur in that time.
🪣 Make a snowman (or sandman!) in your sandpit. Support the children to experiment with using different amounts of water and sand to see what the ideal ratio for a sandman.
Investigate Earth’s tilt
“An Aussie Night Before Christmas” is an ideal entry point to explore the effect of the sun and the earth’s tilt on the weather we experience. Extend children’s reflective thinking skills by prompting observation and encouraging them to share what they notice in this experiment.
Materials:
🌏 A globe
💡 A torch or lamp
Instructions:
- Shine the lamp or torch and explain to the children that this represent the sun.
- Hold the globe near the lamp or torch and slightly tilt it (imagine a clock: tilt it to between 12 and 1 o’clock to present Earth’s tilt). Some parts of the globe should be lit up with your light source.
- Explain that the closer to the sun a part of Earth is, the warmer the temperature. Why might that be the case? Discuss and document the children’s ideas.
4. Show the children where Australia is on the globe and where the northern hemisphere is. Place a post-it note on each to make it easier for the children to see where they are.
5. Slowly rotate the globe to represent Earth spinning. What happens to Australia as the globe spins? Is it lit up or in darkness?
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