Ever wondered why schools give holiday homework to students for summer or winter break? Research shows that if students take a long break from any educational activity, it can be detrimental to their learning. Holidays keep young minds healthy and play a key role in cultivating cognitive abilities (e.g., divergent thinking- the ability to think new ideas with exploration, creativity, reading & comprehension, etc.). However, without practice, children can fall behind in core subjects, like science and math. Summer or winter activities keep them in touch with learning during breaks.
Do you often wonder, “How do we motivate children to finish their holiday homework when they are full of holiday spirit and reluctant to study?” – By making the holiday activities for kids interesting, engaging, and thought-provoking.
Here are some interesting winter holiday activities for elementary students. Also, scroll down to find holiday activities for kindergarten students.
1) Book Presentations – For Vocabulary & Creative Thinking
Does your child love to read books? If yes, then this winter holiday activity will surely excite them. Ask students to create a book report on their favourite book and present it in whatever way they like. It could be a colourful poster, a comic-strip, a simple book review, or a comparative chart talking about the plot difference between a book and its movie adaptation. Students of higher grades can also record their book reviews in a video format.
Further, you can ask them to prepare a list of new words they picked up from the book and use the new vocabulary in their class assignments – essays, answers, art descriptions, science notes, etc. This winter activity that combines reading with other skills will improve their comprehension, vocabulary, and creative skills. Did you know? Students of The Infinity School (now a top school in Noida Extension) had a fun time creating & presenting hand-drawn, birthday-themed books in their online class? Click to see the photos of their book presentation during literacy week.
2) Christmas Scrapbooks – For Observation, Organisation & Collaboration
Scrapbooking might be one of the most common winter activities for kids, but it is fun and gives children something memorable to share with their friends and family after the winter holidays are over. Even preschoolers can create a winter scrapbook with some help.
Ask kids to keep a record of all their winter-time activities. E.g., what they did, any important conversations they had with friends/family, what they ate, or a new hobby they undertook. Suggest noting down daily weather & mood, drawing pictures or taking photos of significant events around them, and pasting small tokens from the holidays (like Christmas cards, compliment cards from the gifts they received, trip tickets, meal bills, etc.). They can work together with their siblings or grandparents to maintain their winter scrapbook. This winter activity hones critical life skills, like observation, analysis, organization & collaboration in students.
3) Science Experiments With Home Ingredients – For Analytical & Scientific Thinking
Are you looking for a fun & thought-provoking winter activity for kids to do at home? Just pull out a list of DIY science experiments they can perform with easily-available household ingredients. It could be something simple, like making invisible ink with lemon juice, making a walking rainbow with water & food colours, creating homemade slime using borax & glue, and lava lamps using vegetable oil. You can also demonstrate scientific concepts like crystallization by growing rock candy in a glass. There are plenty of cool DIY science experiments available on YouTube that you can try with kids at home.
Our students learned about reversible/irreversible reaction and fermentation with a simple home experiment. Click here to watch the video.
4) Doodle Book of Magic Word – A Hands-on Learning Activity For Preschoolers
Are you looking for winter holiday activities for preschoolers who love to draw? Doodle book is just the thing that will attract them. Doodle books include cartoons, drawings & illustrations of different words, drawn to highlight their meanings. Asking kids to draw a picture representing magic words like sorry, thank you, please, etc., will improve their drawing skills and teaches them the meaning and importance of those words.
5) Making Math Interesting For Kids
Making math fun seems like a challenge, but it is easy when you include it as a fun winter activity for kids. Encourage kids to play games like Sudoku, Othello, BINGO, Chess, etc., that apply mathematical skills. You can also try brain teasers and games like plot graph scavenger hunts & number dance to engage preschoolers. Brining in real-life objects and building connections to them helps elementary students apply their math skills. You can involve them in DIY carpentry projects, monthly grocery bill calculations, measuring ingredients in the kitchen, converting one unit into another unit, etc. – activities that allow them to practice math in real life.
When we provide students with a choice and engaging topics that are personally meaningful, we can turn seemingly boring holiday homework into an important learning exercise. It also gives us key insights into students’ learning levels.
The Infinity School, a top school of Noida Extension believes in honing critical life skills in students with meaningful classwork and ‘homefun’ assignments. Our teachers create classroom engagements that balance both academic and non-academic skills & allow equal opportunities for all students to participate. Just recently, our students designed were encouraged to design the school magazine, ‘Anant Anubhav’ – a creative showcase of our students’ skills. Click here to watch a preview of the school magazine.
THE INFINITY SCHOOL 