December in a PreK–2 classroom is busy, loud and full of excitement. Children are talking about lights, snow, presents and family traditions, and it can feel hard to keep learning on track. The good news: you don’t need to fight that excitement. You can use it.

This guide collects simple Christmas activities for preschool, kindergarten and 1st–2nd grade, organized by subject: math, phonics and sight words, reading, writing, science, and art. Most ideas take ten minutes or less and use things you already have, like paper, crayons, pom-poms, ice and a few letter tiles. Where a printable page helps, you can make your own in a minute with the free PreKPrints teacher tools and your class’s own word lists.

The idea behind every activity is the same: keep the skill your class is already working on, and change only the wrapping paper.

A Note for Every Family

Not every family celebrates Christmas. Some celebrate it as a religious holiday, some as a cultural tradition, and some not at all. Every activity below also works with a general winter theme: snowflakes, mittens, hot cocoa and snowmen instead of Santa, stockings and trees. The skill stays exactly the same; only the pictures change.

December is also a good time to learn about other winter celebrations. Our guides to Hanukkah, Las Posadas, St. Lucia Day and Three Kings Day explain each one in words young children understand. Invite families to share their own traditions if they would like to, and never require a child to.

Start With a Calm Daily Countdown

Before the subject ideas, one routine that helps the whole month: a short daily countdown. Children feel the long wait for winter break, and a predictable countdown turns that wait into something they can see and count.

  • Paper chain countdown. Make a chain with one link for each school day left. Each morning, a helper removes one link and the class counts the links that are left.
  • Coloring countdown. Number a small stack of simple winter pictures. Each day, children find and circle the day’s number, trace it, then color the picture for five quiet minutes.
  • Hang them in order. Clip finished pages along a string or wall so the countdown grows across the room.

This one routine practices counting backward, one-to-one matching (one link or page for one day) and calendar words like today, tomorrow and days left. A “days until winter break” countdown works for every class, with or without a holiday theme.

Christmas Math Activities

Holiday pictures don’t change the math, but they change how children feel about practicing it. Pair every page with real objects children can touch and move.

Pom-Pom Tree Counting (PreK–K)

Draw a simple tree outline on paper. A child rolls a die, counts the dots and places that many pom-pom “ornaments” on the tree. Using tweezers or tongs to move the pom-poms adds fine motor practice. For preschool, keep numbers to 5 or 6; for kindergarten, roll two dice and count all the dots.

Ten Frames With Ornaments (PreK–1)

Ten frames help children see 7 as “5 and 2 more” instead of counting every dot. Print pages with the free Ten Frame Worksheet Maker (to 10 or to 20, with answer keys), then let children fill an empty frame with red and green counters before they write the number. Ask:

  • “How many are in the frame?”
  • “How many empty spaces are left?”
  • “How many more do we need to make 10?”

More, Fewer and the Same (PreK–1)

Make two paper trees with different numbers of ornaments and ask which tree has more. Lining the ornaments up one to one makes the difference easy to see. When kindergartners are ready for the words greater than and less than, move from objects to pictures to numerals. Our Greater Than Less Than Worksheets follow that same order all year long, and the article on how to teach greater than and less than explains each step.

Gift-Box Story Problems (K–2)

Read a short story problem aloud and let children draw it, act it out or write the number sentence:

  • Kindergarten: “There are 3 stockings. We hang 2 more. How many stockings now?”
  • 1st grade: “7 bells are on the tree. 3 fall off. How many are left?”
  • 2nd grade: “The class made 24 paper snowflakes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday. How many did they make?”

Patterns, Shapes and Measuring

  • Garland patterns. Make paper chains or bead strings in AB patterns (red, green, red, green), then try ABB or ABC. Ask children to “read” the pattern aloud and say what comes next.
  • Shape hunt. Look for triangles (trees), circles (ornaments), stars and rectangles (gift boxes) around the room.
  • Gift-box measuring. Measure wrapped boxes with linking cubes, then line them up from shortest to longest. 2nd graders can measure with a ruler.

Christmas Phonics and Sight Word Activities

Most early phonics goals stay the same all year: hearing sounds in words, matching letters to sounds and blending sounds to read. A seasonal word list simply makes the practice feel new.

Beginning Sound Sort (PreK–K)

Collect small winter pictures (bell, gift, mitten, sock, hat, cocoa) and sort them by first sound. Point out the tricky one: candy cane and cocoa start with the letter c but sound like /k/. Cut the pictures apart for a sorting mat, or keep them on one page for independent practice.

Build CVC Words (K–1)

Choose short, fully decodable words that fit the season, such as red, box, hat, mug, log and fox. Children build each word with letter tiles or magnetic letters, read it to a partner, then write it. Finish with a decodable sentence like “The fox is in the box.”

Blends and Digraphs (1st Grade)

By December, many 1st graders are working on blends and digraphs. Winter words give you plenty to hunt for: sled, star, snow, tree and scarf start with blends, while wish, cheer and chill include digraphs. Give children a short list and ask them to circle the blend or digraph in each word.

Sight Word Practice

Sight words are the high-frequency words children need to read instantly, like the, is, and and we. Match the list to each child: a few words such as I, a and the for preschool, your school’s kindergarten list for kindergarten, and trickier words like they, were and because for 1st grade.

  • Ornament word tree. Write sight words on paper ornaments and hang them on a paper or classroom tree. Call out a word and let a child “shop” for it.
  • Sentence frames. “I can see the ___.” “I like the ___.” Children read the frame, add a winter word or picture and illustrate it.
  • Word scavenger hunt. Hide word cards around the room before carpet time.
  • Bingo and word searches. Type your current list into the free Bingo Card Maker (every card is different, with caller cards to cut out) or the Word Search Maker, where the easy level hides words only across and down.

Keep sight word time to five or ten minutes and repeat the same small list for several days before adding new words. If some children still struggle to hear the sounds inside words, our guide to elision and phonological awareness explains the listening skills that come first.

Christmas Reading Activities

Match the reading task to where each child is, not to the holiday:

  • Picture walks (PreK). Look at a winter picture book together and ask “What do you see?” and “What do you think will happen?”
  • Picture-word matching (PreK–K). Children circle the word that matches a picture, or the picture that matches a word.
  • Point and read (K–1). Children point to each word in a short holiday sentence as they read it aloud.
  • Short passages (1st–2nd). A few sentences about a winter tradition, followed by one or two questions.

After a read-aloud, mix question types: what happened (“What did the boy do in the snow?”), order (“What happened first? Next? Last?”), connection (“What do you like to do on a snowy day?”) and vocabulary (“What does cozy mean?”). Winter classics such as The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and The Mitten by Jan Brett work for every family, and The Mitten is perfect for retelling because the animals squeeze in one after another.

Christmas Writing Activities

Writing looks very different across PreK–2, so set expectations by stage and let everyone write about the same topic:

  • Preschool: draw a picture and dictate a sentence for an adult to write.
  • Kindergarten: draw and label, stretching words out to hear the sounds.
  • 1st grade: write a complete sentence with a capital letter and end punctuation.
  • 2nd grade: write a few connected sentences that describe or tell a small story.

Sentence starters remove the blank-page problem:

  • “On a snowy day, I like to…”
  • “My favorite part of winter is…”
  • “If I could give anyone a gift, I would give ___ a ___ because…”
  • “When it gets cold, I…”

Letters and cards. December is a natural time to teach the shape of a letter: “Dear ___,” a message, and “From ___.” Children can write a card to a family member, a friend or a school helper such as the cook, the custodian or the librarian.

Keep a word bank of winter words on the wall, accept invented spelling from early writers, and offer a drawing option. For your youngest writers, name writing counts too: the free Name Tracing Worksheets tool prints dotted names with start dots and stroke arrows for the whole class.

Christmas Science Activities

Young scientists learn by touching, watching and describing, so keep setup simple and talk time generous. Before each activity, ask children to predict; afterward, ask them to describe what really happened.

Melting Ice

  • Freeze small toys in ice cubes and predict how long they will take to melt.
  • Compare ice in a sunny window with ice in the shade, or in warm water with cold water.
  • Sprinkle salt on one ice cube and not another. Salt makes ice melt faster, which is why it is spread on icy sidewalks.

Candy Cane Science

Put one small candy cane in a cup of cold water and another in warm water (an adult pours the warm water). Which one loses its stripes first? Children can draw the cups at the start and after ten minutes. 1st and 2nd graders can time it with the free Classroom Timer and record the minutes.

Light, Shadow and the Shortest Day

In the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year comes around December 21, so winter is a natural time to talk about light. Make shadows with a flashlight and watch them grow and shrink. Sort objects into “lets light through” and “blocks light.” Notice that it is darker at pickup time than it was in September.

Snow and Evergreens

If you get snow, catch a few flakes on dark paper and look closely with a magnifying glass: most snowflakes have six sides or six arms. No snow? Fold and cut paper snowflakes and talk about the matching sides. Compare a pine sprig with a fallen leaf, too. Most evergreen trees keep their needles all winter, while many other trees lose their leaves in the fall.

Always supervise water, ice and mixing activities, and keep small items away from children who still put objects in their mouths. Model the science words predict, observe, compare and describe so children can use them on their own.

Christmas Art, Coloring and Fine Motor

Quiet hands-on work is especially valuable in December, when the days feel rushed and loud.

  • Paper snowflakes and chains build scissor skills and patience.
  • Wrapping practice. Let children wrap small empty boxes with scrap paper and tape; folding and taping are real fine motor work.
  • Name coloring pages. The free Name Coloring Page Maker turns your class list into bubble-letter name pages. Choose the Simple design and let children draw winter pictures around their names.
  • Snowy paintings. Claude Monet painted snowy scenes too, such as The Magpie. Look at one together and ask, “What colors do you see in the snow?” Children often notice blues and purples in the shadows. Our article on Claude Monet for kids shares easy facts to read aloud.

Kindness in December

Many classrooms add a kindness focus this month, which works for every family. Try a kindness countdown with one small kind act a day, or a class chart where children add a sticker for each kind thing they notice. The free Our Class Is a Family pack was made for back to school, but its kind words tracing page and Kind or Unkind? sort fit a December kindness week just as well. At the end of the week, print a Kindness Award or Super Helper certificate for every child with the free Certificate & Award Maker.

Quick Printables From Free PreKPrints Tools

When you need something fast for early finishers, a party day or a substitute, these free tools make printable pages from your own words and numbers:

Need words to start with? Try this winter and Christmas word bank, and choose a few at a time for younger children: snow, star, bell, gift, tree, sled, mitten, scarf, hat, cocoa, cookie, candle, light, wreath, snowman, reindeer, winter, family, share, kind. For a winter-only list, leave out tree, wreath and reindeer.

Keep December Calm and Connected

The most useful Christmas activities are not the most elaborate ones. A few focused minutes a day, a predictable countdown and a familiar skill in festive wrapping keep young learners growing right up to winter break. Browse more ideas anytime in our math activities, literacy activities, science activities and seasonal activities collections.