Learning Ideas & Activities for December: Home Education

December is full of learning ideas and activities that will inspire you, especially when home educating! It’s often a time when families start to wind down and take it easy, but that doesn’t mean you stop learning. In fact, the winter presents many opportunities to learn something new, and it’s the perfect time for your children to get stuck into a fun winter-inspired activity!

Here are some of our favourite learning ideas and activities for December!

December Learning Ideas

The origins of Christmas & the winter solstice

This is a great topic for December and it’s really interesting too. You can delve into the origins of Christmas through the ages and learn about the winter solstice. Here are some fun topics to explore:

• The origins of advent calendars
• Who started Christmas carols?
• The 12 day of Christmas
• The history of Father Christmas

Christmas traditions around the world

It’s amazing to discover the differences in Christmas traditions around the world and how different cultures celebrate. From advent calendars and carol singing to decorating trees and Mass; you’ll even discover some very unique and surprising traditions. You could also explore the reasons why some countries do not celebrate Christmas. 

Here are some fun ideas to try when learning about this topic:

• Replicate a Christmas tradition 
• Make a traditional Christmas recipe
• Make a traditional Christmas craft

Christmas truce of World War 1 

If you want to dive into some history this December, the Christmas truce of World War 1 is the perfect topic. 

Winter sports 

Here are a few winter sports suggestions that you could learn all about, including their rules and origins:

• Snowboarding
• Ski jumping
• Figure skating
• Bobsledding
• Curling

Winter bird species

There truly are some beautiful winter birds to learn about, including:

• Robins
• Sparrows
• Owls
• Blue jays

You can learn about what they eat, where they sleep, and how they stay warm in winter.

Winter plants & flowers

It might be colder but there are plants and flowers which thrive in winter. It’s great finding out how they have adapted to the cold. You could even plant some winter flowers of your own!

Winter animal adaptations

Learn about winter animals and their adaptations! Our favourites are polar bears and reindeers! As well as learning how animals adapt to cold weather, you could explore migration and hibernation during the winter months. 

The life cycle of a winter animal

Pick a winter animal and learn about its life cycle! 

Winter weather

You could learn:

• The types of winter weather
• How snow is formed
• How the temperature changes 
• Why some countries get more winter weather

Christmas/winter-inspired phrases from different languages

A fun idea for December is learning how to say Christmas or winter-inspired phrases from different languages. You could get your child to create their own book of phrases from various countries.

Budgeting & gift-buying

With Christmas and the inevitable gift-buying, this idea is a great way to learn about budgeting and the value of money.

History of gift-giving

Gift-giving has been around for years! Explore why people give gifts to each other and how it all started.

Seasonal music & art

December is the perfect time to learn about and get into seasonal music and art. How different is it in other countries? What makes music and art in winter so unique from other times of the year?

Fun Activities for December

Paint a watercolour winter landscape

A simple yet beautiful activity to do together as a family.

Paint on ice

Fill a tray with water and put it in the freezer. Once it’s frozen, take it out and start painting! You can use paint or food colouring.

Create an advent calendar

The best thing about creating your own advent calendar instead of buying one is that you can completely customise it. Your children can choose any style of calendar that they like and make it unique and personal to their interests!

Write a winter-inspired story or poem

December is perfect for those cosy, winter-inspired stories or poems! 

Design and build a gingerbread house

You can’t not go through the whole of December without designing and building a gingerbread house! It might be so good that your children will be sad to eat it! 

Read a winter or Christmas-inspired book

It’s the perfect time to grab a blanket, sit somewhere comfy and read a cosy book together.

Make festive candles

There are so many unique designs and possibilities when it comes to making candles, and December means you can make them really festive!

Decorate a tree outside 

We all know how fun it is to decorate a tree inside, so why not decorate one outside? 

Make natural decorations

Before you decide to decorate a tree, you might want to make some natural decorations first! You can make them with anything you find outside and not only is it more enjoyable than having normal decorations, it’s good for the planet too. 

Build a den

It’s that time of year to build a cosy den! Whether your children choose to brave the cold weather and create one outside, or make a cosy den inside! 

Make ice sculptures

All you need to make this activity fun is ice and a chisel or knife! 

Make penguin eggs

This is a cute activity for winter. Simply place a toy penguin inside a balloon and fill it with water. Then tie the balloon and place it in the freezer. You’ll soon have an egg which your children can help to ‘hatch’ by chiselling the ice or adding warm water! 

Try an ice or snow experiment 

Winter brings the perfect opportunity for experiments because there are so many that you can do with snow or ice! 

Create a winter obstacle course

Get inventive with creating a winter obstacle course, either inside or outside! Think, a huge white blanket for snow or have the real experience outdoors!

Make Christmas card puzzles

Make those Christmad cards unique this year by turning them into puzzles. You can even make puzzles out of the Christmas cards your family receives. 

Create a winter wonderland

It’s not winter without creating a winter wonderland! Make it truly special and realistic by using a range or materials like clay or play dough and fake snow.