5 Super Easy Holiday Activities
for Any Classroom

The holidays are busy! The decorating. Shopping. Planning trips. Getting ready for guests. The list goes on and on.

 

 

Plus, grades are due because it's the end of the trimester. Ahh...there's so much to do, that I barely have time to spread the holiday cheer to my students.

 

 

Well, I have great news, I'm not gonna have to be a bah humbug this year! That's right, I have a list of super-easy holiday activities for any classroom!

 

1. Gratitude Activity

 

This is absolutely my favorite activity. Which is why I keep sharing it!

Click here to read all about the Gratitude Activity!

 

 

 

 

2. Snowball Fight - Get to Know You Activity

 

I just did this with my kids and they LOVED it! This get to know you activity is soooo easy. All you need is scrap pieces of paper and writing utensils. Here's how it goes: 

 

• Give each student a few pieces of paper

 

• Ask students a question like "What's your favorite winter break activity?" and have them write down their answer.

 

• After writing their answer, they crumple the paper up into a snowball and throw it around the room, like a snowball fight.

 

• Let the kids throw the snowballs around for a bit and then ask each kid to pick up a paper snowball and return to their seat (I like my kids to sit in a big circle when doing activities like this).

 

• Then the kids take turns reading their classmates' answers and guessing who wrote the paper. I let the kids have three guesses before moving on to the next student.

 

• Repeat as many times as you'd like!

 

Here some possible questions you could ask:

 

• What's the best gift you've ever given someone?
• What's the best gift you've ever received?
• What's your favorite holiday food?
• If you could be Santa Claus, how would you use your gift-giving powers?
• What's your favorite holiday tradition?

 

3. Winter Holiday Skits

 

The last few years at school we've done a Winter Holiday Skit assembly. This is when each Advisory class takes a classic winter holiday song, poem, or story and rework it to fit our school. Then each class performs their masterpiece during a school-wide assembly.

 

For example, one year my students rewrote Twas the Night Before Christmas to fit their school experience. Then they performed it in front of the whole school by acting out the scenes as a student read the poem.

 

 

In the past, other classes have changed the lyrics to 12 Days of Christmas (my advice is to only let them sing one verse when they perform), rewritten How the Grinch Stole Christmas and created original performances.

4. Photo Booths

 

Kids loooove having their photo taken. Especially when they can be a little bit silly. Which is why I'm a big fan of photo booths as a holiday activity.

 

I did this a few years ago with a Kindergarten class and it was a huge success. I printed out a few props, took photos of the kids, and then made a little holiday card for the parents.

 

Here are a few photo booth freebies for you to download:

 

• Christmas-themed props
• Winter-themed props
• Frozen-themed props

 

 

 

5. Poem Exchange

 

Last but not least, a poem exchange. Having a gift exchange can be dicey as some kids won't be able to afford to buy a gift for a classmate. But poems are free!

 

Here's how it goes:

• Draw names or assign each student a classmate to write a poem about.

 

• Set time aside for students to write a holiday poem for their classmates.

 

• Read the poems in front of the class.

 

I've never actually done this with a class, but my family has been sharing poems at Christmas for a looong time. And I think it could be the perfect holiday activity for your classroom!

 

 

What about you? What's your favorite classroom holiday activity???