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Holidays Activities

100 holidays activities, covering Christmas, Easter, St Patrick’s Day, plus 15 more topics. How teachers use these

Holidays Activities

100 holidays activities, covering Christmas, Easter, St Patrick’s Day, plus 15 more topics. How teachers use these

Activity
ActivityPreschoolThanksgiving Flash Cards

These Thanksgiving flash cards give preschool through 2nd grade children 18 self-checking picture and word cards for building holiday vocabulary. A card list answer key is included.

Activity
ActivityPreschoolGo Green Recycle Activity

This go green recycle activity helps preschool to 3rd grade students sort everyday items into paper, plastic, metal, and glass, with a practice page and answer key included.

Activity
ActivityPreschoolBirthday Flash Cards

These birthday flash cards help preschool to 4th grade students learn 24 party words like cake, candles and presents. Fold-over picture cards, a practice page and an answer key are included.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenSnowman Cut Outs

This snowman cut outs worksheet gives kindergarten students four bold snowman shapes to color and cut out, building fine motor skills while making a cheerful winter craft for cards or bulletin boards.

Activity
ActivityPreschool4th Of July Clip Art

This 4th of July clip art activity gives Preschool to 1st Grade children 15 fold-over picture cards, a card hunt game and a practice page, with an answer key included, to build holiday vocabulary.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenTree Cut Outs

This tree cut outs activity is a tree-shaped book for kindergarten to 2nd grade. Children color the cover, draw a tree, write about it, and cut out the pages on the bold line.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenShort Vowel Pumpkin Patch Activity

This short vowel pumpkin patch activity helps K-1st grade children hear short a, e, i, o and u sounds with a fall picture sort and recording page. Answer key included.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenDear Valentine Activity

This dear valentine activity has K-2nd grade students pick heart word cards for family and school helpers and spell each word on a Valentine card. Answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeSnowman Contractions Activity

Play this snowman contractions activity as a memory game: 1st to 3rd grade students match two-word Mitten Cards to Snowman contraction cards and record each pair. Answer key included.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenSummer Graphing Activity

This summer graphing activity has children spin, tally and color a bar graph. Made for Kindergarten to 2nd Grade, with a practice page and answer key included.

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Activity1st GradeCommon and Proper Nouns Activity

This common and proper nouns activity has 1st to 3rd grade students sort snowflake word cards on a winter mat, with a practice page and answer key included for easy checking.

Activity
ActivityPreschoolEaster Flash Cards

These Easter flash cards help Preschool to 2nd Grade learners read and say 24 spring and holiday words, with an answer key included for quick checking.

Activity
Activity1st GradeCandy Hearts Skip Counting Activity

This candy hearts skip counting activity has 1st to 3rd grade students put heart number cards in order by 2s, 5s and 10s, then practice on a worksheet. Answer key included for easy checking.

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ActivityKindergartenEarth Day Reader's Theater

This Earth Day reader's theater lets kindergarten and 1st grade students perform The Earth Day Hen and Friends, a two-level script that builds reading fluency and expression while children learn to care for the Earth.

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Activity1st GradeHappy Holidays National Holidays Activity

This happy holidays national holidays activity has 1st-3rd grade students match picture clue cards to ten U.S. holidays and their dates. Answer key included for easy checking.

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Activity1st GradeEaster OLD Word Family Activity

This Easter OLD word family activity has 1st and 2nd grade children sort golden egg word cards into an -old basket, then write and use the words, with an answer key included for easy checking.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenEaster UN Word Family Activity

This Easter UN word family activity helps K-2nd Grade children read, sort and build -un words with egg cards and a letter cube. A practice page and answer key are included.

Activity
ActivityKindergartenSnowy Addition Activity

In this snowy addition activity, K-1st grade children add facts with sums of 7 to 10 and sort each snowflake under the right snowman. Answer key included for quick checking.

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ActivityPreschoolMother's Day Flash Cards

These Mother's Day flash cards teach 15 holiday words with a picture on the front and the word inside. Made for Preschool to 4th Grade, with a practice page and answer key included.

From our teachers' playbook

Real skills dressed up for the season

What do kids learn with holiday resources?

Holiday resources are a fun wrapper around real learning. A Thanksgiving passage still practices reading comprehension, a Valentine's Day graph still practices data, and a Memorial Day sheet still practices nouns, verbs and adjectives. Kids also learn what the holidays mean, from why we honor veterans to how families celebrate the seasons in different ways. The calendar does the motivating for you: back to school, pumpkins and fall, Thanksgiving, winter holidays, Valentine's Day, Earth Day and end of year. The magic is when kids are so excited about the theme they forget they're practicing.

Our favorite ways to use holiday resources

Holidays bring the energy. These moves make sure that energy turns into learning.

Same skill, new costume

Keep the skill you're already teaching and swap in a holiday version for the week. If you're working on main idea, use a Thanksgiving passage; if you're graphing, count candy hearts. Kids get fresh motivation and you stay right on your plan.

Why it works: shuffled practice teaches kids to choose the right strategy, not just repeat one, and it improved test scores in research (Rohrer and Taylor, 2007).

Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension WorksheetTry it withThanksgiving Reading Comprehension WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →

Game day before the break

The day before a long break is perfect for a review game. Teams answer holiday-themed questions about skills from the last few weeks. It's fun, and it's also the retrieval practice that helps learning survive the vacation.

Why it works: in a well-known study, a few short sessions of a simple number board game measurably boosted young children's number skills (Ramani and Siegler, 2008).

Thanksgiving Reading Comprehension GameTry it withThanksgiving Reading Comprehension GameGamesOpen it →

Sing it, then read it

Print the lyrics to a seasonal song, sing it together, then hunt for sight words, rhymes or nouns in the lines. Kids reread the lyrics happily all week, which is great fluency practice.

Why it works: a catchy, repeating tune gives the brain a hook to hang words on, so sung text is remembered better (Wallace, 1994).

Jingle Bells LyricsTry it withJingle Bells LyricsWorksheetsOpen it →

What's on this page

Teacher favorites right now: Thanksgiving Flash Cards, Go Green Recycle Activity and Birthday Flash Cards.

Holiday learning: your questions

How do I use holiday worksheets without losing instruction time?

Pick holiday resources that practice the skill you're already teaching. A Thanksgiving reading passage is still reading comprehension. That way the theme adds excitement without adding a detour.

How can I include students who don't celebrate a holiday?

Offer seasonal or neutral options, like fall leaves instead of Halloween or winter instead of Christmas, and focus on learning about holidays rather than celebrating them. Inviting families to share their own traditions is a great way to make everyone feel included.

What holidays should I teach in elementary school?

Most classrooms cover back to school, fall and Thanksgiving, winter holidays, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Earth Day and end of year. Civic days like Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day and Memorial Day are great for teaching what the day honors and why.

What's a good activity for the day before a holiday break?

A themed review game or a short reading passage with questions keeps the day structured and fun. Kids are excited, so channel that energy into something active and quick.