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How to Teach Winter Holidays Around the World

Holidays & Seasonal

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” That one line from the popular song by Andy Williams triggers so many people into holiday-celebration mode. But do all people celebrate the holidays the same? Definitely not! In this post, you’ll gain new ideas for how to teach winter holidays around the world to your students. Combining cultural diversity with winter holidays will keep your kiddos engaged this December.

PLUS you can grab a FREE winter holidays around the world reading activity for your classroom.

*This post contains affiliate links to Amazon for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which do not cost any extra for you. Please see the full disclosure here.*

Why Should We Teach Winter Holidays Around the World?

I love this question. ❤️

My immediate reaction to it is, why not teach our students about the different winter holidays around the world?

Helping students understand that not everyone is like them and that’s ok should be a normal part of everything we teach!

Furthermore, highlighting different winter celebrations promotes cultural acceptance and diversity, which we still desperately need in our society.

Plus, it gives you the perfect opportunity to combine social studies, math, science, and language arts!

Besides, we need to find creative ways to keep our students engaged around the holidays anyway.

I feel pretty sure you get the point by now.

There are so many wonderful reasons for us to teach our students about the different ways people around the world celebrate their winter festivals and events.

What Are the Different December Holidays Around the World?

Of course, before we have fun with holiday activities, let’s decide on which holidays to highlight.

Here are my favorite holidays to teach students about during December:

Omisoka–Japanese New Year’s
Christmas in America
Hanukkah
Fiesta of Our Lady Guadalupe in Mexico
Kwanzaa
Winter Solstice
New Year’s in Brazil
The December Chumpa Festival in India

There are definitely other celebrations in the winter that you can highlight in your classroom, so the ideas I’m sharing in this post can be applied to those.

Without further ado, let’s talk about how to teach these holidays around the world for kids!

Start with Nonfiction Quick Reads on Winter Holidays

Any opportunity I have to include some informational text reading, I’m taking it! Which is why I highly recommend weaving in some nonfiction reading about the holidays you want to promote.

Since I typically plan several different holiday activities, I like reading passages that are easy for students without watering down the facts.

That way, we can get everything done since I have less days to teach during December.

So, these quick reads give students a chance to learn the gist of each cultural winter celebration.

Click the image to use these in your classroom.

These can be used for lesson warm-ups before any other holiday craftivity or lesson you have planned.

I also use them as a wrap-up to our lessons; almost like a review of each winter holiday we learn.

Not only does this help your students see that not everyone celebrates the same, but it also gives them a chance to improve their reading skills–without being boring!

Then Complete Some Winter Holidays Around the World Mystery Pictures

Another highly engaging holiday activity for students is solving mystery pictures about the different winter holidays!

Mystery pics take reading about various winter holidays to a whole new level. Here’s how they work:

Students read the informational text passages on different celebrations through Google Slides. Each holiday has a picture related to it, but there’s a catch: the picture is all scrambled up.
In order to see the pictures, students must correctly answer comprehension questions that allow them to “solve” the mystery picture.

Here’s an example from my YouTube channel that shows how mystery pictures work:

As you can see from the example, students get to learn about different cultural celebrations during December with a fun twist!

I even include other December literacy centers with mystery pictures for holiday engagement.

An example is when we complete our 12 Days of Christmas Mystery Pictures activity, which teaches students about the history of that popular song.

It will be music to your teacher-ears to hear students asking for more reading because they want more mystery pictures to solve!

Add in Some Holiday Read-Alouds

In addition to the ideas above, you can teach your students about winter holidays around the world through read-alouds.

Children’s books and magazines have a way of opening up kids’ understanding through storytelling.

So, I recommend teaching about diverse winter holidays with these book picks:

If you’re hoping to save some money on holiday read-alouds, then I recommend giving Kindle Unlimited a try.

I’ve been using this book service from Amazon as a teacher and parent for years! I pay $10 a month to checkout an unlimited amount of e-books.

Click the image to try Kindle Unlimited FREE for 30 days. *As an Amazon associate, I earn a qualifying commission that is no additional cost to you.

Once you get each virtual book, you can read it to students by displaying it on your classroom projector

If you teach online, you can share your screen with students through your online learning platform.

Some of the books I listed above are “free” with Kindle. You can access this service at no cost for 30 days with my referral code HERE.

Diverse Winter Holidays Read-Alouds for Kids

To piggyback off the previous point, I LOVE ❤️ displaying a variety of books showcasing different winter holidays.

Although I named a few above to get the ball rolling for you, here’s a fuller list with even more diverse read recommendations:

This list features Christmas, as well as, other winter celebrations for your kiddos to read about.

Watch Free Videos About Diverse Winter Celebrations

Another idea for how to teach winter holidays around the world is to watch videos about them.

A simple search through YouTube can yield lots of options for kid-friendly videos that showcase how people around the world enjoy December festivities.

If your school blocks YouTube content, maybe you can use Safe Share TV instead or Teacher Tube to show educational videos about different holidays.

Both of these sites allow you to embed a YouTube video link onto their platform to remove ads and inappropriate content.

Or you may be able to find content on those sites that is safe to share with your students directly.

Either way, showing videos of how people celebrate their winter holiday of choice makes the learning stick even more for your kiddos.

FREE Winter Holidays Around the World Reading Activity

To kick off your holiday lesson planning, you can grab this free December reading activity about diverse holidays.

It features some of the winter celebrations I mentioned above.

This free reading passage makes an excellent:

bell-ringer activity
early finisher reading
addition to your December reading centers
homework passage
or whole class holiday quick-read

Just as I recommended earlier, giving your students fun facts about different December holidays can boost their excitement about learning.

Plus this December reading passage doesn’t require ANY prep on your part!

Enjoy 😊

More Winter Teaching Ideas

Once the December holidays past, you’ll need more engaging winter teaching resources. Check out these posts to get what you need. (Or pin each one to your favorite Pinterest board to check out later!)

Happy Holiday Teaching 🎄 🕎 🪔