10 Holiday Party and Gift Ideas for Upper Elementary Students (EP21)

Hey, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Elementary Math Chat!

Raise your hand if you have a countdown to winter break on your board. I know I always did, and with winter break being right around the corner, I’m sure you’ve at least started to think about your classroom holiday party. Maybe what activities you want to do with your class, or what gifts you want to give students.

You probably have some ideas of what you’ve done in the past. But if you’re looking for new and fresh ideas, then this episode is for you because I’m going to share really simple ideas for your holiday party, along with a few gift ideas for your class that they will actually use and that they will enjoy. I will also share some holiday-themed math activities you can do just in case you don’t have a holiday party, but you still want to do something festive.

This is also going to be the last episode of the year, so next Tuesday when you check your phone, there will not be a new episode. But this is a great time to catch up if you missed one. But don’t worry, I will be back in mid-January.

Alright, let’s kick off this holiday episode with gifts that you can get your students. I know you have probably seen some really fancy gifts on Instagram or Pinterest, and I just never had the time for that, nor did I feel like I needed to give them fancy gifts.

One really simple gift I gave them that they absolutely loved was pencils with their names on them. The ones I’m linking to in the show notes are from the website For Teachers Only. These are my absolute favorite because they come in sets of three, so each one of your kids will get three pencils, and they also come with a little pouch to keep them in. The best part is they are only $1.10 per student, and this is the best deal I’ve seen.

If you want these, I would order them right away so they make it to you on time. I think mine maybe took a week, maybe two weeks to get to me. So, I would jump on it right away if this is something you want to do.

Another simple gift that they will love is a dry erase board and marker. Since I already had a class set for them to use when they were with me, I got these for them to use at home, and let me tell you, they love this gift. They would come back and tell me when they used it to prepare for a test or practice math problems, and some of them just used it to draw on and that’s totally fine, too.

Dry erase boards can be expensive but the best deal I have found is on Amazon, and it’s a set of 30 boards, 30 markers, and 30 erasers, and this is only $45. So, they’re getting a board, a marker, and an eraser for a little over $1 each, which is a really good deal.

I also gave them a Blow Pop, which was their favorite candy, and that was something they could enjoy immediately. So, make sure to throw in their favorite candy, wrap it all up, put a little tag on it, and call it a day.

Okay, now for the fun part. Let’s move on to holiday party ideas. I tried to pick a mix of ones that were fun and engaging and have them moving around, but I also know it can get kind of loud. So, I also picked some quieter activities where they would be at their seat. Some of these can be done as a whole class, and then others can be done in small groups where they rotate through the activities, and some actually work in both ways.

I’ll start with one that you can do as a class, and that is to draw a holiday picture on a paper plate that is on the top of your head. They can draw a Christmas tree, or Rudolph, or a snowman. I’ve done this one, and it is really fun, and they really get a kick out of seeing everyone’s drawings. I like this too because it’s not too loud.

Another idea for a class activity, and this one’s from Teacher Starter, is a minute-to-win-it game called the Candy Cane Hook ‘Em Game. For this game, they put one mini candy cane in their mouth, and then they have to try to see how many other candy canes they can hook together in that minute, and they can’t use their hands. So, that’s what makes this activity so fun.

The other candy canes are spread out on a table, so you can easily do this in a group especially if your kids sit at tables. If they don’t, you would just need to put some desks together and then put the candy canes in the middle. You could even just have them do this on the ground and spread the candy canes out that way.

I have not played this one, but it sounds really fun. My only concern is that one minute may not be enough time. Maybe try two or three minutes just so they can actually get some candy canes hooked.

Another idea that’s a little bit quieter is to have them make ornaments that they can then take home. When I did this, we used the clear plastic ornaments where the top came off, and then they were able to put items inside, and then they could decorate the outside if they wanted to. 

You know what, I bet you have some things to fill these ornaments with already in your classroom, things like beads or pipe cleaners, crinkle paper or pom poms; a lot of things you would use for a STEM activity would be a good ornament filler, so you probably have more than you think.

They also had some festive things to choose from, like they had Jingle Bells, they had cotton balls that they would use for snow, and you could even give them a class picture to put in there. That takes a little prep on your end, but I think that’s super cute.

As far as the outside goes, if they want to decorate it, sharpies work really well, so you don’t have to go and buy anything for that.

Another idea you can do as a class for your holiday party is to decorate cookies. This is pretty easy to do as a group, and you can put down red or green chart paper as tablecloths, and that will add some festive colors to your party as well and keep things clean. You will also need a tub of icing on each table or each group that they are sitting with, and then a few bowls of sprinkles or whatever topping they are going to decorate with. This is also a great time to have a little holiday music playing in the background.

I have one more idea to share to do as a class and that is an estimation jar with holiday candy, like red and green M&Ms or holiday Hershey Kisses. You can even fill it with candy canes or peppermint, and while they are decorating their cookie, you can call one table at a time to make their guess and then the winner gets to take the jar home. I really liked that one because it ties in math, and you are a math teacher.

Alright, next we’re going to talk about small group activities for your holiday party. I think the best way to do these activities is to put your kids into maybe three or four groups, depending on how many you have, and then they rotate through these activities every seven to eight minutes.

The first one is called a Jingle Bell Toss, and this idea also came from Teacher Starter, she has so many great ideas. For this one, you need 10 paper cups, and you write a number on the bottom of each cup on the inside so they can see it. If you want, you can write fractions or decimals if you want to tie those in. But if you want to keep it simple, just write a whole number on the inside.

The goal of the game is really simple. They want to be the person with the highest score by the end of the activity, and how they earn points is by tossing a jingle bell into the cups. So, each student will need a jingle bell. You will also need to take either painter’s tape or just masking tape and mark the spot where they have to stand, and that’s really it. This is pretty low prep.

The article about this recommends having them just take one turn, but I recommend having them take two or three turns at a time, and that’s something you can figure out on your own depending on how much time you have.

The next idea I really like because it is quiet, and that is either a holiday word search or a holiday word scramble. These are such simple activities that never get old. You can get really fancy ones on Etsy or party websites, but there are much simpler and less expensive ones on TPT that you can use, or when in doubt just Google it I’m sure you can find one to use.

The final idea for a small group rotation is the Saran-Wrapped Candy Ball Game. I did this one as a whole group but the website recommends doing it in small groups. So, I think you can do either. This one does take a little bit of prep because you’ll have to prepare this Saran Ball that’s filled with candy before this. So, if you can, get some parent volunteers to do this for you.

To play this game, you have them sit in a circle, and you will also need a set of oven mitts and two dice. One of the fun parts about this activity is when it is their turn to unwrap the saran ball, they have to wear oven mitts, and that makes it even harder for them to get the candy out.

While they are doing this, the person to their left has the dice and they are trying to roll doubles. As soon as they roll doubles it is their turn. But until they do, the person to the right keeps unwrapping the saran ball and gets all the candy. So, they never know how long they’re going to have. Some of them will have a lot of time if the person can’t roll doubles while others might not have any time if they roll it on the first one. Of course, the game ends when all of the candy is gone.

I did mention earlier that if you were not able to have a holiday party and you still wanted some holiday-themed activities that I would talk about those. The two ideas I have for you are number one, an Equivalent Fraction Christmas Tree that they can make and the second one is similar but it is a Factor Tree. It comes with its own lyrics to the song O Christmas Tree, but instead of saying O Christmas Tree they say O Factor Tree.

If you follow me on Instagram you probably have seen me post about my Factor Trees in the past. They are a craft I did every year in the classroom, and they were a lot of fun. So, if you don’t have a holiday party but you want to do something festive, both of these crafts (the equivalent fraction tree and the factor tree) are really fun to do. Both of those will be linked in the show notes.

Let’s go through a quick recap of everything I’ve shared today before I end with today’s teaching tip of the week.

My two gift recommendations were:
1. Personalized pencils
2. Dry erase boards, markers, and erasers

Five ideas to do as a group for your holiday party are:
1. Holiday drawing
2. Candy Cane Hook ‘Em
3. Make an ornament
4. Decorate cookies
5. Estimation jar

Three activities you can do in rotations are:
1. Jingle Bell Toss
2. Word search or a word scramble
3. Saran-Wrapped Candy Ball Game 

Don’t forget, all of these ideas are linked in the show notes. I hope you guys have an amazing holiday party, and that takes us to today’s teaching tip of the week.

Today’s tip involves writing your thank you notes, and this is something I wish I would have known from the beginning because I used to write an individual thank you card for every student who gave me a gift, and I had multiple classes, so this was sometimes 30 to 40 thank you notes I was writing. Man, did that take a lot of time!

So, what I started to do the last few years, which I have to give credit to my teammates because they thought of this, is to write one thank you email over winter break and share all the ways I’ve enjoyed my gifts so far. Maybe that was enjoying a few chocolates I received, or lighting a Christmas candle, or enjoying coffee out of a new mug, or cashing in on a Target gift card or Starbucks gift card.

It just felt so much more personal, and it ensured that they actually received the thank you note. When I used to write the individual ones, I had many students leave them behind, and I’m not even sure they made it to their parents. 

So, writing one thank you email will not only save you time, but it will make sure that your families actually get your thank you message.

As I mentioned earlier, this is going to be my last episode of 2023. I’m going to take a break for the holidays, and I will be back in January for even more episodes of Elementary Math Chat. Until then, enjoy your holiday break, Happy New Year, and I will see you in 2024.