Christmas Activities for Kindergarten
December in kindergarten is a whole vibe… sparkly, energetic, chaotic (the good kind!), and full of moments that make you love being a teacher.
Kids walk in buzzing with excitement, and if you channel that energy into meaningful learning, you’ve struck gold.
The following Christmas activities for kindergarten do exactly that: they keep little hands busy, minds focused, and hearts happy!
Whether you’re easing into the day with morning tubs, pulling out a festive center, or turning your afternoon into a DIY magical craft time, these kindergarten Christmas activities will help your students learn through joy and play.
Race to Fill – DIY Christmas Edition
This fast-paced game is your instant December “Can we play for 10 more minutes?” activity… one of the easiest Christmas math activities for kindergarten to set up.
Give each student a Christmas-themed container (think Christmas tree cake mold, festive cup, or mini gift bag), some pom-poms, and a pair of jumbo tweezers for fine-motor magic.
Students will work with a partner, taking turns rolling the dot cube. They will count the dots, then use the tweezers to add that many pom-poms to their container. The first player to fill their container wins!
Kids get practice with counting, number recognition, fine motor skills, and turn-taking and teamwork.
YOU get a quiet(ish) room, meaningful math practice, and simple prep during the busiest weeks of the year.
It works perfectly as a math warm-up, a partner center, an early finisher bin, or a festive brain break.
Students think it’s a game… but you know it’s strategically disguised number sense.
Simple, hands-on, and perfect for reinforcing number recognition and counting skills.
Bonus Tip: Want to level it up? Add more dot cubes for bigger numbers.
Christmas Crafts
These kindergarten Christmas crafts aren’t just cute (though they are very cute!)… they turn all that holiday excitement into purposeful learning.
Kids in December crave hands-on work, attention spans get shorter, and fine motor skills need constant practice, so crafts check all the boxes in making writing, phonics, and math feel like play.
These 6 Christmas crafts for kindergarten give students structured, skill-based activities that are easy enough for them to do independently and simple enough for you to prep quickly… because no one has time to cut out 22 gingerbread hats the week before Winter Break!
Teachers love using the crafts for center rotations, small-group extensions, hallway displays, party stations, or even December memory books.
Kids learn valuable skills like how to make 5 and 10, how shapes connect to real-world visuals, how rhyming helps them decode, how short vowels change a word, and how to follow steps independently.
Most importantly, they feel proud of getting to create something real, something colorful they’re proud of!
DIY Candy Cane Writing
This is the activity that makes students scream, “WE GET TO DO WHAT?!”
Using a candy cane to write in Christmas sprinkles is a sensory dream… a standout among Christmas sensory activities for kindergarten.
Once you pour colorful Christmas sprinkles onto a shallow tray, students will pull a card from the stack and use the tip of a candy cane to write letters, numbers, sight words, CVC words, or simple math equations (make your own cards or use these free alphabet cards!).
It’s a sensory dream for writing centers, warm-ups, early finishers, small groups, and those “my class is wired” moments… pure play, but with huge skill practice!
Pop on some soft holiday music and let them sprinkle-write their hearts out.
December Morning Tubs
Kids walk in excited. You need routine. These gingerbread-themed morning tubs for kindergarten blend the two beautifully.
They build sorting, matching, counting, word building, and problem-solving skills… without overwhelming students.
Teachers use them to start the day calmly, check in on student needs, or pull into centers, and kids love that they’re hands-on and festive!
And the gingerbread theme makes everything feel special… perfect Christmas activities for kindergarten that feel structured!
DIY Christmas Tree Sticker Art
This simple craft is always a hit.
You’ll need a green Christmas tree cutout, a yellow star cutout, a white sheet of paper, and mini stickers. Trace and cut one of each or use your school’s die-cut machine to save time.
Students will glue the tree onto the white paper, add the star on top, and then decorate their tree with mini stickers as ornaments… ideal for morning work, fast early finishers, hallway displays, or those unexpected sub plans.
It’s simple, festive, perfect for fine-motor practice, and kids get to decorate a tree exactly the way they want (with adorable results every time!)!
Class Christmas Mural: DIY Version
Roll out a long sheet of butcher paper and tape it to your whiteboard or an open wall. Write “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” in the center as the focal point.
Give students markers and let them each decorate their own section. By the end, you’ll have a bright, joyful whole-class holiday mural!
Students practice sharing materials, collaborating, communicating ideas, and respecting each other’s space, all while creating a hallway showstopper.
Is there anything sweeter than building community during the holiday season?
December Writing Centers
If you want Christmas activities for kindergarten that make writing time calm, independent, and actually productive, these December Writing Centers are a lifesaver.
They include over 230 kid-friendly pages covering handwriting, labeling, lists, sight words, building sentences, telling stories with pictures, and important phonics basics.
Themes include Christmas, Gingerbread, and Baking, and every activity comes with big handwriting lines + simple directions so students can work independently.
They’re perfect for writing centers, early finishers, sub tubs, and quick, no-prep lessons.
Students love them because they get to write about real holiday things… and everything feels doable!
Christmas Kiss (DIY) CVC Words
Any time chocolate is involved, student buy-in skyrockets.
To prep, write letters on dot stickers and place them on the bottoms of Hershey’s Kisses (red for vowels, green for consonants).
Students will pick 2 green consonant kisses and 1 red vowel kiss to build CVC words.
It’s an easy, hands-on way to practice sounding out real and nonsense words and an irresistible Christmas literacy activity for kindergarten to practice blending, segmenting, decoding, and word families!
For extra support, start them with a vowel and ending consonant, then let them draw a green consonant to build word family words.
Kids love the mystery of “pulling” their letters, and the red/green vowel-consonant system helps support visual sorting.
DIY Christmas Cards
Have your class make Christmas cards for school staff, community helpers, or residents at a local nursing home.
Each student will get a colorful sheet of construction paper to fold into a card, write a simple message, and decorate with stickers or other festive supplies.
Model a few folding options and help students write “Merry Christmas” inside before they decorate.
They practice handwriting, message-writing, kindness, and giving… without a formal lesson.
And the smiles from the recipients? Worth every sticker and glue stick.
December Grab & Go Worksheets
If December has you choosing between “prep” and “sanity,” these Grab & Go Worksheets are your new best friend!
These 80 no-prep literacy + math pages cover counting, ten frames, ways to make 5/10, 2D shapes, graphing, missing numbers, rhyming, syllables, CVC, beginning/ending sounds, labeling, and sight words… oh my!
Plus, they’re all fun gingerbread + Christmas themes!
Use them for morning work, centers, quick checks, early finishers, or take-home work.
Just print… and breathe. Kids get easy-to-prep, meaningful practice while you survive December!
3 DIY Gingerbread Activities
Using gingerbread-themed Christmas activities for kindergarten students adds a yummy and festive twist to fun, seasonal learning.
There are a variety of DIY activities, plus a snack, that you can do to work on key skills and encourage creativity!
1. Gingerbread Math and Literacy
Make gingerbread cutouts from brown construction paper or cardstock. Trace a simple template, or use pre-made foam shapes if your school has a gingerbread die-cut to save time.
Write uppercase/lowercase letters, numbers to 20, or simple addition sentences (sums to 10) on each cutout… instant gingerbread literacy activities and gingerbread math centers.
The themed shapes make even everyday skills feel fun and keep students engaged during centers or small-group practice.
Kids can hardly believe they’re “playing” while practicing ABC matching, CVC building, number order, and addition.
And if you have a class volunteer? Hand them the stack of gingerbread templates and watch your prep magically disappear.
Since the possibilities with these DIY gingerbread cutouts are endless, they easily become one of the most loved Christmas activities for kindergarten!
2. Gingerbread House Craft
To make your students' creativity come alive, try this fun and easy-to-make DIY gingerbread house craft! All you need is different colors of construction paper, scissors, glue sticks, and red markers.
This craft teaches spatial awareness, shape recognition, fine motor cutting, and following step-by-step directions.
Kids love that every house looks different and tells its own story!
3. Graham Cracker Gingerbread House Snack
What’s Christmas without a gingerbread treat? Traditional milk-carton houses can get messy fast, so try the simpler, kinder-friendly version: graham cracker gingerbread houses!
Each student will need graham crackers, pretzel snaps, large marshmallows, and white frosting (Betty Crocker sets the fastest).
*Optional decorations include M&Ms, mini candy canes, gumdrops, mini marshmallows, Tic-Tacs, colored frosting, or peppermint candies.
Students will frost a pre-cut graham cracker for the roof, add a pretzel window and a graham cracker door, then decorate with any extras.
You can stop there or add a “house stand” using half a graham cracker, frosting, and a large marshmallow.
It’s the perfect end-of-unit celebration, reward-day activity, or holiday-party station.
Every kid is invested. They’re focused. They’re creating. And they’re practicing planning, constructing, and fine motor skills!
A December Full of Joy
I hope these Christmas activities for kindergarten help you sprinkle joy, creativity, and calm structure throughout your classroom this month!
December is busy… but it’s also magical.
With hands-on centers, crafts that teach real skills, and activities that make learning feel like pure celebration, you’re giving your students memories they’ll hold onto long after the ornaments come down.
