Christmas Snowman & Penguin Activities | ESL ELL

 This resource is included in Seasons Unit for Kindergarten-Holistic English Series #28, just click on the Link to the complete resource: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Seasons-Unit-for-Kindergarten-Holistic-English-Series-28-8266053

 

This Christmas resource provides a complete, low-prep language sequence that helps English learners through flashcards, manipulatives, pocket chart activities, games, and worksheets, students repeatedly practice the Christmas language structures.

The activities support oral language first, then reinforce learning through hands-on practice and early writing. Because the materials work well for whole group, small groups, and centers, teachers can easily differentiate while keeping students motivated and successful.

 Flashcards

 Students use fun foam or magnetic letters to build the word “gift” while referencing the holiday flashcard. This tactile task strengthens letter recognition.

As the teacher calls out a word, students take turns tossing a soft ball to the correct flashcard on the board. This fun, active approach helps young learners strengthen listening skills.

 

The teacher uses a Christmas flashcard to guide a simple vocabulary conversation. First, the teacher points to the picture and asks, “What is this?” Students respond, “It’s a snowman.” Then the teacher points to the hat and models the language: “It’s a winter hat,” followed by another question: “What is this?” Students answer, “It’s a scarf.” To extend the practice, the teacher asks, “What color is the scarf?” This routine helps young learners build confidence using complete sentences

For this sorting activity, place one Christmas object on the board—for example, a gift. Students search through the holiday flashcards to find all the characters holding that object. As they place each matching card on the board, they practice speaking by completing a simple sentence such as, “The snowman has presents!” or “The penguin has a gift!” This activity helps young learners build vocabulary, improve sentence structure, and strengthen visual discrimination skills while having fun with festive images.

 

The teacher pulls a ribbon with several small Christmas cards attached. As each card is revealed, students name the object the snowman or penguin is holding—for example, “a present,” “a candy cane,” or “a winter hat.” This simple routine encourages students to observe details, practice holiday vocabulary, and speak in complete phrases.

For this hands-on puzzle activity, the teacher cuts the Christmas flashcards into three or four pieces to create simple character puzzles. Students work together to reassemble the penguin and snowman cards by matching the pieces correctly. As they build each puzzle, they naturally review vocabulary by naming the character and the objects it holds. This activity strengthens visual discrimination.

 

Worksheets

 Color-by-number worksheets. Students carefully follow the color key to complete the penguin and snowman pictures, reinforcing colors, numbers, and visual attention skills. This calm, focused activity is perfect for independent work.

In this hands-on worksheet activity, the teacher first dictates the colors for each part of the Christmas character’s body, and students listen and color carefully. Next, the teacher asks, “What’s missing?” Students identify the missing body parts on the snowman or penguin and draw them. They will cut the body parts words. Finally, students label each part of the body by gluing the word cards provided. This activity combines listening, coloring, labeling.

 

In this worksheet activity, students color the Christmas pictures and practice writing key holiday words by tracing and writing them on the lines provided. As they work, they identify and name each character, such as “penguin” and “snowman,” reinforcing vocabulary recognition and early writing skills. It is ideal for literacy centers for kindergarten ELLs.

 

Pocket Charts

Using a pocket chart allows students to interact with vocabulary in a visual and hands-on way. By matching picture cards and sentence strips, learners practice reading simple phrases, identifying Christmas objects, and building complete sentences such as “a penguin with a hat and a scarf.” This activity supports sentence structure, word order, and oral language development, while keeping young ELLs engaged and actively participating.

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