8 Easy Activities for Christmas Kindness in the Classroom
Christmas is almost upon us… again! Though the end of year festivities brings a lot of excitement, it's also a time when students may be tired and irritated. To keep them engaged and learning while waiting for their summer or winter break, involve them in some Christmas kindness activities.
Kindness is the cornerstone of a thriving and inclusive classroom community. Positive words of encouragement, a compliment, or a kind gesture can be transformative for restless or frustrated children.
Encouraging kindness is a gentle reminder for students to be respectful and inclusive. Absorbing the positive vibes from good deeds can trigger happy hormones that calm them down and make your life a lot easier!
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We all know that students love Christmas craft activities and fun games. These are great ways to infused your classroom with Christmas kindness to build character and respect for classmates. There are lots of easy activities with positive lessons that will have them engaged while doing good during the festive season.
Here are some activities to help you have a fun and educational December.
1. Kindness Advent Calendar for Christmas
This is a favorite among students because they get to check things off and feel a sense of accomplishment. And while they're dedicated to doing good deeds, they're creative lots of positive vibes to make everyone feel great!
How to Make an Advent Calendar on a Whiteboard or Bulletin Board
If you're short of time and want something ready-made, you'll love this stunning but easy advent calendar. Simply print and assemble to make a gorgeous Christmas bulletin board or door display.
You can choose from a color template or print an outline of the tree for students to color in to make a wonderful patchwork effect.
Print the decorations with good deeds on them and assemble them into a pad by stapling at the top. Allow students a turn to tear one off each day and read the act of kindness out to the grade so everyone can participate.
When the good deed is complete, the student hangs the decoration on the tree. The last act of kindness is a craft with good deeds for students to complete at home.
Teachers can use the supplied acts of kindness or print out the blank decorations to write their own. There's also an option to switch out good deeds in Google Slidesâ„¢.
This is such a fun and festive collaborative activity to reinforce positive character traits and build classroom community.
→ Free Kindness Advent Calendar Checklist
This free kindness checklist is a fun way for kids to spread kindness each day in December. They love coloring the outlined worksheet and checking off the good deeds as they complete them. There are even acts of kindness for them to continue with at home after the school year is complete.
Grab your copy of this fun freebie below.
Editable Kindness Advent Calendar Checklist
Another engaging way to encourage thoughtful and generous behavior at Christmas. This personal kindness advent calendar is an engaging checklist where students mark off good deeds they complete.
There's a list of 60 acts of kindness to refer to for ideas or make up your own to suit your grade. You can easily edit any of the checklists in Google Slidesâ„¢ by simply typing or pasting good deeds into the squares.
There are checklist template options for 15, 20, and 31 good deeds depending on the number of days you want your students to participate. Teachers can create a customized checklist for their grade or get students to make their own.
Each advent calendar is available in color or black outlines and can be printed to write in acts of kindness or used in Google Slidesâ„¢ to type them in.
2. Giving Tree
Set up a tree in your classroom decorated with ornaments representing different ways to give back to the community. Students can take turns selecting an ornament each day with an act of kindness for the whole class to complete.
How to Make a Christmas Giving Tree
3. Kindness Paper Chain
This activity serves two purposes. It provides a fun way to select acts of kindness that can be completed at school, and it makes a lovely Christmas decoration for your classroom.
How to Make a Kindness Paper Chain
4. Christmas Kindness Pegs Activity
This creative and interactive activity involves students decorating clothes pegs with festive designs on the front and writing acts of kindness on the back. The pegs are then attached to someone's clothes, books, backpack, etc. to create a pay it forward effect as acts of kindness are completed and the pegs are repegged elsewhere.
How to Make Christmas Kindness Pegs
The Christmas Kindness Pegs activity not only fosters a sense of community and goodwill but also creates a fun and festive atmosphere within the classroom. It's a fun way for students to actively participate in spreading holiday cheer and making a positive difference in each other's lives.
5. Hand-Made Christmas Gifts
Hand-made gifts are a lovely act of kindness because they show that students care enough to put effort into making something special. There are so many things your students could make as gifts this Christmas, but I like snow globes as a treasured gift people will love for years. And they're easy!
How to Make an Easy Christmas Snow Globe
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make them from Welcome to Nana’s. Read the post for more detailed instructions.
Students can bring old decorations from home or personalize their snow globe with a laminated drawing. Be sure to include a wide edge around the picture so the water doesn’t wet the paper.
TIPS: Avoid using anything made from metal inside the globe as it will likely rust. You can also use a single drop of glycerine instead of glue to ensure the glitter falls slowly.
6. Christmas Compliment Bookmarks
This activity is a Christmas adaptation of my best-selling kindness bookmarks activity. It's a simple but effective way to bring joy to many students throughout your school. When students participate in the kindness bookmarks activity, it creates a huge buzz of excitement, and they beg to participate over and over!
This bookmarks activity helps students learn why it's important to show kindness and give compliments. Being able to recognize and acknowledge good traits is an important social emotional skill for personal development.
How to Make a Christmas Compliment Bookmark
7. Family Compliments Jars
My family and I made a compliments and kindness jar when my children were little. We all wrote compliments for one another throughout the year and read them out on Christmas Day. It was such a wonderful, uplifting activity to do as a family.
We have also made jars for specific family members for birthdays and Mother's or Father's Day.
You can adapt this kindness activity for your students by having them write compliments for members of their family.
How to Make a Family Compliments Jar
8. Christmas Coloring Pages with Kindness Messages
Sometimes you just need a quick and easy activity that doesn't take any thought. That's where coloring pages can be fabulous. Though they may seem like a filler activity, coloring actually has a lot of developmental and emotional benefits.
Why Coloring is a Great Activity for Elementary Students
Christmas Kindness Coloring Pages for Kindergarten & 1st Grade
These fun Christmas coloring pages are differentiated for various writing abilities. Some have simple text with dotted letters to trace, some have dotted tracing and a space to write, and others show the phrase with dotted lines beneath to copy it.
Christmas Kindness Coloring with Writing Activities for 1st-3rd
These easy Christmas kindness activities are a fun way to build positive character traits. Students give compliments, complete kindness coloring pages, and participate in festive writing activities to get them thinking about kindness and generosity during Christmas.
Students write meaningful compliments for 3 of their classmates. Everyone receives nice notes to paste onto a compliments sheet as a Christmas gift from their grade.
Positive affirmations on coloring sheets instill good values that encourage kids to think beyond themselves and acknowledge those they love as well as people with less.
However you celebrate the festive season in your classroom, I hope you include some Christmas kindness activities. Apart from the obvious benefits of building positive character traits, teaching kindness can make your classroom a lot more peaceful and inclusive.
Happy Christmas!
