Winter holidays around the world are a hit with my students every year! Celebrating winter holidays from the around the world is such a fun way to get in the holiday spirit, and also a great way to keep students motivated during December. Plus, teaching students about these holidays can help build inclusivity, tolerance, and appreciation of diversity in your classroom. There are so many wonderful winter and December global holidays that your students will love to learn about. And I’ve rounded up some of my favorite activities to help you learn and celebrate!
Read on for fun activities and crafts to celebrate winter holidays around the world!
Winter Holidays Around the World
The best place to start your winter holidays around the world studies is to find out which religions and holidays are celebrated by the families in your class. I love to send out a questionnaire at the beginning of the year to gather information from families. One of the questions asks about major holidays that are important to each family.
Then when a holiday is coming up, you can reach out to families to see if there is anything they would want to share with the class. Families are usually thrilled to be included in this way. We’ve had families share special food dishes, important artifacts, children’s books, and videos for different holidays!
There are so many winter holidays from around the world that your students may not know about – December Jewish holidays, December holidays in India, special new year’s celebrations.. the list goes on and on! For example, some of my favorite winter holidays to teach about are Hanukkah, Diwali, Winter Solstice, Las Posadas, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, and Lunar New Year’s!
Of course, I love teaching with arts and crafts, so here is a round-up of some of my favorite craft ideas for winter and December holidays around the world!
Hanukkah Activities
The days of Hanukkah change every year, so be sure to check your calendar so you can plan when to do your Hanukkah crafts. This is a Jewish festival lasting eight nights. It is sometimes also called the Festival of Lights.
Creating an anchor chart is a great way to help students learn new facts about Hanukkah. There are lots of great Hanukkah read alouds that you can use with your students as you are teaching them about the history of this holiday.
I love a flipbook for letting students practice what they’ve learned. This one uses the information from the anchor chart so that students can apply their new learning independently.
Spinning a dreidel is a traditional game during the time of Hanukkah. In this craft, students make their own 3D dreidel set so they can play with their classmates!
All of these activities can be found here, in the Hanukkah Activity Pack.
Christmas Around the World
Of course, you can’t have celebrate winter holidays around the world without including Christmas around the world! Christmas is a popular holiday all over the world, but it’s celebrated very differently across the globe. Your students will love hearing about the various countries and their special ways of celebrating Christmas.
This anchor chart explores some of the different ways that countries like to celebrate Christmas. There are lots of fun books that you can read that explore these different Christmas traditions. As you read the books, you can add the pieces to the anchor chart. This makes such a fun Christmas around the world classroom display!
It also has a cut and paste matching craft activity for students to do on their own. This engaging activity helps students remember what they learned about each Christmas around the world holiday tradition.
Another fun way to learn about Christmas around the world is to learn about the different Christmas tree decorations that are popular in different countries. In this cut and paste craft, students make their own Christmas tree and paste on various popular decorations from many different parts of the globe.
These activities are included in the Christmas Around the World activity pack.
Kwanzaa Activities
If you’re celebrating winter holidays from around the world, Kwanzaa is definitely one you’ll want to include!
Kwanzaa celebrates 7 guiding principles that honor African heritage: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. The celebration is 7 days long, one day for each of the principles.
To celebrate Kwanzaa, have your students make a unity chain. Add strips of black, red, and green paper every time you notice students honoring principles of teamwork or unity in the classroom. Students will love to work together to see how long their chain can get!
Kwanzaa is a relatively newer holiday, so your students may not know as much about it. This flipbook will help them learn the facts about Kwanzaa. Each page of the flipbook reviews an important aspect of Kwanzaa.
All these Kwanzaa activities and crafts are part of this Kwanzaa activity pack.
Winter Solstice Crafts
The winter solstice celebrates the sun’s rebirth. It is celebrated on December 21st, the shortest day of the year. It is a time to reflect on new beginnings.
These winter solstice activities are perfect to include in your winter holidays from around the world lessons.
This anchor chart is a great activity to help teach your students about the winter solstice. I love pairing this activity with winter solstice read alouds. As facts come up in the books. I add them to the anchor chart.
A crown is always a big hit with my students, and this one is the perfect winter solstice activity for your holidays around the world studies. Students cut and paste little pictures on it that have to do with the winter solstice.
These activity templates are part of this Winter Solstice activity pack.
Not Just December…
Learning about holidays from different cultures and parts of the world is something we can do all year long. Not only does this help all our students feel seen, but it builds tolerance and an appreciation for diversity.
I hope you have lots of fun ideas now for celebrating winter and December holidays around the world!
Which of these crafts are do you want to try with your classroom? xoxo Laura
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