Between Thanksgiving and the winter holidays (Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa), children’s thoughts turn to time off from school. Since their minds are already thinking along these holiday lines, teachers and parents can use those very same thoughts to provide learning experiences for the holiday thinkers.
The activities discussed here focus around the winter holiday season, but many of these ideas can be adapted and applied to other school holidays. Ideas for other holidays can be found at: Gettysburg Address in the Classroom, Classroom Suggestions for Veteran's Day, and Celebrate Chinese New Year in the Classroom.
Holiday Crafts in Class
For years teachers have used crafts to prepare students for Mothers Day, Presidents Day, and various holidays. The great thing about craft projects is they can reach across so many age levels. Craft projects cover a range of complexity.
- Greeting Card (construction paper and cut outs)
- Ornament creations (Styrofoam ball, straight pins, sequins, charms, glitter, etc.)
- Table Centerpiece.
- Beading (Holiday tree ornament or wearable jewelry)
- Decorate objects that already exist (Mugs, candles, desktop banks)
Craft ideas are almost infinite. They are limited only by the imagination of the teacher and his students. It goes without saying that teachers must always be aware of the age and skill levels of their students when assigning such work.
Using Technology During the Holidays
Crafts are nice but it’s the twenty-first century and computers can be used to help celebrate the holidays and students can learn new skills with the computer.
Create a Classroom Cookbook. Have each student ask his or her parents for a favorite holiday recipe. The student must then prepare the recipe and instructions according to certain formatting rules which will be common to all recipes. These would be things like:
- Bullet points for ingredients
- Font
- Font size
- Margins
- Image (Photo of item or holiday image if photo not available)
After the recipes are prepared, they can be copied to a folder on one computer and used to create a “super document” with all appropriate formatting complete. Of course the recipes can be arranged by type of food, holiday, or even ethnic groups. Depending on student computer skills a title page or even possibly an index can be created. The book could be bound by staples or with plastic comb binding. Every student would then have a cookbook that includes a recipe from their family and the families of their classmates.
Classroom Discussion of Diversity
Through the use of discussion, have students explain and discuss how their family celebrates the holiday. In a diverse society there exist many variations based on race, religion, and ethnicity. Use the holidays as an opportunity to allow students to discover those differences. Are there similarities?
Field Trips
Field trips can be a rich source of knowledge concerning the holidays. If there is a large metropolitan museum in the area it will most likely have some holiday oriented program like the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry with its annual “Christmas Around the World: Holidays of Light.” It has dozens of decorated trees from around the world.
If a large metro museum is too far to travel, check smaller, local museums. They also have special holiday exhibits or programs, only with a smaller budget then the big city. These exhibits are usually just as good as the big city counterparts but more focused. The Downers Grove (suburb about 20 miles west of Chicago) Park District Museum is having a special Decorate a Victorian Tree exhibit for children between 8 and 13. Events like these are available all over the country.
Holidays represent a fun time of the year for most students. Educators can use these pleasurable events to teach students practical lessons whether it be crafts, technology, history, diversity of society, or other important concepts. A quick visit (in person or online) to the local museum or historical society can yield valuable information about events. For classroom activities, free clipart, and holiday based games, a visit to AmazingMoms or Kaboose can yield ideas for craft and other projects for the holidays.
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