7 Christmas ideas for your school website
Bring some festive cheer to your classrooms (and your school website!)
The run-up to Christmas is an exciting time in schools – for the pupils at least if not the teachers (who are invariably running around trying to get assessments organised and data handed in alongside nativity rehearsals and general merriment) – and there are ways you can use your school website to spread that festive cheer far and wide to parents, pupils and the local community.
To help things go without a hitch we have compiled a list of ideas for you to help pass some time in school, some activities and ideas to add to your school website, and also tips for you to pass on to parents so they can entertain their cherubs during the 2 week holiday (you can also use these for your own family so you can relax and recharge your batteries!) Many of these ideas can be easily adapted for families who are not celebrating Christmas itself and cover everything from free activities and ideas to more complex and educational endeavours.
All of the activity websites below would be great additions to your school webpages for parents too – add each link with some explanation and let students and parents try them over the holidays. It will give parents some respite and the children will be learning through fun and frolics. This is where home school communication pays off as you add sprinkles of magic to homes throughout your community!
Disclaimer: Please note that for some of the bigger websites we have not checked every single page other than what we specifically mention so please bear in mind you will need to do a quick check to ensure pages you link to are relevant for your pupils.
1. Make your school diary into a Christmas miracle
For many families, Christmas is the most expensive and, therefore, stressful holiday by far. However much we all talk about having a frugal and basic Christmas the costs soon start mounting – from the presents to the tree to the big family meals – so one way to help parents to cut the cost of the holiday is to give them plenty of ideas of free (and cheap) events happening nearby over the festive period. A simple Google and having a flick through any local free papers should give you a good list. Most towns have a “What’s On” website too so have a look for that. You may also know of the dates of shows being put on by other local schools as these often only cost a couple of quid per ticket, and has the bonus of helping schools raise well-needed cash! If you already have your school calendar built into the website like this one you can add events into there, but if not then simply add a page to your site with a list of local events ordered by date. Ensure to include any prices where relevant so they get no surprises on the day and especially point out the totally free events.
2. Poke Tree Game
This activity needs a bit of care and attention to make but could serve educational purposes as well as being festive. One thought would be to write phonemes on the tissue paper and have Christmassy objects inside which start with that phoneme. Use it like an advent calendar in class asking students to open the phoneme they hear and see what is behind that door.
3. Snowman Party Game
This game would be a great art task for the end of term or could be a bit of homework – tell pupils to play it at home with their families, rate their efforts, and then bring them to school in January to show how it went.
4. Christmas Bingo
Another great game for in class to kill a bit of time between nativity rehearsals and also a good activity for families to play at home. I am sure it could very competitive given the chance as visiting family gets involved!
5. Why Christmas Activities
This whole website is wonderful and full of activities and learning suitable for use in school and at home for students to explore on their own. One particular favourite of ours is the page teaching about Christmas in countries and cultures all over the world and there are also pages to teach the Christmas story. There are also pages teaching about the different traditions associated with Christmas and their origins. Lots of lovely multimedia elements and an uncluttered site make this one easy to navigate and enjoy. You can even build your own nativity scene online.
6. Victorian Christmas
This BBC page is a fascinating round-up of 25 Victorian activities and makes for Christmas. With recipes for the adults (mulled wine) through to toy theatre instructions and parlour games, this resource is great for magpie-ing classroom activities (maybe not the wine…) and a great recommendation for parents to use at home for a bit of old fashioned tradition.
7. Maths, well-being and Christmas
This Third Space Learning Blog from 2017 has 10 ideas for maths activities, well-being activities and teacher ideas suitable for December fun. A wealth of ideas for everyone!
We hope you are able to use some of these activities and also share some on your school websites. Do let us know if you do – we would love to see them and share them to a wider audience for you!
Looking for more activities to entertain the class in the countdown to Christmas? Try these Christmas themed creative writing prompts.
