Hands-On Christmas Centers for Kindergarten
December is such a fun time in the kindergarten classroom! There is plenty of excitement in the air as students are dreaming of their holiday wish lists and counting down the days until winter break. One of my favorite ways to incorporate the upcoming holidays into the classroom is by using Holiday Centers for Kindergarten. In this post, Iโm going to share some of my favorite hands-on Christmas centers for kindergarten. Youโll be able to bring a little bit of Christmas fun to your literacy and math practice with these engaging activities!
Benefits of Using Holiday Centers
Low-prep holiday centers are a great way to bring a festive twist to your daily routine with minimal prep time! ย There are several reasons why centers are such an effective way to learn about and celebrate holidays in the classroom.
Celebrate Diversity
The first reason I love to use holiday centers in kindergarten is that they can celebrate the diversity in your classroom. The students in your class might celebrate different holidays during the winter, such as Kwanzaa or Hanukkah. In addition to celebrating a variety of holidays, your students may also observe the same holiday with different holiday traditions.
Holiday centers are a great way to spark conversations about diversity in your classroom. For example, as you introduce a gingerbread-themed activity for your math rotations, you can ask your students if they build gingerbread houses as a holiday tradition. If youโre using Diwali centers, you can have your students that observe this holiday help you identify items featured in the learning activities. These discussions can support your efforts to build classroom community!
Channel Seasonal Excitement
December is an exciting time for young students! Themed centers are a great way to help students channel their seasonal excitement into worthwhile learning activities. The best part is that you donโt have to swap out all of your rotations for holiday centers! It just takes a few activities sprinkled into your existing low-prep centers routine to bring that extra holiday twist to your literacy and math rotations. Your students can benefit from the continuation of the regular routine in a way that helps them channel their excitement about the upcoming holidays.
Enhance Holiday Celebrations
Themed centers are perfect for enhancing holiday celebrations in your classroom! You might even decide to use holiday centers as one of the main activities for your celebration! Since holiday centers are so engaging for students, they are a great way to encourage skill practice with a fun twist. Many teachers love the option of celebrating a holiday with their students while maintaining the usual routine, especially in kindergarten! Themed centers can help you do just that.
Low-Prep Holiday Activity
Whether itโs holiday concert prep, additional assessments, or creating parent gifts, your attention is likely being pulled in many different directions during December! Thatโs why youโll love using holiday centers as a low-prep activity in your classroom. You just have to print and laminate these centers and youโll have a festive addition to your regular routine with minimal effort on your part. At the end of the month, just tuck them away so you can use them year after year!
Hands-On Christmas Centers for Kindergarten
If youโd like to add some themed holiday centers to your class Christmas activities this year, I wanted to show you some of my favorites. These engaging activities have a fun seasonal twist that will get your students excited about literacy and math practice.
Math Christmas Centers
Your students can practice writing numbers in order with a fun gumdrop-themed activity!
They will choose a laminated card with a numbered gingerbread house and blank gumdrops. Students will write the numbers that come next using dry erase marker. There is also a recording sheet to increase student accountability for this activity. This center includes numbers from 1 to 20, so it can be modified to best meet the needs of the students in your classroom.
Another Christmas activity that your students will love is Christmas tree addition! This holiday math activity helps students practice addition plus one. The top of each tree contains an addition equation for students to solve. Then they will find and match the other half of the tree that contains the correct answer. After building all of the Christmas trees, students can complete the included recording sheet.
Literacy Christmas Centers
You can also bring some Christmas fun to your literacy rotations with hands-on activities!
First, your students can practice identifying the medial sound in a variety of CVC words. They will have an empty light string for each vowel and a stack of lights with different pictures. After saying the word for each picture, students will listen for the vowel sound and place the light on the correct card. Students will end up with colorful strings of lights when they are finished with this holiday vowel sort!
Your students will also love building festive sentences using their knowledge of both common and seasonal sight words. There are picture and punctuation clues to help students sort and assemble four sentences. After completing the sentences, students can choose one sentence to write and illustrate on the recording sheet. As an added challenge, students could also come up with their own Christmas sentences to illustrate!
Printable Holiday Centers for Kindergarten
The Christmas activities described above are included in my set of Holidays Around the World Kindergarten Centers. This resource includes a total of 16 hands-on activities that will help your students practice a variety of literacy and math concepts. As students practice grade-level skills, they can also learn more about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Diwali.
These holiday centers are the perfect seasonal supplement to your regular low-prep centers rotation, morning work tubs, or even your classroom party! If youโd like to take a closer look at everything included in this printable resource, just click below to find it in my shop.
Holidays Around the World Kindergarten Centers
Save These Christmas Centers for Kindergarten
If youโd like to come back to this post later, be sure to save this post! Just add the pin below to your favorite holiday or teaching board on Pinterest. Youโll be able to quickly find these ideas when youโre planning your kindergarten Christmas activities.
