12 Days of Christmas Books ~ Christmas Picture Book Activities for All Ages

It's Thanksgiving. 

The calendar is already packed, and somehow you have to fit homeschooling into the next three weeks. 

You need something that will check all the boxes:

That's it. Just three tiny HUGE things to check off your to-do list this holiday season.

But, don't worry. I've got you covered. Here are 12 Days of Christmas Picture Book Activities for All Ages to get you through another homeschooling holiday season.

Let me start off by saying that picture books are not just for early elementary kids. Picture books have great value even into adulthood. When you read a picture book as an adult, you are taken back to those sweet moments as a child when you first read the story. Times were simpler and not as busy.

When an older child reads a picture book, they see different meanings in the book than they did when they were young. They can parse out some of the deeper themes and see issues in a different light.

In other words, picture books aren't just for young children.

So instead of trying to spend the holidays with complex topics, read a picture book a day and turn each day into an educational, magical moment that is completely doable!

Here are 12 Picture Books and Activities For All Your Kids (and You) To Enjoy Over the Holidays!

Day 1: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Day 2: The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree

Day 3: Turkey Claus

Themes to Discuss:

• Problem-solving
• Humor in serious situations
• Animals as food sources

Activities: 

• Order pizza takeout and enjoy with cookies.
• Play hide and seek like Turkey.
• Create Christmas costumes for yourself or for Turkey.
• Go sledding (but don't use a turkey reindeer!)

Questions to Ponder:

• Should Turkey be concerned about Christmas? How are animals on farms treated differently than animals that are pets?
• Which disguise do you think was Turkey's best disguise? Why?
• Is the food you eat on Christmas different than other days? Why is that?

Copywork:

"Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble." Turkey sighed. "I'm almost out of time. I'll never get to ask Santa for my wish."

Day 4: The Christmas Wish

Themes to Discuss:

• Generosity
• Dreams and wishes
• Going on an adventure

Activities: 

• Using a map, try to decide where Anja lives.
• Learn about the Northern Lights.
• Discover the tundra.
• Do research on the animals that Anja meets on her journey.

Questions to Ponder:

• Anja lives somewhere in the far north. How is it similar to where you live? How is it different?
• Why do you think Anja wants to be a Christmas elf?
• Why do you think the author ended the book with a question?

Copywork:

One year, as the days grew shorter and the snow had fallen for weeks without a rest, Anja decided it was time to look for Santa Claus.

Day 5: Santa Mouse

Themes to Discuss:

• Loneliness
• Imagination and Imaginary Friends
• Generosity

Activities: 

• Make a miniature tree for Santa Mouse.
• Make a miniature garland for miniature tree.
• Have a snack of strawberry mice and cheese.
• Learn about mice.
• Do research on the Inuit people.

Questions to Ponder:

• Have you ever been lonely? How did you deal with the loneliness? 
• Did you have imaginary friends? Why do you think people (and mice) create people in their minds?
• What are your bedtime routines? Are they similar to Santa Mouse, or are they different?

Copywork:

He used to play a game. He'd daydream he had playmates who were friendly as could be.

Day 6: The Polar Express

Themes to Discuss:

• The innocence of childhood
• The magic of Christmas
• Believing in something you cannot see or prove

Activities: 

• Research the polar ice caps and what it is like living there.
• Wear your pajamas all day and watch the movie after reading the book.
• Make a Polar Express train costume out of a cardboard box.
• Make hot chocolate and candies with nougat centers.

Questions to Ponder:

• The major theme of the book is believing in Christmas, even when others do not. When have you ever believed in something that your friends did not? 
• Why does the bell still ring for the boy as an adult? 
• The children ride on a train for a long time. Have you ever gone on a long journey? 

Copywork:

I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound -- a sound a friend had told me I'd never hear -- the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh.

Day 7: A New Improved Santa

Themes to Discuss:

• Being true to yourself
• Learning that you are loved for who you are, not what you look like

Activities: 

• Get in a Santa workout with jumping jacks, jogging, situps, stretches, to touches, and weight lifting.
• Make a Christmas list by using the computer. You can learn to create lists in a spreadsheet.
• Design a new suit for santa.

Questions to Ponder:

• Why do you think Santa wants to become a "new, improved Santa?" Do you ever feel disappointed in the way you look and want to change it?
• Does changing your appearance or your style change who you are? Why or why not?
• What does Santa realize is most important at the end of the year of changes?

Copywork:

A rejected, dejected Santa returned to the North Pole. "The children don't like the new, improved me," he said.

Day 8: Pick A Pine Tree

Themes to Discuss:

• Family togetherness at the holidays
• Family traditions

Activities: 

• Head to your local tree farm and pick a live Christmas tree.
• Decorate your Christmas tree. 
• Host a decorating day.

Questions to Ponder:

• Does your family pick a pine tree for Christmas? 
• How do you decorate your tree? Is there anything significant about the decorations?
• Does your family have Christmas tree decorating traditions?

Copywork:

Gather round the tree to sing; let your joyful voices ring.

Celebrate as nighttime falls...Merry Christmas one and all.

Day 9: Mooseltoe

Themes to Discuss:

• Learning to deal with disappointment
• Handling emotions when things do not turn out the way you thought
• Perfectionism

Activities:

• Make a list of everything you would like to do to get ready for Christmas
• Learn about the namesake of the book, mistletoe.
• Listen to the song Moose sings, The First Noel.

Questions to Ponder:

• What does a "perfectly perfect" Christmas look like to you? 
• Think of a time when you forgot something important. How did you handle the situation?
• Do the holidays seem really busy to you? 

Copywork:

Getting ready for Christmas was an absolute snap. And so simple. So easy. And if he did say so himself, Moose thought, totally, utterly, completely perfectly perfect.

Day 10: The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever

Themes to Discuss:

• Teamwork
• Working together for your community

Activities: 

• Try building the biggest Christmas cup tree ever.
• Measure the Christmas trees in your house to find the biggest one.
• Learn about the tallest Christmas tree ever recorded.

Questions to Ponder:

• Think of a time when you worked on a team. Did you accomplish more with more team members helping? 
• Think of some ways you can help people in your neighborhood or community celebrate Christmas.
• Who puts up the Christmas tree each year? Does one person or multiple people help?

Copywork:

There they decorated it with the most wondrous ornaments and colored lights and on Christmas Eve, with all of Mouseville celebrating around it, the biggest Christmas tree ever lit up the entire hillside.

Day 11: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell!

Themes to Discuss:

• Ridiculous activities
• Fantasy versus reality in fiction

Activities: 

• Learn about reindeer.
• Find out how candy canes are made.
• Try to remember what the lady swallows in order.

Questions to Ponder:

• Why does the lady keep swallowing items? 
• The old lady appears to be a sweet grandmotherly type. Do you have a grandmother or other relative like the old lady? 
• Have you ever swallowed anything unusual? What was it? 

Copywork:

There was an old lady who swallowed a bell. How it jingled and jangled and tickled, as well!

Day 12: Twas The Night Before Christmas

Themes to Discuss:

• Magical Realism
• The mythology of St. Nicholas/Santa Claus

Activities: 

• Make sugar plums.
• Using the description in the book only, draw how Santa and his reindeer appear to the author.
• Read this poem on the night before Christmas as a family read-aloud. For fun, you could act it out.

Questions to Ponder:

• This poem changed the way people thought about Christmas. Before, the holiday had been celebrated as a religious holiday or as a time to party all night long. How does this poem differ from those types of celebrations?
• In this poem, Santa and his reindeer are the size of elves. Why do you think Santa now appears with human proportions?
• What part of Saint Nicholas' description would now be considered as harmful to children? 

Copywork:

"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!”

The Easy Way to Teach Christmas Picture Book Activities for All Ages