Here’s a round-up of easy homeschool holiday activities for your elementary students. Whether you are looking for co-op activities, unit studies, crafts or printables, this post will walk you through some great options for holidays all year long. While Christmas tends to get all the attention, there are other fun holidays throughout the year that you can celebrate in your homeschool. Find some great resources and ideas below!
Scroll down for the special St. Patrick’s Day round-up!
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Unit Studies
Unit studies provide an easy way to include fun holiday activities in your homeschool without a lot of prep. Plus, unit studies usually hit on multiple content areas within the same topic. The most obvious way to use unit studies for holiday learning is to find holiday-specific titles.
You can find loads of free resources, including unit studies, by being a subscriber to my email list. I join forces with nearly two dozen bloggers and we bring you round-ups multiple times a month of our products. Many times, we give you normally paid products for free! So if you’re looking for a thrifty way to grow your digital homeschool resource library, then join my list.
My favorite go-to company for unit studies is UnitStudy.com. They run weekly specials, usually geared toward holidays and special days on the calendar.
Winter-Themed Scavenger Hunts
Grab these cute winter-themed scavenger hunts and use them on an outdoor nature walk or an inside-the-house hunt! They’re perfect to have on hand when you just need to change things up in your homeschool during the winter season.
Holiday Crafts
Kids love hands-on activities, so adding in crafts to your holiday activities for elementary students is the perfect pair-up.
Valentine’s Craft + Printable
Find dozens of Valentine ideas in this post plus learn how to make DIY felt fortune cookies! Plus, you can download FREE fortune cookie printables to include in your DIY craft.
Listen to Music
Music in our Homeschool offers many holiday-themed music lessons.
Here are a few options to check out:
- Music Lessons for Holidays & Special Days
- State Songs of the 50 States
- Music of Christmas Course
- Fall Music Lessons for Holidays & Special Days
- Winter Music Lessons for Holidays & Special Days
- Spring Music Lessons for Holidays & Special Days
- Summer Music Lessons for Holidays & Special Days
- World Music for Elementary
- Martin Luther & the Reformation
Holiday Group Activities
Another idea for you to consider is to get together with other local homeschool families for some group activities. Here are a few ideas for inspiration.
Book Exchange
A Book Exchange is always fun, and you can make this fit into multiple holidays!
Consider scheduling your book exchange around one of these book-related holidays:
- Charlotte Mason Birthday (January 1, 1842)
- J.R.R. Tolkien Birthday (January 3, 1892)
- National Library Lovers Month – February
- Library Lovers Day (February 14)
- Read Across American Day + Theodor Seuss Geisel Birthday (March 2, 1902)
- Children’s Book Day (April 2)
- D.E.A.R. Drop Everything and Read Month (April)
- National Book Lovers Day (August 9)
- Picture Book Month (November)
- National Nonfiction Day (November 6)
- Read a New Book Month (December)
One fun idea is to wrap your books and then write just the first line on the wrapping paper. It will be a nice surprise to pick books by the first line! Or, on top of the wrapping, have your guests write a little note about why they loved the book, but don’t reveal the name of the book. Then, you can run a book exchange like a white elephant gift exchange. Go around your circle and each person chooses a book to unwrap. On your turn, you can either choose a new book to unwrap or steal a book that was previously chosen.
White Elephant Gift Exchange
This fun activity is perfect at Christmas. Or, you could host yours in the new year and regift items you don’t want! It could be a fun way to declutter the house in the new year. Kids can regift toys and craft items they don’t want anymore.
Another option is to have a white elephant gift exchange for specific holidays like Valentine’s Day or celebrate everyone’s birthday with the event. Remember, the purpose is not necessarily to exchange valuable gifts, but rather to provide entertainment in the form of a game for your participants.
Volunteer
Getting together with your homeschool co-op and volunteering is a nice activitiy that you can do at multiple holidays. The most common days to include volunteer work is Thanksgiving and Christmas. But you could also expand to include volunteer activities year-round. Here are some ideas to consider:
- Host a toy drive
- Collect canned food for a local food pantry
- Serve meals at a soup kitchen
- Build homes with Habitat for Humanity
- Provide babysitting services for families
- Help foster or adoptive families
Mad-Libs
Mad-Libs are an awesome way to include some sneaky grammar practice while celebrating holidays throughout the year! They are virtually no-prep easy homeschool holiday activities for your elementary students. A great way to include the whole family (even teens) is to have your teens create the Mad-Libs for the younger siblings.
Resources
Here are some printable resources and tools to use along with holiday activities for your elementary students.
Easter Tree Printables
Holiday Tracker Pack
If you are looking for printables that are themed to multiple holidays throughout the year, then you’ll love the Holiday Tracker Pack.
In it, you will find multiple trackers and charts for various holidays to use throughout the year.
The trackers in this pack include:
- repetition punch cards
- outdoor time trackers: use these to reach a goal to spend more time outside
- reading tracker bookmarks: your child can color in one object on the bookmark each time they reach their daily goal
- habit trackers: can be used to help you create a morning routine, chore chart, reward chart, or goal chart
Some of the holidays in this Tracker Pack are:
- winter
- Valentine’s Day
- St. Patrick’s Day
- Spring
- Easter
- Summer
- Patriotic/4th of July
- Birthday
- Halloween
- Fall
- Christmas
Reward Punch Cards
Here’s a FREE page of Valentine’s Day reward punch cards. Learn how to use them HERE.
St. Patrick’s Day Themed Resources Round-Up
I’m joining forces with almost two dozen of my homeschool blogging friends to bring you additional resources for St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick’s Day Homeschool Activities from In All You Do – This round-up will give you puzzles, copywork, writing prompts, and math practice all centered around St. Patrick’s Day.
Free 15-Minute Music Lesson About the Celtic Harp from Music in Our Homeschool – You can add fine arts into your holiday homeschooling with this music lesson. It includes a free printable pack.
How to Make a Shamrock Salt Painting from I Choose Joy – Download the free printable set of Shamrock outlines and then use them to create some beautiful artwork.
30 Best Preschool Leprechaun Books from Homeschooling 4 Him – Find a huge list of books to read aloud in your homeschool so your child can learn about St. Patrick’s Day, leprechauns, and shamrocks!
St. Patrick’s Day Unit Study for Homeschooling Families from Whole Child Homeschool – Grab this awesome family-style unit study to learn all about St. Patrick and the holiday in his honor.
St. Patrick’s Day Notebooking from Homeschool Helper Online – Help your kids practice their writing skills with these themed notebooking pages.
15 Shamrock Crafts for Kids from Thrive at Home – Use what you have on hand for these fun crafts.
St. Patrick’s Day STEM Activities from Hess UnAcademy – Add some STEM activities into your holiday lessons with these activities.
The History Behind St. Patrick’s Day Traditions from Homeschool On the Range – What is the legend behind St. Patrick? How is the day celebrated? Learn these facts and more.
Awesome Ideas for Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Your Homeschool from Some Call It Destiny – Here’s a great round-up with tons of themed activities and ideas.
Little Blue and Little Yellow: An Easy, Fun and Tasty Activity from The WOLFe Pack – All you need for this fun and tasty St. Patrick’s Day activity is round cookies, two colors of icing, and one simple book!
Best St. Patrick’s Printables and Activities for Kids from Blessed Homeschool – Your lower and upper elementary aged kiddos will love these STEM activities and crafts to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
We’ve been invaded by leprechauns from Our Crazy Adventures In Autismland – See how to make St. Patrick’s Day fun with this leprechaun invasion!!
St. Patrick’s Day Resources For Your Classroom from Geez, Gwen! – Grab it all here: book recommendations, craft ideas, games, activities, snacks, video clips, and more.
Free Saint Patrick’s Day Preschool/Kindergarten Fun Pack from Everyday Graces Homeschool – Grab this fun pack for your littlest learners.
History of St. Patrick’s Day: Unit Study from Orison Orchards – Here’s a complete unit study that includes the history behind the holiday, Irish geography and geology, use a lens to refract light into a rainbow, graph your snack before you eat it, and share some literature together.
The Best St. Patrick’s Day Books for Kids from Heart and Soul Homeschooling – Check out this huge list of 32 book recommendations for St. Patrick’s Day!
St. Patrick’s Day Lesson Plans and Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten from Simple Living Mama – If you have preschoolers and kindergarteners, you’ll love these ideas.
