What can I say about December in the classroom? I can only describe it as… busy? Hectic? Festive? Pure chaos? Amidst the whirlwind of excitement and holiday anticipation, it’s a time when creativity in teaching shines brightest. Our Festive-Themed December Kindergarten Math and Literacy Centers are the perfect way to harness this energy and transform it into engaging learning experiences.
After Thanksgiving, staff and students are 100% aware that all we have to do is make it a few more weeks until a nice long holiday break. But somehow, those “few more weeks” are the busiest, longest weeks ever. They’re filled with assessments, conferences, planning, prepping for January…the list goes on and on.
So, since we already know December will be rough, we do our best to plan easy and fun activities that will keep our students learning and engaged. I love using match-up activities in my centers or as morning work like this editable sight word activity and this Christmas tree number match-up. We keep the little ones busy with exciting wintertime science experiments like these salt crystal ornaments and hot chocolate experiment. As we enjoy our hot chocolate, we read our collection of Christmas books.
And we start each math and literacy block off with a page from our daily math and daily literacy journals for December. The December worksheets for kindergarteners that come in these journals help to reinforce skills that my students have learned throughout the first quarter of the school year.
Want to know my secret for keeping my students engaged and learning, all while having fun, in December? Our December Math and Literacy Centers for Kindergarten might as well be renamed to “December Lifesavers,” that’s how good they are!
These creative, festive activities for kindergarten math and literacy help my students review their math and literacy skills while enjoying seasonally-themed games and activities. Most of the time, they are so excited, that they’re learning without realizing they’re learning!
December Kindergarten Math and Literacy Centers
The bundle comes with 40 interactive winter math and reading centers for kindergarten that will have your students begging for extra center time! With 20 math centers and 20 literacy centers, you’ll have more than enough to choose from, and your lesson plans will fill up in no time.
These fun and festive kindergarten classroom activities for December will make your math and literacy centers the place to be leading up to winter break.
Included in the December Kindergarten Centers
20 December Math Centers
- 4 weeks of math write the rooms
- 4 weeks of math write and wipe activities
- 4 weeks of dice games
- 4 weeks of partner games
- 4 weeks of puzzles and match-ups
20 December Literacy Centers
- 4 weeks of literacy write the rooms
- 4 weeks of literacy puzzles and write and wipe activities
- 4 weeks of pocket chart and match-up activities
- 4 weeks of writing center materials
- 4 weeks of poetry center materials
Math Skills Covered in the December Centers
- Graphing, Addition, Number Bonds, Ways to Make Numbers, Coins, Number Order, Teen Numbers, 1 More/1 Less, Writing Numbers, Comparing Weight, Patterns, Subtraction… and more!
Literacy Skills Covered in the December Centers
- Writing, Poetry, Sequencing, Sight Words, CVC Words, Compound Words, Onset & Rime, Story Elements, Segmenting Sounds, Digraphs… and more!
Using the December Kindergarten Math and Literacy Centers
Once you purchase and download your centers, look through all 40 files to see what you now own! Make a list of things to print, cut, copy, laminate, etc. Trust me, the more you prep to make them last, the easier the prep will be for years to come. If you print on cardstock and laminate the center materials this year, next year you’ll have a lot less to do.
When you introduce the centers to your students, either all at once, in chunks, or one week at a time, make sure to set explicit expectations for how you want the centers to be used. Model each activity and help your students with them the first few times. This will enable your students to be a lot more independent as the month goes on!
There is no one “right” way to use these centers. You can use them in your stations, as whole group activities, as sub plans, etc. Make them work for you. Once you take a look at all of the centers, you may even find that some of them fit perfectly with your kindergarten winter thematic units, so you may split them up to be done at different times during the season.
Suggested Materials
December Math Centers for Kindergarten
Math Write the Room Activities
Write the room activities are perfect for December to help get all of that holiday anticipation energy out! The four December write the room centers focus on math skills including subitizing, subtraction, weight, and patterns.
Math Write and Wipe Centers
If you’re looking for engaging December math centers for kindergarten students, look no further than these math write and wipe centers. Easy to prep and simple to use, the December math write and wipe kindergarten activities will help your students practice counting backwards, identifying one more/one less, writing numbers, and adding.
Dice Games
My favorite centers are easy, simple-to-prep centers, and these kindergarten December math stations fit the bill. Dice games are so easy to prep because all the kids need are the paper and some dice, and they’re good to go! The December dice games include a roll a gingerbread man game, a roll and graph activity, a roll and cover game, and a color by number activity.
Partner Games
If you’re looking to get your kiddos playing with each other while still learning and reviewing skills, then these partner games are for you! These interactive winter math games for kindergarten include a missing number spin and cover game, a ten frame card game, a race to 10 game, and a candy cane coins board game.
Math Puzzles and Match-Ups
Last but not least, we have the December math puzzles and match-ups. These are some of my favorite holiday math activities for kindergarten because they are perfect in centers, as morning work, or even as early-finisher work. The four puzzles and match-ups cover skills like word problems, number bonds, adding, and number order.
December Literacy Centers for Kindergarten
Literacy Write the Room Centers
With the four literacy write the room centers for December, your students will practice working with CVC words, segmenting sounds, digraphs, and sight words. These fun and festive kindergarten classroom activities for December will give your students a chance to move around the classroom while learning. Put some holiday music on to make it extra festive!
Literacy Puzzles and Write and Wipe Centers
The two literacy puzzles for December focus on compound words and onset and rime. The two write and wipe literacy centers for December focus on story elements and sentences with CVC words. These literacy centers for kindergarten are easy to use and easy to prep, making it extra fun for both you and your students!
Literacy Pocket Chart and Match-Up Activities
Pocket chart and match-up activities are meant to be done in a pocket chart or somewhere that has plenty of space, like on a carpet or a large table. My kids love to move pieces around and arrange sentences, match up cards, etc. The December centers include a pocket chart match-up activity that will help them review CVC word families, as well as a sight word hide and seek game. The centers also come with some pocket chart activities that include a writing component. Your students will have a blast unscrambling December sentences and sequencing the steps of decorating a tree.
Writing Center
The December kindergarten writing center materials include four sets of themed writing cards for students to write and draw with. The topics for December include Christmas words, Doctor words, Hot Chocolate words, and Gingerbread Man words. The center also comes with differentiated writing paper options so that your students can use what works best for them!
Poetry Center
The December poetry centers include four poems, three original December-themed poems and one familiar nursery rhyme. The center materials have pocket chart pieces for each poem, along with poetry notebooks and journals that have age-appropriate literacy tasks for your students to complete while enjoying the poetry.
Download the December Math and Literacy Centers for Kindergarten Now!
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Transform your kindergarten classroom this December with our Math and Literacy Centers. These festive-themed activities are the perfect way to enhance learning and bring holiday joy!
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- Access to ALL of the easy-to-prep, engaging resources we’ve EVER made!
- New, exclusive, themed resources every month made for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade that our members vote for.
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- One-click access to all of our freebies in both color and black & white!
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These winter holiday learning centers for kindergarten math and literacy will ensure that you and your students make it to the holiday break in one piece!
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