5 Christmas Activities for the Classroom
5 Christmas Activities for the Classroom
Christmas has come around again! And with Nativity plays, carol singing and Christmas fetes galore just around the corner, it really is a wonderful time of year to be a teacher. Especially as it brings about amazing opportunities to engage your pupils in their learning by giving your lessons and classroom activities a Christmassy theme!
If you?re struggling for classroom Christmas activity ideas this year, however, not to worry - we?ve come up with five fantastic ones below that?ll not only be super-fun, but will also help your pupils to learn something new, too!
1. The 12 Days of Christ-maths!
We all know the legendary song that is the 12 Days of Christmas - not only is it great fun to sing, but it offers awesome opportunities to enhance your pupils? maths skills, too!
For the 12 Days of Christ-maths, divide your classes into groups of 12, and assign each of them a gift - so one group has the Partridge in a Pear Tree, one has the 2 Turtle Doves, and so on, all the way up to 12 drummers drumming. Line up all the groups in your school hall, and have them sing through the song together - when it?s that group?s turn, they should do an action to represent their gift! For example, 3 French Hens could jump up and pretend to be clucking hens. You could even take it an extra step and bring in musical instruments and props - such as yellow hula hoops for the 5 gold rings, or recorders for the 11 Pipers Piping.
Bonus activity: For your older pupils, set them the challenge of working out how many gifts there would be in total if they added them all up from each day of the song - no calculators allowed!

2. Christmas Song Creation
Christmas songs are all around us - on the radio, in the shops? and they?re all inspirational in their own way. So perhaps as a classroom Christmas activity idea, you could help your pupils create one of their very own!
In your next Literacy lesson (depending on their age), have a discussion about what they love most about Christmas, or ask them to write something creative - whether that?s a short story or a poem. Then gather together all their ideas to create a Christmassy jingle. If you?re lucky enough to have a colleague at your school who has a talent for music, you could ask them to put the final song lyrics to music, and bring all your pupils together to sing it in your school Christmas Concert!
3. Christmas Culinary Fun!
You can never have too many sweet treats at Christmas, and your last few days in the classroom offer the perfect opportunity for your pupils to get stuck into some Christmas cookery! From stained glass cookies to marzipan-covered dates, mince pies to gingerbread cupcakes, there are tons of simple and fun recipes you can choose from. At the same time, you can teach your pupils the science behind the baking; from the interactions between different ingredients to how the oven works to cook their chosen treats.
4. Christmas Across the Globe Display
(Subjects: Art, Religious Education, Geography)
Christmas is also a great time to teach your pupils about different cultures around the world - as, of course, some celebrate Christmas differently to the UK with exciting and different traditions, and some countries don?t celebrate it at all!
During your next Geography or Religious Education lesson, go on a round-the-world trip to explore how different countries celebrate the festive season. Then, split the class into different groups, allocating a different country to each group, and encourage them to get creative by making different pictures and crafts to represent that country to put up on display in your classroom or corridor!
5. Give the Gift of Kindness
(Subjects: Personal & Social Development, Art)
Although being kind and thoughtful is important to encourage in your pupils all year round, Christmas is perhaps the time of year where people become the most aware of its importance. Therefore, one of our classroom Christmas activity ideas is to help your pupils give the gift of kindness. During circle time or a quieter time of the school day, remind your pupils that while Christmas is a very happy time for many, it might not be so happy for others, and it?s important that we?re as kind, thoughtful, and friendly to everyone we meet. Then it?s time to get crafty and creative as you ask your pupils to make something that they?d like to give someone that Christmas to express that kindness, such as a gift to put in a shoebox for a child somewhere else in the world who might not be as fortunate as them, a Christmassy poem to share with a family member, or a card to give to a friend.
Conclusion
Some other fun ideas from Class People?s favourite resource banks and more to fill the final days:
- The Christmas is coming quiz on BBC Bitesize
- Mosaic multiplication tables games on twinkle
- Christmas tree ornament crafts from tes.com
- The Christmas Story audio adventure with now>press>play
We hope there are enough classroom Christmas activity ideas to keep you and your pupils busy for the rest of term! We also have some great end of term activities for the rest of the year too - check them out here.
Christmas and the New Year are often times where people think about making changes, too, including in their careers. If you?re thinking of taking your teaching skills elsewhere come January, take a look through our current available jobs, or feel free to get in touch with our team.
Merry Christmas!