holiday critical thinking activities

Christmas and holiday-themed critical thinking activities

Mariah Carey is already playing on a loop, but all you want for Christmas is a meaningful activity to help your class survive the last few days of term. At this time of year, holding students’ attention is trickier than untangling the Christmas tree lights!

Fortunately, Kialo Edu has the answer with our collection of Christmas and holiday-themed discussions. While students will view them as festive fun, for you they are a chance to maximize class time to hit a few more curriculum standards. And the icing on the (Christmas) cake is that with all our discussions , you can give students an invaluable gift: the gift of critical thinking !

How do critical thinking activities benefit students?

Critical thinking is a vital life skill. Let’s take the holidays as an example: Whether it’s making decisions on gift-giving, solving Christmas dinner conundrums, or resolving family feuds, critical thinking skills are indispensable.

Teaching students to think critically prepares them for success both academically and professionally. They learn to evaluate information and make informed decisions, setting them on the path to becoming active, engaged citizens .

So if you want to harness students’ festive fervor while ho-ho-honing their critical thinking skills, try some of these discussions! 

Hold summits on Santa to practice decision making and considering different perspectives

Simply whispering the word Santa can bring excitement to younger students , so discussing whether Santa Claus should bring naughty children presents is sure to be an attention-grabber.

Should Santa bring naughty children presents? — kialo-edu.com

Santa might take all the credit at Christmas, but what about those cute little helpers behind the scenes? We know that teaching is challenging, but is it worse than being one of Santa’s elves? Open the “North Polls,” and ask your students to decide if Santa’s little helpers should demand better working conditions .

Should Santa’s elves demand better working conditions? — kialo-edu.com

As an extension activity, students can practice active citizenship through organizing an elf and safety or mental elf campaign on behalf of the workers!

Hold debates on decorations to practice supporting logical thinking with evidence

The holidays may be just about to begin, but for some, the transition from pumpkins to pinecones began in the fall. So, when it comes to decorations should we Deck the Halls as soon as possible, or ban baubles before December ? Have students take part in this tinsel tussle to decide!

Should Christmas decorations be put up before December? — kialo-edu.com

When it is finally time to put up the Christmas tree, which is best: an artificial tree or a real one ? In this decoration dilemma — and in all other Kialo Edu discussions — the branching structure helps students to develop their logical thinking skills . Moreover, as students investigate the environmental impact of plastic over pine, they can learn the importance of using evidence to support their claims .

Are artificial Christmas trees better than real ones? — kialo-edu.com

Have students puzzle over presents to learn gratitude and empathy

Navigating the unwritten rules of gifting can send people into a festive frenzy! One way to manage puzzling present-giving protocols might be through a Secret Santa scheme. Students may have already experienced the challenge of finding the perfect gift to give, along with the thrill of trying to figure out the identity of their Secret Santa. So, do they think Secret Santa is a good idea ?

Is Secret Santa a good idea? — kialo-edu.com

For a festive follow-up, try a class Secret Santa, challenging students to give each other meaningful, no-cost gifts.

Students will also enjoy revealing details of gifting gaffes before unwrapping our discussion on whether regifting is acceptable . To support the discussion and sharpen students’ critical thinking skills, incorporate a role-play activity. Students can learn gratitude and empathy by practicing their reactions when receiving wanted and unwanted gifts.

Is regifting acceptable? — kialo-edu.com

Host a festive film forum for staff and students to develop critical thinking skills

Whether you love them or hate them, Christmas and holiday movies are an inescapable feature of the festive season. Our debate on which movie is the best is sure to get staff and students talking. We’ve popped in a few suggestions to get the (snow)ball rolling, or you can edit the discussion to suit the ages and interests of your students.

Which is the best Christmas movie? — kialo-edu.com

Have staff and students vote for their favorites , and, if students have sufficiently developed their critical thinking skills, maybe there will even be time for a Christmas movie afternoon to celebrate the end of term!

So, try using our discussions to develop students’ critical thinking skills and give them a gift that will last longer than the needles on the Christmas tree. After all, as the saying goes, “It’s the thought that counts!” Let us know how your discussions went at [email protected] or on social media. Happy Holidays! 

Want to try Kialo Edu with your class?

Sign up for free and use Kialo Edu to have thoughtful classroom discussions and train students’ argumentation and critical thinking skills.

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Simple Holiday Activities for the Classroom: Project Based Learning and Party Ideas

I’m back with another AMAZING holiday party theme this week. This Christmas Tree Farm classroom party theme is full of simple holiday activities to use with your students. It has everything you need for an educational and exciting week before Christmas. 

It all starts with my Christmas Tree Farm Activities for Math, Reading, and Writing . Honestly, if you do nothing but pick your favorite activities from this resource– there are 40 incredible activities inside –your students will have so much fun.

But if you want to make things even more festive, I’ve included a few ideas at the end of this post to help you plan a simple and sweet classroom party.

The Resource:

Let’s take a look at this week-long resource. Christmas Activities for Math, Reading, and Writing is a full week of festive, interdisciplinary, hands-on activities, including STEM, project based learning, critical thinking, creativity, and so much more. Your students are sure to think that Christmas has come early. 

This one-of-a-kind holiday activity includes five days of low-prep activities designed for students in grades 2-5 . 

This fun holiday activity will transport your class to a Christmas Tree Farm reminiscent of a Hallmark movie. But this activity isn’t all tinsel and lights. These activities are packed with real-world learning opportunities in math, reading, writing, science, social studies, creativity, communication skills, and more. Your students will stay busy learning right up until Christmas break. 

Of course, I know that this time of year is crazy. So I’ve designed these activities to be EASY to use. All you have to do is print, copy and use. You can celebrate Christmas without messy glitter or crumbly gingerbread houses. And you won’t have to rush home each night to find supplies for the next day’s activities. Instead, you can bake, shop, wrap, and tackle all those last-minute holiday tasks on your to-do list. (Sorry, I can’t help with that!)

What’s Inside:

This holiday resource includes more than 75 pages of Christmas Tree-Farm-themed activities. All in all, there are forty different interdisciplinary activities that cover all the subject areas: math, reading, writing, science, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

There’s also a complete STEM project and a parent letter requesting donations to help complete the project. The supply list is simple, and it contains items you probably already have in your classroom.

Most importantly, the clear teacher directions, answer key, and detailed examples make implementing these holiday activities easy. 

We’ve broken all of the holiday activities down by day:

Growing Christmas Trees – Day 1

• Christmas Tree Life Cycle (2 versions) – reading comprehension 
• Christmas Tree Life Cycle (2 versions) – informational writing 
• Types of Christmas Trees – reading comprehension
• Choosing the Perfect Tree – opinion writing
• Comparing Christmas Trees – compare and contrast
• Mapping the Tree Farm (2 versions) – map making and area (difficult version only)
• Pricing the Christmas Trees – problem solving, addition, and subtraction
• Last Year’s Tree Sales (2 versions) – addition, subtraction, problem solving, and fractions (difficult version only)

Christmas Tree Farm Attractions – Day 2

• Ice Skating Rink Rules – informational writing
• Ugly Christmas Tree Sweater – creative design
• Wreath decorating – geometry 
• Photo Booth Backdrop – creativity
• Snack Stand Orders (2 versions) – addition & subtraction and problem solving
• Making Hot Cocoa (2 versions) – writing (procedural and sequencing)
• Frost Farm Tree (2 versions) – math (procedural and sequencing) 
• Meet the Reindeer – reading comprehension
• Build a Reindeer Barn: STEM Project

Advertising and Farm Operations – Day 3

• The Tree Farm Hours – clocks and elapsed time
• Farm Logo and Slogan – creative design and writing
• Tree Farm Jobs – reading (use with job application)
• Job Application – informational/persuasive writing
• Tree Farm Brochure (2 versions) – informational writing and creative design
• Social Media Post – creativity and informational/persuasive writing
• Filming a Commercial – persuasive writing, public speaking, creativity, and editing
• Advertising Budget (2 versions) – reading comprehension and math skills (addition and subtraction in the easy version and multiplication in the difficult version)

Opening Day at the Tree Farm – Day 4

• Tree Farm Ticket Prices (2 versions) – addition and subtraction
• Tree Farm Schedule – elapsed time, clocks, and problem solving
• Holiday Music Playlist – creativity, opinion writing, and making a list
• Selling a Christmas Tree – persuasive writing
• Tree Delivery Route and map (2 versions) – critical thinking and math skills
• Snack Stand Brownie Recipe (2 versions) – reading a recipe, following directions, addition (easy version), and multiplying & fractions (difficult version) 
• Photo Booth Picture – creativity and writing
• Reindeer Treats (2 versions) – repeated addition and decimals & multiplication (difficult version)

Opening Day Profits and Reflections – Day 5

• Thank You Letter – writing a letter and creativity
• Thank You Postcard – writing a letter and creativity
• Read the Reviews – reading comprehension
• Reflection on Reviews – text-dependent analysis
• Tree Sales Graph – interpreting data, addition, and subtraction
• Gift Shop Graph (2 versions) – graphing
• Revenue & Expenses (2 versions) – vocabulary, addition, and subtraction
• Employee Celebration Party – brainstorming and creativity
• Project Reflection – self-reflection and drawing conclusions

How to Use It in the Classroom:

This Christmas Tree Farm resource is a week-long activity designed to be used over 5 days. The activities are divided into five different themes, and there is one theme for each day of the week. Additionally, the daily lessons have a variety of reading, writing, math, and STEM holiday-themed activities.

How long this activity takes is up to you. You can pick and choose from the different activities. You could do just one per day, and spend an hour or so on this activity. Or, you might choose to devote the entire week to running a Christmas Tree Farm. 

The number of activities you choose to do and your students’ abilities will determine how much time they take.

Most of the activities are designed to be stand-alone activities. So if you don’t have time to complete them all, pick and choose your favorites or those you feel are most appropriate for your students. Or you can allow students to choose which activities they’d like to complete. 

Students can work independently, with a partner, or in small groups. You can even change the format throughout the day. This will help keep kids engaged. 

If you are still teaching a full week of lessons, try incorporating some of the writing activities or creative activities, like designing the sweater or photo booth as morning work. 

I love to create centers for each of the different holiday activities. This keeps all of the activities manageable. If you have parent volunteers, you can set one up at each center.

Some of these activities, like the writing commercials project, can easily be extended. Let students film their commercials and show them on the whiteboard, send them home via email to share with families, or share with another class.

Of course, you’ll want to make time to share each day. Kids will be working hard on these activities, and they will love the opportunity to share their ideas and see what their classmates are doing.

Differentiation:

Differentiation is simple with this Christmas Tree Farm resource. Many activities have been differentiated for different grade levels, and even include two different versions so you can pick the one most appropriate for your students.

Because there are so many activities, we’ve made it easy to keep track of which version is which. Easier versions are marked with a present symbol located next to the day at the top of the page. More difficult versions are marked with a holly leaf symbol. Select the appropriate version based on the age and ability of your students.

You can select one version for the entire class or choose different versions for individual students.

Remember, you don’t have to do all of the holiday activities. If one looks a little too easy or a little too hard for your students, skip it. Just choose the ones you like best!

This resource has more than enough holiday activities to keep your kids occupied all week long. Although all the activities are part of the overall Christmas Tree Farm theme, each activity is a stand-alone activity. You do not have to complete every activity in this packet. 

Your students will love these holiday activities!

You and your students will love this fun, unique theme. The opportunity to run their own Christmas Tree farm will engage kids from day one, and they will be eager to tackle new activities each day. Plus, these rigorous standards-based activities ensure that kids keep learning during the busy holiday season. And there are no references to Santa or elves in this resource. 

It really is the ONLY resource you need for an easy, festive, fun-filled week. 

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Holiday Activities for Math, Reading, Writing & STEM

Throw a christmas tree farm classroom party.

If you want to up the fun factor, try some of these holiday activities for a Christmas Tree Farm Classroom party. We’ve picked things that are simple to plan and prep. Below you’ll find ideas for treats, crafts, activities, and books.

Christmas Tree Farm Treats

Special treats can be a fun way to connect to the learning students are doing in the classroom. If you want to add something tasty to your classroom party, here are some ideas that go along with the Christmas Tree Farm theme.

Rice Krispie Treats

How cute are these? First, mix up a batch of Rice Krispie treats and add some green food coloring. Then, cut them into triangles shapes and stick a pretzel piece in for the trunk. Finally, add some candies or sprinkles for decorations. Grab the recipe here . 

Open-faced Christmas Tree Sandwiches

Here’s an option for a savory treat. Use a cookie cutter to cut a Christmas tree shape of bread. Spread with cream cheese. You can color it green for fun. Decorate with diced veggies such as carrots, red and yellow peppers, cucumbers, and olives.

Christmas Tree Cake Pops

If you have some extra time or a room parent who loves to bake, these Christmas Tree Cake Pops would be a sweet addition to your Christmas Tree Farm party. 

This mold sure would make it easy. Just use your favorite cake mix, add some green frosting, and decorate.

Or follow this recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 (16.25-ounce) box of your favorite cake mix + ingredients 
• 1-2  (16-ounce) containers of ready-made vanilla frosting
• 1 (34-ounce) bag of white chocolate chips
• green food coloring
• 50 lollipop sticks
• mini chocolate coated candies or sprinkles
• mini edible star candies

Directions:

• Grease and flour a 9×13 pan and preheat the oven.
• Use a hand mixer to mix the cake mix with the ingredients on the box. Beat for two minutes.
• Spread into a prepared 9×13 pan and bake according to the directions on the box. The cake is finished when the edges start to pull away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let cool completely. 
• Once the cake is cooled, crumble it into small pieces in a large mixing bowl.
• Add half of the frosting and stir until thoroughly combined. The mixture should be moist enough to roll into 1-inch balls. You may need more frosting for this, but don’t add too much or the balls will not stay together. 
• Shape balls into cones and place them on a wax paper-covered baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for several hours in the refrigerator, or freeze for 15 minutes. You want them to be firm but not frozen.
• Place white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for thirty seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir. Continue heating and stirring in 30-second increments until melted. Let cool slightly. 
• Add a few drops of green food coloring and mix well.
• Dip the tip of a lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and insert it about halfway into a cake ball. Holding the stick, dip the entire tree in green chocolate, twisting the stick as you come up. While still wet, you can use a toothpick to create the branches. 
• Gently press mini candies around the sides or sprinkle with sprinkles and a star on top. Be sure to do this while the chocolate is still wet
• Carefully insert a lollipop stick in a Styrofoam block and let it harden. 
• Store in the refrigerator.

Strawberry Christmas Trees 

These look so cute! I love these chocolate-covered strawberry Christmas trees . To make these festive chocolate-covered strawberries, add some green food coloring to white melting chocolate. Dip the strawberries into the chocolate. Then, top with chocolate sandwich cookies and decorate with some sprinkles. Find all the details at Lovely Little Kitchen .

Fruit and Cheese Christmas Platter

Another yummy holiday treat! This fruit and cheese platter would make a super easy snack with no extra sugar. Arrange a variety of grapes and cheese cubes in a Christmas tree shape. Serve with crackers on the side.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes

These easy Christmas Tree toppers make such cute cupcakes. Just make a batch of cupcakes, frost them with store-bought frosting, and add the candy toppers from Just a Taste .

Christmas Tree Farms often offer hot cocoa to warm up their customers. So a Hot Cocoa bar would be a fun treat. 

I love to do hot cocoa in the crockpot. Add 8 Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate packets and 64 oz. of milk to your crockpot. (You may need to double or triple the recipe to serve your entire class, but most students won’t drink a full cup.) Whisk together until smooth and cook on high for two hours.

Set up a fun toppings bar with Reddi Whip, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, candy canes, and marshmallows.

Christmas Tree Farm Crafts

There are many opportunities for creativity included in this resource, so you do not need to add any additional crafts. But if you want to do something extra, here are some simple holiday crafts that embrace the Christmas Tree Farm theme.

Paper Plate Christmas Tree

These three-dimensional paper plate Christmas trees are so cute and easy. All you need are paper plates, glue, green paint, and pom poms. Feel free to mix up the decorations if you want to. Get all the details at Creative Family Fun .

Hot Cocoa Directed Drawing

Kids love these directed drawings! All you need is paper and a pencil. Follow along with the step-by-step instructions in this video . Let students color with colored pencils or markers when they finish. 

PRO TIP: For a long-lasting keepsake and gift idea, have students draw on a canvas board.

Paper Plate Snow Globe

I love these adorable paper plate snow globes from Frugal Mom Eh . You can make it even easier by buying large white plates and smaller blue plates to put on the inside. 

Let kids choose any holiday item from the Christmas Tree Farm to put “inside.”

Make Paper Chains

Christmas trees are often decorated with garlands. So have kids make their own paper chain garlands. Making paper chains is a great way to practice fine motor skills. You can also challenge students to make a pattern or to make sure they have a certain number of links. The only materials you need are construction paper (in a variety of colors), tape or glue, and scissors.

Christmas Tree Farm Activities

Again, you don’t need ANY more activities. The Christmas Tree Farm Activities for Math, Reading, and Writing resource includes 40 different interdisciplinary activities that are fun, festive, and engaging. However, if you’re looking for more ways to have some holiday fun with your class, check out these ideas.

Christmas Tree Farm Video

You can watch this National Geographic Kids video to give kids a little background on Christmas tree farms.

And if you want to get kids up and moving, try one of these activities:

Ornament Scavenger Hunt

Hide different Christmas tree ornaments around the classroom. Make a list of what ornaments you have hidden, i.e., one red ball, two candy canes, one bell, one blue ball, two white snowflakes, etc.

Divide the class into teams and have them hunt for the items on their list. The first team to find them all wins.

Living Christmas Tree 

This is a fun game that kids love. Expect lots of laughter!

• Green crepe paper
• Ornaments (cut out of colored paper)
• A headband with a star attached to it

Divide your class into two teams and give each group a set of materials. The teams will then choose one member to be their Christmas tree. Play a Christmas song, such as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” or “Oh Christmas Tree”. 

The students have until the end of the song to wrap their teammates in the crepe paper and use the remaining items to decorate their living tree. 

Christmas Tree Relay Race 

This is another fun racing game. Divide your class into two teams and have them line up behind the starting line.

Give each team a large green t-shirt (that they can put on over their clothes), a long strand of garland, and a Christmas headband. 

The first players on each team must dress up as a Christmas tree and race from the starting line to the turn-around line and then back again to the start. When they return, they remove the Christmas tree costume and pass it to the next player, who puts it on and runs the same course. 

The race continues until one team’s players have all completed the course while dressed as a Christmas tree. The first team to finish wins.

Dance video

This video features Christmas songs with easy choreography so kids can dance along.

Christmas Tree Farm Books

Maple and Willow’s Christmas Tree by Lori Nichols. Maple and Willow love trees—and now they are getting their first real Christmas tree. It is going to be the best Christmas ever! 

The Christmas Tree Wish by Karen Inglis. As the snow starts to fall on Christmas Eve morning, little Bruce Spruce dreams about finding a home for Christmas Day. But when things don’t quite go according to plan, he discovers all is not lost as his fir tree friends — Penelope Pine, Cedrick Cypress, and Douglas Fir — are there to help. 

Christmas Farm by Mary Lyn Ray. When Wilma decides her garden needs a new beginning, she gathers string, scissors, shovels, sixty-two dozen balsam seedlings, and Parker, her five-year-old neighbor. Year after year, Wilma and Parker nurture their trees, keeping careful count of how many they plant, how many perish, and how many grow to become fine, full Christmas trees.

The Ultimate Holiday Guide for Grades 2-5

Did you just love the ideas in this post? Well, I’ve got great news. I’ve put together a FREE Ultimate Holiday Guide for Grades 2-5 that is just chock full of amazing ideas just like this. 

This 142-page guide is your comprehensive guide to the holidays in the classroom. My team and I have scoured the Internet to find the best holiday treats, crafts, activities, games, books, and more so you don’t have to.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Helpful holiday tips to make planning and celebrating easy
• Easy holiday resources that will keep kids learning
• 6 classroom party themes with ideas for treats, crafts, and activities
• Family & student gift ideas
• Simple classroom decor ideas
• Our favorite holiday books and movies
• Reading, writing, and math activities
• Student printables, a family holiday survey, holiday & thank you cards, and gift tags
• And so much more!

And the best part is it’s FREE! 

This Guide is our small way of saying thank you for everything you do for your students all year long. It’s filled with images, links, recipes, and more for the easiest, most fun holiday season ever! Download yours today!

I hope that gives you some simple ways to bring a little extra holiday magic to the classroom. 

Looking for other holiday themes? Check out the Snowman Classroom Party Theme or the Reindeer Classroom Party Theme . Or just DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE – it’s got everything you need!

Have a Not So Wimpy Day,

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12 Ideas For Holiday Activities In The Classroom

What is the relationship between The Grinch and his dog? Who’s more important to the story and why?

by TeachThought Staff

This time of year, students are excited about the holidays.

And they’re often excited for different reasons, of course. Elementary students are learning holiday traditions and enjoying festive songs and stories, while middle and high school students are eagerly counting down the days to vacation! And with Thanksgiving and Christmas break quickly approaching, you might be seeing less enthusiasm for classwork in your older students.

Holiday Activities For The Elementary School Classroom

1. (Kindergarten)  Handprint Reindeer

An entire collection of reindeer activities with all the best reindeer crafts, learning activities, and even reindeer snacks.

2. (1st-2nd Grade)  Santa Claus is busy

Practice verb tense in this simple holiday-themed activity.

3. (4th-5th Grade)  Creative Writing Prompt

Have students write one to two paragraphs answering the question, “What does ‘holiday spirit’ mean to you?” Have them focus on correct spelling and grammar. For added difficulty, list specific parts of speech (adjectives, verbs, adverbs) for them to use, underline and label in their writing.

4. (3rd-5th) A Creative Christmas Wish List

Have students make a Christmas wish list but with some specific criteria. You could have them come up with a wish list for their parents–or favorite book character or sports team. You could even get creative and ask students to create a wish list for something academic. For example, what would a tree’s root system ‘want’ for Christmas? Inert gases–what do they ‘want’? Couplets in a Shakespearean sonnet–what might they ‘want’?

Holiday Activities For The Middle School Classroom

5. (6th-8th Grade)  Holiday Math Word Problems

Create holiday-themed word problems that mix holiday festivities with your current math lessons.

6. (6th-8th Grade)  Rewriting the Holidays PAFT-Style

Draw out your students’ creative writing skills with this fun writing project. Students choose any holiday tale and rewrite it using the PAFT format. Consider ‘Frosty The Snowman,’ for example.

Premise & Perspective: Frosty is told from a third-person narrative perspective

Audience: young children

Format: short fiction/cartoon

Topic/Theme/Thesis: loyalty/faith/friendship

In this activity, students would choose one or more of the above categories and alter it to create something new. The PAFT acts both as analysis and pre-writing. Here’s an example:

Premise & Perspective: the same story told from the point-of-view of the magician

Audience: teenagers

Format: flash fiction

Topic, Theme, Thesis, or Tone: sarcastic or humorously ’emo’

7. (8th Grade) Analyze Anything

This literacy activity can be done in collaboration in the classroom. The most obvious approach is to reach for low-hanging fruit like holiday traditions–stories like The Night Before Christmas are good examples for discussing the concepts of rhythm, rhyme scheme, and figurative language.

But you can also consider analyzing the effect of the economy on gift-giving, the impact of emerging technological trends on familial traditions in their own home. You can also use the TeachThought Learning Taxonomy to create critical thinking prompts around any holiday custom, song, movie, video, symbol, etc.

For self-guided homework, you can also choose a short holiday novel for students to read and have them paraphrase in writing what the novel is about. Paraphrasing is a great skill to practice for future research and writing projects.

Holiday Activities For The High School Classroom

8. Holidays Across the World

Students research holiday traditions from different cultural standpoints. You can either assign the different cultures/countries of origin or have them randomly draw from a bowl.

From their research, have students write an essay explaining the holiday traditions observed in that culture. You can direct them to focus on whichever writing concepts they are currently practicing or simply for excellent spelling and grammar.

9. Critical Thinking About The Holidays Discussion Or Writing Prompt

Have students answer a thought-provoking question like, “Is Christmas too commercial?” They should write a brief, thoughtful answer to the question. Other choices?

Argue for or against the magician (Professor Hinkle) from ‘Frosty’ as an anti-hero. Put another way, who’s the hero of ‘Frosty’ and why?

Many people disagree about religion, consumerism, the ‘true meaning’ of the holidays, etc. Whose perspective about ‘the holidays’ is valid and why?

What are the ‘parts’ of the holidays? Analyze them from a given perspective. Factors could include culture, chronology, weather, economics, color, light, sound, food, etc. Be specific and give concrete examples.

10. Holiday Poetry Writing

Have students write a holiday-inspired poem. Students can draw from a mix of different types of poems (Ballad, Haiku, etc) and then write a poem using that poetry type. Then, students can present their poems to the class, publish digitally, or turn them into something new using PAFT.

11.   Genius Hour

This one isn’t expressly an ‘activity’ but could be used as one in a short enough duration. The idea here is for students to simply choose a topic and learn what they want, how they want–and create what they want in response. The key is how to choose the topic (try brainstorming by category) and how to learn (consider using our Genius Hour framework or self-directed learning model ).

12. QFT Time!

In addition to the Genius Hour approach above, another idea for a holiday activity for high school students is to use the QFT strategy to guide student inquiry. The idea here is to identify a topic, then come up with a series of refined and improved questions. This critical thinking-intense activity isn’t the lightest approach to holiday classroom practice, but for certain classrooms (you know who you are), it’d be the perfect fit.

As always, feel free to modify the activities listed here to suit your content area, age group, lesson planning needs, or your specific teaching style.

Simple Holiday Activities For Students

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December 18, 2018

Holiday traditions around the world & critical thinking.

Today I have some FREE downloadable questions & activities for teaching critical thinking skills with Holiday Traditions Around the World to kindergarten, first, and second graders!  Okay,  I know, I know.   I bet you're thinking that you are way too busy to even bother with critical thinking right now!    But truthfully, this is a GREAT time to include critical thinking in your curriculum, because children are usually highly engaged in learning about anything that has to do with the holidays!  Plus, we are just talking about asking a few questions while you read!  We can fit that in, right?  YES!   Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to get a free downloadable copy of these questions that you can print out and take into your classroom.  And just in case you're wondering, I've included questions from Bloom's Taxonomy or Webb's Depth of Knowledge .

There is one thing for certain:  most kids LOVE to talk, and critical thinking for young children is mostly giving them lots of chances to talk!  So an added benefit is that it develops language.  In fact, the hardest part of any lesson in critical thinking is getting the children to STOP talking (and listen when they should!)- because once someone offers up an idea, LOTS of children will want to contribute their thinking as well!  The key is to make sure that children begin to realize that there are no wrong answers in critical thinking, give them lots of opportunities to develop oral language, and encourage them to keep thinking!  The worst thing that could happen is for them to say nothing , or for them to keep talking when it is not their turn, which leads to a classroom environment that feels somewhat chaotic and one that is not conducive for shy children to have a chance to share.

TIP! Sometimes it is easiest to give children a teddy bear or something real that they can hold when it is their turn to talk. It helps them understand better whose turn it is. :)

Using a unit in Holidays Around the World to start critical thinking discussions is a great idea because you are using informational text- and we all know how the Common Core State Standards emphasize nonfiction!   However, it does include fictional elements in it, since it discusses holiday characters such as Santa, Pere Noel, Sinterklaas, Saint Nick, etc., so it shouldn't feel too "dry" to children.  Just mix in celebrations from places around the world that celebrate other holidays, and sprinkle in the more familiar "Christmassy" celebrations in between (or whatever works best for your student population.)

It can sometimes be difficult to keep children engaged in critical thinking discussions long enough without them getting too restless while you let everyone have a chance to share.  One way to work around this is to begin the lesson, and when kids seem to get too restless, pass out one of the coloring pages below for the country you are studying. Then let them color it in small groups while you go from group to group, stop one group and ask the children more critical thinking questions and give them more chances to share.  I recommend that you mix your students heterogeneously by oral language ability in these groups, so that your English Language Learners or those with less developed language abilities can learn from interacting with their peers with further developed English language skills.

As far as the highest levels of critical thinking are concerned, educators sometimes assume that young children cannot get there because they cannot write much yet.   However, remember that stories and ideas can be dictated orally and written by an adult, or simply be told orally by very young children and not written down at all.  Remember that even adults who are paralyzed have written books by dictating them to others!  Children are still thinking creatively and critically even when they are not writing their thinking down!  In fact, they are probably freed to think more creatively when they are not restricted to what they are able to write.

These are just eight of the fifteen holidays/countries that are included in the HeidiSongs Holiday Traditions Around the World Book. Countries covered include: Christmas in Denmark & Norway, Spain & Latin America, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, England, Mexico, Ireland, United States & Canada, Hanukkah in Israel, Kwanzaa for African-Americans, Eid-ul-Fitr in the Middle East, Diwali in India, and Chinese New Year in China.

There are many ways of leveling, measuring, and thinking about critical thinking skills, but there the two major taxonomies that I hear about most frequently:  Bloom's Taxonomy, and Webb's Depth of Knowledge.  I have categorized my critical thinking questions according to both Bloom's Taxonomy (the revised version) and Webb's Depth of Knowledge (DOK), since the teachers that I surveyed said that they use both, depending on where they teach.  Neither one of the systems seems to be much more widely accepted over the other, although many people seem to think that DOK is better aligned with the Common Core State Standards.  So far, I have not found Webb's DOK mentioned specifically in the Common Core!   If you have found it somewhere in there, I would love to know about it!  Please let me know in the comments section.

I have done my best to compare the Blooms Taxonomy vs. Webb's Depth of Knowledge and explain them both in plain English that seems useful to me as a teacher of primary children!  You can download the pictures from this post and the descriptions here. In doing this, I have pulled my information from multiple sources on the internet, (you can find most of them on my Pinterest Board for Critical Thinking ). I have also drawn some conclusions of my own, because there was almost no information online for applying Bloom's or DOK to instruction for young children!  So at the risk of setting myself up for criticism, I would invite you all to let me know if you disagree with any of my categorizations for the questions.  Please also let me know if you disagree with my descriptions for each of the levels of critical thinking as well!  I want this to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible, because it was quite time consuming to figure it all out!  However, I do think that if we wind up with a way to define the different levels of critical thinking in a way that is clear and useful to teachers of young children, then it will all be worth it!

To say that “this level in Bloom’s is the same as that level in DOK,” is really an over-simplification, because of the requirement of complexity in DOK!  So even though it may seem like a simple correlation, it’s really NOT!  Each question must be looked at individually against the definition of each level.  For example, comparing two characters in the same story would be a DOK level two question, but comparing to characters from two different stories would probably be a level three DOK, because the student must think more complexly about two different texts.  So be careful in classifying your questions into one level of critical thinking or another!

All of the questions below were generated just from the information on this page from my Holiday Traditions Around the World book, with the exception of a few at the very end.

All of the questions I came up with were generated based on reading just ONE page pictured above from my Holiday Traditions Around the World Book , with the exception of a few of the very last questions on the highest level of Webb's Depth of Knowledge, which require multiple sources of information. In that case, I pulled in information from other parts of my Holiday Traditions Book, which can be found here either as a download or in print. My assumption is that once you see how to formulate the questions for one of these traditions, it would probably not be too hard to come up with more questions for the rest of them!  In any case, I formulated critical thinking questions for three of the countries (or regions) and their traditions in my book, and am giving all three of them to you as free downloads today.   Just click on the links below.  (If they are popular and there is a demand, I could write more for sale, though!)  I have also written out the questions for Norway and Denmark below.

1. Norway and Denmark  (The Jul Nisse) 2. France  (Pere Noel) 3. Spain and Latin America  (Three Kings Day)

Both the printed version and the downloadable version of the HeidiSongs Holiday Traditions book come with student coloring pages for children to do when you are done talking, if you choose!   I like to let children chat (and even sing!) while they color the pictures!  It creates some extra time for discussion without the pressure of children getting restless while one child is talking.

Here is the text from my Holiday Traditions book (from the page pictured above) that I would read to the children before asking any of these questions.

" Christmas and the Jul Nisse Norway and Denmark: In Norway and Denmark, an elf called the Jul Nisse brings presents to children, but also plays jokes on people! On Christmas Eve, families leave a bowl of rice pudding or porridge out for him so that he is friendly and plays only nice jokes."

Questions from All Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy for Holiday Traditions Around the World

Level 1:  Remember

(This refers to concrete information straight from the story.  No guess work!)

Who brings presents to the children in Norway and Denmark?

What else does he do other than bring presents?

When does the Jul Nisse visit?

Where does the Jul Nisse go?  (What countries?)

Why does the Jul Nisse sometimes play jokes on people?

How do families get him to play only nice jokes?

Level 2 Bloom's:  Understand

(This is the ability to grasp meaning from the text and understand it well enough so that you can explain it in your own words.)

Tell me how they celebrate Christmas in Norway and Denmark.

Act out how the what happens in Denmark and Norway during the holidays.

Draw me a picture of how they celebrate Christmas in Norway and Denmark and tell me about it.

Color a picture of how they celebrate Christmas in Norway and Denmark, and then write me a few sentences that tell how it is celebrated.

Level 3 Bloom's:  Apply

(This is the ability to use or apply what you’ve learned in a concrete way, such as predicting, dramatizing, sequencing, solving problems, and applying the situation to your own life.)

Predict:  What would happen if the families put out some spinach and broccoli for the Jul Nisse?

Sequence:  What happens first when the Jul Nisse comes?  What happens last when the Jul Nisse comes?

Apply the situation to your own life:  If you lived in Norway or Denmark, would you leave the Jul Nisse rice pudding and porridge, or spinach and broccoli?  Why?

Level 4 Bloom's:  Analyze

(This is the ability to break down the different parts of the material and distinguish between them.  Includes compare and contrast, classify and categorize, cause and effect, infer, and draw conclusions, and experiment or postulate.)

Compare & Contrast:  How is the Jul Nisse the same as Santa?  How is he different?

Classify & categorize:  Is the Jul Nisse real or make believe?  Why do you think so?

Classify & categorize:  What kind of person or character is the Jul Nisse?  (ie., an elf)

Cause & Effect:  What do you think caused the Jul Nisse to be a kind of mean elf?

Experimentation or postulation:  What else do you think you could give the Jul Nisse if you ran out of porridge and rice pudding, but still wanted him to be friendly and play nice jokes?

Infer, or make guesses at what has NOT been said:  What kind of things do you think the Jul Nisse would do if he played a nice/mean joke?

Level 5 Bloom's:  Evaluate

(This is the ability to judge, rate, or form an opinion on material for a given purpose and explain why you think so.)

Rate: Do you think it is better to have Santa visit during the holidays or the Jul Nisse to visit, or something else?  Put your choices in order from best to worst.

Judge:  Do you think that the Jul Nisse is a good elf or a bad elf?  Explain why you think so.

Evaluate:   Is the Jul Nisse the best elf to visit during the holidays, or not the best elf?  Why, or why not? Form an opinion:  Do you like the Jul Nisse?  Why or why not?  Would you like to live in Norway or Denmark during the holiday season?  Why or why not?  Graph where the class would like to live during the holidays based on each country’s holiday traditions.

Level 6 Bloom's:  Create!

(This is the ability to put parts together to create something new and unique.  It includes activities such as adapting the elements of an existing story to create a new one, connecting ideas from one text to another to create a new story, and creative project based learning activities that give children the opportunity to create something new.)

Connect ideas from one text to another:  Get some blocks to build with and cut out some pictures from the holiday book of the different characters and props or objects that are in it. (Real objects are even better!)  Have the children build a new setting for a certain holiday character and tell a new story to a friend about what your new character did during the holidays.

Adapt the story and create a new one:  Take the Jul Nisse and put him in France.  Would he ride in on a donkey?  Would he still play tricks on people or would he always be nice?  Write a class story (or your own story) about the Jul Nisse holiday in France.

Adapt the story and create a new one:  Suppose La Befana from Italy gave her broom to Sinterklaas in Holland and Sinterklaas gave his white horse to La Befana?  What would the children think or do if they saw La Befana on a white horse or Sinterklaas riding a broom?  Do a “Think, Pair, Share” activity and talk about it.  (Pair up and think about it, and then share out with the group.)  Brainstorm ideas and write stories, or make up a class story and have everyone draw a picture.

Adapt the story and create a new one:  Think about the Hanukah menorah with candles on it and the tradition of putting a candle in the windows of Ireland.  How are they the same or different?  Write a story of an Irish family celebrating Christmas in Israel, or an Israeli family celebrating Hanukkah in Ireland.  What would they do?  (You could also do this with Kwanzaa and Diwali.)

Adapt the story and create a new one:  Thinking about all of the different holiday traditions we have learned about, make up your own holiday character that either brings presents or plays tricks on children.  What would he or she do?  Don’t forget to draw a picture!

Creative Project Based Learning Activities That Also Include Critical Thinking Skills:  Holidays often include feasts!  Think about the Eid-ul-Fitr feast, the parties with food and games in Mexico for Las Posadas, the Kwanzaa feast, the big special dinners for Chinese New Years, and the Diwali parties with candies and snacks. Can you create one new dish you could serve that would have something in it from each culture (like a casserole or soup?)  Now plan and design the greatest feast EVER!

Creative Project Based Learning Activities That Also Include Critical Thinking Skills:   Create your own fictional holiday that has some elements from at least three of the different holidays around the world.  Think of a name for your holiday!  Design invitations and send them out to parents, friends, or family members.  Plan and cook a feast that has some foods from each culture’s holiday, and serve it to the parents that come to the holiday celebration.  Make gifts that have something to do with the cultures you studied for the people that come!

Creative Project Based Learning Activities That Also Include Critical Thinking Skills:  Write a holiday play that contains characters from at least three of the cultures you studied.  There should be a setting, a main character, a beginning, middle, and a conclusion.  Cast your play from the students in the room and then think of some easy costumes or hats you could use to help put it on!  Gather props and practice your play.  Can you think of any music to include?  Make invitations and distribute them to parents, friends, and family members.  Create a program for your special show that you could pass out to those that attend; it should have the cast members names and other credits on it.  Then perform your play!

Questions from All Levels of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge for Holiday Traditions Around the World

Level 1 DOK:  Recall & Reproduction

Can the student recall a simple fact from the story?  Requires a shallow understanding and no analysis.  This is correlates fairly directly to Bloom’s Taxonomy at the bottom two levels (Understand & Remember). So I just took all of questions from those two levels and put them here:

Basic Recall and Comprehension Questions:

Level 2 DOK:  Skills & Concepts

Can the student think beyond recalling a fact?  Students may be asked to interpret, infer, classify and categorize, organize, compare & contrast, and determine whether fact or opinion, predict, determine cause & effect, apply, reconstruct or sequence a story, Some of the questions from BOTH the third and fourth levels of Blooms fit here!  It depends on the complexity of the question.

I think that almost all of the questions I wrote for both the third and fourth level of Bloom’s Taxonomy fit in here because we are only talking about one text at a time.  The question I wrote for “experimentation and postulation” doesn’t fit here because the child must think beyond the text to get the answer.  Generally, if you can get the kids to think about more than one text at a time, think beyond the text to get the answer, and get them to formulate opinions, you’ll have hit the third level in DOK.

Apply the situation to your own life:  If you lived in Norway or Denmark, would you leave the Jul Nisse rice pudding and porridge, or spinach and broccoli? Why?

Compare & contrast:  How is the Jul Nisse the same as Santa?  How is he different?

Cause & effect:  What do you think caused the Jul Nisse to be a kind of mean elf? Why do you think so?

Infer:  What kind of things do you think the Jul Nisse would do if he played a nice/mean joke?

Level 3 DOK:  Strategic Thinking

Can the student think beyond the text to his world or another text for an answer, or adapt the text to create something new?  Can he explain, generalize, or connect ideas from one text to another?  Can he evaluate  text, formulate opinions, and then explain them?  Summarizing information from multiple sources falls into this category as well.

Experimentation or postulation:  What else do you think you could give the Jul Nisse if you ran out of porridge and rice pudding, but still wanted him to be friendly and play nice jokes?  Why?

Rate: Do you think it is better to have Santa visit during the holidays or the Jul Nisse to visit, or something else?  Put your choices in order from best to worst and explain your choices.

Evaluate:   Is the Jul Nisse the best elf to visit during the holidays, or not the best elf?  Why, or why not? Form an opinion:  Do you like the Jul Nisse?  Why or why not?  Would you like to live in Norway or Denmark during the holiday season?  Why or why not?  Graph where the class would like to live during the holidays based on each country’s holiday traditions.  Show the class pictures of Norway and Denmark using Google Earth or by some other method to help them decide.

----- (I added these questions to this section, although they were not included above for Bloom's.) -----

Experimentation:  Suppose I wanted to find out what would happen if I left the Jul Nisse broccoli and spinach, what should I do?  Should I try this at my own house or someone else’s house?  Why or why not?

Compare & contrast:  (This question assumes you have already read about holiday traditions in France and Italy.)  Who would visit your family if you were born in France and lived there until you were five, and then moved to Denmark or Norway?  And then when you were seven, your family moved to Italy?  Would Pere Noel, La Befana, AND the Jul Nisse all visit you?  Or would just one?  If so, which one?  Why????

Level 4 DOK:  Extended Thinking

Students take information from more than one source and are asked to apply this information to a new task that includes complex thinking, usually over time.  (Ex. A project-based-learning activity for younger students.  For older students, this could include a research project or term paper.)

Holidays often include feasts!  Think about the Eid-ul-Fitr feast, the parties with food and games in Mexico for Las Posadas, the Kwanzaa feast, the big special dinners for Chinese New Years, and the Diwali parties with candies and snacks.  Now plan and design the greatest feast EVER!  Can you create one new dish you could serve that would have something in it from each culture (like a casserole or soup?)

Create your own fictional holiday that has some elements from at least three of the different holidays around the world.  Think of a name for your holiday!  Design invitations and send them out to parents, friends, or family members.  Plan and cook a feast that has some foods from each culture’s holiday, and serve it to the parents that come to the holiday celebration.  Make gifts that have something to do with the cultures you studied for the people that come!

Write a holiday play that contains characters from at least three of the cultures you studied.  There should be a setting, a main character, a beginning, middle, and a conclusion.  Cast your play from the students in the room and then think of some easy costumes or hats you could use to help put it on!  Gather props and practice your play.  Can you think of any music to include?  Make invitations and distribute them to parents, friends, and family members.  Create a program for your special show that you could pass out to those that attend; it should have the cast members names and other credits on it.  Then perform your play!

I hope you get a chance to try some of these questions out with your class!  Please let me know how it goes if you do!  You can download a pdf copy of the questions from Bloom's Taxonomy here.   You can download a copy of the questions from Webb's Depth of Knowledge here.

Need more help teaching critical thinking skills to Kindergarten, first, or second graders?  I also made some Critical Thinking Question Cards that you can download here for just $3.   They are SO helpful for coming up with critical thinking questions at the spur of the moment! Once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder why you ever thought this was hard!

And remember... HeidiSongs has TONS of resources to help you teach all kinds of things, including sight words , math , phonics , alphabet , counting and number recognition , learning to sound out three letter words , and MORE !  

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Critical Thinking: 7 Winter-Themed Activities to Warm Up Your Brain

As the winter chill sets in, it’s not just our bodies that need to stay warm and active; our brains also crave stimulation and challenge. While the cold weather might tempt us to hibernate mentally, it’s actually the perfect season to ignite our student’s critical thinking skills in fun and engaging ways.

In this blog post, several of my teacher blogger besties and I share a variety of winter-themed activities that promise not only to entertain but also to exercise kids’ brains. From stem challenges to classifying snowflakes and exploring mentor texts, we’ve compiled a list of activities that are sure to keep your students’ cognitive fires burning bright. So, grab a cup of hot cocoa and prepare to dive into a winter wonderland of brain-boosting activities that will keep your kiddos intellectually engaged and mentally sharp during the frosty months ahead.

Using Owl Moon As A Winter Mentor Text from Sandy at Sweet Integrations

Sandy at Sweet Integrations encourages critical thinking through teaching with mentor text. In her blog post, Winter Mentor Text for Teaching Content Areas , she uses the book The Owl Moon .

By implementing mentor text, teachers can set the mood for introducing a unit, making meaningful connections to real life, and teaching important concepts.

Sandy suggests asking students to make predictions as they read the book. Thinking about the characters and their actions in the book fosters critical thinking.

Strategies You Can Use With Any Winter Text from Carla at Comprehension Connection

Critical thinking is deeply involved with reading comprehension and engagement. As students read, they need ways to stick with the text and engage with it.

Carla from Comprehension Connection’s post on strategies to improve deep thinking offers teaching ideas you can use with any text.

You might also check out her Winter Themed Resources and Lessons post for free and easy to use ideas. It includes great mentor texts and book companions among other engaging ideas. The winter months can seem long, so keeping kids motivated is important. Check out other motivational strategies on Comprehension Connection here.

Winter Themed Stem Challenges For Critical Thinking from Janet at Fishyrobb

One of the best ways to build critical thinking skills is with open-ended problem solving tasks like STEM challenges. Janet at Fishyrobb loves using winter-themed challenges to show students how they can use their math and science skills to solve real-life problems.

In her blog post The Best STEM Activities for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Kids , she explains how to choose and plan quality STEM challenges that truly get students thinking critically.

Snowy Creativity: Wintry Art Lessons from Amanda at Party in the Art Room

Amanda at Party in the Art Room loves using art to boost critical thinking in her students.

In her article, Snowy Creativity, she shares three inspiring art lessons that are perfect for any classroom’s wintry curricular mix! From Beatrix Potter to penguins to winter landscapes, these art lessons are designed to spark creativity and warm up young minds during the winter season.

Using Winter-Themed Word Problems from Kady at Teacher Trap

Kady from Teacher Trap loves using themed word problems and guided group conversations to help students develop math problem-solving skills.

In her blog post, 5 Unique Word Problem Solving Strategies That Get Results , she shares ways to engage students in meaningful work around word problems. Get your students excited for a challenge by building in collaboration, questioning, and guided rounds using fun winter-themed word problems!

Using Collaborative Problem Solving from Amy at Amazing Materials For You

Amy of Amazing Materials for You knows how to use break the code activities to engage students in collaborative problem solving in her upper elementary classroom.

In her blog post, 4 Great Ways to Engage Upper Elementary Students in Collaborative Problem Solving Using Break the Code Activities she recommends using 4 different approaches to encourage problem solving using variables – number talks for whole group, print copies for partners, Google slides for individuals, or small group instruction. Join her for the fun!

Winter Themed Critical Thinking Activities To Keep ’em Thinking From Me!

As the winter months set in, the days are often cold, dreary, and seemingly endless. Keeping students engaged in the classroom can be a challenge, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to engage students in activities that stimulate critical thinking. In my blog post, Engage Students with My Favorite Winter Picture Book , I talk about how the picture book Snowflake Bentley provides an excellent opportunity to captivate students’ attention and encourage critical thinking, even on the gloomiest days.

Snowflake Bentley is one of those rare picture books that you can share all winter long. Students can learn about the life of this amazing man who developed a way to photograph individual snowflakes, as well as about snow science and how snowflakes are formed.

They use critical thinking as they analyze literary elements such as character, theme, cause, and effect, along with classifying snowflakes and learning how snow is formed.

Final Thoughts…

Winter offers unique opportunities to keep our students’ minds sharp and engaged. From word problems that strengthen problem-solving skills to mentor texts, STEM challenges, and art projects, each activity provides a fun and effective way to exercise students’ brains.

By incorporating these winter-themed critical thinking activities into instruction, you not only fend off the winter blues but also enhance your students’ cognitive abilities in exciting and enjoyable ways. Let’s embrace the chill with activities that warm up our students’ brains and keep the spark of learning and curiosity alive all winter long.

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• Read more about: Critical Thinking , Seasonal/Holiday , Thinking Skills , Uncategorized , Winter

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Christmas And Holiday STEM Challenges

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Holiday lessons are always a hit in the classroom. Students are usually already excited about the upcoming holidays, so adding in classroom activities that relate just adds to the fun! This can be a great way to get kids engaged and involved even when they are itching for a break from school. 

However, as a teacher, you want to make sure that the lessons you use are actually valuable to your instructional time. If fun, holiday-themed lessons that address content and develop students’ thinking skills are what you are after, holiday STEM activities are the answer! 

STEM activities are popular in many classrooms because they have so much to offer students and teachers. They address important science, technology, engineering, and math content through hands-on learning. They help students learn to use critical thinking and problem solving skills. While higher order thinking is going on, students are also being creative and cooperative. 

All of these elements are important, but kids really love STEM because they are having fun while learning. Teachers can harness this positive engagement to facilitate effective lessons that will stick with their students. Adding holiday themes to STEM lessons just increases the fun! They are great to use during classroom celebrations or during those last few days before a holiday break. Students will enjoy a fun activity with their friends, and they might not even realize they are learning during a classroom party. 

Here are some of my favorite Christmas and holiday STEM ideas

One of my favorite STEM holiday activities is the Elf Zip Line Challenge . Students will plan, design, and engineer a zip line to carry a visitor from the North Pole. They’ll use their skills to make sure the zip line works, and to write about their findings. 

Another fun activity is the Christmas STEM Challenges resource . It includes five Christmas-themed activities that will have students using their problem solving skills. These are especially great for a classroom party as each challenge can be set up as a center that groups of students rotate through. 

The STEM Christmas Lights Circuits challenge is another favorite. Students not only exercise their thinking skills, but learn about energy and creating circuits. 

You can check out all these activities as well as many more on my STEM Holidays page!

For more Christmas STEM ideas, check out my post here.

This Post Has 2 Comments

You are awesome!! Thanks for your creative ideas/activities!

Thank you! I’m working on some new book projects next!!

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Christmas logic games and brain teasers.

These Christmas Logic Games are a fun activity to give to your students during the holiday season (or anytime for enrichment). The games are Christmas-themed and ask your students to use math and critical-thinking skills to solve some problems that might pop up during the holiday.

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I created these logic & brain games as a fun activity to give to your students during Christmas (or anytime for enrichment). The games are Christmas-themed and ask your students to solve some problems that might pop up during the holiday.

The puzzles include a holiday tree math game, lining up reindeer replacements, helping Santa match children with their wish list, sorting out a classroom gift exchange, helping elves find their station in Santa’s workshop, and finding enough singers to perform a school’s holiday program, etc.

**A digital version is also included for use with Google Classroom.** With the digital version, you have the option to go 100% paperless.

Review of Important Math Concepts: -Addition -Subtraction -Multiplication -Division -Deductive Reasoning

Ten Christmas-Themed Logic Puzzles This resource contains ten logic games with answer keys. See the preview for more details about each activity.

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PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE PREVIEW TO SEE MORE OF WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS RESOURCE.

As always, please ask ANY and ALL questions before purchasing. Copyright© 2018 Kristine Nannini All rights reserved by author. Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only. Not for public display.

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Christmas STEM Activities

24 Days of Christmas STEM Activities – Countdown to Christmas with our list of holiday STEM projects for hands on learning.

Christmas is coming and the kids are getting EXCITED! To keep them focused and motivated young scientists during this crazy time of year, I’ve put together 24 days of fun Christmas STEM Activities. This idea was a HUGE hit in October as we counted down to Halloween , so we are doing it again with a Christmas STEM Activities countdown. It’s kind of like a STEM Advent Calendar of learning for the month of December! I’ve gathered up lots of cool science, tech, math and engineering activities to keep little ones busy. I even pulled out a couple of chemistry projects that my son is super excited about. I hope you enjoy our 24 Days of Christmas STEM Activities and it inspires your young scientists this holiday season!

Festive and Fun Christmas STEM Projects

What you will discover in this article!

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NOTE: This list started with 24 activities in a type of STEM Advent Calendar but over time we have gathered so many cool Christmas STEM ideas it has grown like crazy and now includes way more than 24 activities to inspire you this holiday season. 

Instead of organizing by date, I decided to organize by type of activity. That way you can pick and chose what works best for you. Enjoy!

Christmas Science Experiments and Activities

Gnome Ornaments with Crystal Beards – If you love cute little gnomes, you are going to really love this science experiment where we grow crystal beards to make adorable gnome ornaments. Includes instructions on how to grow crystals using Salt, Borax or Alum, so you can find the perfect crystal growing project for the holidays.

Crystal Wreaths – Or use the same principals to make Crystal Wreaths.

Homemade Gnome Snow Globe – Learn how to make our adorable Gnome Snow Globe, in this activity that is perfect for the classroom or STEM club.

Turkey Races and Rudolf Races – Christmas and Thanksgiving STEM fun as you explore physics in this activity that all ages love! Guaranteed giggles, fun and learning!

Christmas Optical Illusions Agamograph – We are really enjoying exploring our senses right now, and this Christmas printable STEAM activity has some illusions that are going to play games with your eyes! Can you believe what you are seeing?

Simple Snow Science – The best part of Christmas is when it’s a white Christmas with lots of snow. This simple science activity explores the properties of the white fluffy stuff. This is such a fun science experiment that will wow the kids.

Salt Dough Ornaments – This traditional crafting activity includes some really cool science to ensure your salt dough ornament recipe turns out perfect. Fantastic for making holiday keepsakes.

Christmas Chemistry Activities

Milk Plastic Christmas Ornament Project – Milk plastic chemistry is the first step in this process to make extremely durable, beautiful ornaments. Start by making your very own plastic using items you have in your kitchen right now!

Bioplastic Christmas Ornaments – After making milk plastic ornaments, try your hand at these bioplastic ornaments using items in your pantry. The clear plastic results look gorgeous with the Christmas lights!

Christmas Tree Chemistry – This Christmas STEAM Challenge was so much fun and love making their Christmas tree creations erupt! I love that this activity brings in a little art to our STEM work.

Simple Christmas Chemistry – This activity is so easy and so fun! Kids will love doing this erupting science and exploring the chemical reactions of baking soda and vinegar with a festive twist.

Christmas Bath Bombs – We are OBSESSED with making bath bombs right now and Christmas is the perfect time for this fun chemistry lesson. The results make amazing gifts! Here are some of our favourites! Grinch’s Heart Bath Bomb , Winter Storm Icicle Bath Bomb , Candy Cane Bath Bomb and more to come!

Christmas Sensory Science

Christmas Slime – Making and playing with slime is a fantastic way to explore polymers while also providing kids with a fun, brain break during the hectic holiday season.

Winter Play Dough – This is a great project making your own play dough so kids can learn about polymers then enjoy some wonderful sensory play with their gorgeous wintery play dough.

Christmas Candy Science

Sweet STEM Candy Science – Want to try something that will really get kids excited about chemistry? Try some Candy Science and learn about the chemistry behind candy making while making irresistibly delicious candies like caramels, fudge, lollipops and more! The sweet treats are perfect for the holiday season and success in this science lab is soooo sweet!

Christmas Fudge – Learn about sugar science with this delicious and fun fudge making project for the holidays.

Christmas Math Activities

Snowman Math Logic Puzzles – These Sudoku inspired puzzles are a great way for kids to build math, logic and critical thinking skills. All with a festive snowman look!

Merry Möbius Strip is a fun math and STEAM project for the holidays, creating Möbius inspired Christmas decorations including garland and ornaments.

Geome-Tree Holiday Math Ornaments – Explore geometry and 3D nets while making fun ornaments out of paper.

Grow A Christmas Tree Math Game – This fun math game will be perfect for a snowy afternoon while we sit around drinking hot chocolate, having some fun and learning too!

Math Garland Christmas Countdown – I love this idea! It’s like a math advent calendar. Perfect for the season!

Christmas STEM Coding and Math Secret Reveals – In this activity kids use coding and graphing skills to reveal a secret holiday image! Put math, coding and art skills to work in this fun activity!

Christmas Technology, Coding and Circuits

Christmas Tree STEM – Glow Salt Circuit – This simple circuit project has major wow factor! Create a Christmas tree with different colour glows that also lights and LED “star” at the top of your tree. Easy to adapt to other designs to suit your holiday STEM needs!

Christmas Stop Motion Card Project – Learn how to do Stop Motion Animation with our easy step by step directions and make a card for the holidays.

Christmas Thaumatropes – In this STEAM activity kids build Thaumatropes, a traditional toy that explores the amazing science of optical illusions. This build includes creating a stand for the Thaumatropes so they can be displayed and enjoyed by everyone in a classroom or as an interactive Christmas decoration.

Christmas Keyboard Ornament – Got a kid that loves to tinker and a few old keyboards around? Why not use those old keyboards in this tinkering activity that has kids tearing apart old keyboards to explore the inner workings, then using the keys to create a one of a kind ornament.

Circuit-Tree – This is a great challenge for the older kids and is a holiday twist on our popular Circuit Bugs activity. Create their own clothespin circuit Christmas tree that lights up!

Holiday Coding Challenge – Enjoy this fun decoder challenge that also teaches compound words. It’s free for all members of the STEAM Powered Family and you can grab the full package which includes a decoder challenge for every season in our store .

Christmas Bell Binary Key Chain – Love this fun activity that kids can do to create key chains with secret messages coded into them with binary code. What a fantastic gift idea!

Christmas Decoder Ornaments – An early coding activity that also builds early reading skills. This Christmas Ornament Decoding Challenge is a fantastic classroom activity. Free Christmas Printable included.

Christmas Engineering Challenges

Tinsel Toss Christmas Catapult Challenge – Kids love building catapults! In this STEM challenge they can use their catapult to decorate a tree with a flourish! But be careful, this project comes with an extra challenge kids will need to overcome.

Snowball Catapults – Another fun and festive catapult project that makes for a fun, indoor twist, on the traditional snowball fights!

Christmas Marble Maze Ideas – Create easy, fun and festive marble runs with holiday themes. All using simple materials Candy Canes, Christmas Mints or Lego.

Spinning Snowflake Card STEM Craft – This WOW worthy activity has kids building cards for the holidays that spin when they are opened. Kids learn engineering and physics as they create their Spinning Snowflake Holiday Card.

Ice Lantern Engineering – These lanterns are gorgeous and so much fun to make. The perfect outdoor decor to welcome your guests.

Build a 3D Paper Ornament – Embrace Arts, Maths and Engineering with these easy and fun paper ornament projects. Free template included. This is a fantastic classroom activity.

Build a 3D Standing Christmas Tree Card – These Christmas Cards are so easy to build with our free printable template. Customize it by colouring it and address it to your loved ones. Kids will love gifting these cool creations they engineered.

Build a Gingerbread House – This classic activity is actually a fantastic way to practice some engineering. To keep things simple you can easily grab a kit from the store. Or, if you want to work in some extra math and kitchen science, why not make the gingerbread from scratch? You can even make some of the candy decorations from scratch.

The Final Christmas STEM Activity

Wrap up the 24 days by spending the final day with the best Christmas STEM activity of them all! We will be tracking Santa’s progress around the world! My boys love following him on Norad . Even though my oldest is no longer a believer, he still enjoys seeing the names of all the different places in the world and calculating how much longer until Santa arrives at our house!

It’s a great way to countdown those final moments.

Happy Holidays!

5 Days of Smart STEM Ideas for Kids

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5 Critical Thinking Activities That Get Students Up and Moving

More movement means better learning.

It’s easy to resort to having kids be seated during most of the school day. But learning can (and should) be an active process. Incorporating movement into your instruction has incredible benefits—from deepening student understanding to improving concentration to enhancing performance. Check out these critical thinking activities, adapted from Critical Thinking in the Classroom , a book with over 100 practical tools and strategies for teaching critical thinking in K-12 classrooms.

Four Corners

In this activity, students move to a corner of the classroom based on their responses to a question with four answer choices. Once they’ve moved, they can break into smaller groups to explain their choices. Call on students to share to the entire group. If students are persuaded to a different answer, they can switch corners and further discuss. 

Question ideas:

• Which president was most influential: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, or Abraham Lincoln?
• Is Holden Caulfield a hero: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree?

Gallery Walk

This strategy encourages students to move around the classroom in groups to respond to questions, documents, images, or situations posted on chart paper. Each group gets a different colored marker to record their responses and a set amount of time at each station. When groups move, they can add their own ideas and/or respond to what prior groups have written.

Gallery ideas:

• Political cartoons

Stations are a great way to chunk instruction and present information to the class without a “sit and get.” Group desks around the room or create centers, each with a different concept and task. There should be enough stations for three to five students to work for a set time before rotating.

Station ideas:

• Types of rocks
• Story elements
• Literary genres

Silent Sticky-Note Storm

In this brainstorming activity, students gather in groups of three to five. Each group has a piece of chart paper with a question at the top and a stack of sticky notes. Working in silence, students record as many ideas or answers as possible, one answer per sticky note. When time is up, they post the sticky notes on the paper and then silently categorize them.

• How can you exercise your First Amendment rights?
• What are all the ways you can divide a square into eighths?

Mingle, Pair, Share

Take your Think, Pair, Share to the next level. Instead of having students turn and talk, invite them to stand and interact. Play music while they’re moving around the classroom. When the music stops, each student finds a partner. Pose a question and invite students to silently think about their answer. Then, partners take turns sharing their thoughts.

• How do organisms modify their environments?
• What is the theme of Romeo and Juliet ?

Looking for more critical thinking activities and ideas?

Critical Thinking in the Classroom is a practitioner’s guide that shares the why and the how for building critical thinking skills in K-12 classrooms. It includes over 100 practical tools and strategies that you can try in your classroom tomorrow!

Get Your Copy of Critical Thinking in the Classroom

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Just a few short weeks until the oh-so-anticipated holiday break! Are you hanging in there?

This time of year can be the most fun but also the most challenging. Excitement for the holidays is high, and there are so many fun activities to do with your students.

Celebrate Diversity With Multicultural Classroom Activities

On the other hand, kids can be a little harder to wrangle (so many Christmas treats!), and you’re probably feeling the pressure to fit in all that curriculum before you close out 2019 (so many things!!).

I feel you.

Take it from me, the best thing you can do this time of year is BREATHE and SIMPLIFY.

I can’t help you with the breathing (although there are a lot of great meditation and yoga apps out there), but I can definitely help you with simplifying.

How about some done-for-you holiday activities that aren’t just time fillers (hello tedious word searches), but are actually meaningful and engaging?

Sign me up, right?!

Here are two of my favorite activities for this season. I hope they help you add meaning, fun, and holiday cheer to your classroom (and save you some time and sanity):

Christmas Around the World Escape Room

Send students on a secret mission around the classroom to learn about holiday traditions around the world. Students will love solving puzzles and cracking codes to save Christmas dinner in Japan!

Encourage critical thinking, teamwork, and multicultural understanding, all in one action-packed 30-60 minute class period.

The best part. NO PREP, just print and go. Time. Sanity. You’re welcome 😉

Winter Wonderland Collaborative Block Poster

Bring your students together with this fun, collaborative poster project. Each student will design his or her own poster block. Then, the students have to collaborate to put all the pieces together in just the right spots. The end result is an eye-catching winter wonderland scene perfect for bulletin boards, a door display, or a hallway conversation piece.

To save you time and sanity, I include step-by-step directions for teachers and students, pattern design ideas, and 25 printable poster blocks.

Tell me, how are you feeling this holiday season? Energized? Stressed? Overwhelmed? No matter what, you are doing great! Just keep breathing, and remember to SIMPLIFY!

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8 Holiday STEM Activities for a Fun and Festive Classroom

For many people, the weeks leading up to the end of the year are a blur of fun, food, and festivities. The same can be true for students and teachers in the classroom. With the buzz of an upcoming, long holiday break it can be hard to find engaging ways to get students to focus on the lessons or activities for the day. That’s where holiday STEM activities and Sphero come in! With holiday STEM activities, students can have a great time together celebrating and making memories while still learning. 

Holiday STEM Activities for Your Classroom

With holiday STEM activities your students can practice their coding skills, share traditional holiday stories or customs, and even embrace the “A” in STEAM with a creative twist on arts and crafts. 

Are you ready to start planning for the “countdown weeks” ahead? We’ve compiled a list of eight activities, inventions, and programs that are holiday-themed or that can be easily adapted to share a holiday tradition of your very own. 

1. Program an Ornament with Sphero BOLT

With this simple program, you can hang a Sphero BOLT on a Christmas tree among colorful garland wraps, string lights, and other timeless ornaments. When BOLT is connected, the program utilizes the LED matrix and front and back LEDs for a beautiful holiday-themed animation.

2. Create Unique Holiday Art

This program shows you how to easily create beautiful, festive long-exposure light art. Let your students' creativity shine through!

3. Hanukkah Dreidel with BOLT

Spin the dreidel bot! This program uses BOLT’s accelerometer and gyroscope to add a fun twist on the traditional dreidel game for celebrating Hanukkah. 

4. BOLT Blocks 2: Light and Sound Stories 

In this activity, BOLT’s lights and sounds can make your stories come to life. Put on your storyteller’s hat and get ready to program your favorite holiday story to share with the whole class. 

5. BOLT Blocks 6: Sensor Storytelling Sidekick  

Want to add a little flair to your holiday stories? Or act out a scene from your favorite movie or play? With this program, you can code BOLT to be your sidekick, including the best sound effects and lines to make your story come to life. 

6. Hit the Road for the Holidays with indi

Recreate a holiday road trip with Sphero indi ! Have students draw three things they like to do or places they like to visit with family and friends during the holidays, e.g. grandparents’ house, downtown for shopping, or a local cafe for hot chocolate. Place the drawings on the floor and have them use indi’s color tiles to program it to drive to the three places while they share their favorite memories of each stop with their classmates.

7. Sphero littleBits: Ugly Holiday Sweater Hack 

Ugly sweaters are a funny holiday party tradition for many people. With this littleBits invention, you and your students can add lights and sounds with various Bits to bring your ugly sweater to life! 

8. Sphero littleBits: Ice Skater

Is ice skating a winter activity your students enjoy? Create a lovely, moving ice skater display with a few basic craft materials and the littleBits DC motor. It’s like a moving snow globe! What else can your students create with these items?

No matter how you plan to celebrate the upcoming holiday season in your classroom, we hope you have fun, get creative, and enjoy this special time of year with your students.

Written by:

Amanda Vaden

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What is an ai-first mindset.

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Developing an AI-first mindset

As AI becomes an increasing part of our daily lives, people are starting to change the way they perform their daily tasks. The idea of incorporating AI into everyday activities is gradually becoming less of a thing people have to do with careful forethought to something that is being done increasingly with default afterthought.

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How AI Is Changing People’s Behavior

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An individual with an AI first mindset not only embraces AI technologies, but also knows how to appropriately use them, what they're best suited for, and they continually seek out opportunities to leverage AI to enhance and optimize their existing skill sets. The idea of the AI-first mindset embraces the idea of augmented intelligence, in which you are not using AI to replace what you're doing, but rather to help do your job better.

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This idea of putting AI as your default interaction helps you realize very quickly what AI is good for because you're using it all the time. You could see when AI is working well, and you could see when AI is not working well because it's part of your daily life. People who start their interactions with an AI conversation will know inherently where AI will them up, augment, or enhance something they’re doing. People with an AI-first mindset will inherently know to use AI systems for complex tasks where AI performs well, such as working with large data sets, summarizing or analyzing information quickly, or interactively diving deeper into data and content.

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WINTER: Seasonal/Holiday Critical Thinking Writing Activities

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Do you wish you could get your students to do some deeper-level thinking about United States’ holidays? This bundle of themed writing prompts will bring interesting real-world connections into your classroom. These prompts will keep your students engaged and make them feel more connected with the holidays we Americans sometimes take for granted.

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