The days leading up to winter break in a 1st grade classroom are filled with so much excitement and magic! To channel all that holiday energy into meaningful, engaging Christmas activities, I love hosting a North Pole Station Day with my students. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the season while keeping the learning going and the chaos at a minimum! 😅
In this post, you’ll find tons of ideas for planning your own classroom North Pole theme Day and some fun Christmas activities for your kindergarten, first grade, or second grade students! Plus, find some Christmas Writing FREEBIES at the end of the post!
Read more about some of our other favorite Theme Days here!
Note: If you don’t celebrate Christmas in your classroom, I also have a Penguin Theme Station Day that’s perfect for the winter months!
About North Pole Day
On the last full day of school before winter break, we have North Pole Day in 1st grade! We read Christmas books, complete 8 stations filled with fun Christmas Activities, do some Christmas writing, and make a craft!
North Pole Stations: Classroom Christmas Activities
I start the day by displaying this slide on our screen. I tell students that we received a special message from a friend Ellie the Elf! We need to work together to complete all of the Christmas activities.
North Pole Stations and Christmas Activities
Our very favorite part of the day is working in teams to complete the North Pole Station Christmas activities! There are 8 different stations so it takes up most of the day! I also included editable station signs and slides so you can change them up to work best in your classroom. 🙂
I put students in teams of 2 or 3 and give each student a North Pole Station card so that they can track which activities they have visited. As they complete a station activity, they can add a sticker to their chart! The kids absolutely LOVE these charts. They get so excited to add the stickers and I love that they can take them home and share with their families about all the Christmas activities we did.
Station 1: Cookie Challenge
Students work together to match up the cookies and milk cards while practicing 3-addend addition. You can have students set it up like a Memory Match game by putting the cards in rows upside down and taking turns turning over two cards to find matches. You could also just have students work as a team to match up the cards. After finding all the matches, students can write the equations on the recording sheet.
Station 2: Candy Cane Measurement
This Christmas activity is a fun one to practice non-standard measurement! Students use candy canes to measure. To prep for this activity I just grab a few boxes of individually wrapped candy canes (usually only $1 or 2!) You can save them and use them each year, or give one to each student at the end of the day!
I included 3 different measurement activities and recording sheets. You can have students do all 3 or choose one or two!
- Measure a Buddy – Students use candy canes to measure the friends in their group and compare to see who is taller
- Jump and Measure – I use masking tape to set up a jumping station. Students stand at the starting line and jump as far as they can. Their partner helps mark where they land and then they use candy canes to measure the distance. They can also compare who jumps the farthest!
- Candy Cane Classroom Measure – Students choose 3 different items in the classroom to measure. They can compare the length of the items.
Station 3: Reindeer Race Addition and Subtraction
This simple math game gives students an opportunity to practice addition and subtraction!
Station 4: My Gingerbread Friend
For this writing activity, students imagine they have a Gingerbread friend. They write about what their friend, color, and can even complete a Gingerbread craft to go with it!
Station 5: Magic E Christmas Tree
For this Christmas activity station, students practice CVC and CVCe phonics patterns. They use the code to color the ornaments, then cut and glue onto the Christmas tree.
Station 6: Christmas Word Search
My students LOVE word searches. They work together with their team to find all of the Christmas words. If they don’t find all of the words before time is up, they can save their papers and I give them more time at the end of the day!
Station 7: Design an Elf Cottage
This is a fun Stem Christmas Activity using gumdrops and tooth picks. Students can design and build and elf cottage. You can let them build freely or give them a challenge like, try to build the tallest structure possible! You can choose to use the recording sheet or just focus on the building. 🙂
Station 8: Hot Chocolate Digraphs
Finally, for our last Christmas station, students sort pictures by digraphs. This is a good review of all of the digraphs we learned earlier in the year. Included two options for this activity:
Laminated Picture Sort: Print, laminate, and cut out the Hot Chocolate Headers and Marshmallow picture cards. Students will sort the marshmallows into the cups. You could even tape the headers onto mugs and have students drop the marshmallows inside.
No Prep Cut and Paste Sort – Students will cut out the paper marshmallows and glue them above the correct hot chocolate.
You can choose which of these activities you want students to complete or do both!
Christmas Craft and Writing
For the last part of our day, we complete the Christmas Wish writing activity and craft!
Together we brainstorm our Christmas wishes and students write on the Christmas tree writing paper. They cut out their writing along with a cover page and star. I also give them a small school picture of themselves that they can cut out and glue onto the star! These always turn out so cute and are perfect for a hallway display!
If you want to find all of these Christmas activities to plan your own North Pole theme day in your classroom, check them out here!
Want to grab some Christmas Writing Freebies?! Check out these No Prep Crafts!
They’re perfect to go along with your North Pole Day Christmas activities, or to use all month long! Find them here!
So many fun activities! Thanks for sharing!