Christmas Activities for the Classroom: Free Printables
4 min read
Christmas is an undeniably exciting time for people of all ages and as your classroom fills with festive joy, it is the perfect time to engage your pupils in a range of creative activities. From writing letters to Santa to making Christmas decorations, there are lots of activities that you can do to make your pupils’ season even more enjoyable. It is also easy to make these activities inclusive so that students from all cultural backgrounds can get involved in the festive fun! In this article we will provide you with a range of primary school Christmas activities for the classroom, as well as some free worksheets for you to download, print and use.
Ideas for Christmas Activities in School
We’ve put together a list of some fun-filled Christmas activities for the classroom to help you capture the magic of the season. Each activity can be easily tweaked to make it inclusive for all students, so read on to get some festive inspiration!
Write Letters to Santa
Term might be winding down but that doesn’t mean your students can’t still develop key skills. Writing a letter to Santa is a great way for your students to practise their writing and spelling skills. Make this activity inclusive by getting pupils to write a letter to a family member instead of to Santa or by asking them to write about why they love this time of year, rather than what they would like for Christmas. Download our editable template and get your students’ scribbling away in no time!
Decorate the Classroom
Turn your classroom into a Winter Wonderland or a workshop that would make Santa himself jealous! Encourage your students to get involved in the planning by voting for a theme or by creating different decorations to bring their collective vision to life. Christmas paper chains, mini pipe cleaner wreaths and paper snowflakes are just the thing to bring some festive joy into your classroom.
Celebrate Christmas Jumper Day and Design a Christmas Jumper
Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day takes place on 12th December and it is a great chance to get your students’ creative juices flowing. Unleash their imagination and use our worksheet to design a Christmas jumper. This can then be put up around the classroom as part of your decorations or taken home to display with pride for the family.
Make Christmas Cards
Arts and crafts are a fun part of the season and making Christmas cards is no exception! Let your students get creative and use different materials to craft cards for their family or for one another. This can also be a great opportunity to teach your students about reducing waste at Christmas by using recycled/recyclable materials or left over materials from other activities.
Complete a Christmas Themed Word Search
Much more than something to just ‘keep them busy,’ word searches are great all rounders when it comes to engaging your students’ brains. Completing a word search tests their vocabulary, word recognition and concentration skills and creates a great sense of accomplishment once finished. Our Christmas themed word search is just the thing to get your pupils’ brains ticking as they hunt for words.
Plan a Christmas Play
Christmas is a great time for story telling and putting on a Christmas play gives your students the chance to be a part of those wonderful stories. Nativity plays have been a tradition in primary schools for many years and they are a great way to explore the RE curriculum and teach your students about Christianity. There are also lots of ‘alter-Nativites’ that you could put on, whether that be a showcase of different cultural seasonal traditions or something completely original to teach your students about the importance of family and friends.
Use Christmas Colouring Sheets
Colouring sheets are a great way to hone your students’ pencil control skills and dexterity. As well as being a fun and colourful addition to your classroom, they can also be used to develop your pupils’ fine motor skills. Download our Christmas colouring sheets and make them a part of your classroom decorations!
Organise a Christmas Quiz
Get those little brains whirring with a fun Christmas themed quiz. This can be a great way to test knowledge gained throughout the year by adding a Christmas twist to different subjects or a standalone seasonal one off. Test your students RE knowledge or see if you students can name all of Santa’s reindeers (extra points if they manage to spell them correctly!).
Provide Drawing Guides
Give Bob Ross a run for his money with some festive drawing guides! Festive step-by-step/how to draw guides are a great way to develop your pupils’ sequencing and planning skills. You can further spark their creativity by letting them have full reign on how they colour in their drawings. Download our step-by-step guide and spark your pupils’ imagination!
Host a Christmas Bake Sale
Christmas is a season of giving and we don’t just mean the presents we give to one another. Hosting a Christmas bake sale is a wonderful way to fundraise for charity and can help your students feel like part of something bigger by them coming together to plan and bake delicious festive treats.
Free Printable Christmas Worksheets for Kids
Christmas is an exciting and somewhat overwhelming time of year, so take some stress out of your season by using our worksheets to entice, engage and entertain your pupils. Download, print and use them however you like and bring some festive fun into your classroom. Below you will find full colour or printer friendly black and white versions of our Christmas Activity Pack for your pupils to enjoy.
If you’re scratching your head wondering how best to use our free printable Christmas worksheets, here is some inspiration!
- Don’t use them too soon! The Christmas season is a lengthy one and whilst your students might be ready to see Santa the second they hear Mariah Carey, avoid using all the worksheets the first week of December. In the same breath, try not to wait till the last week of term to use them and instead spread them out throughout the month.
- Use them to help refocus your pupils after transitional times of the day such as break time or lunch. Writing a letter to Santa or doing a Christmas word search is a fun way to calm your students down after an energetic break, easing them back into a learning mindset and preparing them for an afternoon of continued learning.
- Use the colouring and jumper worksheets as part of your classroom decorations so that your pupils get the chance to enjoy their work and the work of their classmates. Encourage your students to be as creative as possible to make their classroom look Santa ready.
- Pair the worksheets with other activities where possible. For example, if you’ve decided to put on a Christmas play about a lonely Snowman, you could ask your students to come up with ideas of what the Snowman looks like using their colouring worksheets.
- Don’t be afraid to use these worksheets to challenge your students where appropriate. As much as some students may wish it did, Christmas does not mark the end of learning or personal development. Challenge your students to see how many words in the Christmas word search they can find by themselves or to be as neat as possible when colouring in some of the more intricate colouring sheets.
Christmas activities are a great way to unite your students in the classroom as they share in the spirit of the season. Bring some of that wonder and excitement into your classroom with our printable Christmas worksheets and make your students’ Christmas merry and bright!
Further Resources:
- How to Create a Positive Learning Environment
- 8 Teaching Methods to Use in the Classroom
- Courses for Teaching and Education
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