Enhancing Enrichment

Are you looking for a fun and engaging way to celebrate Christmas with your students before the holiday break? These festive activities are designed to get your upper elementary students thinking, creating, and collaborating as they explore the wonder, traditions, and excitement of the season, all while staying engaged and challenged. From hands-on STEM challenges to creative holiday projects, your students will enjoy meaningful learning experiences that bring the magic of Christmas into your classroom.

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ELA Activities

• Christmas Word Ladders
• Perspective Writing
• Ode to a Holiday Object

Christmas Word Ladders

Word Ladders challenge students to move from one word to another by changing only one letter at a time. Each step must create a real word (no proper nouns), and the start and end words must have the same number of letters.

You can create your own word ladders with this word ladder solver or use the ready-to-use Christmas Word Ladders (with or without clues). If you’re new to the concept, grab these free Antonym Word Ladders, or check out the Using Word Ladders post for tips and strategies.

Perspective Writing

Have students express their creativity by writing from the perspective of a holiday object. They will practice using voice, sensory details, and creative thinking by pretending they are the item and describing the world from that object’s point of view. Students can choose any holiday object and imagine what it sees, hears, feels, or experiences.

Examples include:

• A stocking hanging on the fireplace, feeling the warmth of the fire below, or waiting to be filled.
• A gift traveling from place to place, experiencing a hectic journey of moving across the country, before being wrapped under the tree.
• An ornament on the tree, noticing family traditions, sparkling lights, or hoping the dog doesn’t knock it down.
• A cookie on a plate, nervous about disappearing in one bite.
• A snowman, hoping the weather stays cold so it doesn’t melt.

Encourage students to incorporate sensory details (what their object might see, hear, feel, smell, or even think) to bring their holiday object to life.

Ode to a Holiday Object

Alternatively, students could write an ode to a holiday object. In an ode, students pick an object and speak directly to it (not about it). They should describe it with sensory details, exaggerate what’s great about it, and explain what life would be like without it. They may also wish to tell the object what they don’t like about it. Similes and metaphors are great additions to an ode.

Here is an example that you may want to share to help get kids started:

Dear Hot Chocolate,
You are like a warm hug on a freezing winter day. I love how your sweet smell rises like a cozy cloud, and your marshmallows melt like little puffy snowflakes. You taste so rich and chocolatey, and it feels like you could warm up my whole body in one sip. Without you, winter would be cold, boring, and not nearly as fun. I don’t like it when you’re too hot, and I have to wait forever to drink you, but I still think you are the best winter treat ever!

This activity encourages them to think deeply about their writing and helps them develop rich, descriptive details while having fun with a seasonal theme. Download this free resource in the Free Resource Library!

Math Activities

• Math Logic Puzzles
• Santa’s Workshop Math Challenge
• Plan a Holiday Party
• Create a 3D Gingerbread House

Math Logic Puzzles

Math logic puzzles are a must-have for challenging high-achieving students. In these puzzles, symbols replace numbers, and students must use their knowledge of equations and operations to determine each symbol’s value. This type of problem-solving encourages critical thinking, strengthens algebraic reasoning, and provides a fun, hands-on way to deepen understanding. Learn more in the Using Math Logic Puzzles post.

These Christmas Multiplication and Division Logic Puzzles are designed to engage and challenge advanced math students. After students solve twelve puzzles where pictures take the place of numbers, they are then ready to extend their learning by designing their own logic puzzles to challenge their classmates. Students can create, solve, and self-assess their puzzles using the provided rubric. There are also Winter Logic Puzzles available if you are not able to celebrate Christmas at school.

You can also introduce mobile puzzles, which help students explore balance and equality. Each mobile works like a hanging balance where every side must be perfectly even. Using given numbers or pictures, students determine missing values so the entire mobile stays balanced. Read more in the Using Mobile Balance Puzzles post, try some free emoji puzzles, or grab the Christmas version for your classroom.

Santa’s Workshop Math Challenge

If you are looking for an easy-to-use math activity, Santa’s Workshop Mystery Challenge isn’t your ordinary holiday worksheet. It is a fun adventure full of math puzzles and number challenges that will keep students engaged from start to finish. They will work through equations, follow clues, and use problem-solving skills to uncover the location of Santa’s bag, one letter at a time.

Students will multiply, divide, add multi-digit numbers, and work with fractions. Two different versions are included to meet the needs of all learners, and a full answer key is provided for easy checking. Each puzzle leads to a clue to solve the mystery!

Plan a Holiday Party

Students can take on the role of event planners by organizing their own Christmas party while working within a set budget. They must choose items from different categories such as decorations, snacks, drinks, and party favors, making careful decisions to stay within their spending limit. Have students use the online website of a local retail store (such as Walmart or Target). Then tell them they are responsible for planning a party for the class. They will need food, supplies, and activities to make the celebration fun and festive. Students should complete both a written schedule and an expense sheet to show their planning.

This activity encourages critical thinking, math skills, and real-world problem-solving as students calculate costs, compare options, and prioritize their choices. It also sparks creativity as they plan a cheerful holiday party while practicing important budgeting and decision-making skills. It’s even more exciting if they can actually host the party at the end to celebrate their hard work.

Create a 3D Gingerbread House

If you are looking for a more advanced project, you might want to try creating a 3D Gingerbread House! In this project-based learning activity, students use square, rectangle, and triangle pieces to construct a three-dimensional gingerbread house. They will then maximize their budgets to create the best decorated houses.

After completion, students will calculate the angles of the roof, the volume of the house, and the total surface area. They will have so much fun they won’t even notice that they are applying advanced math concepts! Read more about using math project-based learning in this post.

STEM Activities

• Christmas Catapult
• Graham Cracker Gingerbread House
• Light Up Circuit Cards
• Candy Cane Science

Christmas Catapult

Students will put their engineering skills to the test with the Christmas Catapult STEM Challenge! It is a great way to add some fun before winter break while still addressing science standards. Students will use the engineering design process to ask, imagine, plan, create, test, improve, and reflect. Read all about it in the Christmas Catapult STEM blog.

Graham Cracker Gingerbread House

Have students create gingerbread houses using graham crackers and frosting for a fun, hands-on challenge. Because the materials are naturally a bit unstable, students will need to use problem-solving and perseverance to make their houses stand up. When pieces tip over, slide, or break, they’ll have to try new ideas, adjust their designs, and keep going even when it gets tricky.

You can increase the challenge by giving students a goal, such as building the tallest house, the sturdiest house, or the best decorated house. These friendly competitions encourage them to think creatively, test different strategies, and not give up when something doesn’t work the first time. In the end, students get to enjoy their finished gingerbread houses while also building confidence in their problem-solving skills.

Light Up Circuit Cards

Bring holiday cards to life by adding a simple light circuit with a pocket battery and copper tape. Students start by designing a card with a winter picture, such as a tree, a snowman, or a present. Then they add a small LED light to make part of the card glow. With a coin cell battery, copper tape, and an LED light, students learn how a basic circuit works while creating something fun for the holidays.

To build the circuit, students place the LED where they want the light to shine. They lay the copper tape on the card to connect both sides of the LED to the battery. When the tape and battery are lined up the right way, the light turns on, and their artwork lights up. This activity lets students be creative while they learn about electricity, try out ideas, fix mistakes, and enjoy the moment when their card finally works.

Candy Cane Science

Teach students about the scientific method with a fun candy cane experiment. Each group will need three small candy canes and three containers filled with cold water, hot water, and oil. Have students write a separate hypothesis for each liquid, predicting what they think will happen to the candy cane in each condition. Then let them test their hypotheses by placing the candy canes in the liquids, observing the changes, and recording their results.

These Christmas activities are a great way to keep students learning and having fun before winter break. Whether they are writing, building, solving puzzles, or trying hands-on experiments, each activity brings a little extra holiday magic into your classroom. Choose the ideas that work best for your students and enjoy the creativity, excitement, and holiday cheer!