Christmas lesson plans for preschool & Key Stage 1 Children

As the Christmas season is upon us, we have decided to list a few lesson plan ideas for pre-school and Key Stage 1 children that are fun, creative and simple. 

1. Christmas around the world: How people celebrate over the world

This lesson plan is best suited for the older children in KS1. It makes children realise that not everyone celebrates Christmas on the 25th of December and eats turkey, some children get sweets and chocolates as presents instead of toys.

The aim of the lesson

Educating children how Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world, so that when it’s the 25th of December, they will know what other children are doing, it’s an eye-opening lesson for children.

Get kids to write down what Christmas means to them, what presents they want, and what they normally do on Christmas Day; this only has to be small sentences. Teach them about other parts of the world and how they celebrate Christmas, to keep it simple for the children use well-known countries, for example:

Australia 

Just like the UK, Australia celebrates Christmas on the 25th of December, however, on the other side of the world, it is their summer, with gorgeous warm temperatures. Why sit inside when the weather is that good? Aussies celebrate with a BBQ on the beach and often have a game of cricket too!

China 

Not many people celebrate Christmas in China, and this is due to the small amount of Christians, it is generally celebrated in larger cities.

France

A lot of the French are Christians and are deeply religious, so Christmas is a big deal with a special Christmas Eve meal and many other traditions. However, traditions vary from different regions and families. 

Then get the children to write down what they have learnt by writing next to their traditions the cultures of the other countries, for example when we eat turkey, Australians have a BBQ.

2. Birth of Jesus – Story Telling

It’s easy to get caught up in Christmas, especially for children. So why not educate children the true meaning of Christmas, the story of the birth of Jesus and why we celebrate Christmas.

The aim of the lesson

The goal is for children to realise it isn’t all about the presents and teaches them the story of why we celebrate this festive period.

Once you have told the children the story of the birth of Jesus - whether it was a presentation or part of storytelling, get the children to create a short storyboard of the story or to make drawings of the typical nativity scene of Mary, Joseph, Jesus along with the three wise men and the Angel Gabriel.

3. Arts & Crafts

For younger children, they can get stuck into arts and crafts at this time in the year as children love getting creative with just about anything.

The aim of the lesson

Produce something for a loved one whether it is a Christmas card, Christmas decoration or a beautiful paper chain.

Creating Christmas Cards for family members

It’s always special to receive something that is handmade, and an easy way of creating something is a Christmas card, not to mention something for the parents to keep for years to come. They can be in any shape and any colour, it gives children a chance to experiment with paper, glitter, glue, finger painting and any other resources you have to hand.

Tree Ornaments

Christmas tree ornaments can be made out of anything from paper to dry pasta. Paper can be cut into festive shapes and decorated with anything. Attach a ribbon in a looped figure to then hang on the tree. Dry pasta can be painted, fed onto a piece of string and act like a piece of tinsel on the tree. Add some glitter to make it extra festive! Use pipe cleaners as stiff string to create candy canes by feeding red and white beads onto the pipe cleaner, and bending one edge. Lollipop sticks and buttons can create cute snowflakes. Simply glue the lollipop sticks on top of each other in a star/snowflake shape and glue white buttons on top of each line.

Paper plate Reindeer

Create a handmade Rudolph by simply using two paper plates that have been painted brown. Sticking pom poms on each side to act as ears, add googly eyes and a red circle for the nose. Other facial features like the mouth can be drawn on.Create the antlers with your hands by tracing around your hand on brown paper and cutting them out. Simply glue them onto the top of the paper plate. 

Paper Chains

A popular decoration at Christmas time and they are simple to make. Pre-prepare thick cut lines of paper in all colours. Get the children to draw and decorate each piece. Loop them all together and hang up high in the classroom. 

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