Winter Holiday Activities for Kindergarten
Winter is such an exciting season in the kindergarten classroom! With so many opportunities to create holiday memories with your students during the winter months, it can feel like there’s not enough time to fit everything in! In this post, I’m sharing my favorite winter holiday activities for kindergarten that will help you combine learning with a bit of holiday fun.
Winter Holiday Activities for Kindergarten
While there are many different winter holidays, there are a few that are especially fun to observe in the kindergarten classroom. These holidays provide a great opportunity to increase student engagement with themed learning activities, new vocabulary, and fun crafts!
Christmas
When we think of winter holidays, Christmas is usually the first thing that comes to mind. There are many ways to incorporate some Christmas fun into your classroom but still keep learning on track.
For example, this Christmas tree math craft can help students practice their fine motor skills as they improve their number sense with either counting or addition practice.
Your students can also review a variety of literacy and math skills with a Christmas twist. You can add these Christmas learning activities to your regular centers rotation or use the activities as stations for a classroom party.
Kwanzaa
Adding some Kwanzaa-themed activities to your classroom is helpful in two ways. First, it can help your students appreciate cultural diversity in their school and community. It can also increase the cultural representation for your students who celebrate this holiday with their families.
These holiday-themed learning activities give students a chance to discuss new vocabulary related to Kwanzaa as they practice math and literacy skills. You might have some students in your classroom who can add to the discussion by sharing how they celebrate Kwanzaa in their own homes.
Hanukkah
Hanukkah is another winter holiday that your students can learn more about through hands-on activities. Your students who celebrate Hanukkah will be excited to share their traditions with the class!
These Hanukkah centers are a great way to introduce your students to vocabulary words related to the Festival of Lights. As you explain the instructions for each activity, you can take a moment to describe the Hanukkah-related items on the task cards. You can ask your students who celebrate Hanukkah to share how they use items like the menorah and dreidel during their family celebrations.
New Year
A craft is a great way to ease back into the learning routine after winter break. This New Year craft and writing activity is one of my favorite kindergarten activities for January! It gives students a chance to reflect on everything they have learned so far in kindergarten and then make a goal for what they’d like to learn in the upcoming calendar year.
The completed crafts make an adorable New Year bulletin board! Students are always so excited to find their craft on the wall, which is a great way to motivate young writers to do their best work.
Groundhog Day
Another fun holiday to celebrate in the kindergarten classroom is Groundhog Day. Many kindergarten students haven’t heard of this holiday before, so it’s a fun one to introduce in February. After explaining the tradition of Punxsutawney Phil, you can have students predict whether or not the groundhog will see his shadow this year. This makes a great graphing activity!
Students can also complete a Groundhog Day writing craftivity. You can choose a writing prompt that will get your kiddos excited to write about groundhogs. Students can write their favorite facts about groundhogs, document their predictions, or write about whether the groundhog saw his shadow or not.
Valentine’s Day
By the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, students are getting pretty excited about an upcoming holiday that involves candy! You can help your students channel some of that excitement into worthwhile learning activities.
These Valentine’s Day centers are full of literacy and math activities that will keep your students engaged in the centers rotation. There are so many fun Valentine’s Day manipulatives that you can use to add an extra holiday touch to these learning activities. Valentine’s Day mini-erasers are always a favorite!
Your students can also strengthen their hand strength and coordination as they create their own Valentine mailbox craft. This craft also doubles as name-spelling practice! The completed crafts look great on a bulletin board, but you could also easily attach them to boxes or large envelopes to create actual mailboxes for students’ Valentine cards.
100th Day of School
While it might be considered an “unofficial” holiday, the 100th day of school is an important day of celebration in kindergarten! It is a great time for students to reflect on everything they have learned up to that point in the year. This 100th day of school writing craft is a fun way to bring some fine motor practice to your celebration.
There are several different writing prompts that you can choose from to best fit your plans for the 100th day of school. Students could write about how they feel on the 100th day of school, what they would do with $100, what they will do when they are 100 years old, or something they’d like to have 100 of. The final product looks great on a bulletin board!
Printable Holiday Activities for Kindergarten
Many of the activities that I shared in this post can be found in time-saving bundles. First, if you want to incorporate more holiday crafts into your classroom this winter, check out this bundle of Kindergarten Winter Crafts. You’ll find seasonal crafts that you can use all winter long!
Winter Crafts Bundle
Centers are also one of my favorite ways to bring holiday-themed fun to the daily learning routine. All of the centers that I shared above (and more!) can be found in this bundle of Holiday Centers for Kindergarten. You’ll be able to add worthwhile holiday activities to your classroom all year long!
Kindergarten Holiday Themed Centers Bundle
Save These Winter Holiday Activity Ideas
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board. You’ll be able to quickly find this post when you’re working on your lesson plans this winter.
