Christmas is right around the corner, and most schools only have two weeks of school left.  Ten days.  YOU CAN DO IT!  One of the most popular features on my blog has been my compilations of holiday and seasonal activities.  I know it’s easy to search Pinterest for ideas, but I feel like so often you have to muddle through a lot of (adorable) primary or toddler ideas before coming across viable ideas for the upper elementary classrooms.  So, I’ve done the painstaking work for you!  If you are looking for activities to meaningfully engage your student over the next few weeks, look no further than The Ultimate List of Holiday Activities for Bigger Kids!

Math Activities

Holidays Around the World Math Project: Students will plan and  ‘visit’ 5 destinations around the world and use their math skills to participate in local holiday traditions! This is a great activity to spark conversation about holiday traditions around the world and is a great companion to the literacy version too!

Christmas Tree Forests by Teaching in Room 6: I love, love, love this take on a beautiful project.  She applied the concepts of triangles and protractor skills to these fabulous trees.  I love math combined with art!

Reindeer Brain Busters by Blair Turner: Blair has a lot of different Brain Busters in her store that I enjoy using, and these Reindeer Brain Busters are no exception… and they are FREE!

Measurement Trees from Teaching in Room 6: Stephanie has the students cut the strips to specific lengths and then found the area and perimeter of each strip, and thus, the entire tree. LOVE!

To Grandmother’s House We Go: An Upper Grades Christmas Math Project: Every time I create a new math project, it usually becomes my favorite, but this one has stood the test of time.  I so thoroughly enjoyed creating and implementing this Christmas Math Project, and it will be a staple in my room for the years to come! It covers so many different skills and is differentiated, making it the perfect activity for this time of year.

Christmas Tree Mini-Book Template by 4MulaFun: This template can be used for ANYTHING this holiday season, but I love the idea of having each student write a problem and solve it inside their tree.  So festive and fun!

Christmas Tree STEM Activities from Left Brain Craft Brain: These ideas for creating Christmas Trees are just brilliant and will challenge your students!

Christmas Logic Puzzle by Lindsay Perro: I love all of Lindsay Perro’s Logic Puzzles, and this one is no exception.  And it’s FREE!

Snowmen at Christmas Division Word Problems: Are you looking for some festive division practice?  I wrote a few word problems to accompany one of my favorite Christmas stories, Snowmen at Christmas!  They are free to download and use, along with three other fun holiday math activities.

Literacy Activities

Holidays Around the World Literacy Project: Students will embark on a journey around the globe by way of pen pals! As the pen pals write to each other detailing their celebrations, students learn about the beautiful traditions and holidays celebrated around the world in an incredibly fun and engaging way. This is a fun cross curricular project when combined with the math version!

If I were Trapped in a Snow Globe Writing Prompt from Primary Punch: Not only is this adorable, but the writing prompt that goes along with it is brilliant!

Christmas Read Alouds for Upper Elementary with FREE Activities: Jennifer has included so many wonderful read alouds for the upper grades and several activities to go along with them.  I can’t wait to try some of these out over the next couple of weeks!

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas I Have Who Has from Mr. Hughes:

Early Finisher Christmas Task Card Display: I always change out my Early Finisher Task Cards display for the holidays, and Christmas is one of my favorites!  I have so many fun and engaging Christmas Task Cards for students to work on, including this winter themed set.

Subway Art Christmas Posters by Runde’s Room: You can easily adapt this craft idea to make literacy connections, and the coasters make fabulous gifts for parents!

Winter Craftivities from Runde’s Room: This is one of my favorite purchases for the winter holidays!  Engaging AND rigorous learning tasks from Runde’s Room.

Holiday Reading Task Cards: What better way to practice reading skills than with holiday-themed task cards?  My students absolutely loved working on their story elements with these festive task cards!

Community Building at Christmas by Mrs. Nannini

Yarn Wrapped Christmas Ornaments from The Inspired Treehouse: Okay, so this one isn’t really an educational activity, but I loved it too much to not include it.  It’s the perfect ornament craft for bigger kids!

Math and Literacy Holiday Activities Bundle

The Ultimate Christmas Bundle of Activities: If you are looking for even more holiday activities, check out my HUGE Holiday bundle back or some of its components.  It has everything you could possibly desire for the next two weeks! 🙂  Merry Christmas!