Christmas Programs for Elementary Students

Christmas programs help everyone at school participate in the Christmas spirit. When planning a Christmas program it is important to take into consideration all of the cultural backgrounds in your school and to include them in your celebration. Christmas programs may happen on a school-wide level or with individual grades. Be sure to invite the parents to attend if your program includes children performing.

For a school Christmas program, children may take part in skits that show humorous things about Christmas. A choir may also sing Christmas carols during set changes for the skits. Skit ideas include catching Santa stuffing stockings, acting out the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and children finding hidden presents around the house. The costumes and sets should be simple, but the entire program can still be entertaining.

Ask parents and people from the community to come and explain how they celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa , Hanukkah or Winter Solstice. There may be other major holidays that are celebrated during this time of year that the children would enjoy hearing about. Set up a 10 to 15 minute time frame for each speaker, and let him show traditional items he uses to celebrate the holiday. The speaker may also teach a game to the students.

One way to help build Christmas spirit is to have a canned food or toy drive. The classes can compete to see who gets the most donations. The assembly can focus on fun activities that involve the holidays. For example, you may have a present wrapping relay between grades. Another assembly game idea is for students to dress up as Santa. The assembly may be for the top three grades and include prizes and handouts.

Take a classic Christmas story and adapt it into a Christmas play. One good example is "A Christmas Carol." This shares the message of the Christmas spirit without focusing on religion in any way. It also offers a large number of parts so that you can include a whole class. Another option is to put on adaptions of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman as a school play.

Another option for a Christmas program is to have a school assembly and show a movie on the big screen in the gym. It may work better if the school is divided into two groups, one with younger students and one with older students. This will keep the behavior of the students in line and make them easier to handle. Popcorn or another treat is a great addition to this assembly.