Art and Crafts

• Stick to simplistic ideas with younger children, such as creating a Santa out of construction paper shapes and cotton balls. For slightly older elementary school-aged children, try making homemade ornaments to give to families as Christmas gifts. Explore less common forms of art, such as creating ice sculptures. Invite an artist to come as a guest speaker to give a speech and demonstration. Provide children of any age with appropriate materials and let them create holiday cards for family, teachers or peers. They could even decorate a shoebox or large manila envelope and have a Christmas card exchange in the classroom. (See References 1.)
  
  

Games

• Almost any game can be made in to a Christmas activity by incorporating special cards or playing pieces, such as "Memory" or "Go Fish" played with Christmas-themed playing cards that are either store-bought or homemade. Other Christmas-oriented game ideas include relay races, with children moving candy pieces from a bowl to a stocking at the other end of the room, or a Christmas version of "20 Questions" as suggested on the Kaboose website. (See References 2.)
  
  

Thinking of Others

• Christmas is traditionally a time when we think of others. Encourage children to come up with a special project to complete as a class for someone in need this season. Consider setting up a classroom project to donate food to your local food bank. This is the perfect time of year for each child to adopt a grandparent from a local long-term care facility as well. Children could even create a special craft project to give to their newly adopted grandparents.
  
  

Additional Ideas

• Immerse young children in the holiday spirit by teaching them poems, reading stories and listening to seasonal music. Include a special winter party and watch the movie of a book you've read together as a class or a movie with an educational slant, learning about the different holidays celebrated at this time of year.
  
  Easily incorporate a little Christmas cheer into daily school work by adding holiday touches to worksheets and assignments. Have children use candy canes or cutout snowflakes as manipulatives in math class, or let them complete crossword puzzles with Christmas words; you could also give them a Christmas word-spelling list one week. Set aside some time in Social Studies to learn how people around the world celebrate Christmas. You might even consider having a holiday party and letting children dress up as though they were from specific countries, perhaps bringing a Christmas treat unique to their country. (See References 3.)