Christmas Around the World Activities for Kids

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

Before you continue reading the 10 Christmas Around the World activity ideas described below, you may wish to have your students begin with this no prep vocabulary packet from my TPT store. It is no prep and ready to use today!

Click HERE.

Christmas Around the World Activity Ideas

1. World Map Ornament Activity

Students can create paper ornaments representing different countries' holiday symbols. For example, they might make a poinsettia for Mexico or a Christmas nisse for Norway. Hang these on a classroom tree or on a world map to show the diverse ways people celebrate!

2. Interactive Holiday Timeline

Make a classroom timeline with dates marking holiday celebrations around the world, like St. Lucia Day (December 13 in Sweden) or Epiphany (January 6 in Italy). This visual helps students connect celebrations across cultures to the same season.

3. Holiday Word of the Day Booklet

Challenge students to expand their holiday vocabulary by introducing a new festive word each day, like "wassail" or "yuletide." For each word, students write a definition, its origin, and a sentence using it.

4. Festive Greeting Cards in Multiple Languages

Students can create holiday cards with greetings in different languages, such as "Feliz Navidad" or "Buon Natale." It’s a great way for them to practice new vocabulary and connect with how children in other countries celebrate.

5. Christmas Traditions Research Journal

This journal activity encourages students to "dig deeper" into holiday traditions, similar to the “dig deeper” graphic organizer in the vocabulary packet. They can write short entries about La Befana in Italy or the Winter Solstice in Norway, learning facts about each culture.

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.

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