December is the month of festive fun and cheer! You can use Christmas activities KS2 to make your child a festive learner! I thought I would share some Christmas activities KS2 you can do at home to keep your child’s wee minds ticking over during the Christmas break. And don’t worry these are all fun activities you will probably be doing anyway! Remember that your child and you as well parents need to rest and take a break this festive season!
As this is the season of giving, I have got a special treat for you. During this time of year, I don’t recommend your child studying too hard or for too long but you can save this treat for after the holidays. Click here to get a FREE SEAG Test Paper and Teaching Guide. It will be straight into your inbox quicker than you can say, “Ho, Ho, Ho!”
Why should your child complete some Christmas activities at home?
Do you ever remember that feeling of going back to school after being off and forgetting how to write?! That still happens to me now sometimes! Well doing some small activities over the Christmas break can be useful for several reasons. Number 1…they won’t forget how to write! Number 2, it keeps their wee brains ticking over and number 3, it gives them something different to do during the school holidays and can help you plan out your day better.
The activities that I recommend over the Christmas break are nothing too crazy at all. Just some lovely Christmas activities to do with your family and do you want to know the best part? They won’t even realise that they are learning during most of them! So grab your favourite Christmas jumper and fluffy socks and let’s get festive with some Christmas activities KS2 to keep your child merry and bright!
Christmas Stories
What is your favourite Christmas story? Do you like a traditional story like ‘The Night Before Christmas’ or something funny like ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’? No matter what your favourite Christmas read is, there’s nothing better than curling up on the sofa with a fluffy blanket, a box of Quality Street and a good Christmas book. Well, I’m sure your child can probably think of a few things they would rather be doing! But during this festive time, encourage your child to keep up with their reading. Go to the bookshop or library and let your child choose some Christmas-themed books!
Reading a few chapters in the morning or before bed is a great way to keep your child’s reading skills ticking over. Also, have a chat with your child about what is happening in their new Christmas books. As well as giving their eyes a break from all the extra movie, iPad and gaming time that they will be getting over the holidays. These Christmas reading activities KS2 will help your child return to school in January with their reading skills on point! And they won’t even realise that they are learning!
Christmas Movies
It wouldn’t be Christmas without watching Christmas movies back to back! Home Alone, Elf, The Santa Clause and The Grinch are some of my favourites but I still have plenty more on my list. You might be wondering how watching Christmas movies is helping your child learn. Well, having a chat about the characters, what’s happening in the movie and what you think might happen next are all literacy skills that your child will be developing throughout primary school!
Talking about the characters in the movie will encourage your child to use adjectives and descriptive phrases. Then talking about the storyline demonstrates their understanding of what is going on and communicating that aloud. Finally talking about what might happen next is using their prediction skills. And you thought teachers only put on Christmas movies when they can’t be bothered preparing work…;) Haha! This is another one of the Christmas activities to do with your family as well.
Christmas Writing
There are so many opportunities to develop your child’s writing skills over the Christmas period. The first of my Christmas activities KS2 for writing that your child will not complain about doing is writing their list to Santa! Encourage your child to start their letter in the traditional way with ‘Dear Santa,’ and finish with ‘From…’ Also remind them that they need to put the address on the envelope or it won’t arrive! This traditional activity is perfect to show off your child’s writing skills and also develop an awareness of different forms of writing such as letters. Another piece of Christmas writing is Christmas cards! Your child can get lots of writing practice here by writing cards for their school friends, and family and they might even want to create their own cards! Check out some Christmas cards ideas KS2 free here!
Christmas Diary/Journal
A great activity to promote writing skills over Christmas is to write a Christmas diary or journal. Get a nice Christmassy notebook and pen and encourage your child to write down all of the nice things they do over the festive holidays. They can write about Christmas traditions that your family has, their favourite movies and tasty treats, how excited they are for Christmas Eve and also what presents they get from Santa! This activity will help develop your child’s writing skills and also help them to develop their writing style and voice. If your child isn’t keen on writing a diary, they could use Christmas story activities KS2 for their writing activity. Your child can write their own Christmas short story!
As with all writing activities if your child struggles with spelling you can write it on a piece of paper or whiteboard for them. You can also encourage them to look it up in the dictionary if they are a bit older.
Christmas Games
The next Christmas activities at home is playing games. My dad still to this day hates when the games are brought out at Christmas! Little does he know I’ve ordered an inflatable Rudolf game where you have to catch hoops on your antlers for Christmas night! Whether you love the cheesy Christmas games or not, they are great for developing several skills as well as having fun! Games like Monopoly and Cluedo are great for exploring money and using problem-solving skills which are essential for mathematical development. Charades and the Headbandz game encourage your child to use descriptive language and also use movements to represent keywords and phrases. I’m sure Santa will bring plenty of other games as well this year! So grab some games, get playing and remember no cheating!
Christmas Fractions
We are going to be a bit sneaky with these maths Christmas activities KS2…We are going to use those tasty tubs of Christmas sweets and chocolates to teach your child fractions and percentages over the Christmas break! Hopefully, the promise of a sweet treat at the end will help persuade your child to do some maths this time of year!
What you will do is grab your favourite tub of Christmas sweets or chocolates. Count how many of each type of sweet that the box has. For example, if you are using Celebrations, count how many Mars, Snickers, Bounty, Galaxy etc are in the box. Find the fractions or percentages of each sweet for the total box. To further extend this activity, you can share the sweets between family members in different fractions/percentages. If you would like more tips on how to teach your child fractions and percentages, click the links to my other blog posts! If your child isn’t a fan of these Christmas treats, you can use candy canes, shortbread or whatever your child likes best!
Christmas Baking
Baking is a fun activity on a normal day but it’s even better at Christmas time! Whether you are baking like crazy before the big day or you wait until after and use up all that Christmas chocolate, baking is one of the tastiest Christmas ideas for KS2 to develop your child’s understanding of measure. Oh, look! Another sneaky way to add maths to your child’s Christmas plans! Following a recipe, measuring out ingredients and setting the timer on the oven (and not letting it burn!) are great mathematical skills for your child to learn!
During this activity, encourage your child to use mathematical language such as ‘more,’ ‘less,’ ‘grams,’ ‘kilograms’ etc. You can also ask your child to convert metric units. For example, change grams into kilograms or millilitres into litres. You might have some of your own Christmas recipes here but I have linked some easy Christmas baking recipes here for you!
Christmas Word Problems
Are you ready for more Christmas activities KS2 maths? If your child likes to do a bit of ‘sit-down’ work with a pencil and worksheet, I recommend giving them some Christmas-themed word problems. Christmas only comes around once a year so you may as well do as many themed activities as you can! To extend the Christmas fractions activity you can complete some Christmassy fraction word problems or create your own using the sweets from the tub! Other types of word problems that your child can do are addition, subtraction, multiplying, dividing or multi-step word problems. Here are some free Christmas Cookie Fraction Word Problems and free Christmas Word Problems!
More Information on Christmas Activities KS2
Top Ten Christmas Home Ed Activities
14 Ready To Use KS1 And KS2 Christmas Maths Activities With Printables And Worksheets
The 10 best Christmas games and activities in English
30 Christmas baking projects for kids
Have you got your child’s teacher a Christmas gift yet? If not, check out my blog post, ‘7 fantastic gift for a teacher ideas for your child’s teacher’ here!
Christmas is a time to relax, have fun and make memories! The Christmas activities key stage 2 that I recommend over the Christmas break will help your child do just that! Well…apart from the Christmas word problems! Enjoy the time together with your family and if learning goes completely out the window! That’s ok too! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you and your child enjoy these Christmas activities KS2!
