christmas assignments for high school students

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30 Engaging Christmas Activities for High School Students

September 26, 2022 //  by  Christina Swiontek

Finding Christmas activities for high school students can be tricky. It is important to make sure that these activities are engaging and suitable for the holiday season. Sprucing up your content with a holiday theme is a great way to maintain your students' focus at the high school level. If you are looking for engaging activities to celebrate Christmas with your high schoolers, you may want to check out these 30 classroom resources.

1. Christmas Scattergories

Christmas Scattergories is a fun game for English class that allows students to sharpen their vocabulary and writing skills. This game is perfect for both middle school students and high school students. Playing scattergories is sure to be an engaging experience for everyone.

Learn more: Creations by Kara

2. Finish the Lyric Game

If you have a creative group of students, you may be interested in having a wreath decorating contest.  You can provide DIY wreath ideas and have students create their own wreaths. The winner gets to display their wreath on the classroom door for the rest of the year.

Learn more: Country Living

4. Christmas Rush Card Game

Christmas Rush is a fun class game that is similar to musical chairs but in a card game format. You can have a "Christmas Rush" tournament to increase the level of competition among the class community.

Learn more: Amazon

5. Holiday Escape Room

Escape rooms are very popular with high school students. You can set up an escape room for the classroom, or you can put together a digital escape room online. They are both equally as fun for students as they race against the clock to complete the puzzles.

Learn more: Jenna Copper

6. Holiday Writing Prompts

If you are interested in holiday-themed writing prompts, you may want to check out this amazing resource. It includes all of the holidays celebrated by various cultures around the world. This is a great way to give students the opportunity to share their own holiday traditions.

Learn more: Expository Writing Prompts

7. Christmas Activity Books

Christmas activity packs are a great way to keep high school students busy while celebrating the holiday season. Activity books are classroom activities that require critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students can work on these alone or with a partner.

Learn more: Christian Books

8. Snow STEM Experiment

Have you ever wondered how fake snow is made? If so, you may want to check out this fun and easy snow STEM experiment. Your students will be engaged with this hands-on winter themed experiment. It would be perfect for the last week of school before winter break.

Learn more: The Home School Scientist

9. Hot Chocolate Experiment

There's nothing quite like a warm cup of hot chocolate to get ready for Christmas! Get your students to gear up for the holidays with this hot chocolate experiment. Your high schoolers will investigate water temperatures. Their favorite part just might be the taste test after finding the results.

Learn more: Creative Family Fun

10. Christmas Scavenger Hunt

This Christmas scavenger hunt can be used with students from Elementary school through high school.  This is an entertaining Christmas-themed activity for the days leading up to the holiday break from school. Students will have fun using critical thinking skills while searching for the special prize.

Learn more: Etsy

11. Christmas Dice Game

The Christmas Dice Game can be played in small groups of students. This is an awesome resource to celebrate the holiday season and have students engage in friendly competition. It is also a great way for students to interact socially and have fun.

Learn more: Grandma Ideas

12. Holiday Writing Activities

These holiday writing activities are the perfect sentence starters for your high school students. If they are already used to journal writing, these Christmas prompts will be a nice change. These daily writing prompts can be used in a traditional notebook or interactive online documents for the digital classroom.

Learn more: Journal Buddies

13. Christmas Word Search

I love this little book of word search puzzles. This is a great activity for students to work on independently or with a peer. Word search puzzles are beneficial for spelling and vocabulary. You can incorporate these puzzles with other grammar activities in a holiday themed activity package.

14. Christmas Mad Libs

Mad libs are always interesting for students. You can incorporate mad libs into an activity sheet with other exercises or use it on its own for extra holiday fun. Mad libs are a fun way to express creativity with words at every grade level.

Learn more: Christian Book

15. Holiday Gift Exchange Game

If you are looking to start a new classroom holiday tradition, you may want to check out these gift exchange games. You can set a $5 limit and have everyone buy a random gift. This will allow students to be generous to one another and ensure everyone receives a gift.

Learn more: Play Party Plan

16. Book Speed Dating

Book speed dating allows students to fall in love with books! You can use holiday-themed books around Christmas time in the days leading up to the winter holiday break from school. This activity is good to use with high school English students or even middle school students.

Learn more: Reader Pants

17. Video Game Design

Many high school teens are interested in playing video games. If you have access to a computer lab or laptops for students, this video game design website would be an engaging digital activity for students to interact with. Many students will enjoy the creative elements of designing video games.

Learn more: Game Star Mechanic

18. Community Service Project

The winter holidays are an excellent time to organize a service project with a local organization. You can put together a canned food drive, cookie bake sale, or a park clean up team. These are effective ways to raise money for a good cause or give back to the community.

Learn more: Donor Box

19. Christmas Caroling

The holidays can be a difficult time for some people. While there is much to celebrate, it can also be a time when we remember loved ones that have passed. Christmas caroling can lift people's spirits and truly make someone's day special. It's a lot of fun for kids, too!

Learn more: Songs and Smiles

20. Christmas Cake-Inspired Bath Bomb Project

Bath bombs make great Christmas gifts. You and your students can make your very own bath bombs to gift or to keep this holiday season. Students will have the opportunity to create a hands-on project that includes aspects of science and math. Students can also write about their experience!

Learn more: Creative Green Living

21. DIY Christmas Cards

Students can create their own DIY Christmas cards to distribute to loved ones over the holiday break. In addition to making cards for their own family and friends, they can also make effective holiday cards for soldiers on military bases. It is a thoughtful gesture that is much appreciated.

Learn more: DIYs

22. Virtual Field Trip

The holiday season is a wonderful time for high school students to take a virtual field trip. Virtual field trips are amazing online experiences that students can be fully immersed in to learn something new. The penguin virtual field trip is one of my personal favorites.

Learn more: Special Learning House

23. Printable Christmas Mazes

Printable Christmas mazes are very useful for students of all ages and grade levels. These are pre-made digital activities that are easy for you to print and utilize in your classroom.  You can even create digital resources with these also if needed. This is a very fun activity!

Learn more: Big Activities

24. Pop-Up Christmas Crafts

This pop-up Christmas card craft tutorial is an excellent activity for high school students. They can make pop-up cards as gifts for family and friends. Personalized gifts are always well received, especially gifts that are handcrafted and made with love.

Learn more: Youtube

25. DIY Personalized Christmas Ornaments

If you are looking for a creative project for high school students to celebrate the holidays, you may be interested in these DIY ideas to make personalized Christmas tree ornaments. These make great gifts because they can be tailored to fit specific interests or school colors.

Learn more: For Creative Juice

26. Create Board Games

Designing and creating board games can be a fun challenge for teens. Creating board games allows students to practice analytical and problem-solving skills. They will be challenged to think outside the box and be creative.  Students can then swap and play each other's board games.

Learn more: Science Friday

27. Christmas Poetry Workshop

Christmas is a great time to reflect on the year and think about what the new year will bring. Poetry is an excellent outlet for students to write down their thoughts and reflections. Incorporating a Christmas or holiday themed poetry workshop would provide an opportunity for students to express themselves.

Learn more: Happy Strong Home

28. Christmas Cross Stitch Choice Project

This Christmas cross stitch idea is an awesome art project for high school students. Cross stitching improves focus and patience while students work towards achieving a goal. The finish product would also make an amazing gift for someone special. I love the Christmas designs they can choose from!

Learn more: A Little Craft in Your Day

29. Wonderopolis Holiday Investigation

Wonderopolis is one of my favorite resources to use as a teacher. You can simply search "Christmas", or any other holiday keyword and articles will come up in the form of questions for students to explore. This interactive resource is suitable for students of all grade levels.

Learn more: Wonderopolis

30. Christmas Readers' Theater

A Christmas themed readers' theater activity is an engaging way to practice reading skills and comprehension while role playing with friends. Students will take turns reading the script in the voice of their assigned character. It is so much fun for everyone involved.

Learn more: What the Teacher Wants Blog

10 Christmas activities for students in high school

by mindroar | Oct 24, 2021 | blog | 0 comments

Are you looking for some Christmas activities for students in high school to liven up those last few classes before the holidays? Are you valiantly battling the holiday slide, when all your students can think about is presents, chocolate, and a break from school?

Whether you’re looking for Christmas computer activities for your middle school students or fun Christmas writing activities for your high school students, we’ve got you covered.

Today we have ten activities you can do with your students to keep them engaged until the last bell rings.

The first Christmas lesson for high school students are these digital activities. These Christmas computer activities are fun for middle school students too, although they will suit older students better.

They will work if you’re still doing online learning. They’re also perfect if your students are leaving early for the holidays and you need to prepare work for them.

Parts of speech escape room

This escape room by GameWise follows Santa’s elf as he tries to overcome Santa’s nemesis the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny has stolen Santa’s naughty-or-nice list. Students play as the elf to try and get the list back.

The escape room reviews some parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives) in a fun way. Students need to get correct answers to progress in the game.

These fun Christmas activities for middle school students are also a great way for older high school students to review parts of speech.

The great part? You can try the free demo version before you buy the full version.

Sentence structure escape room

The even better part? You can do the follow-on game which reviews sentence structure grammar here .

In this game, students must again rescue the naughty-or-nice list from the evil Easter Bunny. But this time they review sentence structure grammar.

During the game, students must answer questions about subject, object, phrases, and clauses. To progress in the game, students must answer questions correctly.

It also has a free demo version available here.

These fun Christmas activities for high school students are a great way to review grammar while still celebrating the holidays. They are also great middle school Christmas computer activities if students know their grammar.

Christmas reading, writing and grammar activities

If you’re looking for some Christmas classroom activities for high school students, try these reading, writing and grammar activities. Most of the Christmas activities and printables are suitable for middle school students and high school students.

Reading activities

The first Christmas activity for students in high school is this activity by EB Academics by Caitlin and Jessica, the activities cover common core topics and skills such as:

• characterization
• point of view
• identifying the main idea
• summarizing plot
• plot development
• comparison.

And it does it through twelve different holiday-themed activities such as a letter to Santa and a snowflake activity.

Christmas grammar activities

This activity by Juliet Faulkner encourages students to pay attention while reading. Students read real-world holiday messages and find grammar errors.

Fun and funny, the activity encourages students to connect grammar to their real lives. The activity has 36 real-life examples of grammar fails, an answer/correction key, and is provided in a few formats.

Christmas writing activities

The first Christmas writing activity for students in high school we have is this activity by The Classroom Sparrow. This massive bundle has nineteen activities including tasks such as:

• Christmas newspaper articles
• a Christmas writing prompt advent calendar
• an ugly Christmas sweater activity
• a North Pole career exploration activity
• a Christmas carol writing activity

If you are looking for fewer activities, this bundle by Education is Lit is an alternative. With both Christmas and New Year’s activities, it includes students in the fun if they don’t celebrate Christmas.

The first activity is a Christmas dinner menu writing activity. The second activity is a growth mindset New Year’s Resolutions activity. Both activities can be done in print or digital.

The third Christmas writing activity for students in high school is this essay activity by ELA Ninja. It is a great way to get in some essay-writing practice heading into the holidays.

The product has a PowerPoint to teach students how to write an argument and four articles about Thanksgiving and Christmas. It includes scaffolding to differentiate for struggling students, a pre-writing sheet, a peer editing sheet, and a marking rubric.

Christmas lessons using a movie

If you’re looking for something to do with a movie ( no judgment here – get that grading done!), these lessons may be better suited.

This activity by Julie Faulkner also uses a non-fiction text, which can be difficult to incorporate into your curriculum. The activity pairs an essay by Charles Dickens with the movie Christmas with the Kranks .

Included in the product are a teacher’s guide and instructions for a substitute teacher to take the lesson. (Then maybe you can chuck a sickie and get your Christmas shopping done!)

But this product is still rigorous. It also has the following available in PDF or digital form for Google:

• question and answer sheets
• an analysis sheet
• analysis task cards for the essay
• and an irony analysis for the movie.

The second Christmas movie lesson for high school we found was this activity for the movie Elf .

The activity by Danielle Knight would suit you better if you are wanting to watch short clips instead of a whole movie.

(But we encourage you to use your in-class time as well as you can. If you need some time to mark or plan a holiday menu show the whole movie). The product includes:

• links to shorter clips of the movie
• a presentation for a smartboard or projector
• background notes on the movie
• links to compilation scenes of the movie
• activities for inference, generalization, and characterization.

Christmas escape room

Last on our Christmas activities for students in high school list is this Christmas escape room by Language Arts Excellence. The escape room engages students in language arts skills through five main tasks, including:

• identifying figurative language in a popular Christmas song
• sequencing a Christmas poem
• identifying parts of speech in fun Christmas facts
• spotting commonly confused words in passages about how Christmas is celebrated throughout the world
• decoding a message to find out the song they need to sing to escape on Christmas holidays.

The product contains:

• instructions
• print checklist
• welcome sign
• materials for each of the five tasks
• student answer booklets
• teacher answer key
• reflection task to be completed either in-class or as homework.

Want more Christmas content?

See this blog post for more Christmas classroom activities for middle and high school students.

Feel guilty about putting on a Christmas movie?

See this blog post for 4 guilt-free reasons to watch a video.

christmas activities for high school students

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Virtual Christmas and Winter Activities for High and Middle School Students

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Christmas Activities Escape Room - High School Students

CHARLES DICKENS and A Christmas Carol Texts, Activities PRINT and EASEL

• Easel Activity

Christmas Writing Activities for Middle and High School Students Holiday Poetry

Christmas Activities for Middle and High School Students

Thanksgiving Christmas Science 3D Lab Coat Activity for the Holidays

Reindeer Games | Christmas Activities for Upper Grades

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Christmas Activities Elf the Movie for Inference Skills, Schema, Video Clips

Winter Roast the Teacher Fun Christmas Activity for Middle & High School

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Christmas Holiday Activities , English Lessons for Teens, BUNDLE

Life Skills: Functional Christmas & Hanukkah Stories & Activities

Christmas Activities , Holiday Grammar Fails in the Real World

Thanksgiving Science Borax Lesson and Activity Lab and Ornament

Christmas Activities , Paired Text Lesson (Poetry and Nonfiction)

Christmas Carols Figurative Language Sorting Activity , Digital & Traditional

Roast the Teacher Fun Christmas & Holiday Activity for Middle & High School

First Day Back from Winter Break Activities for Middle School and High School

Social Media Themed Winter and Christmas Activities for Middle & High School

Spanish Christmas La Navidad PowerPoint, Culture, and Activities Bundle

Christmas Activities Puzzles Middle and High School Sub Plans Independent Work

Christmas Writing Activities BUNDLE: Middle and High School Holiday Writing

Back to School , End of Year & Winter Holidays Activities Bundle for Secondary

Christmas Activities , Paired Text Lesson (Nonfiction and Movie)

Coloring Activity Template: Christmas Tree (Personal Use Only)

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Activities & Lessons

9 Fun Christmas Classroom Activities

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Our fun Christmas classroom activities will keep students entertained while sharpening their reading, writing, and math skills. Challenge your class to conduct a survey on re-gifting and graph the results, update a classic Christmas poem and act it out, or research how Christmas is celebrated around the world.

The holiday season is also a great time to reflect on the importance of giving back and being kind to others. We've included Christmas ideas for school that prompt kids to undertake acts of kindness and to create a “wish list” for others. Take a look. (We've also got classroom activities for learning about  Hanukkah and Kwanzaa ).

Christmas Classroom Ideas for School

Whether you're teaching in person or remotely, these activities are sure to bring out students' creativity, compassion, and kindness this holiday season.

1. Roll a Christmas Story

Challenge students to write a holiday tale using our “ Roll a Christmas Story ” activity sheet. Three rolls of a die determine the story's main character, setting, and problem. Will the story be about a bossy reindeer at a classroom Christmas party who's looking for Santa's stolen sleigh? Or will it be about an angry elf in a huge toy store trying to save Christmas after all the toys vanish from Santa's workshop? There are so many possible story lines!

Consider writing the story together as a class if you teach younger grades. Older students can partner up and take turns writing each line of the story. Finally, give students the choice of how they want to share their creations, whether it's by:

• Reading the story aloud to the class
• Acting out the story
• Putting on a puppet show (To make the puppets, they could simply draw the characters, cut them out, and glue a popsicle stick to the backs.)
• Telling the story using a mixture of text and emojis

Short on time? Share these silly Christmas-themed writing prompts with students. We produced them in seconds using Writable ’s AI-generating assignments feature. Encourage students to use a graphic organize r to plan their writing. 

• Write a humorous story about a mischievous snowman who comes to life and causes chaos in a small town during Christmas. 
• Invent a funny Christmas tradition that your family could start. How would you celebrate it?
• Imagine that Santa's elves went on strike because they wanted a longer holiday break. What would happen next?
• Write a silly Christmas story about a reindeer who decides to take a vacation to a tropical island instead of delivering presents. 

2. Candy Cane Experiment

Here’s a simple Christmas-themed experiment that you can do to spark students’ curiosity and critical thinking. Start by generating predictions. Ask: What do you think will happen if you put a candy cane in water? What about vinegar or oil? Then do the experiment to test the predictions. Note: You can also use red-and-white peppermint candies to cut down on the amount of liquid needed to cover the candy in this experiment. Supplies You’ll Need: 3 candy canes Water at room temperature Vinegar Vegetable Oil 3 clear cups Timer Step 1: Place one candy cane in each cup. Step 2: Fill each cup with equal amounts of water, vinegar, and oil. Step 3: Make a prediction: Which liquid will dissolve the candy cane the quickest? Step 4: Start a timer. Describe what is happening to each candy cane after five minutes. Step 5: Examine the candy canes after 20 minutes. Describe what happened. Tell students that candy canes are made up mostly of sugar. Sugar dissolves in water. It will also dissolve in vinegar, but a bit more slowly. Oil, as you can see, does not dissolve sugar as easily. Ask: What if we put the candy cane in hot water? Would the candy cane dissolve quicker or slower in hot water than room temperature water? Test the prediction with the class.

3. A Re-Gifting Debate

Pose this debate question to your class: Is Christmas re-gifting okay? If you're teaching in person, have students who answer “yes” stand on the left side of the room, and those who answer “no” on the right. “Undecided” students should stand in the middle. Invite students to explain their viewpoint. Students who are convinced by opposing arguments can change positions. Be sure to have them explain what convinced them. If you're teaching online, pose the debate question using an online polling tool. As an extension, have students poll up to 20 people on the debate question and graph their results. Ask: Are your poll results similar to our class results? What might account for differences or similarities? Finally, challenge students to write an essay with one of the following titles: “Four Reasons Re-Gifting Is Great” or “Four Reasons Re-Gifting Is Unacceptable.”

4. Update a Christmas Classic

Challenge students to put a modern twist on the classic Christmas poem “'Twas the Night Before Christmas.” First, read the poem aloud. Tell students to listen for details that are not familiar or popular today. Make a list of student responses (e.g., sugar plums, stockings, kerchief, cap, chimney, peddler, thistle, sash). Start a discussion:

• In the story, the stockings hanging by the chimney are going to be filled with presents. Where do you think kids today expect to find presents on Christmas?
• The children in the story were dreaming of sugar plums. What do you think kids today would be dreaming about on Christmas eve?
• The mother in the story wears a “kerchief” and the father a “cap.” What might you expect modern characters to wear to bed?
• The narrator likens Santa to a “peddler,” or someone who sells merchandise door to door. We don't use the word “peddler” much anymore. What would you compare Santa to today?

After the discussion, have students write an updated version of the poem that describes Santa paying a visit to a modern home. Allow time for students to share their tales with the class by either reading them aloud or acting them out.

5. Create Joyful Cards

Here's a simple Christmas tree card that students of any age can make. For the littlest learners, you might want to provide the cut pieces of paper and just have students glue them in place.

Supplies You'll Need:

• Construction paper
• Glue or tape
• Crayons or markers

Step 1: Fold a piece of construction paper in half to serve as your card. (See the step-by-step photos above.) Cut a rectangle out of brown construction paper. This is the tree trunk. Glue it near the bottom of the card cover.

Step 2: Cut about 16 thin rectangles out of green construction paper to serve as the tree branches. (You might also choose unconventional colors like red, purple, blue, or orange to make the tree.) Glue one of the “tree branches” over the top of the tree trunk, as if you are creating a triangle.

Step 3: Now take another “tree branch,” and glue it on the other side of the tree trunk, completing the triangle top. Continue placing the “tree branches,” one on top of the other in this triangular fashion, until you've used them all and have what looks like a full Christmas tree.

Step 4: Top the tree with a star cut out of yellow construction paper, or create a tree topper of your choice. Add a heartfelt message for the person receiving the card. You might share what you admire most about the person or share a wish that you hope will come true.

6. Random Acts of Kindness

Brainstorm with your students a list of kind acts they can do for family members, classmates, teachers, and others in the community. They might suggest doing a household chore without being asked, giving a classmate a compliment, making a card for an elderly neighbor, or donating canned goods to a local food bank. Make a list of students' ideas. Then create a December calendar, adding one kind act for each day of the month. Provide students with a copy and remind them to stick to it! Have them journal or do a think-pair-share about the experience. Ask them to answer the following questions: What kind act did you do? Who did you do it for? How did it make you feel? Why is it important to remember to be kind to one another?

7. Christmas Around the World

What is Christmas like around the world? Have your students do some research to find out. This interactive map is a good place to start. Kids simply click on one of the countries on the map to get a pop-up explainer of how Christmas is observed there. Click on France, for instance, and you'll learn that kids leave their shoes by the fireplace with the hope that Père Noël (Father Christmas) will fill them with gifts. Have students write a paragraph comparing and contrasting Christmas traditions in two countries. Or, if they celebrate Christmas, have them compare their family's Christmas traditions with those of kids in another country.

8. Solve Festive Emoji Math

Create emoji math puzzles for your students to solve. The littlest learners can simply add up emojis (🎁+🎁+🎁+🎁+🎁 = ___). Elementary students can start by solving simple equations (⛄+⛄ = 6, so ⛄ = ___), and move on to more challenging ones:

Have students create their own emoji math problems for classmates to solve. If they don't have digital access, they can always draw the pictures instead.

9. Make a Wish List

No doubt some kids are thinking about all the presents they want this holiday season. Here's a chance for them to think about what they wish for others. Our “ All I Want for Christmas ” activity sheet asks kids to write or draw a wish they have for their family, their classmates, their community, and the world.

More Christmas Classroom Games and Activities

Have any more tips on how to engage students with fun Christmas classroom games and activities? Share your ideas with us on Facebook , Instagram , or via email at [email protected]. ***

Find more classroom resources and activities o n Shaped .

This blog, originally published in 2020, has been updated for 2023.

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Simple, no fuss Christmas activities for teens and adults

You probably already have lots of ideas for Christmas activities for your young learners —but what about your older students? Never fear: ’tis not only the season for cotton ball Santa craft. Here are a few of our favorite Christmas activities—that your teens and adults won’t baulk at.

1. Write a Christmas letter

“Christmassy” classes will enjoy writing these traditional letters to friends and family, to tell them about the past year’s highlights, major turning points, challenges, and goals. Pre-teach necessary vocabulary (including seasonal greetings and sign offs, well-wishes, and messages to go within) and show examples of Christmas letters you may have received in the past.  (Teens and some young adult learners may even need to be introduced to the idea of a Christmas letter—the internet has made them less common!) Your students may like to take photos to print and include in their letters. Increase the fun by reminding them that some families take amusing shots, wear matching jumpers, or do other quirky things to make their pictures interesting.

2. Christmas categories

Give a seasonal twist to the traditional game by including only Christmas-related categories within. Need some category inspiration? Try: food, stocking stuffer gift, Christmas carol, item of winter (or summer!) clothing, name of Santa’s reindeer, winter activity, a toy, gift for Mum, gift for Dad, Christmas decoration, Christmas symbol…

3. Get talking

Conduct a speaking class with questions that explore cultural differences and students’ real feelings about the silly season. Topics to create interest include:

A typical Christmas at my house is like…

How have your feelings about Christmas changed since you were a child?

What would you change about Christmas?

What are the differences between Christmas in your country and here?

What do you dislike about Christmas?

How do you feel about the “obligation to be happy at Christmas”?

Has the internet changed how you give and receive Christmas greetings?

What is your opinion about Christmas songs?

Should Christmas only be for Christians?

What do you think about the pressure to purchase and give gifts?

4. Teach a recipe

Begin by talking about traditional Christmas food in your country and the dishes you or your family prepare. Then, share a recipe, giving students a list of ingredients and steps to follow. You may like to ask your students to order the steps, recall the recipe from memory, or complete other activities to further understanding. Following this, give your students time to choose a Christmas recipe they would like to teach to a small group.

5. The Guilty Elf

In this activity, students ask questions to determine which elf committed a Christmas-related crime. Begin by brainstorming crimes, such as:

Eating all of the pudding

Not wrapping the presents

Refusing to sing Christmas carols

Not putting out milk and a cookie for Santa Claus

Forgetting about Christmas all together

Burning the turkey

Then, give three students a card each and ask them to check them to see whether they are the Guilty Elf (only one card will be the “guilty card”). These students then sit at the front of the class while the other students ask them questions about their whereabouts on the day of the crime. Set a time or question limit, then ask the interrogators to vote as to who was the Guilty Elf.

6. Christmas traditions

In this speaking activity, students talk about the Christmas traditions they remember from childhood, describing them, and talking about why they are memorable. Continue on to name other traditions they would like to incorporate into their future family lives—and which they would rather forget! To introduce the activity, talk about some of your family’s own traditions. These may be:

Leaving out food for Santa

Having an advent calendar

Going to midnight mass

Playing “Secret Santa” with family

Decorating the entire house with lights

Helping prepare the meal together

Pick out a Christmas tree ornament for each child

Going carolling

Going to see the Christmas lights

Having matching family Christmas pyjamas

Giving to a charity, or choosing presents for a less-fortunate child

7. Remember the story

Write a Christmas-related story, complete with a few plot turns and extra details (the premise can be simple: waking up on Christmas morning; trying to follow a convoluted Mass; the shenanigans of decorating the tree; or mishaps in the kitchen). Tell the story twice. Then, ask questions about particular moments and give your students time to answer alone. Students check their answers with a partner. Then, distribute the story cut into strips and ask pairs to order it.

8. Have a no-bake Christmas cooke bake-off

At least in the U.S., Christmas cookies and cookie exchanges are a much-loved part of the holiday season. However, schools are not really known for their stellar kitchen facilities! Get around that little planning hiccup by preparing materials to make no-bake cookies (there are lots of simple recipes available online). This activity practices giving instructions, understanding a process, and making measurements. Choose a few recipes students can work on in small groups, then share the creations around the whole class.

9. White Elephant gift exchange

In this game, a group of people buy and exchange gifts randomly, by drawing numbers out of a bag to determine the order that presents are chosen in. The twist is that participants are allowed to swap gifts with others, until the very end when all have been assigned.

In a class situation, instead of using gifts, ask students to write down a gift idea on a piece of paper (giving a spending limit of, say, $50 or under). Seal the gift ideas in envelopes. To play, students pick numbers out of a bag to decide the order in which they will choose their “gifts”. The first student chooses an envelope, opens it, and tells their classmates they gift they received. The following student can then choose between selecting and opening another envelope, or “stealing” an already-assigned gift from their classmates. (Students whose gifts were stolen choose another envelope.) Play continues until each student is left with a gift.

10. Throw a party

Take a moment as Christmas approaches to throw a small party. Depending on your school’s rules and your class’s bond and level of friendship, students may make and bring simple Christmas dishes from their countries (cookies, sweets, drinks); do a simple gift exchange; read Christmas stories; sing Christmas carols; decorate a Christmas tree; and exchange crackers.

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Jolly Christmas Activities for Teens and Tweens

By: Author tanialamb

Posted on Published: December 5, 2022

It’s Winter Break or the weekends in December and your teens proclaim they’re bored or have nothing to do. If you’re looking for some holiday fun here’s a list of Christmas activities for teens and high schoolers! There are so many great resources to get older students and teens to have some fun in the classroom and out.

Fun Christmas Activities for Teens and High Schoolers

Sometimes we get wrapped up in making Christmas fun and special for kids (hey there, Elf on the Shelf ), we forget about the teens. You can even get social media involved if they really can’t tear themselves away from their phones. There are different ways to start new holiday traditions!

1. Christmas Movie Marathon

In class or out, a good Christmas movie can get you in the mood for the holidays. While some are generally kid and teen friendly like Elf , some are a little edgier like Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story . Or a great holiday series that my teens love is Dash and Lily .

You can also check out all the holiday movies on Disney+ .

2. Christmas Sock Exchange 

Apparently socks with Crocs and Birkenstocks are acceptable again. Have a Christmas sock exchange and make it budget-friendly! They choose the theme!

3. Christmas Wrapping Party

Everyone has gifts they need to wrap. Some people love it and others hate it. Get your friends together and see who has the most creative way of wrapping or just get ‘er done while you laugh with pals!

4. Christmas Game Night

Play Party Plan is such a great resource for fun games no matter the season! These 25 Christmas games can work for a party outside of school or for high school students, too. 

5. Make Christmas Cards

Adults do it, why can’t teens? Take funny Christmas card photos and then print them off  and hand deliver to friends! It can be a picture of you, of your group of friends to give as gifts, or you and your pet. 

Or you could steal some of these crazy ideas .

6. Make Fancy Mocktail Christmas Drinks

Who doesn’t love a good mocktail? Dress up and make fancy holiday non-alcoholic drinks. Try these fancy mocktail drinks for teens or if they’re Marvel fans and want something more casual, try this Spider-Man frozen drink .

7. Bake Christmas Cookies

A classic Christmas activity and it still doesn’t get old. Bake Christmas cookies and either eat them while you watch a movie or bring them to people you think could use some extra cheer! My favorite Christmas cookie recipe is still Magic Cookie Bars . 

You can also have a cookie exchange where you bring your favorite Christmas cookies and exchange them with your friends so you all go home with an assortment of everyone’s favorites.

I also love these copycat Peppermint Bark Crumbl Cookies .

8. Make a DIY Advent Calendar

This adorable DIY Advent calendar from Play Party Plan works for any time of the year. You can countdown to how many days of school are left before winter break, countdown to Christmas, or countdown to the New Year. They make great gifts, too, if you want to personalize what’s inside. 

9. Make TikToks to Classic Christmas Songs

Find an underplayed Christmas song and make up a new TikTok dance or a new trend.  Or I guess you could choose “All I Want For Christmas is You.”

10. Recreate Santa Photos

Find your favorite Santa Claus photo when you were a kid and recreate old poses to give to your parents. You can usually find Santa at the mall, at a community event, churches, or even someone’s house. 

11. Laugh at Memes

There are so many funny memes out there. Do a search for your favorites or make some to share with friends.

These funny Christmas memes , Elf on the Shelf memes , New Year memes , Snow memes , and Grinch memes are a great place to start!

Have fun getting into the holiday spirit and involving your teens! 

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Thank you for sharing!! These ideas are great! :)