Are you always looking for great ideas? Especially now? Looking for great ideas for Christmas and homeschooling? Or are you feeling like you are always behind, finding all the ideas the week after you really wanted them?
Do you ever envy those people who always seem to have everything together? Everything about them is completely organized; they know what’s for dinner days in advance, their totally put-together outfits are planned for the next month, and they always seem to have the most original, unusual, fun, creative, and organized activities for their homeschool kids.
I was never that mom. Sure, we had some structure to our days; all the kids were usually clean and dressed, we had real meals, various activities, but I always felt like I was behind in the game, always trying to catch up. Get ahead? Hardly! Just keep my head above water. I usually felt like I would come up with all the great ideas after the fact.
So I want to give you some ideas so you can plan, stay on top of your game, and enjoy the Christmas season with your kids. There are so many fun things to do between now and Christmas! See if you can work some of these in your usual school activities and add some fun and sparkle to this month.
Great Bible Activity Ideas for Christmas and Homeschooling
Since Christmas is based on the biblical account of Christ’s birth, it makes sense to include some special activities related to what the Bible says about Christ’s birth.
- Read the Gospel of Luke. One chapter each day will get you through Luke’s complete account of the life of Christ between now and Christmas.
- If your children are too young for reading (or listening) to a complete chapter, focus more on the first two chapters and perhaps the last three chapters.
- Let your children draw illustrations for each chapter you (or they) read. Wouldn’t it make a great keepsake if you made a little book of their illustrations for them? Or maybe a gift for the grandparents?
- You could change up your Bible lessons, or add to them, and include the prophecies of Christ’s birth and the fulfillment of the prophecies.
- Study the words for the more “sacred” Christmas carols. Can your children match the words of the carols to verses from the Bible? This would be a great opportunity to talk about similarities and differences between the words to the carols and what the Bible teaches.
- Do you have a manger scene you set out each Christmas? Maybe you have two – one for display/decorative purposes and one for the kids to “use.”
Service Activity Ideas for Christmas and Homeschooling
Christmas is a great time to serve others. By making that a part of our Christmas activities, we can teach our children that Christmas is more about others than ourselves, more about giving than receiving. We can use these opportunities to emphasize the real reason Jesus came to this world – to GIVE himself for others, for us. So, how can we serve others during the Christmas season?
Make cards and gifts for others.
Consider neighbors, senior citizens, those who can’t get out and about. They will love getting handmade cards from your children. Gifts can be anything from family pictures, drawings, baked goods, paper flowers, real flowers, even hand sanitizer! We usually do plates of cookies and fudge for all our neighbors and homemade quick bread for teachers and other friends.
Sing Christmas carols for others.
Whether it is just your family, or your family and some friends, whether you carol in your neighborhood or for senior citizens from church, your efforts will be so appreciated by those you sing for! Last Christmas, some of us visited my mother-in-law, who lives in a small senior community in the south. On Christmas Eve, we walked around her community with her and caroled for many of her neighbors. It was such fun, and her neighbors really appreciated our caroling.
Offer your help to others.
What can you do to help them? Shovel the snow, help put up their Christmas decorations, assist them with cleaning before the holidays – see how you can bless others by helping them.
Great Craft Activity Ideas for Christmas and Homeschooling
You can find so many cool craft activities for the Christmas season! So many ideas, so little time! Choose ideas your children can handle, based on their ages and abilities. Select crafts that you can use – whether that means ornaments for your tree, decorations for their rooms, crafts to give to others, or decoration ideas for outside.
- Paper chains – Paper chains are always fun, whether you choose the simple strips glued or stapled together or any of many paper chain variations found on Pinterest. You can use construction paper, craft paper, or even wrapping paper for your paper chains.
- Let your kids make ornaments for your tree. Or for their own personal Christmas trees. There is no shortage of ornament ideas!
- Make paper snowflakes or paper stars.
- Homemade treats for the birds or edible outside decorations. Here is a link to several options: https://www.naturalbeachliving.com/homemade-bird-feeders-and-birdseed-ornaments/
- Ice Lanterns – I have always wanted to try this but still haven’t done it. Maybe this year. Here are some examples of what I am talking about: https://www.practicallyfunctional.com/make-ice-lanterns-ice-candles/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social, https://www.ehow.com/how_4529669_make-ice-lanterns.html
- Frozen Water Balloons – Colored globes of ice decorating your front yard. Fun and easy! https://www.cabinlife.com/articles/diy-frozen-water-balloons
Great Christmas and Homeschool Life Skills Activity Ideas
Yes, Christmas is a great time to teach important life skills. From baking to budgeting to shopping, all sorts of life skills can be taught and learned this month!
Wrapping Packages
Wrapping presents is an art form that some are more successful at than others. It is not a skill most of us are born with! Teach your children how to wrap presents. (And not just use gift boxes or bags!) Geometry skills are used in determining how much wrapping paper is required. And what about wrapping all those weird shapes? How do you neatly wrap the ends of a box?
Baking cookies
Always a useful skill! Baking cookies together allows you to teach how to measure different ingredients. It also allows for teaching multitasking! And timing. Timing matters with cookies!
Budgeting
How many adults do you know who have serious issues with budgeting? Christmas shopping provides a real-life opportunity to teach your children budgeting skills.
Choosing appropriate gifts
Children can use Christmas shopping to learn to select appropriate gifts for the recipient, in contrast to choosing gifts they would prefer to get. Grandma may not be impressed with the latest Mario Kart game; she might prefer a lovely candle.
Shopping skills
To help children learn about gift selection and budgeting, let them do their own shopping. When our kids were young, a day or two before Christmas, my younger sisters would take all the nieces and nephews shopping at the dollar store. Each child was assigned to buy a gift for a couple of adults in the family and was given money to do the shopping. They had a blast! They felt so special, being allowed to do their own shopping! I still have a couple of items from those dollar store Christmas shopping gifts.
Just-For-Fun Christmas and Homeschool Activities and Ideas
A big part of Christmas is the memories we make as families. And many of those memories come from things that are just fun to do together. That can include so many things! What can you include this month that is just fun?
Christmas + Schoolwork
Add some Christmas to your school routine. Incorporate some Christmas activities into your regular day. Try a math-facts coloring page that ends up with a Christmas tree. Older kids might enjoy a Christmas carol quiz or a mad-libs Christmas activity. (Practice up on the parts of speech!)
Advent Calendars
Do you do advent calendars with your kids? We had a friend who used to provide each of our children with a chocolate advent calendar. I have a Christmas tree advent calendar. The kids used to race downstairs in the morning to see if they could be the first one to pull that day’s ornament out of its pocket.
Enjoy the Christmas Lights and Decorations
Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt – I saw someone write about this idea a few days ago – it looks like so much fun! Here’s the link: https://www.notconsumed.com/christmas-lights-scavenger-hunt-printable/comment-page-1/
Christmas Decoration Bingo – Like the previous idea, create a bingo card with different outdoor Christmas decorations, take a drive, and let the kids play the game. Be sure to have prizes for everyone!
Read all the Christmas Books!
Read Christmas Books! Every day is a good day for reading a book, but Christmas gives us special opportunities. Maybe you have a collection of books and plan to read one each day. Or perhaps you choose a longer book and read a chapter or two each day. One of our favorites was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. When this book first came out, my dad picked up a copy and read it to us. There were times when he was laughing so hard he could hardly read. It is a great book and teaches some valuable lessons.
And Watch all the Christmas Movies
Watch Christmas Movies – Everyone has some favorite Christmas movies that you watch every year. They become part of our holiday traditions. Which Christmas movies are on your absolute favorites list? My favorites are Charlie Brown’s Christmas, the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and an older version of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. And Gian Carlo Menotti’s short opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors. (Not really biblically correct, but a great watch, anyhow.)
Alright – I have given you several great ideas for Christmas and homeschooling! And I am sure your imagination will inspire you with many other ideas! (If not that, then Pinterest will 😊) Now, go forth and “Christmas!”
And be sure to comment and let me know your favorite activities this Christmas! Did you try any of these ideas?
Looking for more thoughts on homeschooling during the holiday season? You will find these posts helpful as well:
Homeschooling and the Holidays
Are You Ready for all the Homeschool Questions?
