If you’re a teacher, you probably have mixed feelings about December in the classroom. On one hand, the December holidays are filled with winter magic and a special sparkle that’s all its own. On the other, this time of year can feel a tad chaotic and out of the routine. If you can relate, I’m here to help! Today I’m sharing fun December activities and books that will help you embrace the holiday season, calm the chaos, and keep those kiddos engaged in learning all the way through the month!

Addressing Holiday Challenges

As much as I’d love to say that holidays in the classroom are sweeter than gingerbread cookies, we both know it has its ups and downs. As teachers of young children, we know that holiday excitement can make your routines and normal schedules feel a bit wonky. And guess what… that’s totally OK! In fact, if we go into the holiday expecting this, we’re far more likely to enjoy it.

While this truth is nothing surprising to a veteran teacher, if you’re new to the classroom you might be wondering how on earth you’re going to survive the holidays! Yes, it’s true student anticipation can cause a bit of classroom commotion, but it doesn’t need to be all-out mayhem. Luckily, I’ve got plenty of ideas for you to help choose holiday activities and books that will make the most of this special time of year!

December Activities and Holiday Theme Days

Let’s kick off this list with my favorite way to make holidays in the classroom more magical- adding an extra dose of fun! Now, you might be thinking that the best way to calm the chaos during the holidays is to avoid additional holiday activities and events, but I’ve found the opposite to be true.

Think about it… students are bursting with excitement this time of year, so why not embrace it as much as possible? Taking this approach lets them release some of that holiday anticipation and relax into fun learning activities. One of my favorite ways to do this leads to my next idea for you… theme days!

The final week before the holiday break is a great time to have a daily theme in the classroom. Not only is this fun for students, but it adds an extra layer of excitement to coming to school this final week. By planning holiday theme days, you’ll also have a great template for holiday activities for each day too! Simply choose a theme and a book to base your activities around and you’re good to go! Here’s a possible schedule for you to use:

Reindeer Day

Reindeer Day is a fantastic day to read a book like Olive the Other Reindeer and have students sing along to a holiday classic. Starting the day out like this is a fun way to kick off your lessons! After that, consider reading a non-fiction book about reindeer and making a class anchor chart about reindeer facts. This is a great starting point for a writing activity too.

Another fun idea is to have students make handprint reindeer ornaments for their families on this day. Simply paint their hands brown, stamp on cardstock, and allow to dry. Then, add a red pom-pom to the bottom of the palm area for a nose, and googly eyes in the center of the hand to finish it up. Students can then carefully cut the reindeer out, hole punch the top, and add a ribbon to hang on the tree!

Elf Day

Elf Day is one of our favorites! There’s just something extra fun about elves and students love their crazy antics. For your classroom read-aloud on this day, ‘How to Catch an Elf‘ is a great option. Students will love this mischievous book filled with silly shenanigans.

After reading, try out the “Elf Yourself” craft and writing prompt. This fun, Christmas resource is designed to be used in a couple of ways, so you can choose the option that works best for your kiddos or use them both! Students will create a funny elf version of themselves with a printable craft and a photo. Students can also draw a face on their elf if you don’t have time to print photos. These cute crafts are bound to make your students smile, plus they’re a great starting point for some holiday-inspired writing too!

I like to ask students what they would do if they were an elf and write a short story about it. It’s really fun to brainstorm this idea for a bit and make an anchor chart with ideas to get those wheels turning. Once students have finished, display the short stories and festive elves on a bulletin board for instant holiday decor!

The second option for this activity is to “Elf” another classroom and spread some holiday cheer! To do this, your students will create their elves and decorate another classroom door while those students are out at recess or specials. They’ll love returning to the classroom and seeing their friends as miniature elves. This activity will make Elf Day one to remember!

Grinch Day

If you’ve never read “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to your class, this is the perfect day to do so! This book is a holiday classic for a reason, and I love having a Grinch-themed day every year. I like to have students write a few sentences about ways they could help grow the Grinch’s heart during the holiday season.

After reading and writing, we make a special holiday treat as our final activity of the day. To make Grinch Cookies, you’ll need some plain sugar cookies, green frosting, and small cinnamon heart candies. Students will frost their cookies, and add a heart to the center. This no-cook activity is quick and easy and a great mid-week reward to keep kiddos engaged throughout the day!

Santa Day

Who doesn’t love Santa?! This is one of my favorite days of the week, and we always start out by reading “Santa’s Stuck” by Rhonda Gowler Greene. In the silly book, Santa has a few too many Christmas treats and gets stuck in the chimney!

After reading the book aloud, students will use their master problem-solving powers to figure out a way to get Santa unstuck from the chimney with this writing activity. You’ll love seeing what everyone comes up with! Students also get to make a Santa craft-topper for this activity which makes the finished product great to display on a bulletin board or down the hallway.

Polar Express Day

I’ve saved everyone’s favorite for last! On this final day before break, read and watch The Polar Express as a whole group. Encourage kiddos to wear pajamas and plan to enjoy hot cocoa and popcorn during the movie as a special treat!

After you’ve finished up, end the day with a classroom discussion comparing and contrasting the book and movie. Ask kiddos what differences they saw and which one they liked better. You can even make an anchor chart, or use this prompt for one last writing page before the holiday break begins.

Non-Holiday Seasonal Magic

While many of us are permitted to celebrate holidays in the classroom, I also know that many of us are not, or choose not to. This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some seasonal wonder with your students! If this is the case, don’t forget that there are many other fun themes to use in the classroom that aren’t holiday-related.

Gingerbread Theme

One of my favorite non-holiday themes for the classroom is gingerbread! There are tons of great books out there that fit this theme such as Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby or Gail Yerril’s The Gingerbread Man. I like to use these books alongside my design a Gingerbread house lessons.

Design a Gingerbread House

This activity comes in two options to serve a range of learners. The first, is perfect for pre-k, kindergarten and first grade students and focuses on numbers 1-20. Students will follow the directions to count out the number of pieces needed to create their own gingerbread house. There are 3 options included to allow for differentiation and make sure this activity is a perfect fit for the learners in your group.

The second option is for older students in 2nd-5th grade and focuses on measurement. There are 7 different versions included in this resource with options for centimeters, inches, fractions, and whole numbers. These activities are great for a special, whole-group activity or have students work on them independently while you conduct 1:1 assessments.

Gingerbread Craft

Another fun activity to use during your festive gingerbread lessons is the craft in this winter scissor skills resource. Inside you’ll find 50 pages of cutting practice with everything from straight lines, to curves, to shapes and more!

Use the no-prep pages throughout the week to practice with scissors and finish up with the fun gingerbread craft included. Students will love creating their very own gingerbread person and you’ll love that this activity doubles as fine motor practice.

Snowman Theme

Another great theme for December is snowman theme. If you’ve never read Snowmen at Night or How to Catch a Snowman, make sure to add those to your list! Both of these books are filled with playful snowman antics and will make your students smile.

One of my favorite week-long resources that goes along with a snowman theme is The Snowman: All-in-One sight word activities. This resource is packed with fun activities that help students master 5 target sight words in a fun way.

Students will read mini-books, use writing activities, and play hands-on games during center time. There are tons of activities included in this set, so you’ll have plenty of snowman activities to use all week long. For more info on how to use this resource, be sure to check out this post!

Lighten the Load Where Possible

Another great way to make holidays in the classroom more manageable and fun is to be mindful of your prep work during this busy season. There are many ways to do this, but here are a few of my favorites:

• Choose low-prep activities when possible
• Share prep duties with other teachers and parent helpers
• Be selective about what types of holiday activities to include – in other words, you don’t have to do it all!

We all know how easy it is to load up your lesson plan with cute holiday crafts, special activities, and all the things! Keeping these three simple things at the front of my mind truly helps to ensure that I won’t be entering the holiday season with too much on my plate. In turn, this helps me enjoy our time in the classroom so much more.

Celebrate Holidays Around the World

One of my favorite ways to lighten the load and share prep duties with other teachers is to work together for a Holidays Around the World unit. You can do this with your grade level team, or if you have a very small team consider joining with other grades.

Each teacher will choose a specific holiday and plan the activities that go with it. Students will rotate from classroom to classroom, and you’ll only need to worry about prepping one lesson and then teaching it multiple times to each group. Not only is this fun and engaging for students, but it means your prep workload is lighter this day too!

On my kindergarten team, we had a set time every day for a week and the classes would visit a different teacher each day. Depending on the time you have available you could do everything in one day or have kids rotate more than once. It’s very easy to set the schedule to fit your available time.

If you want to add an extra special touch, have students create a passport out of cardstock and a suitcase made from a cereal box to carry from room to room. Kiddos will get a stamp in their passport from each teacher, and fill their suitcase with learning materials from each room.

Choose Versatile December Activities and Books

My final tip for making the holidays more enjoyable in the classroom is to choose activities that serve multiple purposes. In December, this often means choosing books that can be read aloud, used in small group activities, and as the basis for a writing prompt like the ones mentioned above. This applies to centers and activities too! By carefully choosing versatile activities, your time and effort will go much further during this busy time.

Holiday Mystery Puzzles

A great example of an activity that fits this criteria are my Holiday Mystery Puzzles. They can be introduced first in small groups, then used again during center time, and finally repurposed for fast-finishers. Not to mention, these activities can be used across multiple subjects as well, making them even more versatile.

Students will love uncovering a Christmas or Hanukkah picture as they solve their puzzles! The best part about these resources is that they’re fully editable, meaning you can use them for just about any skill you think of. Use them for letter identification, sight words, math facts, vocabulary words, and more. Not to mention, since these are no-prep, they’re easy to use as last-minute time fillers, instant center options, and independent learning activities throughout the month!

Picture Writing Prompts

I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for some versatile writing activities. These holiday picture prompts are just that! These are great because they can be used in your writing center, during small groups, and even bound into a holiday journal.

These are fun for students too since they allow for tons of creativity. Kiddos will look at the picture, and determine what they think is going on. They use this as inspiration and write a few sentences to describe the scene. These are great for quick, no-prep time fillers and even work well when sent home as homework too!

Enjoy Holidays in the Classroom

I hope you found something fun to try in your classroom this season! The big takeaway here is to choose fun December activities that will light up your little learners, encourage engagement, and make the most of your time. I know that holidays can be hectic in the classroom, but being mindful of choosing engaging holiday activities and books really helps smooth it out!

If you’re looking for even more lessons and activities to use in your classroom, be sure to check out the TIBJ Store on TPT. You’ll find tons of options to suit a variety of learners and skills throughout the year. Happy Holidays!

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