Doing holiday-themed activities makes learning fun.  It gives a change of scenery and creates increased engagement and not to mention it makes activities relatable.  Here are some life skills activities (AND SOME FREEBIES!) that are Holiday-themed but also functional to everyday life.  Think to yourself – you cook a Christmas dinner recipes, or you shop for Hanukkah gifts.  Here are some recommendations on activities you can use this December!

DIRECTED HOLIDAY DRAWING LESSONS

Adapted, differentiated and age-appropriate art lessons – easy to follow step by step how to draw activities for all levels! Comes with 10 different Holiday themed drawing lessons in 5 levels! Check out this activity on  TPT or Spedadulting below.

HOLIDAY COMPARISON SHOPPING

Functional & differentiated life skills comparison shopping and addition problems using simplified store ads with the same items (in different spots) for easy comparing between two department stores. Students will compare each item to determine where it costs less, add the grand total and compare the total shopping trip prices. Check out this activity on  TPT or Spedadulting below.

TRAVEL PLANS – TO THE NORTH POLE

This differentiated activity is for all learners to practice the basic overall concept of planning a trip (in the United States) through basic math, geography, and various life skills you encounter when planning a trip. Check out the activity on TPT or Spedadulting below.

READING HOLIDAY RECIPES

Functional reading comprehension of common life skills environmental print, differentiated for special education, autism or English language learner classroom. These worksheets are a fun, engaging & visual way to practice reading different variations of recipes. Check out this activity on  TPT or on Spedadulting below.

MULTIPLICATION & NEXT DOLLAR UP MENU MATH

Simplified Functional & differentiated life skills activity using visual priced menus. Worksheets that coordinate with a few different menus that students will look up the price then determine how much money they need to purchase the item.

Check out the NEXT DOLLAR UP activity on TPT, MULTIPLICATION activity on TPT or on Spedadulting below.

COLOR BY CODE HOLIDAY

Are your students motivated by coloring and decoding puzzles? Here’s a fun Holiday-themed activities to practice identifying prices or the Next Dollar Over method.

Check out the Color by Price activity on  TPT, Next Dollar Up Color by Code activity on  TPT or on Spedaulting below.

HOW TO WRAP GIFTS ADAPTED DIGITAL BOOK

How To: Wrap a Holiday Gift Adapted & Interactive Book with visuals. Step by step simple visuals on the supplies you need and how to wrap a gift box with a Christmas or Holiday theme. Check out the activity on  TPT or on Spedadulting below.

HOLIDAY-THEMED WOULD YOU RATHER?

20 Would You Rather…. Questions. Great age-appropriate activity for practicing voting, self advocacy and fun class discussion starter. Check out this activity on TPT or on Spedadulting below.

NEXT DOLLAR UP HOLIDAY BINGO

A fun and engaging way to practice functional reading and life skills consumer math with the dollar over method (holiday-themed). Check out this activity on TPT or on Spedadulting below.

STORE AD SHOPPING (CUT & PASTE) **FREEBIE**

Differentiated consumer activities! Recycle free weekly circulars department store ads to Cut & Paste specified items into the boxes. Students will identify the holiday or Christmas items on the worksheet, then find as many as they can in a shopping ad. Engaging activity for special education students! Check out this FREEBIE on  TPT or Spedadutling below.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING BUDGET

Holiday Shopping Budget Differentiated Money Math life skills practicing Subtraction for special education. Students can learn the basics of budgeting rent, utilities, bills, etc through these simple subtraction problems in order to see how much money to spend on Christmas or holiday gifts. Check out the digital activity version that comes with Interactive PDF, Boom Cards and Google Forms on TPT, the printable task cards version on  TPT or Spedadulting below.

CBI – DOLLAR STORE SECRET SANTA **FREEBIE**

Dollar Store Secret Santa, Secret Snowflake, and Secret Snowman Gift Exchange forms for visual learners in special education that have the opportunity to take an off campus trip with the class to practice shopping list skills and money math/transaction skills. Check out this FREEBIE on  TPT or on Spedadulting below.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Winter & Christmas themed NO PREP, PAPERLESS functional reading money math life skills activity. Student is to determine how much an item costs using dollar bills. Great for special education or students that need touching and counting with money. Task Cards Include gifts, candy cane, Christmas, Hanukah, Gingerbread, Ornaments, Hot cocoa, Snowflakes and more! Distance or remote learning.

Check out the digital activity version that comes with Interactive PDF, Boom Cards and Google Forms on TPT, or the printable task cards version on TPT. Check out AUS resources on TPT, and CAN resources on TPT.

ONLINE HOLIDAY SHOPPING *FREEBIE*

This simplified shopping activity is visual and walks students through doing a basic product search on a website (Walmart.com), finding an item price, comparing it to a budget, and determining if they have enough to purchase the item. Engaging activity for special education students during distance or remote learning. Check out the FREE Google Slides activity on TPT or on Spedadulting below.

WHICH HOLIDAY GIFT CAN I BUY?

Holiday gift-shopping student will determine which item they can purchase given how much money they have.

Check out the digital activity version that comes with Interactive PDF, Boom Cards and Google Forms on  TPT, the printable task cards version on TPT or on Spedadulting below.

NEXT DOLLAR UP DIGITAL ACTIVITIES & TASK CARDS

On the same subject of Holiday gift shopping, students will determine how much money they need in order to make the purchase (use the Next Dollar Over method).

Check out the VISUAL UP TO $5 digital activity version that comes with Interactive PDF, Boom Cards and Google Forms on  TPT, VISUAL UP TO $5 printable task cards version on TPT, HIGHER LEVEL OVER $5 digital activity version that comes with Interactive PDF, Boom Cards and Google Forms on TPT, HIGHER LEVEL OVER $5 printable task cards version on TPT or on Spedadulting below. Check out AUS resources on TPT, and CAN resources on TPT.

HOLIDAY BUNDLE

Want all of these activities?  Get them in a MONEY-SAVING Bundle on TPT or Spedadulting below.

You might also enjoy reading:

Thanks for reading!