Brandeis Professor Eric Olson offers these ideas for holiday activities:

Make an Electric Motor: Start with this YouTube video because it
explains (briefly) how it works, and then consider following the instructions in this video or this one, which has a much shorter parts list.

Experiment with a Mini Wind Turbine: The PicoTurbine company started with this windmill kit and branched out to numerous other renewable energy kits.

Watch NASA Videos about Curiosity: NASA has published two amazing videos about Curiosity, the rover that’s on its way to Mars — one on the launch and one on a simulation of its landing on Mars after less than 9 months traveling at 57,000 MPH.