Bring the Magic of Christmas Around the World to Your Classroom!
As the holiday season approaches, your may be looking for unique ways to celebrate and teach about Christmas and other winter holidays around the world. Exploring traditions from different cultures can broaden students’ understanding, foster inclusion, and keep classroom energy high as winter break draws near. This “Christmas Around the World” blog post is packed with free activities, a printable vocabulary packet for engaging word-based exercises, and plenty of options for easy differentiation.
Whether you need ideas for lesson planning, holiday fun, or emergency sub plans, this blog post has you covered!
Why Teach Christmas Around the World?
Learning about global holiday traditions isn’t just fun for students; it helps them develop empathy and curiosity about other cultures. When students see how people in other countries celebrate, they gain new perspectives and are exposed to traditions that may be similar or different from their own. This topic is also a perfect cross-curricular fit, incorporating geography, vocabulary, social studies, and more!
Christmas Around the World Vocabulary Activities
Christmas Around the World Activity Ideas
1. World Map Ornament Activity
2. Interactive Holiday Timeline
3. Holiday Word of the Day Booklet
4. Festive Greeting Cards in Multiple Languages
5. Christmas Traditions Research Journal
6. DIY Holiday Passport
Students can “travel” from country to country, recording facts about each location’s holiday traditions. Each page features a different country's tradition and students can add stamps or stickers for each place they visit.
7. Holiday Traditions Flipbook
Create a flipbook where students can record facts about each country’s holiday traditions and illustrate a symbol or write a fun fact on each tab.
8. Christmas Around the World Quiz or Trivia Game
After covering the unit, test students’ knowledge with a fun quiz game! Use vocabulary from the packet as review questions or let students create questions based on what they’ve learned.
9. Holiday Music Exploration
Share holiday music from different cultures, like carols from England, “Feliz Navidad” from Spain, or traditional folk songs. Let students write a sentence describing how each song sounds or makes them feel.
10. Holiday Tradition Bingo
Bingo boards are filled with words and symbols associated with holiday traditions, like "dreidel," "mistletoe," or "menorah." Students mark off squares as they learn about each symbol.
