Christmas Around the World Activities for Upper Elementary
Your students will grow to appreciate cultural heritage when you teach them about Christmas around the world and other winter holidays. Of course, different winter traditions hold meaning for your students and their families. Discover the spirit of the season through these Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa traditions and activities!
What are the Different Winter Celebrations Around the World?
Christmas
First, many of your students are probably familiar with Christmas, but they may not know all the traditions. Share Christmas traditions like Jesus’s birth and the Roman Catholic church roots. Overall, here are some ideas for celebrating Christmas around the world in your school!
First, learn about Christmas traditions in the following countries with a Christmas scavenger hunt! Here are some of the countries you’ll explore:
- Slovakia
- Russia
- Marshall Islands
- Philippines
- Iceland
- Ukraine
- Australia
- Germany
- Venezuela
- Japan
- Norway
- England
- Greece
- Austria
The Christmas Around the World Scavenger Hunt Challenge has students gather parts of a “recipe” needed to win the bake-off with a brief read, multiple-choice question, and clue. Throughout the challenge, these clues guide students to their next station keeping them engaged with this collaborative activity!
A Christmas Carol
Of course, your students have probably watched some version of A Christmas Carol. Why not read them the classic Charles Dickens novel? For your upper elementary students, this is a challenging text to read. However, you can read it aloud to teach the true meaning of Christmas. Scrooge’s story is a Christmas tradition!
Christmas Around the World Cube Code
Another way to celebrate Christmas around the world is with a cube code activity!
First, students grab their reading passage and head off to explore six stations around the classroom. Next, they collect parts of their cube at five stations and crack a 4-digit code. Finally, at the last station, they figure out the main idea and get into some writing.
Of course, it’s a perfect kick-off for a Christmas around the world theme. Your students pick up key facts and get a sneak peek at the important words, people, places, and events you’ll cover.
After hitting all the stations, students color, put together, and decorate their cubes for everyone to admire! These cubes are incredibly useful. For example, showcase them during parent-teacher conferences.
Stations include:
- Fill in the Blank
- Find the Paragraph
- True or False
- Lock Combination
- Multiple Choice
- Main Idea
- Topic
Enjoy this engaging Christmas Cube activity for your Christmas around the world study.
Hanukkah
Next, Hanukkah (aka the Festival of Lights) is celebrated for eight days. You can also start this celebration in your classroom. Share with your students about the nightly menorah lighting, the dreidel, and the latkes. Finally, here are some great ways to explore themes of resilience and miracles in this Jewish holiday.
One way to celebrate Hanukkah in your classroom is with an escape room. Of course, this is one of my favorite ways to explore any topic in school! While your students learn about winter celebrations, they also increase their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills with fun puzzles and codes.
In addition, the escape room covers the history and traditions of Hanukkah. For example, they learn about the dreidel, the menorah, and Jerusalem. Also, your students will learn about Christmas around the world through the Roman Catholic Church and Jesus’s birthday. Finally, students learn about Kwanzaa’s 7 principles, colors and symbolism, and the kinara.
Each escape room contains:
- Reading Passage
- 5 Stations
- Teacher & Student Directions
- Text Marking Option
- Answer Key
- Prop Signs
Students visit five stations and determine a 4-digit code to reveal a “letter clue” to determine the final ALPHA code. They escape once they find all the codes. Overall, this Hanukkah (and more) escape room is perfect to celebrate the winter holidays!
Play Dreidel
Spin the dreidel! Introduce your students to the dreidel game as part of your Hannakuh study.
First, explain what the dreidel is. The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top. Each side has a Hebrew letter: Nun, Gimel, Hei, and Shin, standing for “Nes Gadol Haya Sham” or “a great miracle happened there”. Next, it’s time to play the game!
First, start with setup. Each player has the same number of game pieces, such as candies or pennies. Everyone also puts one piece into the middle to form a pot at the beginning of the game.
Next, players take turns spinning the dreidel. Then determine next steps depending on what side the dreidel lands on.
- Nun (nothing): No gain, no loss!
- Gimel (all): Score! Take all the pieces in the pot.
- Hei (half): Take half of the pieces from the pot.
- Shin (put in): Add one of your pieces to the pot.
Next, if the pot is empty, or close to it, everyone adds another piece so the game can continue.
Finally, choose when you would like your students to end the game depending on how much time you have to play. Also, designate a set amount of pieces or a time limit. Overall, the winner has the most pieces at the end.
Of course, bring the history of Hannukah into your classroom during the holiday season with the dreidel game!
Kwanzaa
Finally, Kwanzaa is a weekly event that takes place from December 26 to January 1 every year to honor African roots in African-American culture. Celebrate Kwanzaa in your classroom in a lot of different ways!
Kwanzaa Secret Messages Activity
One activity to teach about Kwanzaa and other winter traditions around the world is the secret messages activity. First, students read a non-fiction passage. Next, they answer questions about Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Hanukkah. Finally, their answers reveal a secret message on Google Sheets.
Seven Principles
Of course, Kwanzaa is built around seven principles. Each day of Kwanzaa also emphasizes a different principle. They include:
- unity
- self-determination
- collective work and responsibility
- cooperative economics
- purpose
- creativity
- faith
Finally, talk with your students about how these seven principles are important in their lives.
Mancala
Mancala is a super old game that people still enjoy today, and it started in Africa thousands of years ago. It’s a fantastic game for the classroom, especially during Kwanzaa!
Here’s how to play. First, use a board with two rows of six small pits and a larger pit, or “store,” at each end for each player. You’ll need small pieces like seeds or beans to play. The goal is to end up with the most pieces. Next, players take turns picking up all the pieces from one of their pits and dropping one in each pit they pass, including their store but not their opponent’s store. Add Mancala to your Kwanzaa celebrations!
Celebrate Christmas around the world along with other traditions like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Overall, this is an engaging and important way to incorporate culture and all religions into your classroom. Finally, share some of these activities and ask your students how they celebrate during the holiday season!
