Brighten Up the Dark Days of December with Holiday Hijinks

Winter is a hard season to be a teacher. The cold weather, the semester assessments, and fewer hours of sunlight make it challenging to put in as much enthusiasm as we do in September. As hard as it is for us, students also struggle to wake up and stay engaged. There are some ways, though, that you can shake things up and snap everyone (including yourself) out of the winter wallows: changing up your classroom decorations and your routine.

Color Up Your Classroom with Science Christmas/Winter Season Decorations

A great way to get your students’ attention is to change your classroom décor. It’s something they notice the minute they walk in, and they are immediately engaged and talking about what they are seeing. You can decorate your door, change up your bulletin board, or even create a science themed-holiday tree (since trees are producers and give us many gifts such as oxygen and energy!). A good set of science holiday posters could be your best friend when you need to inject some quick energy into your students. Getting them to laugh or think is a bonus!

Renew Your Routine with Winter Themed Lessons and Activities

One of the best things about science is that it is everywhere. Tailoring your lessons to have a winter twist doesn’t take much time and can really increase the interest of your students. If you are studying physical science, you could winterize states of matter, density, and mixtures vs. solutions using different candies or frozen treats. Hot chocolate is always a hit when demonstrating and discussing thermal energy, insulators, and convection. If life science is where you are in your plan, you can research biomes and the ecosystem interactions between biotic and abiotic factors in them. Adaptations to cold weather and natural selection work as well. Earth science enthusiasts can focus on weather and climate around the globe, and finally, space cadets can inquire about the reason for the seasons and the constellations. The possibilities are endless!

Bring the Pun with Our Posters

If you need some help to get started, I’m excited to share my newest poster set: Science Christmas/Winter Season Puns. You can show your students that even teachers have a sense of humor and get them laughing during the doldrums of winter with this funny set of 16 science posters. Each poster includes a clever holiday-inspired science pun. Display all the posters at once, use them to decorate your door or bulletin board, or share one a day leading up to winter break.

Students will definitely take notice of these eye-catching posters, and it may even inspire them to do further research if they don’t understand the pun. You can also encourage them to create some of their own as an extension or cross-curricular activity.

Whether you decide to come up with your own ideas, or use mine, I hope you decide to bring the holidays into your classroom this year. I guarantee it will help cheer you and your students up and make the short days much more interesting! Happy holidays!