Christmas Lessons and Teacher Resources

Lesson Plans | Additional Resources

Introduction:

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. … Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, church celebrations, the exchange of cards, and the display of various decorations — including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. Santa Claus/Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins, is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas for children. … Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but has also come to be celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers – Wikipedia

Lesson Plans:

Art:

• Here’s a detailed Christmas mural idea the entire class will enjoy making (P)
• Students make marshmallow snowmen in this winter craft idea (P)
• This holiday craft idea is called “Little Angels” (P-K)
• This Christmas tree craft idea is edible! (P-2)
• Christmas bells are made in this art project (P-2)
• Making 3-D snowflake magnets is a fun winter/holiday project (P-5)
• These are lessons for making ornaments:
  • Snowman Picture Christmas Ornament (P)
  • Pinecone Christmas Ornament (1-3)
  • Playdough Christmas Ornaments (1-3)
  • Christmas Ornaments from Real Dough (2-3)
  • Clay Christmas Ornaments (2-3)
  • Poinsetta Christmas Ornaments (2-3)
  • 3-D Paper Bell Ornaments (2-3)

   

• This is a winter idea for creating “Marshmallow Snowmen” (K)
• In this craft project, students create a Christmas tree from hearts and buttons(K)
• Kids love to get their hands in the “green mess” of these Christmas wreath ornaments (K-2)
• This craft idea is for making a Christmas Wishing Tree (K-2)
• This idea combines making snowmen and rhyming (K-3)
• “Cooperative Snowmen” is another lesson for the winter months (K-3)
• Children will love making and giving this holiday gift craft – pinecone air fresheners (K-3)
• This is an idea for crafting Christmas puzzle picture frames (K-5)
• This idea is for making decorative Christmas ornaments out of light bulbs (K-8)
• This cardinal-inspired paper craft teaches children about circles and cutting on a curved line. (1)
• This is an interesting art idea for creating “Holiday Rugs” (1-2)
• This is a holiday gift bag craft idea (1-3)
• In this lesson on the joys of giving, kids make fragrant bath salts to give as gifts for Christmas and other occasions (3-6)
• Here is a Christmas lesson on the Advent Calendar (also a Religion lesson) (3-8)
• Here is an inexpensive way to make great advent wreaths (4-8)

Computers & Internet:

• In this computer lab project, KidPix is used to create mouse pads gifts (1-5)

Language Arts:

• This 5-senses Christmas poem can add phonemic awareness and variety to your Christmas concert (P-K)
• Here students give the gift of their time in the form of a “Giving Tree” (K-3)
• “On the first day of Christmas, my parents gave to me ………..” involves spelling, ordinal numbers, and memory practice (K-5)
• In this holiday idea, students make sentences or stories with the nouns and adjectives they discover on a Christmas card (1-2)
• This lesson on comprehension and inferences uses a book called “The Snowy Day” (1-2)
• In this fun Christmas activity students “Write to the Grinch” describing why they love Christmas (to change the Grinch’s mind) (2-3)
• Here’s a Class Memories Christmas Ornament idea (2-3)
• This is a Christmas idea for writing letters to the Three Wise Men (2-4)
• This writing idea on how students celebrate Christmas encourages exploration of the traditions of different cultures (2-5)
• Students compare two specific Christmas-themed books in this idea (2-5)
• “Christmas Around the World” is an original classroom play (3)
• Here are two useful Christmas vocabulary worksheets (3)
• This is a collection of Christmas Journal Ideas (3-5)
• Here is a Christmas paragraph storybook idea (3-5)
• In this lesson, students compare and contrast “The Mouse Before Christmas” and “The Night Before Christmas” (3-6)
• This is a collection of fun Christmas activity ideas (3-8)
• This Christmastime writing assignment focuses on quotation marks and nouns (4)
• “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” is used in this idea to teach literary climax (4-5)
• Here is an UGLY gift thank you letter assignment (4-12)
• This idea gets students writing Christmas stories with partners (5-10)
• In this writing exercise, students create a Memory-A-Day box as a gift for parents, grandparents or anyone special (6-12)
• Be popular! Assign this Christmas song parody idea! (7-12)

Math:

• Students match cutout shapes to outlines in this holiday idea (P)
• Christmas tree ornaments are counted in this lesson (P)
• Here’s an idea for a holiday calendar to countdown to Christmas (or other events) (K-2)
• Here’s a good money idea – Christmas “ornament” shopping in class (1-2)
• “The Twelve Days of Math” Christmas song is the basis for this lesson idea (2)
• Holiday or comic book stories are rewritten here to include illustrated numerical content to be turned into word problems for peers to solve (3-12)
• “Christmas Shopping at Harrods” is a problem-solving lesson involving monetary conversions (4)
• “The Longest and Weirdest Candy Cane” is a yardstick measurement activity (4-5)

Multidisciplinary:

• This is a holiday idea for teaching ABC’s and 123′s (P)
• “Cowboys at Christmas” is a unique multi-activity lesson teaching us to appreciate the “big gifts” we often take for granted (2-3)
• This big multidisciplinary lesson called “Night Before Christmas” is on writing and much more (3-6)

Music:

• This is a short Christmas activity for the song “Up On The Housetop” (K-1)
• “The Ebeneezer Scrooge Music Experience” is a delightfully clever idea for presenting Christmas music past, present, and future (K-5)
• This music lesson teaches accents using “The Russian Dance” from “The Nutcracker” (1-2)
• This is a “Jin – Gle – Bells” Musical Hot Potato game (1-3)
• This idea invoves caroling to the other classes (2-5)
• Here’s a Christmas lesson plan that “S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-S” the song “Silent Night” (3-6)
• Students decorate a tree and create a song in this holiday idea adaptable to an age or subject (Multiple-Other)

PE:

• “Santa’s Workshop” is a PE strategy game with red and green cones (2-3)
• “Jingle Bell Basketball” and “Get the Candy Cane” are just two of these holiday PE ideas (3-5)

Science:

• This snowflake lesson can be used around the winter holidays (2)
• This science lesson on crystals can be used to make Christmas Ornaments (4-6)

Social Studies:

• Here is a lesson on Christmas around the world (K-1)
• This lesson idea is on the history of Santa Claus (1-3)
• This one is on the origin of the candy cane (1-4)
• Here students draw an imaginary map of Santa’s “North Pole” community (2-6)
• This idea called “Holidaymakers” teaches planning (4-7)
• In this holiday idea, students present a family report and collage to their family (10)

Other:

• This holiday Sock and Mitten Tree idea teaches the value of helping others (1-4)
• In this Secret Santa idea, acts of kindness are given instead of presents (5-8)
• This “fun holiday ideas for children” lesson plan is for high school students in child development/care classes (9-12)
• Here are some Holiday Stories of Teacher Inspiration:
  • Apparently written by a student, this “Secret Santa” story tells of the generosity of one teacher
  • This story is about an inspiring Christmas Gift from a student
  • Here’s a warming inspirational teacher story about student Christmas gifts
  • “Christmas Angel” shows how working with a student can pay off

   

• If you have any Christmas lesson plans to share, please add them to our site!

Additional Resources:

• See our Hanukkah and Kwanzaa lesson plan collections
• Go to EdHelper.com for Christmas Math and Vocabulary Worksheets
• Search for more Christmas activities, videos, audio files, and lesson plan resources at Hotchalk.com
• Here is large collection of Christmas SMARTboard resources
• Find free PowerPoints and interactive games at Pppst.com
• Download colorful PK-3 worksheets from Santa’s classroom at NorthPole.com
• This is your ticket to all the educational stops on the Polar Express
• Learn about colonial Christmas customs and activities with these lesson plans for elementary and middle school
• RealTrees4Kids offers really good K-12 curriculum material on all aspects of Christmas tree farming
• HolidaySpotPlus lists Christmas multimedia resources including online games and music download resources
• Here are different levels of Christmas trivia quizzes
• Say Merry Christmas in every language and learn how Christmas is celebrated around the world at Santa’s Net.
• These are Christmas lesson plans and worksheets for ESL/EFL classooms
• Relate Pascal’s Triangle to the Twelve Days of Christmas with this discrete mathematics lesson plan
• Learn the true history of all things Christmas at History.com, and don’t forget to build a toy in the workshop!