Students love to share about themselves and find new connections in the classroom. There is no more magical time of year to learn about students’ traditions than during the holiday season. It is also meaningful and memorable to incorporate learning around cultures and holidays that students have never even heard of before! There are so many engaging ways to implement this learning and plan for a magical holiday season in the classroom.
Here are 5 engaging ways to teach about winter holidays:
1. Read Read Read
This one seems obvious, but it’s important that books are chosen with intention. Students want to see new, interesting books with illustrations that make the information in the text come to life. It’s also meaningful to extend the read aloud into a class discussion and/or activity. Here are some of our favorite read alouds that capture the magic of the holiday season:
- Our Favorite Day of the Year by A. E. Ali
- Consider pairing this book with a resource like this one from Ramona Recommends.
- The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeffer
- The Wish Treeby Kyo Maclear
- Feasts and Festivals Around the World by Alice B. McGinty
2. Explore Multicultural Cookbooks
An important part of many holidays is creating traditions around food. Every culture and every family look forward to certain foods on different holidays. Explore these food traditions with your students. If possible, make a recipe together or encourage students to try a recipe at home! The Kids’ Multicultural Cookbook is a great introduction to foods around the world for young to middle aged students. Younger students would enjoy visual recipes and no bake recipes. Consider a resource like this one for a little bit of added fun to your classroom learning!
3. Attend Virtual Field Trips
Visuals, both real photos and videos, help students to better understand cultures outside of their own. Virtual field trips are a perfect way to encourage curiosity. Here are a few amazing and free resources to use when planning a virtual field trip right in your classroom:
- World Holiday Traditions contains engaging information by country. There are photos, videos, recipes, and more.
- Globe Trotting Kids is an excellent resource with quick articles, book recommendations, and videos. You can search for any holiday, like Diwali.
- Use Google products to access a virtual trip with a resource like this one from TeachWithBri.
4. Make Traditional Crafts
Hands-on activities are always memorable for students of all ages. Consider one or more of the following crafts:
- Make a dreidel and then play the game! Check out this resource.
- Make paper dolls for St. Lucia’s Day. Check out this resource.
- Make a poinsettia to learn about Las Posadas. Check out this resource.
5. Organize Guest Speakers of Different Backgrounds
Think carefully about the people in your life, the families in your classroom, and the community you live in. Consider organizing speakers to join your class throughout the month of December to share personal traditions from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Oftentimes speakers are so excited to join the class that they plan amazing activities and are easily able to bring in real objects that represent their culture and holidays celebrated. Students are highly engaged with guests!
However you choose to teach about winter holidays, students will be sure to remember all the fun that they had in the classroom leading up to the holidays!