Christmas is fast coming and many of us have started thinking about Christmas special activities with our students. Here are some ideas collected from different churches in the past, as well as some fresh ideas.
- Scavenger Hunt: first, match the pictures and words of the Christmas items they will be hunting for. Second, spread out around the building in teams to hunt for the objects. (see handout here)
- Watch a Christmas movie together. Suggestions are The Nativity Story, or clips from The Jesus Film, The Bible, or The Gospel of John. (See here for language activities accompanying The Nativity Story.) You can also watch other movies like The Christmas Carol, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, or It’s a Wonderful Life. These will help students understand North American culture.
- Go for a special outing. Ideas include Christmas concerts like Handel’s Messiah (see here for concert listings, classical and jazz) or The Nutcracker ballet; Christmas plays that different churches put on; or the Christmas Market at the Distillery District in Toronto (here).
- Plan an evening of carol singing in a local home, where students can mingle with Canadian families (perhaps from the church), taste Christmas treats, admire Christmas decorations and sing.
- Listening to a modern version of a Christmas song in-person or online can be a gateway into a conversation about what Christmas means in different countries (preferably in small groups). For example, here are some starter questions:
1. Have you heard this song before?
2. Is this song popular in your country at Christmas-time?
3. How is Christmas celebrated in your country?
4. What does Christmas mean to you? - Send e-cards to the students who join from other countries/provinces and deliver baskets to students in your area with small gifts, pre-packaged treats and potentially a recipe and the ingredients for them to make a traditional Christmas style treat.
- Organize a trip to drive-through festivals of lights like the one in Uxbridge (https://www.todocanada.ca/city/toronto/event/uxbridge-optimist-fantasy-lights/); students and teachers can greet one another in the car.
- Take students to an outdoor skating ring.
- Invite students to your church’s Christmas services.
- Simple Christmas activities:
- Christmas craft (ideas we have tried include making gingerbread houses (from pre-packaged kits); snow globes; snowman from sock and rice; cutting a snow flake; search the web for ideas), can be a competition for the best entry;
- Christmas word search (can ask students to improvise a speech using the words after they have searched);
- Christmas colouring (can be a competition also)
- Christmas trivia
- Bake Christmas treats together, or make Christmas cards.
- Use Christmas cards to discuss Christmas symbols.
- If you prefer more ‘educational’ activities, you could try:
- Teachers or students presenting on “Christmas in my culture”, with lead time for preparations;
- Readings and reading exercises using Chicken Soup Christmas stories;
- Christmas word lists
- Christmas conversation sheets
- Christmas symbols presentation (ask students to each research on and present the origins and characteristics of Christmas symbols such as candy cane, St. Nicholas, wreath, etc.)
If you pause and think, ideas can be endless. Might you send your ideas to us at eslministries@gmail.com? Remember that it is a time to share Jesus’ love, and this can be done through direct Christian activities, or hospitality, or simply sharing the time together with fun and cultural exchange activities. Happy planning!