The holidays are here! Often, teachers worry about the many days leading up to the holiday break. Students are eager yet restless. A need for constant interaction and high engagement is at an all time high. Students can taste the Eggnog and Christmas cookies as they roam the halls with anticipation. Exhaustion lingers as teachers wrap up testing, final unit lesson plans and holiday homework packets.
But maybe you are looking to engage students in technology or continue the work from CSEd Week? Whatever your reason, I have a few holiday activities for you to try out with your class. The activities include a variety of holiday activities for busy teachers looking to incorporate suitable K-5 activities. In addition, at-home activities for parents to support the engagement and development of computer science from the comfort of their very own home are listed.
Plugged Activities:
Code with Ms. Hailey from CodeSpeaksLabs as she designs a holiday card using Scratch Garden. Watch here.
Integrate computer science and literacy instruction by guiding students through creating their own holiday themed story.
Track Santa as he rides across the world with his reindeers on Google’s Santa Tracker. Explore, play and learn with Santa’s elves.
Teachers are often looking for ways to engage students in learning during the holidays. For many, lack of access to technology can often be a challenge but it should not be a barrier. Here are some unplugged activities to try with your students before the break or for them to engage in at home.
Unplugged Activities:
Try out the Christmas Coding Challenge offered by Twinkl. Students will help get Santa from the North Pole to the house while avoiding obstacles along the way in this fun Christmas Coding Challenge!
Christmas Crack the Binary Code activity is a great stand alone activity for elementary aged students. This is both aged appropriate yet challenging while all the while festive for the holidays.
Check-out CSUnplugged at Home! This site has a wide variety of activities for teachers as well as parents. Many activities with a focus on computational thinking, sequencing, and algorithms.
