We, teachers, know that when December comes the only thing our students are thinking about is the holidays. Whether they participate in Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or another winter celebration; we can use classroom games and low-prep activities that incorporate holiday themes and characters to keep learning both engaging and fun! From making cute DIY ornaments for friends and family to delicious treats, good deeds, and handmade cards, we have 55 of the sweetest activities to bring on the yuletide cheer!
1. Holiday Vocabulary Lesson
December is the perfect time to teach your students some keywords associated with the holidays. This link has a list of over 100 words for you to pick and choose the ones suitable for your students. Design a word wall they can reference daily, make your own word search, or ask students to use 5 words and write a short poem or story.
Learn More: Thought Co.
2. Edible Reindeer
Here is a fresh idea that not only uses my favorite food (peanut butter!) but also makes a healthy and adorable holiday snack for your elementary kids to enjoy. You can have students bring in the items they need: raspberries, pretzels, chocolate chips, nut butter, and celery, and create them together!
Learn More: Teach Starter
3. DIY Elf Handprint Cards
Looking for a cute card your students can give to their family and friends as a sweet holiday gift? These handprint cards are so simple to put together and will get your learners excited to decorate and write inside once completed.
Learn More: Simple Everyday Mom
4. Scented Gingerbread Playdough
Ready to whip up some moldable playdough that smells like Christmas? This recipe uses holiday spices like cinnamon and ginger to give your cute gingerbread the smell of the season. Bring in some holiday cookie cutters and craft supplies for students to mold and create festive characters with.
Learn More: Learning 4 Kids
5. Holiday Creative Writing Activity
There are plenty of ways to include holiday vocabulary, concepts, and props in elementary writing lessons. This fun activity asks students to complete an activity sheet with step-by-step instructions for decorating a Christmas tree using target transition words such as “first, next, then, last”.
Learn More: Firstieland
6. Color by Code Activity
Not only are these activity packets helping your students with color recognition and sight words, but they also provide art therapy for students who enjoy individual, creative assignments.
Learn More: A Teachable Teacher
7. Guess Who?: DIY Christmas Version
Time for a little guessing game your students can play in teams and work on their descriptive and association skills. Split your classroom into two teams and write your own cards with holiday-themed characters, concepts, foods, and decorations for students to act out or provide verbal clues for.
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8. Paper Plate Grinch Craft
How cute is the Grinch? This classroom activity is either made from green construction paper or by cutting and painting a paper plate green. The facial details can be made using different colored card stock or paints and markers. The hat can be cut and folded, and each student can add their individual flare to this iconic Christmas character.
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9. DIY Beaded Snowflake Ornament
This fun craft can be hung on the class tree, brought home, or given as a present or part of a gift exchange. These ornaments are made by shaping wire into a snowflake outline and then adding beads before twisting the ends shut.
Learn More: Happiness is Home Made
10. Classroom Holiday Traditions
You can print out this bucket list or create your own to give students some ideas to make this holiday season a memorable one! Each day on the list can include a craft or activity they can do in the classroom, with friends, or at home. See which student completes the most items on the list for a prize!
Learn More: Mommy’s Bundle
11. Holidays Around the World
You’ll need some basic research skills for this festive celebration activity in order to teach students the ways in which different cultures honor the holidays. You can make a chart on your class board and ask students to add details over the weeks in December about what their families believe and do.
Learn More: Firstieland
12. Star Pattern STEM Activity
For this festive math skills activity, you can introduce your elementary students to the concepts of degrees, measuring angles, using a circle protractor, finding the circumference, and cutting out a finished product. Once they have drawn and cut their stars they can create cool designs using paint and hang them up for classroom decoration.
Learn More: Nurture Store
13. Bow Tie Noodle Wreaths
We’ve got another kid-friendly yuletide activity to bring your students some Christmas cheer! These craft wreaths are so creative and easy to assemble. Bring a couple of boxes of dried bow tie pasta, green paint, glitter, and ribbon for kids to make and decorate their own wreaths to bring home or hang in class!
Learn More: Crafty Morning
14. Toilet Roll Candle Crafts
How adorable are these toilet paper roll candles? Students can bring in their own paper rolls and paint them with Christmas colors and designs. Then cut a circle for a halo of light and use orange tissue paper to form 3D flames!
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15. Used Toy Donations Box
This festive activity starts in the classroom but reaches far beyond its walls. Get a big box and ask your students to bring in old toys or clothes they no longer need to donate to a local charitable organization.
Learn More: Money Crashers
16. Christmas Classic Memory Game
There are tons of free printable Christmas cards you can find online to print and play this classic game. You can also print out your own photos and make personalize the memory game for your holiday, students, or subject!
Learn More: Simple Everyday Mom
17. Christmas Book Advent Calendar
Kids LOVE countdowns, especially for a holiday as exciting as Christmas! Here is an educational advent calendar that features books for the weeks of December. For book ideas, you can pick your own, have students vote, or get inspiration from the link provided to improve reading skills while decking the halls!
Learn More: Rainy Day Mum
18. DIY Peppermint Candy Ornaments
During this chaotic time of the year, everyone could use a little something sweet. These melted candy ornaments are the cutest craft to make together and enjoy hanging on the tree or munching!
Learn More: One Little Project
19. Christmas Board Game Day
This super fun hands-on activity uses a game board with wh- questions students must answer to move along and help Santa find his sleigh. There are plenty of game boards ready to print and use online, or you can make your own with challenging questions that will be a hit with your class!
Learn More: Printablee
20. Foldable DIY Christmas Tree Cards
Check out these super cool and creative card suggestions suitable for kids to make and give to their family or friends! Use the tutorial video to guide students on how to cut and fold their greeting cards before writing sweet messages inside.
Learn More: YouTube
21. The 3D Christmas Tree Card
Have your students create a list of family members to make cards for. Then have multiple card stations set up for this card and the two ideas that are listed below. Students can make any of these card suggestions suitable for any family member!
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22. Present Card
This cute card cover just needs red cardstock and glitter paper, a red ribbon, googly eyes, and a sharpie. What a simple shopping list for fun and effective holiday cards! Help students with prompts to write inside to their families.
Learn More: The Best Ideas For Kids
23. Finger Print Christmas Tree Decorations
Leave it as a decoration, or you could turn this painting into a greeting card. Be sure students are able to wash their hands before moving to the next activity! The best part about this is students can decide if they like the actual tree or the outline better.
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24. Countdown Blocks
These blocks are a fun and easy daily activity you can do with your students starting when they get back from Thanksgiving. Younger students will love changing the blocks out every day. It can be part of a math lesson for younger minds.
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25. The 3D Wreath
You will need lots of toilet paper rolls for this one, so start collecting them now! Have students write a message on each one before gluing them to a paper plate. Pre-cut the greenery for younger kids, or have older students make their own leaves.
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26. Pipe Cleaner Wreath
Need some fresh ideas for low-prep activities? Pipe cleaners and yellow buttons are all you need for this! Students will use their pencils to create the perfect wreath twist. Since there’s a lot of finger coordination, this is suggested for older elementary students.
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27. Advent Calendar
Students can make their own calendars, or you can make one large calendar for the whole class. Either way, adding the stars to cover up each day to Christmas makes for a great whole class holiday activity. The largest star is for Christmas Eve!
Learn More: That Artist Woman
28. Creative Writing Activity
Have a list of 20 prompts ready to go (see the next item on this list). Then use the random prompt picker to select the one students will write about. Hit “pause” to select which number prompt the green reindeer will land on.
Learn More: YouTube
29. Writing Prompts
A full list of prompts can be found here. This holiday-themed journal activity will challenge students in third grade and up as they use critical thinking skills to apply their imagination to topics around the holiday season.
Learn More: Minds in Bloom
30. Daily Jokes
After counting down the days until Christmas, start each day in December off with a wintery joke. This is sure to be a hit with students as you lighten the mood and get a quick chuckle out of the group before diving into these other cool ideas.
Learn More: A Sparkle of Genius
31. Christmas-opoly
Below you will find three board games. Host a board game day in your classroom with multiple classroom games to choose from. Kids will love being able to pick which Christmas-themed game they will get to play.
Learn More: Amazon
32. Grinch Grow Your Heart Card Game
Get your game boards ready to go for this interactive game. See who can make the Grinch’s heart grow the biggest as students draw cards and make strategic decisions about which ones to keep and which to discard.
Learn More: Amazon
33. A Christmas Story Memory Card Game
I love a classic memory game, and this one is straight from A Christmas Story! If you’re looking for a movie day, perhaps you could play this movie before the memory game so students can laugh as they remember the silly scenes shown on the cards.
Learn More: Amazon
34. Christmas Tree Cup Stacking STEAM Challenge
This cup stacking game doubles as a way to bring STEM activities into the classroom. The red and green cups add some festive flare to this stacking game. You’ll also need a wide strip of cardboard and a toilet paper roll.
Learn More: Raising Dragons
35. Magazine Christmas Trees
Do you have a bunch of magazines in a random storage closet? You can easily get rid of them with this fantastic idea. Lots and lots of folding are required to make these magazine trees, so be sure the little hands are up for it!
Learn More: Raising Dragons
36. Christmas Math Song
Are you looking for a way to ask some maths questions during the holiday season? This video is a maths activity that is all about adding double numbers. Students can work on their math skills while helping Santa figure out how many presents he needs.
Learn More: YouTube
37. Color by Code Activity
This is such a great way for students to learn new words. The constant repetition of short words for each color will help cement these words in their memory while learning to color in the lines. They will be so excited when the stocking appears.
Learn More: A Teachable Teacher
38. Glyph Activity
What is a glyph, you ask? It’s a worksheet that works on decoding data. Glyphs help to build math and reading skills, usually with a picture. Think of it like solving a word problem or a riddle. The glyphs you see here are specifically for December.
Learn More: Our Journey Westward
39. Yuletide Blanket Story Time
Celebrate the winter solstice with some kid-friendly Yuletide activities. One idea is to have story time on this Yuletide blanket. Start the lesson with an explanation of what the winter solstice is, and what the blanket represents, and end with a story about winter.
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40. Grinch Prize Wheel
Use this classic carnival game as a way to dish out prizes for some of the games you and your students played. Have a few simple prizes ready to go like candy canes, pencils, or erasers. Winners get one chance to spin.
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41. Snowball Bowling Game
Your 5th-grade students will love this holiday-themed bowling game. How many snowman cups can they knock down with their snowball? Be sure to have set rules on where the snowball throwing is allowed and if they need to place the cups on the floor.
Learn More: Amazon
42. Snowman Paper Plate Game
Here is a simple activity that just requires paper plates and a sharpie. Students will put a paper plate on their heads and keep it there until the teacher reads all instructions. The teacher will provide directions for students to draw snowmen while the plate is on their heads!
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43. Art Frame Gift
Double up the popsicle sticks to make some sturdy picture frames. Ask students to bring a family photo to place inside the frame before wrapping it in tissue paper. This is one of the best activities for children that doubles as a gift.
Learn More: Farm Food Family
44. Footprint Ornaments
These are such cute ornaments! Big kids will take up too much room, so these are best for kindergarteners. Getting your foot covered in paint is such an exciting time! Kids will love sharing these with mom and dad.
Learn More: Eigthteen25
45. Elf Crossword
Have students complete the crossword in groups. Students will need to keep these faces down until you say “go.” The first team to accurately complete the crossword is the winner. Be sure to have the answer key printed out before beginning.
Learn More: Twinkl
46. Gingerbread Shape People
Younger students will love cutting out these shapes and using them to decorate their gingerbread men. Chipper children will have fun with their friendly teacher the entire time they are working on these special shape people.
Learn More: Twinkl
47. Christmas Math Mosaics
Santa is here to help with maths lessons! The solution to this multiplication table will look like a Christmas tree. Fourth graders will love this interactive mosaic filled with challenging questions designed to enhance their math skills.
Learn More: Twinkl
48. Host a Gift Exchange
Use these gift tags for a simple yet lovely gift like a box of crayons. Have each student bring in a gift for a gift exchange. If you have a small class, you can play Yankee Swap where students get to steal a gift up to three times!
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49. Tissue Paper Christmas Trees
For these trees, you will need four pieces of 15x30cm of tissue paper per student. Multiple small pieces of wire per student are also needed. Make long sticks out of rolled newspaper ahead of time. Then it’s just a lot of folding and spreading out.
Learn More: YouTube
50. Candy Cane Reindeer
These super cute candy cane reindeer can be an ornament or a stocking stuffer. There are many fine motor skills involved with tying the ribbon and making the antlers, so this is best for older elementary students.
Learn More: One Little Project
51. Felt Candy Ornaments
Are you a 5th-grade teacher? If so, these felt candy ornaments might be the perfect new experience for children in your grade. You’ll need craft felt, lollipop sticks, multiple glue guns, embroidery floss, and a needle.
Learn More: Happiness is Homemade
52. Beaded Snowflake Ornaments
Have students choose if they want to make the felt ornaments or a beaded snowflake ornament. Many students have bead sets at home that they can bring in. You’ll need to provide the wiring and string for hanging.
Learn More: Happiness is Homemade
53. Christmas Slime
This slime is easy to make! The ingredients include glue, liquid starch, food dye coloring, and glitter. Younger students will love this super sensory activity as they feel the slime between their fingers. It can be something kids can play with if they finish a craft early.
Learn More: Mom Dot
54. Mice Ornaments
These mousey ornaments require glue, candy canes, scissors, and felt. Be sure to cut out the mouse bodies ahead of time if you are working with younger kiddos. Pipe cleaners can be used instead of candy canes.
Learn More: Mosswood Connections
55. Holiday Math Riddles
These riddles contain maths questions for first through 8th grade. Riddles make for a fun maths activity! This resource has five pre-made riddles ready to go. Look through the list to decide which riddle is best for your age group.
Learn More: Mashup Math
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