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Five Fun Winter Break Activities That Won't Feel Like Homework

You can almost hear the groans already; no student likes to be told they have a school project to do over winter  break.

"It's a break for a reason," they might argue, and they wouldn't be wrong, but when you're ready to assign homework for the duration of winter break, you're doing it in their best interests, even if they don't agree.

So here's five winter break activities to get your students excited about homework this Christmas:

 

1. A Book Report on a book of their choosing, presented as they choose.

It could be "Dr. Seuss" or "War and Peace"—whatever they like, as long as they present it to the class in a fun and creative way.

Suggest a glamorized poster board detailing the events of the story, or perhaps screen a movie adaptation and talk about the differences between the film and the literature. Maybe students would like to form groups to read the same book, and perform a skit or film a video of some of their favorite scenes for the rest of the class?

The due date for the assignment doesn't need to be right when they return from break, but if you assign it the Friday before, they'll have a week of free time to be excited about what to read and how to show it to their classmates.

 

2. Create a Christmastime scrapbook.

Assign your students to create a fun memento over break that they will share with the class when they return.

Ask them to include what they did, the presents they received, the people they saw, and whatever else they think is interesting and fun. Suggest taking photos or drawing pictures of significant events, and including small tokens from their holidays, such as swatches of wrapping paper and Christmas cards.

When they return from break, have the students present their scrapbooks to the class or pass them around in small groups.

 

3. Send your students home with an interesting science experiment.

Have students write a short report about the experiment and how it went to share with the class when they return from break. Here are a few fun suggestions:

 

4. "Reado" Bingo!

The teacher at twocandoit.blogspot.com shared this idea for reading/math homework to do over break. Students earn points for completing five-in-a-row or the whole page, and you can hand out prizes for the top point earners when class resumes.

 

5. A simple "color by number" math worksheet.

This project is good for young kids to keep them sharp on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills. This worksheet features additions and subtraction problems on a string of holiday lights. Include instructions for what colors match up with what numbers.

 

By Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor