5 Classroom Activities for the Holidays

Posted by Ally Patterson

As the holidays approach, students become more excited for all that the season brings. As a teacher, it may feel overwhelming to try and incorporate special activities among your day-to-day lessons, especially with overly excited students.

If you are looking for a few ways to get your classroom in the holiday spirit, try one of these five festive activities! Use sign ups to involve parents in the process, helping you collect the supplies you need to spread cheer throughout your room this season.

Decorate the classroom

Brighten your classroom for the holiday season by adding decorations! Create a sign up for donations to make decorating a class-wide effort. Students can choose their favorite holiday décor to hang around the room. You can incorporate this into a lesson about the various cultures that are celebrated during the holiday season; whether it be Hannukah, Kwanza or Christmas.

Another easy way to decorate is with your bulletin board! Check out these 20 holiday board ideas to bring the season to your room. You can also specify what themed decorations you would like for your room and send the list to parents. Once your classroom is holiday ready it will be the perfect environment to host a class party or create seasonal crafts!

Have a class party

Parties are a wonderful way to celebrate the season and bring joy to the classroom. Yet, between teaching and grading papers, planning a class party can become hectic and add to your list of obligations. Online sign ups provide an easy way to coordinate group events, such as holiday parties. Save yourself time and stress by creating a sign up or assigning the task to a parent.

In order to collect the supplies and parent volunteers needed, use sign ups to simplify your party organization. Have parents volunteer their time to help during the party, bring in supplies for crafts or provide the snacks. Make sure to choose from one of our many festive designs so that your sign up fits the theme of a holiday party!

Promote your sign up when communicating with parents to ensure you get all the support you need. Once it's party time, include seasonal activities for students. Try these Christmas games, minute to win it games or try Christmas trivia questions for a fun-filled day. If you're looking for more hands-on activities, keep reading for a few festive options.

Host a secret Santa

This traditional game can be adapted for classrooms of all ages. One option is to make it a book exchange instead of toys, having students pick out books that their fellow classmates would like.

An RSVP sign up is an easy way to have interested parents sign up for their student. You can add the option to collect money for donations to purchase gifts or books for students who may not have the means to participate. If you're choosing to include this event at your class holiday party, consolidate sign ups so that parents can easily find all you're asking for in one place.

For all who sign up, be sure to send reminders about the parameters of your secret Santa event. This may include the price limit, types of toys, or reading levels for the books that participants will purchase.

Make holiday cards

Let your students' creativity shine with the creation of holiday cards. Allow them to design their own cards with construction paper, markers, and stickers. Adapt card-making into more of an assignment for older students by asking them to write holiday-themed poems on their cards.

This fun craft is one that can also spread joy to others. Have your classroom write letters to family members as a homemade gift option. You can also choose to collect cards from students and send them to a charity of your choice. There are many places that accept cards around Christmas, or year-round, like Cards for Kidz, a Million Thanks and others.

Build gingerbread houses

A great way to entertain your classroom in the wintertime is with a gingerbread house craft. There are many ways that you can have students build their house. Whether it's with recycled milk cartons from the cafeteria or with cookies and icing, your students will have a blast. Once you decide how students will build the houses, create a sign up to collect donations from parents for all the supplies your students will need.

Start celebrating the holiday season as a class today! You can spread these activities out over December or include a few of them within your final days before winter break. Either way, your students are sure to feel the magic in the air - while you create the magic by organizing with sign ups.

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