Celebrating Together: Honoring Winter Holidays with Your Students

The holiday season can be full of excitement and energy—especially in the classroom! With students eagerly discussing what they celebrate, it’s a great opportunity to create an inclusive, fun, and respectful environment as you dive into holiday discussions. I’ve gathered a few of my favorite tips and resources to help celebrate this special time with your students, no matter what holidays they might observe.

Our team has also put together a collection of seasonal-themed activities to make lesson planning easy this holiday season. Take a look and add them to your Lumio library for easy access!

Ask students about their celebrations

As the holiday season approaches, take the time to ask your students what they celebrate. You may discover new traditions and learn more about the diverse cultures in your classroom. This is a great moment to celebrate how students and their families observe the season.

Consider looking for opportunities to be responsive to the cultures represented in your classroom and what is meaningful to your students' families and communities. A great idea might be inviting families or community members to share their traditions or even come in to teach a fun activity, like playing the dreidel game or making holiday crafts. Hearing directly from the people who celebrate can make the experience even more meaningful!

Consider exploring accurate, stereotype-free resources

As you explore different holidays with your students, take the opportunity to dive into their histories and meanings. If you’re unfamiliar with a specific holiday, no worries! You could research online or even ask families in your class to share their personal traditions. It could be a wonderful way to deepen your understanding and bring authentic perspectives to your lessons.

Need ready-made resources? Check out Teachers Pay Teachers for great printables on holidays around the world or explore Lumio’s winter lessons that you can easily customize and share with your class.

Bring the holiday spirit to life with read-alouds!

A great way to introduce students to new ideas is through stories. Read-alouds, especially those told from a child’s perspective, can help students better understand the customs and traditions of different holidays. The beauty of these stories lies in their ability to make the holiday feel real and relatable. Whether it’s a special meal, giving gifts, or holiday songs, students will connect with the common themes that run through many holiday traditions.

To extend the learning, you can follow up a read-aloud with a Think-Pair-Share activity. Encourage your students to discuss what stood out to them in the story, and make connections between their own experiences and what they learned about the holiday.

Look for commonalities

As you share the experience of exploring different holidays with your class, you might find it helpful to highlight the common elements that connect them. For instance, many holidays involve family gatherings or gift-giving—experiences that your students can easily relate to from their own celebrations. By drawing attention to these shared traditions, you can help students make connections and deepen their understanding. Of course, it’s equally important to celebrate the differences that make each holiday special, but noticing these common threads can encourage a richer appreciation for the diversity within your classroom.

Allow creativity to shine

Art is a beautiful way to bring the essence of a holiday to life! Ask students to create something inspired by the values of the holiday they are learning about—whether it’s making decorations, designing cards, or crafting symbols like lights or stars. You can also have your students create a piece of art that represents their personal holiday traditions. Once they’re finished, have them share their creations with the class and explain what it means to them.

Get playful with holiday games!

What gets kids excited about learning faster than games? You could research traditional games from different cultures and invite your students to play. Whether it’s a holiday board game, an interactive Lumio activity, or a classroom game like charades, games help students connect with the traditions they’re learning about while fun. Don’t forget the festive music!

Ready to get started? Explore holiday lessons in your classroom with Lumio!