A Quick Round-up of Activities to Celebrate Navidad With Spanish Students

It's the "most wonderful time of the year", right before winter break and your students are restless, thinking of vacation and Christmas. 

Here are some fun and engaging ways to keep students learning Spanish language and culture!

1. Decorate the Room (or just the classroom door!)

How to Spanish speaking countries decorate for Navidad? Have your students discuss or write about this using authentic Spanish vocabulary, then go crazy decorating the classroom!

2. Listen to (and sing!) Christmas Carols! 

All of my students, from the littlest to the adults, absolutely LOVE using music as a tool to learn Spanish. Not only does it make for a fun class, but listening to and singing Villancicos can improve your students' Spanish skills in a big way. 

A quick YouTube or Spotify search will find playlists galore to use as background music. If you would like to take it to the next level, creating a lyric fill-in sheet and extension activities will reinforce this new vocabulary.

3. Write a Letter to the Reyes Magos

Have your students been good? What is on their wishlist? 

Have your students write a letter to their favorite Wise Man with a list of what they would like to receive. What a great way for them to learn meaningful vocabulary!

Here are some adorable examples of letters to the Reyes Magos. Here are some other examples.

4. Play Games and Activities:

There are so many games that you can play with students that have a Navidad theme! No prep games include 20 questions and hangman. However, by far, my students' favorite activites are Loteria (similar to BINGO), Madlibs, and Escape Rooms.

Bingo is a great group activity that helps students recognize and practice identifying vocabulary.  Here are two versions of the game: digital and printable.

Another activity that works in small or larger groups is "Fill-in" Stories (similar to Madlibs).

Students work together to complete a story using vocabulary they know. At the end of the class, students can share their silly stories and vote on the best one!

A more involved activity that was a big hit with my virtual students last year during COVID were Digital Escape Rooms with a Navidad theme. I created a Spanish Navidad and a Mexican Navidad escape room, in 2 different versions each--in English for more of a cultural learning and in Spanish to reinforce vocabulary as well. Next year, I hope to create a classroom version where students can work together in person to solve the riddles!