Seasonal Learning at Home Through Play
We wish you a Merry Christmas from all at The Mead!
Christmas is the perfect time to blend family fun with meaningful learning. With a little creativity, everyday festive moments can become opportunities to build key skills – all while keeping the magic of the season alive! Here are some simple, engaging activities you can enjoy with your child at home over the holidays:
Early Years (Ages 3–5)
- Christmas Sorting Games
Use baubles, pom-poms or craft shapes to sort by colour, size or texture. This builds early maths skills such as classification and patterning. - Santa’s Workshop Role Play
Set up a mini workshop with wrapping paper, tape and old boxes. Your child can “wrap gifts,” strengthening fine motor skills, imagination and language development. - Festive Story Time
Read Christmas stories together and ask questions like “What do you think will happen next?” to boost early literacy and comprehension.
Key Stage 1 (Ages 5–7)
- Christmas Baking
Simple recipes like biscuits or gingerbread help children practise measuring, counting, reading instructions and problem-solving. - Design a Christmas Card
Encourage creativity while developing writing skills as your child crafts cards and writes messages for friends and family. - Elf Maths Hunt
Hide number clues around the house. Children solve simple addition or subtraction problems to find the “hidden elf” at the end.
Key Stage 2 (Ages 7–11)
- STEM Snowflake Challenge
Using paper, straws or craft sticks, challenge your child to create the strongest or most symmetrical snowflake. This builds design thinking and geometry skills. - Budgeting for Christmas
Give your child a small “shopping budget” for imaginary (or real!) gifts. They must add totals, compare prices and make decisions — brilliant for developing real-world maths. - Write a Christmas Story or Comic
Encourage older children to plan, draft and illustrate their own festive tale. It’s great for vocabulary, structure and imagination.