Get the Christmas Activities for the classroom ready. The Christmas craziness is coming. You know, that time where the kids check out and Christmas break is the following week.

Usually, the time leading up to Christmas break, we have students who leave for the holidays, or we have students pulled out for practice for Christmas programs, or we have students who are only focused on what they are getting on Christmas. Distractions run amuck and with a break of 2 weeks, you don’t want to start any new material. I don’t even like planning tests for that last week.

Over the last few years, I’ve expanded my repertoire of Christmas Activities that allow me to keep my sanity while keeping my students engaged.

Here are 5 Christmas activities that are sure to keep your students engaged.

1. Design an Ugly Christmas Sweater

Provide your students with a sweater template and have them design an ugly Christmas sweater. To keep with the ELA theme, you can even combine this with a lesson on advertising and persuasive appeals by having students create an advertisement to sell that Christmas sweater. Need a copy of a template? You can find that here.

2. Christmas Carols/ Scrooge Carols

Have students rewrite and perform Christmas carols (or even Scrooge inspired carols). They can use the tunes of familiar Christmas carols and change the lyrics, or have Christmas songs set to their favorite pop or rap songs. Each year I’m amazed by the creativity of my students when they do this activity.

3. Draw a Christmas scene listening activity

I found this activity a few years ago, and I love doing this on the last day, which is usually a half day for us. That means a shortened schedule with my students. The activity has students place a book and paper on their head, and they draw what you tell them to do without looking at their paper. You can find the instructions for that here.

4. Name that Christmas Tune

If you are talented with music, then play Name that Tune Christmas version with your students. Divide students up into groups or teams and have them compete against one another to name the Christmas tune.

5. Yes/No: The Christmas Version

I played this with my students after reading Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol one year. It is the game that the nephew and his friends play in the movie. You place the names of Characters, Movies, or Books on slips of paper, fold them up and place them in a paper bag. I usually go first to demonstrate to the students how to play, and from there, the guesser becomes the new IT. Students may ask any question that can be answered with a Yes or No. The person who drew the name can only answer with Yes or No. It’s really difficult to keep the students from answering with something other than Yes or No. You will have to remind them, but the students do love this game, and I keep a bag for regular non-Christmas moments in my closet. Once you’ve done this, they will ask to do this again and again.

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