Preschool Deck the Halls Deck the Halls Theme

Below you can find tons of fun and engaging Deck the Hall Activities! Pick and choose the activities for your lesson or download a free copy of our Deck the Halls Preschool Lesson Plan to save you time!

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Planning your Deck the Halls Theme

Club Members can download all of ​our Deck the Halls Printables and their Deck the Halls Theme Planning Guide for free! Not a member? Learn More Here

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Download our free Deck the Halls Preschool Sample Activity Plan

Featured Plan Activities

Below you’ll find activity ideas featured in our Deck the Halls sample plan.

Art & Creativity
Pine Cone Christmas Tree 
Invite preschoolers to make their own mini Christmas Trees! This is a fun way to create a bit of 3d art while strengthening fine motor skills.

Dramatic Play
Set up a Gift Wrapping Shop
Provide gift wrap or plain brown paper bags for children to decorate as wrapping paper. Or try using silk scarves and decorative clothespins as shown in our gift wrapping station. Children can take on roles such as: shop owner, cashier, wrapping specialist, gift wrap designer, and gift wrap inspector. 

Building & Small World Play
Build with Presents
Wrap cardboard boxes in holiday wrapping paper for children to build with.


Language and Literacy
Christmas Lights Letter Match
Students will cover the letter of the card that is flipped over.
Favorite Decorations
In this activity, preschoolers discuss their favorite holiday decorations, promoting language development and personal expression by sharing what they like and why, sparking conversations about decorations at home as well.

Mathematics
Positional Phrases
This activity from the Deck the Halls Activity Pack is a fun way for preschoolers to practice understanding positional phrases. Extend with real world experience by having them show what they know using presents and your holiday tree.
Presents Under the Tree Game 
Students will place the number of objects on the mat that is rolled.

Science & Discovery
Aroma Canisters
Explore sense of smell with aroma canisters. Using scented oils, wax melts or spices fill plastic containers with holiday scents such as peppermint, cloves, cinnamon, and pine. Seal the containers for safety and poke holes in the top so children can smell each canister. 

Physical Fine Motor
Burlap Sewing Tree
Use buttons with larger holes, thread and a wool needle and sew various buttons onto the burlap.

Physical Gross Motor
Present Relay Race
Set up a present wrapping relay. Set up gift bags and tissue at one station, Bows at another, and labels or cards at the last station. Encourage teams to wrap a gift!

Other
My Family Stocking
Send home red and green stocking cutouts, ask families to decorate a family stocking together to display in the classroom. 

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Transform your Art Space into a Card making Station. Add Old Cards that can be cut, Pre-folded Cards, Holiday Stickers, Holiday Stamps for decorating, Scraps of Holiday paper, etc.  Don't forget to add Card Making Words to the space (To, From, Love, etc.).

Paper Plate Christmas Tree Craft

This adorable Paper Plate Christmas tree craft is a fun way for your preschooler to work on fine motor development
and create a fun craft that they can display or gift to someone special. 

Try making this!

Ornament making station

Ornament Making Station: How about adding an Ornament Making Station to your Art Space this week? Add Pre-cut Paper, Wooden, or plastic Ornaments to the space. Add pens, stamps, stickers and other embellishments for decorating.

Wrapping station

Kids love Wrapping Gifts! Add small boxes, tape, wrapping paper, Gift Bags, Bows, and Tissue Paper. Children can practice the art of wrapping the special gifts they have made for their families
Make it easier with our signs and labels included in our Santa's Workshop Dramatic Play Pack

Santa's Workshop Preschool Dramatic Play Pack

Group Hand Print Tree

Gather different shades of green construction paper. Trace the children's hands on several different pieces of paper, and cut them out again. Help the children arrange and glue their hand prints on a large piece of paper in the shape of a Christmas tree. Hang on a wall or door to display.

Christmas Lights Photo Frame

This Deck the Halls craft would also make a great gift for families. 
Children start by painting the frame white. Once dry set out a palette of paint in the desired colors and invite preschoolers to dip their fingers in and make little fingerprints around the frame. 
Seal with mod podge for lasty beauty!
​You can pick up a multipack of the wooden frames on Amazon. 

Paper Plate Christmas Wreath

Kids can create their very own wreath using a paper plate, paint (or markers), glue and holiday decor. Colorful pom poms would be a great decoration for this project!

My Family Stocking

For a classroom: send home a stocking cutout with each child along with a letter encouraging each family to decorate the stocking together. Children can bring them back and display in the classroom. 
For homeschooling: get the family to participate in decorating a paper stocking together and hang up for all to enjoy. 

Get Musical with Bells

Bells are available in bulk on amazon or your local craft store and are relatively inexpensive. Plus they can be used all year in a variety of activities.  For this theme try sewing bells into scrunchies to make musical bracelets or put into a plastic container (seal the lid for safety). Children can use their new instruments in a variety of activities and to follow the rhythm in their favorite holiday songs. 

Cookie Cutter Gift Wrap

Lay out a large piece of newsprint (be sure to ask your local newspaper office for any scrap end rolls they might be willing to donate). Choose the paint colors you will be providing and squirt a small amount on paper plates, one color per plate. Invite children to dip the cookie cutters into the paint and stamp onto the paper. Allow to dry and use as gift wrap in your dramatic play gift wrap station or to wrap gifts. 
View Member Instructions

Holiday Paper Chain

Work together to make a paper chain to drape across the tree,  wall or ceilings. 
View Member Instructions

Pine Cone Christmas Tree ​

Invite preschoolers to make their own mini Christmas Trees! This is a fun way to create a bit of 3d art while strengthening fine motor skills. Learn more about this activity on the blog.

Potato Stamp Wrapping Paper

Make stamps from potatoes for children to stamp onto plain paper to turn into wrapping paper. 

Christmas Tree Handprint Craft

Set out paper plates with green paint for children to dip their hands onto along with paper plates that have a variety of colors for children to dip their fingers into. Preschoolers can create a handprint on canvas or cardstock to represent a Christmas Tree, then decorate with fingerprints as lights. ​View Member Instructions

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Deck the Halls

The Dramatic play space comes alive this week. Set up a Tree for decorating in this space (but don't decorate it). Provide Holiday linens, and a box of decor for this space. Include: Ornaments, Wreath, Garland, a Tree Skirt, Tree toppers, etc.

Let the children decorate "their" tree with care. Shop at your local thrift stores or Dollar stores for reasonably priced/safe items to add to your space. Don't forget to ask your clients if they have items they would like to donate for the space. View Member Instructions

Don't forget to hang the Stockings! You can create a mantel with Brick Patterned Corrugated Paper like our Facebook Community Member Felicia of Mrs. Felecia's Playhouse did, or just add command hooks somewhere for your kiddos to hang stockings on.

Felecia Jones of Mrs. Felecia's Playhouse

 Set up a Gift Wrapping Shop

Preschoolers will love a Gift Wrap Shop! 
Provide gift wrap or plain brown paper bags for children to decorate as wrapping paper. Or try using silk scarves and decorative clothespins as shown in our gift wrapping station.
Children can take on roles such as: shop owner, cashier, wrapping specialist, gift wrap designer, and gift wrap inspector. 
You can find these signs in the Santa's Workshop Dramatic Play pack from Pre-K Printable Fun. 

Create a Card Design Shop

Incorporate language and literacy in your dramatic play center with a Card Making Shop!
Kids can create custom holiday cards for the people they love. 
Provide a variety of construction paper, card stock, and blank holiday cards for children to use. 
Children can assign roles such as: Card Designer, Shop Owner, Cashier, and Mail Carrier. 

Wreath Making Shop-Coming Soon

Set out Christmas Wreath making materials. Suggested items include wreath forms, ribbon, and items that can be attached to the forms using pipe cleaners or clothespins. ​

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Suggested Deck the Hall Items to add to your space for Small World Play

Let the children deck the pretend houses in the construction space this week. In addition to play houses, you can add play people and cars to your building space this week. Add mini trees, and pretend gifts that children can use in their small world play.

 Community Member Mary Beth F.  transformed this regular
dollhouse into a Christmas themed play house.

Member Sheena W. created a Christmas Village that her preschooler can use, she utilized items from the dollar store and Playmobil ​

Small World Tree Farm

Create a small world tree farm by providing a variety of miniature trees, pine cones, and block people. 

Tree Building Challenge

Challenge children to build the tallest, or smallest, tree they can using unit blocks or tree cookies. You could provide several different types of blocks and ask children to find out what type is best for building tall trees. 

Build with Presents

Wrap cardboard boxes in holiday wrapping paper for children to build with.

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Christmas Lights Letter Matching Activity*

Encourage preschoolers to match upper and lower case letters with this activity. Use candy gumdrops as the marker. 

Letter Matching Activity from the
Deck the Halls Activity Pack

Greeting Card Story 

Collect old holiday cards or ask parents for donations, you will only be using the front cover-discard the other side. You can assemble your book using a mini binder or put on a binder ring. 
For this activity you can choose to keep it open ended and repeatable by encouraging children to study the photos and tell a story related to the cover image. Or you can work on pre-writing skills by inviting children to tell you a story that you write on back. 

Gift Wrapping Sequencing*

Work on story sequencing development with this How to Wrap a Present sequencing activity from the Deck the Halls Activity Pack. 

Read Aloud Activity

​Read The Littlest Christmas Tree ​by R.A. Herman then invite children to decorate a mini Christmas tree, gripping the small ornaments will also aid in fine motor development! 

Christmas Riddles

Give the children clues about ornaments on the tree, and holiday decorations around the room. For example "I see an ornament that is gold, and shaped like a star, which ornament could I be?" Have the children guess and point to the item or come up additional clues as needed.

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The Littlest Christmas Tree by R.A. Herman
The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by Steven Kroll
Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
Christmas Parade by Sandra Boynton

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Practice Counting and Sorting Christmas Decorations

Practice sorting different colored Christmas Lights, Counting ornaments and presents!

Advent Calendar*

The Holidays are about traditions! Start a new monthly tradition, like an advent calendar. Children have daily fun as they countdown to Christmas, while learning new math skills. Buy Now

Holiday Shape Hunt

Go on a holiday shape hunt! 
This can be done indoors or out. Walk around and see what kind of shapes you can find in different holiday decorations. Try providing clip boards and blank paper so children can draw the shapes they have found. This is a great opportunity to work on identifying shape attributes. If a child spots a square present you could say "You're right, that is a square, I can tell because it has four equal sides."

Positional Phrases*

This activity from the Deck the Halls Activity Pack ​is a fun way for preschoolers to practice understanding positional phrases. 
Extend with real world experience by having them show what they know using presents and your holiday tree. 

Holiday Card Sort

Set out a variety of holiday cards, these could be unused ones or cut the cover off old ones. 
Invite children to sort the cards in any way they choose!
To get them started you could suggest they sort the cards by size, by character on the front, or by dominant color. 
It will be fun to see what they come up awith and a good opportunity to assess their understanding of sorting and classification. 

Presents under the Tree game-Coming Soon

Roll, count, and add the corresponding number of presents under the Christmas tree! 

Ornament Counting Mats

These mats are a fun way to engage preschoolers in counting skill development during your Deck the Halls theme!
Find these in the Deck the Halls Activity Pack and then pair with fun manipulatives like these mini plastic ornaments, mini erasers, or stickers. 

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Christmas Shape Ornaments

​Tracie G of Happy Hearts Family Daycare shared these photos of holiday decor she made with her preschoolers. 
Making a triangle shape ornament from craft sticks is a fun way to explore shapes! Try providing buttons or stickers in a variety of shapes for more shape explorations. 

Jingling Sound Patterns

Use the jingling instruments you made in art to work on pattern recognition. Invite each child to make a unique pattern jingling their bracelets, other children can clap along, repeat the pattern with their own bracelet or extend the pattern. 

Color Matching Stockings

Work on fine motor development while matching up colors with this activity from the Deck the Halls Activity Pack

Make a Christmas Tree with Shapes

Support preschoolers in understanding shape attributes while getting creative! Supply triangle cutouts, or a template for children to cut out their own, along with small circles for stamping.

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What's in the Stocking?

Place an object inside the stocking. Have your students place their hand inside (without looking) to try and guess what's inside. Reveal the object! What other senses can you use?

Magnetic Christmas Presents

Explore magnets with this magnetic Christmas Present Activity. Wrap cookie sheets and and add magnets to bows. For a fun twist wrap non magnetic surfaces, test them, and unwrap to reveal them! Shared by Community Member Felicia of  Mrs. Felecia's Playhouse

Colored Ice Decorations

This is a fun way to explore water transforming from a liquid to a solid and add some unique outdoor holiday decor.  All you need is water, food coloring (or watercolors or markers), balloons, and a freezer. 
Color your water (Teacher Tip: drop those old dried up markers in water to color the water), then fill up a balloon to the desired size with the water, then freeze. Once the water is completely frozen peel off the balloon and arrange outdoors as an ice sculpture. 

Fizzy Christmas Activity

Add some holiday cheer to your science activities by switching up colors and props to incorporate your theme. 
This photo is from Building Blocks Family Child Care. 
The provider spread a thin layer of baking soda on a play tray and added some candy canes. Some vinegar mixed with red food coloring is a fun addition along with eye droppers and basters.
Teacher Tip: Pick up a huge bag of baking soda and gallons of vinegar at your local Costco or Sams Club to always have a simple, cost friendly exploration at your fingertips!

Holiday Tree Balancing Challenge

Materials: paper towel tube cut in half, large green craft sticks, pom poms in a variety of sizes. 
Children will balance the green sticks across the top of the paper towel tube to create the green tree branches. Then they will balance pom poms on the top of the craft sticks. 

STEAM Wreath Maze

Materials: Paper towel tube, magnets, cookie sheet, sparkly pom poms
Cut your tube into inch long circles, paint the circles to represent wreaths or leave brown to represent a tree trunk. If desired decorate each wreath, if decorating consider incorporating other skills (numbers, letters, colors).  Use hot glue to a magnet to each circle.
Children can rearrange the circles on the cookie sheet and test out rolling the maze by tilting the cookie sheet back and forth to try and roll the pom poms through each wreath. 

What's Missing?

This activity can be done with simple objects from around the room or with the positional phrases mat if you have the Deck the Halls Activity Pack
Place all the cards on the mat, then have children look away while you remove one card. Then they will examine the mat and try and figure out which card is missing. 

Sense of Sound with Jingle Bells

Materials: jingle bells, paper towel tubes cut in half, tape
Tape shut one end of each paper towel tube for a total of 5 tubes. 
Place 1 bell in the first tube and tape the end shut, 2 in the second, 3 in the third, 4 in the fourth, and 5 in the fifth. 
Challenge children to gently shake each tube and then line up from softest sound to loudest.

Holiday Colored Flowers

Try the Color Changing Flowers Experiment using red and green coloring for some beautiful holiday décor. 

Light Table Tree Decorating

Print out  a Christmas tree on vellum and provide translucent shapes for children to decorate the tree with. Our dough mats are perfect for creating light table activities, this one is included in our Christmas dough mats pack.

Make Ornaments

Make ornaments from Salt Dough or Cinnamon

Aroma Canisters

Explore sense of smell with aroma canisters. 
Using scented oils, wax melts or spices fill plastic containers with holiday scents such as peppermint, cloves, cinnamon, and pine. Seal the containers for safety and poke holes in the top so children can smell each canister. 

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Burlap Sewing Tree

This activity is great for older children or preschoolers,  set it up as an activity for life practical skills. Use buttons with larger holes, thread and a wool needle and sew various buttons onto the burlap. 
View Member Instructions

Christmas Card Lacing

Preschoolers need a variety of activities to keep them engaged in learning. 
This activity  card lacing activity from Pre-K Printable Fun is excellent for fine motor development, and as a bonus it's budget friendly, uses recyclables, and is simple to make.

Christmas Tree Fine Motor Activities

Try your hand at one of these Christmas Tree Fine Motor Activities from Pre-K Printable Fun

Invitation to Decorate a Christmas Tree

The Preschool Invitation to Decorate a Christmas Tree activity is an exciting hands-on experience that allows preschoolers to unleash their creativity and celebrate the holiday season. With mini trees and a variety of tree decorating accessories, children will have the opportunity to design and personalize their very own Christmas tree. This activity promotes fine motor skills, encourages imagination, and provides a festive and enjoyable atmosphere for young learners. View Member Instructions

Community member Tracie G. created this tree decorating invitations with
everything the children need to make it jolly!

Happy Hearts Family Daycare

This adorable tree making activity Erica P. of Erica's Educare Learning center made using mini trees, and pom pom & foam sticker decorations. 

Erica's Educare Learning Center

Popcorn Garland

Have the children work together to create popcorn garland for the classroom tree. At the end of the season take the popcorn out to feed the birds. View Member Instructions

Christmas Tree Play Dough Invitation

Provide a variety of items to build a Christmas Tree such as:
Tree Cookie cutters, fabric, beads, mini bells, and twigs

Place the items in a tray alongside your favorite dough. Add a few drops of pine scented essential oil to your dough for a sensory experience. New to play dough invitations? Check out this post on how to set up Preschool Play Dough Invitations

Color Cut and Paste a Scene

My Color, Cut, and Paste a Scene pages are fantastic to set out for a variety of themes all year round. They are an engaging way for children to practice scissor skills, appropriate use of paste, and sustaining their attention.

Present Relay Race

​Set up a present wrapping relay. Set up gift bags and tissue at one station, Bows at another, and labels or cards at the last station. Encourage teams to wrap a gift!

Jingle Ball Hot Potato

Using a ball with bells inside, or make your own by sewing bells into a fabric ball, play hot potato! 
For added engagement use the song jingle bells while playing. 

Wreath Ring Toss

Materials: Flying rings (green if you can, other colors will work fine as well), targets (brown construction paper as a "door", dowels, sticks, or green cones made from paper). 
Children toss the wreaths on the target to work on hand-eye coordination and large muscle development.

Candy Cane Balancing Act

Children will balance large jingle bells or ball ornaments on the hook end of a candy cane and travel across the room to decorate a small tree or fill a bucket. 

Christmas Card Exchange with Friends

Foster friendships by setting up a Christmas Card exchange. Provide either a variety of premade cards or materials for children to make their own. Offer a variety of writing instruments, stickers, stamps and written names and words for preschoolers to copy. ​

My Family Stocking

Send home red and green stocking cutouts, ask families to decorate a family stocking together to display in the classroom. Invite each child to present their stocking to the group, encourage them to recall and share about the experience of making the stocking with their loved ones. ​

Christmas Around the World

Take a look at how Christmas is celebrated around the world!
This Christmas Around the World set is perfect for your Deck the Halls themed social studies lessons. 
​Includes a printable card featuring scenery and local flag, a letter describing holiday traditions and a cut and paste activity. The set also includes a map that kids can use to find and mark each location. 

Collaborative Decorations

Foster teamwork while flexing those fine motor skills and incorporating math!
Materials: Long piece of strong string (tape the end to make stringing easier), beads for stringing (you will need a different type for each child, they can create patterns with colors or shapes). 
Each child will have one color or shape of beads, taking turns the children will create a string of beads in a pattern by stringing their bead and then passing to the next friend to continue the pattern. 

Explore December Holidays

Decking the halls looks different depending on what holiday is being observed. 
Explore different holiday traditions for Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas .

Visit a Tree Farm

Visit a Tree Far4m or take a virtual field trip like this one from the Missouri Farm Bureau. 
​Be sure to preview any videos you plan to share to ensure they are developmentally appropriate, plan for clips to include or skip to and create talking points. 

​Community Involvement

WIth advance permission decorate trees outside of a senior center or other community lot. Or consider making ornaments to donate. 

Calming Sensory Bottle

Routine changes, new people& experiences, sensory changes, and environmental changes that happen around the holidays can leave some children feeling a bit out of place. 
Create sensory bottles for children to use in times when they need to work on self regulation. 

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Deck the Halls Activity Ideas for Educators

In this session you will find ideas for Educators you will find suggested activities such as :
Activities for Groups, Classroom Management, and Family Engagement ideas for your program!

Christmas Tree Theme Sign-in Activity

​Welcome your students to class with this engaging name recognition activity. 
Includes a variety of themes and available in the shop!

Thematic Fun for your Calendar Activities

Incorporate your theme into your calendar activities with this set of Winter Calendar Cards that feature fun thematic cards to keep your calendar fresh all season long. 

Decorate a Classroom Tree Together

Join us for a fun and interactive activity where preschoolers will have the opportunity to work together to decorate a classroom tree. This activity promotes teamwork, creativity, and fine motor skills development. Come and enjoy the festive spirit as we trim the tree together! View Member Instructions

Holiday Tree Circle Time Rhyme

Invite your preschoolers to learn this little rhyme and add the stars to the tree as they go. 
Part of the Winter Circle Time Rhymes pack. 

Create a Classroom Wish List

At group time have all of your students share the special Christmas wishes they have for others. Write their wishes on a large piece of paper to hang in your space, and add new wishes throughout the month.

Hang your donation request form

Use this free donation request form to request donations from your clients, and parents. Include the children, by asking them what items they would like to add to their classroom.
Consider creating a specific wishlist such as: Books for our class, Outdoor Toys, or Art supplies.

Gift Ideas for Your Childcare Clients

Looking for a way to show appreciation for your clients this season? 
We've created a blog post all about the joy of giving with preschool holiday gift ideas from our members and subscribers. 

Decorate for the Holidays-Family Engagement Idea

Let your preschoolers help decorate the house for the season this week. Set up the tree, and hang the stockings. Talk about the colors they see, count ornaments, and use positional phrases such as "place the stocking next to the fireplace", or "place the red ornament above the gold ornament".

​Spread Holiday Cheer-Family Engagement Idea

Create ornaments to send to family to display on their trees. 

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Deck the Halls Activity Pack

$7.00

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Attendance Daily Sign In Activities

$7.00

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Winter Circle Time Rhymes

$4.00

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Winter Calendar Display and Calendar Games

$4.00

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