Keeping Learning Alive During the Holidays: 10 Christmas Literacy Learning Activities for Preschool and Toddler Classrooms
The holiday season can feel like a whirlwind in the classroom. As preschool teachers, we are often facing the challenge of balancing meaningful instruction with festive activities, all while managing high-energy children and fatigue (from both parties)! It’s easy to fall down the Pinterest rabbit hole, feeling like you have to keep up with others by crafting adorable projects that may not hold much educational value. While keepsakes are important, I always like to ask myself, “What is the purpose of this?” Of course, one or two special projects are valuable keepsakes for families, but more than that will most likely end up in the trash (trust me, I am a parent of two…been there, done that)!
With all the excitement, expectations, and exhaustion, learning can often be the first thing to be pushed aside. However, there’s no reason we can’t merge holiday fun with intentional, play-based learning! In fact, the holidays are the perfect time to get creative and keep instruction through play at the heart of your classroom.
Below are 10 engaging literacy activities to bring learning alive in both preschool and toddler classrooms. These ideas combine festive fun with developmental skills and are tailored to meet the unique needs of each age group.
Preschool Classroom Activities
1. Wants vs. Needs Gift Sorting
Wrap small items as “presents” and have children unwrap them one at a time. As they reveal each item (e.g., a toy vs. food), discuss whether it’s a want or a need. This activity builds oral language, critical thinking, and vocabulary.
2. Where is Santa Hinding?
Set up five boxes, each labeled with a familiar letter. Hide a small Santa figure inside one box. Slowly mix up the boxes. Next, ask the children to guess where Santa is hiding by saying the letter name or sound. Open that box to reveal if the children were correct. This playful activity strengthens letter recognition and memory.
3. Five Little Presents Poem
Recite the poem and reveal what is under the present. Use hand motions to segment and blend the compound words that you reveal! See below to download! This builds various phonological awareness skills.
4. Ornament Syllable Clapping
Create a Christmas tree with different ornaments hanging on the tree (use tape or Velcro). Allow the children to come up and pull an ornament off the tree, then clap the syllables in the word. For example: nutcracker, princess, present, cocoa. This phonological awareness activity also builds vocabulary.
5. Cookie Tray Letter Match
Tape down cookies on a tray with lowercase letters on them. Provide uppercase magnetic letters that match the cookie tray letters. Allow the children to “serve” the letters to the match using a spatula! This builds alphabetic knowledge.
6. Gingerbread Retelling Center
Read a holiday story like The Gingerbread Man and set up a retelling center with character puppets. Encourage children to sequence the story and use props to act it out, building comprehension and narrative skills.
7. Holiday Letter Scavenger Hunt
Hide letter cards around the classroom and give each child a “holiday bag”. Allow the children to shop around the classroom for letters. Once all letters are found, sort them into uppercase and lowercase letters as a group. This activity builds alphabetic knowledge.
8. Holiday Post Office
Create a pretend play post office where children can “write” letters to family members or Santa. Provide pre-written word cards that they can trace or copy to encourage early writing skills. This builds alphabetic knowledge, concepts of print, and writing skills.
9. Christas Box Rhyming
Wrap two different boxes in different “themed” paper – one in trees and one in cats. Spread different rhyming pictures around the room. Hunt for the pictures and place them in the correct rhyming box. Example: tree, bee, knee, key, tea - cat, hat, mat, rat, bat
10. Storytelling Ornaments
Provide ornaments with pictures of familiar holiday symbols – examples: reindeer, stocking, elf. Have children create a short story using the ornaments as prompts, encouraging creativity and oral language.
Toddler Classroom Activities
1. Christmas Tree Sorting
Create a large tree out of felt or cardboard and provide a mix of items to tape on the tree. Example: ornaments, lights, spoons, and apples. Have the children sort which items belong on the tree (tape them on) and which do not. This encourages building vocabulary and sorting skills.
2. Five Little Presents Poem
Recite the poem and reveal what is under the present. Encourage the children to sing along with the poem and name the objects. See below to download! This builds phonological awareness skills and oral language.
3. Christmas Cookie Play-Doh
Provide the children with Play-Doh and alphabet cookie cutters. Allow the children to cut alphabet shapes and “serve” the cookies to you. Same the names of the letters as you eat the snack! This builds alphabetic knowledge and fine motor skills.
4. Santa’s Bag of Story Starters
Fill a bag with Christmas-themed objects, such as a toy reindeer, mini gift box, and small Santa hat. Pull an object from the bag and create a simple story with your children. For example, “Santa’s hat blew off in the wind. What should he do?” Encourage toddlers to add their ideas to the story. This encourages oral language and text comprehension skills.
5. Holiday Sing-Along
Choose holiday songs that include rhyming or repetitive phrases. Use props like jingle bells or music sticks to recite the songs again and again. This builds early phonological awareness skills.
6. Christmas Sensory Bin with Letters
Fill a sensory bin with fake snow (cotton balls, rice, or shredded paper), small Christmas decorations, and magnetic letters. Have the children dig through the sensory bin to find letters and match them to the letters in their names. This builds alphabetic knowledge skills.
7. Finger Tracing in Sensory Snow
Fill a tray with fake snow or shaving cream. Show children how to finger trace simple shapes or letters like “O” and “I.” This builds fine motor skills and introduces early letter formation.
8. Christmas Stocking Object Sort
Provide stockings and a mix of small items. Encourage toddlers to sort objects into stockings based on categories, such as shapes and colors. This activity builds categorization and vocabulary skills.
9. Holiday Object Matching
Place sets of holiday items in a box. Allow each child to pull one item out of the box. each item aloud and encourage the children to repeat the word. Next, encourage the children to find the person with the same item. This builds oral language and teamwork!
10. “What’s Missing?” Holiday Game
Set up a small tray with 3-4 holiday-themed items. Have the children close their eyes while you remove one item. When they open their eyes, ask them to identify what is missing. This game builds memory and observation skills while reinforcing holiday vocabulary.
Grab Your FREE Five Little Presents Activity Below!
By integrating literacy into playful holiday-themed activities, we ensure that learning continues during one of the most exciting times of the year. These activities are developmentally appropriate, easy to set up, and meaningful. Most importantly, they align with Moving Little Minds’ mission of merging instruction with play! These simple but powerful activities will keep both you and your classroom engaged, energized, and ready for the holiday season.
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We believe that every child deserves a bright future, and this begins with a strong foundation in early literacy skills. At Moving Little Minds, we are dedicated to providing research-based literacy activities in fun and engaging ways! By merging instruction with play, we ensure that children are reaching their full potential and embark on their educational journey well-prepared for the future! Let's build those KEY emergent literacy skills together.
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