With only 6 weeks – yep SIX weeks ‘til Santa comes a’sliding down the chimneys of kids all around the world – it’s time to prep for classroom (madness?) Christmas activities! Do you have a favourite go-to activity? (If so, please email us, we’d love to know!). If you’re in need of some cheery inspo, we’ve pooled together some very cool sites that have a range of activities for classrooms during the silly season.
Teacher Vision really is an extensive resource for all things creative at school, including:
- Christmas social studies resources including origins of Christmas traditions
- Printables – including a book with reading activities and guided discussion questions, word games and scrambles
- Chrissy art & crafts
- Lesson plans – to increase students’ understanding about Christmas with activities such as creating acrostic poems, making paper chains with symbols
- Maths, science, food and literature-specific activities related to Christmas
A beautiful site run by Ms. White who is a New York based teacher. She has some clever ideas for simple art and craft Christmas activities for the younger grades. We really love these paper plate Christmas trees that add that little bit of extra cheer to the classroom!
Teach Starter markets themselves as ‘the ultimate teacher timesaver.’ With ready-to-use, curriculum aligned teaching resources for Aussie primary school teachers, you can expect to find great ideas for low-budget and recycled classroom activities, as well as free downloadables including templates, colouring activities, worksheets and writing pages. Some silly season standouts we love are:
- ‘I am grateful’ Christmas worksheet
- Christmas STEM challenge cards
- ‘Christmas around the world’ case study
Amanda has a very extensive site with all things craft, including lots of Christmas goodies! Note – these crafts are more involved so will be suited to older children. We love this eco-friendly recycled gingerbread house village! It’s clever and would make for an amazing Christmas display in any school, classroom, or even home!
Heidi is an early years teacher who lives in Brisbane (woohoo for Aussies!). She is passionate about play-based learning, hands-on activities, creating inviting spaces and projected based learning. The activities on Heidi’s website have been created for (and tested by!) the children in her classroom aged 3–6. Because of this, her activities are suited to the younger grades, and include simple Christmas craft ideas as well as some clever recycled/nature-inspired activities.
Maggy runs Red Ted Art and this site is everything arty and crafty and fun! We especially love the NO-BAKE super simple gingerbread house that can be popped into cellophane bags and taken home as Christmas gifts for mum and dad, as well as these DIY Christmas tree bookmarks!
Students with communication support needs should be encouraged to participate in all classroom activities, especially when they’re sparkly, green and red, and bursting with festive cheer! You may need to make some adjustments to the activities, so we’ve included some tips on how to do this below:
Increase the assistance given to the student
Example: Allowing a peer to sit next to the student to assist them with a craft activity.
Simplify the task required.
Example: If the task is to read a Christmas story, write a reflection, and then illustrate a favourite character – simplify this to reading and writing a reflection (there will need to be adequate time allocated for electronic device users to type their reflection).
Increase time limits and allow time to prepare a student before class
Using a communication device is much slower than speaking, so allow the student adequate time to participate in the activity. If possible, allow the student the opportunity to start the task earlier in the day, or the night before, so they can pre-program their responses in their communication device at home.
Use multiple methods of communication.
Example: Use visual resources such as pictures, videos, objects, and pre-made examples so that students understand exactly what is required.
Adjust the activity to the student’s communication method
Example: if the student with little or no speech has a physical disability and cannot participate in a cut and paste craft activity, then may be able to use their communication device to draw a Christmas illustration.
You can find more tips about implementing a communication system in your classroom in our *new topic* – ‘implementation in the classroom’ right here.