12 Holiday Learning Journal Activity Ideas
The holiday season is a magical time filled with excitement, creativity, and endless opportunities for little ones to learn through fun activities. Learning journals are something that we use in our home all year round, but incorporating themes that correlate with the time of year can help to spark their curiosity and interest even more while building those foundational skills.
Holiday-themed learning journal activities are a perfect way to keep kids learning at home during the holidays while also creating special memories together. One of my favorite things about doing learning journal activities with my own children is that once completed, they make a perfect keepsake to look back on - don’t forget to add the date to your child’s journal!
For more information about learning journals and how to start one, check out this post! If you want to see more of our themed journal activities, check out any of the following posts:
zoo-themed
ocean-themed
watermelon-themed
dinosaur-themed
ice cream-themed
camping-themed
name activities
In this post, I’ll share 12 different holiday-themed journal activities for toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, and even one bonus idea for early elementary aged kiddos. Skills covered in these activities include pre-writing skills, spatial awareness, color recognition, letter recognition, shapes, skip counting, counting on from a given number, solving equations, patterns, and more! These activity ideas are engaging, educational, and are designed to make learning festive and fun for your young learner(s).
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means I would earn a small commission if you were to purchase through those links. All opinions are my own, and I only link to products that I truly recommend.
Links for all my favorite learning journal activity supplies will be provided at the end of the post!
1. Decorate the Christmas Trees! - Toddler Ages 18 months-3 years
For this activity, draw 4 Christmas trees each with a different colored marker. Have toddlers peel and stick the dot stickers (ornaments) onto the coordinating-colored Christmas tree. This works on fine motor skills, spatial awareness/placement, color recognition, and color matching.
Toddlers could also use dot markers to decorate each colored Christmas tree.
2. Christmas Present Patterns! - Toddler Ages 18 month-3 years
For this activity, you’ll create a square template out of cardstock paper or find something square-shaped to trace. Trace two rows of four squares horizontally in your child’s journal using alternating red and green markers and then trace and cut out 4 of the same sized squares out of red construction paper and 4 out of green construction paper.
Toddlers will use a glue stick to glue the coordinating-colored square piece of construction paper inside each red or green square outline to create an AB pattern. Not only will this activity give toddlers exposure to using a glue stick, but they will also work on naming the colors, matching the colors, placing the squares inside the boxes (spatial awareness), and they will be building fine motor skills. Have them name the colors at the end and talk about how it is a pattern because the two colors are taking turns and it’s repeating over and over.
3. Christmas Light Color Match - Toddler Ages 18 months-3 years
This activity is such a quick and easy one to set up! Simply draw a string of Christmas lights and add different colored circles depending on the colors of dot stickers you have. Set out the coordinating-colored dot stickers for toddlers to peel, stick, and match to the Christmas lights.
This activity works on fine motor skills, spatial awareness, color recognition, and color matching. Young children are all also being exposed to new language and vocabulary development opportunities while talking about and hearing you talk about each activity.
4. Christmas Bow Shape Match - Toddler Ages 18 months-3 years
You’ll need to set aside some of your Christmas wrapping bows for this activity! Draw a shape on the bottom of each bow, and then draw some presents in your child’s journal each with a shape in the center where the bow would go. Have toddlers look at the shape at the bottom of each bow, name the shape, and then find the shape that matches.
In order to still be able to close and flip pages in the journal after this activity, toddlers will just place the bow on top of the present with the matching shape rather than taping or gluing them down in any way. The other benefit of doing the activity his way is that it can be done more than once!
5. Decorate the Christmas Tree (Name Letters) - Preschool Ages 3-5 years
When introducing letters to your child, always start with the letters in their name! These are some of the most important letters they will learn, and it really helps that they are special and meaningful to them.
For this activity, draw a simple Christmas tree in the journal and write out the letters in your child’s name each with a different colored marker. Write the letters from their name scattered around the Christmas tree, and then provide the coordinating-colored dot markers for them to name the letters and dot them accordingly.
Preschoolers are working on letter recognition, following a color code, matching colors, spatial awareness, and fine motor skills.
6. Wrap the Christmas Presents - Preschool Ages 3-5 years
Here is a fun pre-writing activity that works on drawing horizontal and vertical lines. Preschoolers will use any writing utensil (pencil, crayon, marker, etc.) to trace over the “ribbons” on each Christmas present.
7. Christmas Tree Letter Match - Preschool Ages 3-5 years
Here is another activity with a super quick and easy set up! All you need to draw in the journal itself are some tree trunks with letters written on them. Fold some green construction paper a few times and cut out some small triangles. Write the coordinating letters on the green triangles for preschoolers to identify, and then use a glue stick to match on top of each tree trunk.
This activity works on letter recognition, letter matching, fine motor skills, spatial awareness, and being able to follow directions.
8. Christmas Light Letter Match - Preschool Ages 3-5 years
For this activity, you’ll want to create a Christmas lightbulb template for tracing using cardstock. Draw a string of lights and add however many bulbs coordinate with the letters in your child’s name. Trace and cut out the same number of bulbs on different colored construction paper and write out the letters both in the journal and on the cut-outs.
Children can work on naming and matching the letters in their name by gluing down the colored bulbs onto the string of lights in the journal.
9. Christmas Tree Sight Word Puzzles - Kindergarten Ages 5-6 years
Kindergartners can work on reading and spelling new sight words with this activity! You’ll start by drawing tree stumps in the journal and choosing the sight words you’d like for them to practice. Write the words on each stump and then cut out the coordinating number of green triangle-shaped Christmas trees. Write the same sight words horizontally across the bottom of each triangle tree and then cut them apart in between each letter to create a puzzle.
Provide your kindergartner with a glue stick and have them read the word on the stump, then glue the letters in order to build a Christmas tree.
10. Christmas Light Counting On - Kindergarten Ages 5-6 years
For this counting and number sense activity, you’ll draw several strings of Christmas lights horizontally across the journal. In the first bulb of each row of lights, write a different number. Children will practice counting on from a given number by filling in the rest of the numbers counting up in that row.
This activity is also a great way for children to practice identifying and writing numbers.
11. Let’s Build a Christmas Tree!- Kindergarten Ages 5-6 years
The easiest way to prep this activity is to draw the tree stump in the journal, and then place a piece of green construction paper right on top of it to measure out a green triangle that would fit on the page (leaving room for a star on top)! Draw the triangle with a pencil as a guide and then cut it out.
Based on the size triangle you cut out, write numbers 10-100 skip counting by 10s, above the tree stump in the journal. Write the same numbers on the green triangle cut out and then cut horizontally in between each number to create a puzzle.
Kindergartners can practice identifying numbers and skip counting by 10s, by gluing each of the numbers in order to build the Christmas tree!
12. Christmas Gift Equations! - Early Elementary Ages 6-8 years
Here is a fun way to practice addition with double-digit numbers. I used large enough numbers that my child would also get the chance to practice carrying over, and purposefully drew the bows on the gifts off to the left-hand side, so that they could write the carried number inside the bow while solving the equation.
Children will add the two numbers in the column on the right and carry over a number into the bow if needed. They will write that number on the line below. They will then add together the two numbers in the column on the left, adding the carried number from the bow as well. That number will also be written on the line below, to show the final sum.
For links to ALL of my favorite learning journal activity supplies…
DISCLAIMER: I am a part of the Amazon Affiliate program, and will earn a small commission if you choose to purchase through my links. The support of my business in that way does not go unnoticed, and is always very appreciated.
If you enjoyed these learning journal activity ideas and you…
A. Would appreciate seeing ways to modify each activity for different age groups AND/OR…
B. Would like to see MORE holiday (and every day) learning journal activity ideas…
Then you’ll want to check out my Digital Learning Journal MEMBERSHIP!
Members receive:
- Full access to over 200 (and counting) learning journal activity ideas organized into 4 digital guides by the following age groups:
Toddlers (18 months-3 years)
Preschool (3-5 years)
Kindergarten (5-6 years) &
Early Elementary (6-8 years)
Each activity within the 4 guides includes:
- A photo of the activity
- Direct links to materials you’d need to prep and complete
- The objective of the activity (what the child will be doing)
- What skills are being covered, &
- Ideas for ways to modify the activity for different age groups
Members ALSO receive:
- Access to my growing library of PRINTABLE activities and resources
- Email notification each time new printables and/or new journal activity ideas are added (this happens monthly)
JOIN TODAY - you won’t regret it!
A "learning journal" is a blank sketchbook that is used to hand draw & personalize learning activities for your child based on different developmental skills. This membership makes your learning journal experience a breeze by providing you with a digital toddler, preschool, kindergarten, & early elementary aged journal activity guide. The 4 guides are organized by developmentally appropriate, seasonal & non-seasonal activities, & are frequently updated with new ideas.
