Culturally Responsive Christmas Activities For Preschoolers

Looking for simple inclusive learning activities for preschoolers during the Christmas season? Want to foster an inclusive learning environment while teaching about and celebrating a major holiday like Christmas with your early learners? Here are five creative and engaging ideas that will make sure your preschool children feel valued and seen while learning all month long!

Culturally Responsive Christmas Activity For Preschoolers #1: Trim Santa's Beard

Using skin tone and color conscious play dough allows each child to create their Santa in whatever skin color they want! The play dough you see here is from Together In Play, a small business dedicated to antiracist learning resources! Use discount code Chiara10 for extra savings!

Trimming Santa's beard is a fantastic festive Christmas activity for preschoolers, allowing them to practice their scissor skills while enjoying a holiday-themed activity! Take it a step further to ensure that this preschool activity is culturally responsive by offering color conscious play dough in a variety of skin tones, and let the children build their own Santa face before he hits the barber's chair! This ensures that each child can represent Santa in a way that is most joyful and meaningful to them, and that we are not forcing a Euro-centric version of a fictional character upon our most impressionable learners! We got our color-conscious play-dough from Melissa at Together In Play, who hand batches all her play-dough and donates portions of her proceeds to antiracist and liberation-oriented causes!

Culturally Responsive Christmas Activity For Preschoolers #2: Historically Accurate Nativity Scenes

Historically, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were from the Middle East, and would have had brown skin!

If you haven't already done so, ditch blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus in favor of historically and racially accurate Nativity representations! I absolutely adore the book Silent Night by Lara Hawthorne, and pairing it with our darker skin-tone Nativity peg doll set is an annual Christmas activity favorite! Reenact the story, expand upon the character interactions, or encourage imaginative play that ensures our children are not absorbing a white-washed and inaccurate version of Biblical history!

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Looking for high-quality, developmentally appropriate, ready-to-print resources this winter season? Check out the December Is For Snowflakes Preschool Learning Pack from Love And Excellence!

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Culturally Responsive Christmas Activity For Preschoolers #3: Santa's World Travels

Explore global diversity using books, puzzles, maps, landmarks, and cultural items from around the world, as Santa visits the children!

Use the idea of Santa's world travels as a way to teach about and explore people and places from all over the globe! Do a deep dive into a particular culture, learn about world landmarks, study maps, and watch videos about how Christmas is celebrated (or not celebrated!) in different locations across the world. This activity is easily adaptable for multiple ages by adjusting the level of research and fact-finding, making it perfect for homeschoolers! No matter how it is crafted though, exposing our children to different people and places is a way to foster an inclusive environment and a sense of cultural pluralism in our youngest children!

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Looking for a high-quality, developmentally appropriate, preschool curriculum that goes beyond traditional themes? Check out the Around The World Preschool Toddler Learning Curriculum for 2-Year-Olds from Love And Excellence!

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Culturally Responsive Christmas Activity For Preschoolers #4: Magnetic Tile Gifts

Magnetic tiles are a perfect for creating boxes that look like presents! Just add a bow and it's perfect for any holiday!

Gifts are a central part of many different holidays celebrated during the winter season. Using magnetic tiles and bows to build gifts is a great way to introduce children to the names of a multitude of holidays that occur close together. Encourage the children to offer their gifts to one another in celebration of each of the different holidays. Children can share which holidays they may or may not celebrate with their families, and learn new facts about holidays that are not a part of their family's traditions!

Culturally Responsive Christmas Activity For Preschoolers #5: Holiday Soup

Sensory Soup doesn't need to be complicated! Use water and a vibrantly colored natural material (such as dried fruits or flowers) for a beautiful and low-prep invitation to play!

Making "soup" is a simple yet super engaging sensory activity for preschoolers! With water, a few large containers and ladles, and a rotation of "ingredients," sensory soup can be a play-based learning staple for every season! Ensure that your holiday soup play is culturally responsive by offering ingredients that reflect a diverse array of holiday traditions! Cranberries (pictured above) are great for a Christmas-themed soup, but by offering ingredients that are central in other holiday traditions, or that use the colors commonly associated with other winter holidays (think: blueberries and white flower petals for Chanukah, perhaps!) , it ensures that children are learning in an inclusive environment that allows every child to feel seen and celebrated!

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Looking for antiracism resources to use with your students and children every single day? I would love for you to check out my Every Month Is For Antiracism resource!

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Enjoyed these ideas and want some more free and meaningful resources?! I would love for you to check out the FREE Inclusive Toolkit for Early Childhood Classrooms and see how it inspires you to orient your classroom toward liberation and greater inclusivity!

I want the toolkit!