Five Christmas Writing Activities

December is a great time of year for writing. By this time of the year, many of our kids are able to put complete thoughts in text. Some are still labeling and a few are still drawing. But, they are ALL feeling like writers. You are starting to feel the reward of the hard work by both you and them! Here are a few writing activities that we did in December to make the holidays a little more fun!

1. A Visit With Santa

I remember when we went to see Santa at the Mall on a field trip! When I first started teaching, we went on a field trip every single month! But, over the years that slowly become one field trip a year.  I wanted my children to write about going to visit Santa, but "had all of my children been to see Santa?" I decided to set up a visit with Santa right in my room. I purchased this large Santa from Oriental Trading Co.  I put him in my chair and sat on the floor behind him. Then, I called the kids up one at a time. They sat on Santa's lap and talked to "him".  It was hilarious! They actually look him in the face even though I am sitting right there!

Now, they are ready to write. I had some stickers of Santa's head. They placed the sticker on their paper and drew a picture using the sticker as Santa's head.  I took a piece of construction paper and folded it down 1/3. Then, I cut the flap into three sections.  Under each section the kids could write what happened first, next, and last.

2. Memoirs of Christmas

Save some of the pictures taken during your holiday festivities for the end of the year. Our last unit in writer's workshop is Memoirs. It is a way for us to revisit personal narratives now that they are able to produce text to convey their meaning.  I put the pictures in a basket and let each child select a special picture that reminds them of something from the holiday. Then, they write their memory.

3. A Book Of Lists

I picked up some Christmas Bags from Walmart.  See the picture to see how to fold, add paper and staple the bag to make the book. Each day, the children cut magazine pictures from a given category. Maybe one day the cut toys, another day family members, another day food, etc. After cutting the pictures, they use them to make a list. We make a new list each day or so. By the end of December, they have a book of about 10 different lists.

4. How Families Celebrate

Be sure and watch for the holiday napkins AFTER the holiday when they are on clearance.  Napkins make great books. In this book, we talked about all of the ways different families celebrate. This is great since all children might celebrate different holidays in December. Then, the children recorded 4 different ways their own family celebrates.

5. Holiday Cooking

Each Friday we do a cooking activity. This picture, a little blurry, is our Reindeer Sandwich Cookbook.  It is simply a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with raisin eyes, cherry nose, and pretzel antlers. 

After cooking, we used guided writing to write our recipe.